Political Quotes

“this penalty, which is currently subjected to veterans' benefits, does not apply to other analogous benefits. For instance, the current law states that those persons who receive benefits under the National Service Program Educational Award Program, which is generally known as the AmeriCorps Program, will not have their financial assistance treated as a deduction in their eligibility for other forms of student financial aid. In fact, Mr. President, the amendment I offer is an amendment to precisely that section of the law adding the Montgomery GI bill to the current exemption for AmeriCorps as the basis of calculating student financial aid. Mr. President, this unjust treatment of veterans' benefits has had a number of perverse affects. Although over 80 percent of persons in the military today are applying to become eligible for the Montgomery GI benefits--in fact, the latest statistics from the Department of Defense are that 94 percent of veterans are signing up for this program--less than 40 percent are actually using the program. And this discriminatory treatment is cited as a significant reason for that low level of utilization.”