Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 7939, as amended. This comprehensive package from Economic Opportunity Subcommittee Chairman Levin includes several improvements for student veterans. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed many flaws in student veteran benefits. We never could have anticipated the need to shift nearly all students to remote learning, but without action, VA would have been forced to cut housing benefits for hundreds of thousands of student veterans nationwide because the students technically were no longer attending classes in person. However, this committee acted swiftly during 2020, passing several crucial acts, including my Student Veteran Coronavirus Response Act of 2020, which was swiftly signed into law. These actions meant student veterans were protected from losing their benefits--but only for a limited time. While I am relieved we never left student veterans without their benefits, we came close far too many times. H.R. 7939, as amended, does away with these artificial benefit cliffs for student veterans and makes permanent many of the veteran protections passed as short-term measures during 2020 and 2021. That means the next time there is an emergency--be it a flood, tornado, another pandemic, or another event that forces students to take their classes online for a short period of time--VA will be able to fully pay out benefits to student veterans who are forced to attend classes remotely.…”