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Webb urges McCain to sign onto GI bill |
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By Roxana Tiron
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Posted: 03/19/08 01:06 PM [ET] |
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Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) is calling on presumptive GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) to sign on as a co-sponsor to his GI bill, which would improve educational benefits to veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“McCain needs to get on the bill,” Webb told reporters after a Christian Science Monitor breakfast meeting on Wednesday. He said legislation mirroring the post-World War II GI bill should not be considered a “political issue.”
Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Il.), the Democratic presidential candidates, both have signed on to the bill.
In a major coup for Webb, Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), the former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, signed on as a co-sponsor earlier this month. Warner is a close ally of McCain, who is the ranking member on Armed Services. Warner has often been the committee’s top Republican with McCain
busy on the campaign trail.
Webb’s bill has 51 co-sponsors, including nine Republicans. Webb, a former secretary of the Navy, said he may have to get 60 co-sponsors to ensure Senate passage, but then added that many more Republicans could vote for the bill if McCain endorsed it.
The Bush administration so far has resisted Webb’s measure, and has said the new benefits may prompt active members of the military to leave for civilian life. The Pentagon is already struggling with re-enlistment, and some officials worry expanded educational benefits could whittle down the force.
The cost of Webb’s bill is projected to be about $2.5 billion a year, but Webb said he is still waiting for an official estimate from the Congressional Budget Office — something he said he asked for 15 months ago when he first introduced the bill.
Webb said his measure may be attached to the next supplemental appropriations bill for Iraq and Afghanistan.
Webb, who is seen as a potential vice presidential candidate and has not offered an endorsement, was reluctant to show his preference for a Democratic nominee.
He told The Hill no one has approached him about joining a ticket this fall. Asked if would consider the nod if it were offered, Webb said, “Not particularly.”
Webb said the strategic framework agreement the White House is negotiating with Iraq would create roadblocks for a Democratic president, who may want to withdraw the military from Iraq. The agreement would provide the legal authority for continued U.S. operations in Iraq after the end of this year.
“It would be harder to turn around for a Democratic president than for a Republican president,” Webb said.
The agreement has provoked a debate with Democrats in Congress, who argue it is in effect a treaty that would need Senate ratification. The White House argues the 2002 congressional authorization to go to war with Iraq gave the administration the constitutional authority to sign the agreement without Senate approval.
Webb said that he is discussing with leadership the possibility of including language in an appropriations bill that would prohibit any funds from being expanded to carry out the agreement.
At the same breakfast, Webb announced he is publishing a new book in May, entitled A Time to Fight. The book will tackle a lot of the issues America is facing today, including the “failure in the judicial system,” said Webb, who has published several novels.
It also includes personal details about parts of his life that he has not openly talked about yet, he added.
When asked whether the book has any sex scenes (something Webb got heat about during his campaign in 2006), he joked: “You have to read the book.” |
