A bill by Congresswoman Aumua Amata Radewagen to boost fairness in veterans licensing charges and related aspects of the G.I. Bill is moving forward.
KHJ News Washington correspondent Matt Kaye reports—
Radewagen’s Veterans Education Enhancement Act of 2016 easily passed out of the Veterans’ Economic Opportunity Subcommittee, with just one amendment dealing with housing allowance overpayments.
Amata’s H.R. 5174 ensures a veteran’s G.I. Bill eligibility is charged just a pro-rated amount for licensing and certification tests, instead of a full month’s entitlement, under current law.
The Congresswoman says this will allow students to pay for tests, while minimizing the impact to their entitlement, now charged one-month for every $1,759 paid to the student…
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Radewagen argues, the current system causes “unnecessary financial distress on those veterans, service members, and their families who use the G.I. Bill.
California Democrat Mark Takano offered two amendments to Amata’s bill…just one passed, to clarify a limit on the VA’s ability to recoup housing overpayments to veterans and service members…
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Radewagen’s bill also requires the VA to set up a training program for School Certifying Officials who do G.I. Bill processing. Schools that don’t provide the training may lose their eligibility for G.I. Bill benefits.
The Veterans Education Enhancement Act ensures that G.I. Bill fees paid to train School Certifying Officials, don’t end up in a school’s general fund.
And H.R. 5174 extends through 2021, the expiring authority of the VA Advisory Committee on Education to advise the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on administering education and training programs.
