State Rep. Rick Noriega provides a flavor of what it will feel like to support President Bush’s veto of the GI Bill in the Houston Chronicle:
Unfortunately, my opponent, Sen. John Cornyn, failed to stand up for our troops. Cornyn was one of only 22 senators to vote against the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Act, continuing his history of turning his back on veterans. Adding insult to injury, Cornyn went so far as to condone and encourage a presidential veto of the bill. Webb’s GI Bill passed with the support of 75 senators, including Texas’ senior Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.
Texas needs two senators fighting for our veterans and our families. It is reprehensible that Cornyn supports keeping our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan but refuses to provide for our soldiers once they return home. As a public servant, as a soldier and as a Texan, I am ashamed of Cornyn’s continued efforts to deny our troops the benefits they earned defending the United States.
Sen. Cornyn argues that financing higher education for veterans would encourage soldiers to leave the military to attend college. The notion that we should limit benefits to force our troops to stay in the military is morally repugnant. The knowledge I gained while attending college is instrumental in the work I do as a member of the Texas House of Representatives and as a lieutenant colonel in the Texas Army National Guard. I believe that higher education should be a reality for any American who wants it, and I am disheartened by Cornyn’s desire to deny this valuable right to the honorable men and women of the armed forces. A stronger GI Bill will help military recruitment, attracting America’s most capable and gifted volunteers to the military during a time when we need more troops than ever…
We call these young men and women the “next greatest generation,” and given the opportunity to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate, I will do everything in my power to make sure they are treated that way.
Sens. Alexander, Cochran, Enzi, Graham, McConnell, and Sessions are the other Republicans up for re-election this year that voted against the bill. Sens. Alexander and McConnell may live to regret it.
The notion that we should limit benefits to force our troops to stay in the military
Now there’s a useful little phrase. Wonder if anybody in the campaign is listening.
Noriega needs a little extra special help to try to take that seat. A few dollars there can do some good. And that would be a really sweet seat to poach, because Texas has some of the nutwingiest nutwings in nutwingdom. I wish we could pry Thad out of his seat, but it’s good and safe, dammit. Thad knows it. But lots of others are sweating.
I also think McCain, for his part, is actually conflicted about this bill. He knows Webb and Hagel know their stuff, and it’s not going to damage the military, but he’s Bush’s man now, and I think he hates himself for it on some level. The 2000-era McCain would’ve supported it, I bet. His rambling, bizarre response (“when I was a boy, the French and Indian wars were tearing this future-nation apart…”) to Obama’s comments in the Senate show how much this particular issue is getting to him. I’ll say it again: I can’t wait for the debates.
Just happened to notice your remark about can’t wait for the debates with McCain. I just wanted to say that debates don’t seem to mean much as Bush was clearly bested by both Gore(Iwas astonished at how badly he performed with Gore) and Kerry(where we thought he was wired to Rove)in their debates, but still managed to steal the election. Although it will be great theater, not sure how much effect it has..
Yeah, I’m not about to make any predictions about how those are going to turn out — though I think we could be in worse hands, to say the least.
I was really talking about the simple spectacle of them — their sheer entertainment value, speaking as a political partisan.
Remember back at the beginning of May, the GOP Senators had to spend Mothers’s Day weekend explaining to constituents why they voted against the holiday. It was silly because they chose to be obstructionist, but just the idea that the GOP Voted Against Mother’s Day is out there. So, we hit Memorial Day and they have to explain why they support a veto of this GI Bill*
So, I guess it’s safe to assume that they’ll be voting against Dads, Grads, Weddings and Flag Day next month.
One thing that kills me is that the bill will be pulled anyway by Sen. Dems. because they realized that a big chunk of extra goodness was left out of the bill. This allows Bush to veto the GI Bill twice and the Sen. Reps. get to vote against vets twice.
Wasn’t that the Farm Bill that had parts missing?
You’re right…What the hell was I thinking?