Now on the Campaign Trail – GI Benefits

Mon, May 12, 2008 - 3:26 PM

Sen. Jim Webb still hasn’t endorsed Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, but Webb’s GI bill was front and center on the stump with Obama today in West Virginia.

In Charleston, W. Va., Obama hammered Republican presidential nominee John McCain for opposing Webb’s bill:

“I have great respect for John McCain’s service to this country and I know he loves it dearly and honors those who serve. But he is one of the few Senators of either party who oppose this bill because he thinks it’s too generous. I couldn’t disagree more. At a time when the skyrocketing cost of tuition is pricing thousands of Americans out of a college education, we should be doing everything we can to give the men and women who have risked their lives for this country the chance to pursue the American Dream.”

Clinton has sponsored Webb’s bill as well. McCain supports a different bill introduced by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, which aims to expand educational benefits for armed service personnel who stay in the military.

--Neil H. Simon