Political Quotes

“I am pleased that today the Senate is unanimously passing the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017, known as the Forever GI Bill, which would make important improvements to the GI bill. The bill removes time restrictions on using the GI bill, enabling future recipients to use benefits their entire lives as opposed to within the current 15-year timeline. It provides 100 percent GI bill eligibility to Purple Heart recipients. It also increases GI bill funding for Reservists, Guardsmen, dependents, surviving spouses, and surviving dependents. While the bill includes many provisions I support, I also have ongoing concerns about institutions of higher education, especially for-profit colleges, which prey on veterans using GI bill benefits. I do not believe this bill goes far enough to provide the type of protections we owe to our servicemembers and the kind of institutional accountability that taxpayers deserve. I am particularly concerned that the Forever GI Bill does not address the 90/10 loophole which incentivizes for-profit colleges to aggressively recruit and prey on veterans. Under current law, for- profit colleges are prohibited from receiving more than 90 percent of their revenue from Federal taxpayers, but due to a loophole in the law, such revenue does not count Department of Veterans Affairs GI bill or Department of Defense Tuition Assistance funding.…”