FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 19, 2009
Contact: Katie Laning Niebaum, Leah Vest
(202) 224-4843

Lincoln Bills Aim to Honor the Service of Our Troops and Their Families

Washington – In advance of Memorial Day, U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) has authored a series of bills to provide our nation’s military service members, veterans, and their families the benefits they have earned and deserve.

Today, Lincoln introduced legislation to ensure education benefits for National Guard and Reserve members keep pace with the national average cost of tuition.

“Education benefits for our Guardsmen and Reservists have simply not kept pace with their increased service or the rising costs of higher education,” Lincoln said.  “We must make an appropriate investment in the members of the Selected Reserve who serve a critical role on behalf of our nation.  As Arkansans, we are well-aware that our military simply could not function without the thousands of men and women at armories and bases in our state and across the country who continually train and prepare for future mobilizations and who work to ensure other members of their units are qualified and ready to deploy.  Their benefits should better reflect their commitment to our nation.”

Lincoln’s legislation would tie education benefit rates for Guardsmen and Reservists to the “national average cost of tuition” standard that is already applied to active duty education benefit rates.  This ensures that when the national average cost of tuition increases, education benefit rates for Selected Reserve will increase by that same percent. 

The Selected Reserve GI Bill is an important tool for recruiting high quality young men and women into the National Guard and Reserves.  Yet since September 11, 2001, education benefits provided by the Selected Reserve GI Bill (commonly referred to as MGIB SR benefit rates) have increased an average of less than three percent each year and have not kept pace with active duty education benefit increases—plunging in value from the historic benchmark of 48 percent proportional parity to less than 25 percent today. 

“Providing enhanced Selected Reserve GI Bill benefits makes an investment in these men and women,” Lincoln said.  “It also enhances the GI Bill to more effectively serve as a recruitment and retention tool for our armed forces. And ultimately, it enhances our nation’s competitiveness through the development of a more highly educated and productive workforce.”

Lincoln’s bill is endorsed by the Military Coalition, a group of 34 military, veterans and uniformed services organizations with over 5.5 million members. 

VADM Norb Ryan, USN (Ret.), national president of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), the country’s largest professional association for officers, said, “Establishing a rate increase mechanism for the Selected Reserve GI Bill will be an attractive incentive for talented young men and women considering service in the National Guard and Reserve forces at a time when Pentagon studies show a declining number of qualified candidates for enlistment in our nation’s military forces.  Senator Lincoln’s bill is really about military readiness and support for potential recruits; MOAA strongly supports this legislation, as do our colleagues in The Military Coalition.” 

MSG Michael P. Cline, USA (Ret.), Executive Director of the Enlisted Association of the Nation Guard (EANGUS), the only military service association that represents the interests of every enlisted soldier and airmen in the Army and Air National Guard, their families and Retirees, said, “Last year, Congress made a major investment in our men and women in uniform by passing a ‘21st Century GI Bill’ that greatly expanded GI Bill benefits and made college more affordable for service members and veterans.  However, the rate for members of the Selected Reserve who have not served on active duty for more than 90 days remained untouched.  Senator Lincoln’s legislation helps correct that inequity and ensures the same rate adjustment for these men and women.”

This legislation builds upon Lincoln’s “Total Force GI Bill” first introduced in 2006 to better reflect a comprehensive “total force” concept that ensures members of the Selected Reserve receive education benefits that match their increased service to the nation.  The final provisions of Lincoln’s Total Force GI Bill became law with the signing of the 21st Century GI Bill in 2008. 

Later this week, Lincoln will introduce legislation to ensure medical readiness for Guard and Reserve members and address benefit inequities for the survivors of severely disabled veterans.

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