Rally promotes new GI bill to send vets to college

Today various members of the House and Senate along with several U.S. veterans held a rally outside the Capitol to call for immediate legislative action on the “Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act.” Senators and representatives that included Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) and Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) addressed the crowd to rally support for the new GI bill that will cover the full cost of college for veterans, along with many recent U.S. veterans who were deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan in the aftermath of 9/11 and are now facing the difficult task of paying for a college education. Many older veterans also attended the rally to show support for the bill and the younger veterans.

Many of the veterans said that although Americans are often under the impression that the government fully provides for veterans’ education, it pays only a meager amount that still leaves them struggling to make ends meet through student loans, grants, and part-time jobs. Many also said they felt unappreciated because after the service they gave to to their country at great personal sacrifice, they received not even the means to a decent education in return. Pelosi said that America needs to “thank our veterans by sending them to college.”