On the recordDecember 13, 2010
as chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, I am delighted to bring before the Senate S. 3447, the Post-9/11 Veterans' Educational Assistance Improvements Act of 2010. This measure, together with the managers' amendment, is based on the legislation I introduced on May 27, 2010. Hearings were held on the bill on July 21, 2010, and on August 5, 2010, the committee ordered the measure to be reported. The committee's report was filed on October 26, 2010. The purpose of this legislation is to make modifications in the program of educational assistance operated under chapter 33 of title 38, United States Code, for veterans who have served on active duty since September 11, 2001. It would provide for a streamlined, less complex, and more equitable program, and expand certain opportunities for training and education, including on-job and vocational training. It would also correct a number of inadvertent omissions and errors in the new chapter 33 program as enacted in 2008 as title V of Public Law 110-252, the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2008. As one who knows, from firsthand experience, the value of G.I. bill benefits and how they can substantially enhance all aspects of an individual's life, I believe that it is critical that we move toward making this new G.I. bill for today's veterans the best that it can be. And that is what my bill is intended to do.
