Veterans Eligible to Transfer School (Vets) Credit Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6604, as amended, the Veterans Eligible to Transfer School Credit Act. This bill, authored by my friend from Florida (Mr. Buchanan), would help student veterans continue to use their GI Bill benefits if their school closes in the middle of a semester.

Under current law, when a school closes, an eligible student can have their GI Bill benefits restored for the time they spent attending the shuttered school. This bill would streamline that process for these students to use their restored benefits at a new school. This will help student veterans quickly transfer to a new school and complete their degree using their GI Bill benefits.

H.R. 6604, as amended, also includes the text of Congressman Murphy's bill, H.R. 6458. This bill eliminates the existing requirement for the servicemember to set a specific date for when any transferred Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits would expire.

Thus, this bill would prevent those who are entitled to these benefits from accidentally inputting the wrong date.

These wrong dates have led to dependents being barred from taking advantage of their education benefits. For example, there have been instances where a servicemember has put in their child's 18th birthday by accident which then prevents the child from using the benefit. If the servicemember is alive, they can easily change this date in the system. However, if the servicemember has passed away before they make this change, then it is irreversible and the child can't use their GI Bill benefit.

I thank the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, or TAPS, for bringing this transfer issue and solution to us. I also thank both Congressman Buchanan and Congressman Murphy for their hard work on these bills. I encourage all my colleagues to support H.R.

Mr. MURPHY of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Bost for yielding.

I rise today to advocate for H.R. 6604, as amended, the Veterans Eligible to Transfer Schools (VETS) Credit Act. It corrects issues that veterans are having when using their GI benefits when transferring schools after a school closure. The bill also includes provisions from my bill, H.R. 6458, which eliminates the requirement to specify an effective period of a transfer of post-9/11 educational assistance to a dependent.

I am grateful to Representative Vern Buchanan for attaching my bill to H.R. 6604.

As Members of Congress, we realize the overall importance of the Post-9/11 GI Bill. It has been a huge success in recruiting and retaining servicemembers. Many servicemembers use the added benefit of being able to transfer their education benefits to their family members. With the cost of college education so astronomical in this era, many servicemembers are using this opportunity.

Under current law servicemembers are eligible to transfer their 36 months of Post-9/11 GI Bill eligibility to their dependents if they have served at least 6 years and incur a service obligation to serve an additional 4 years.

The nonprofit Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, otherwise known as TAPS, has brought to our attention that under current practice if a servicemember accidentally puts on their GI Bill transfer form that the benefits for a child or other dependent expire on a certain date and the servicemember later dies before the benefit is used, there is no way for the record to be changed to allow a dependent to use the benefit.

If the veteran were still alive, they could go back in the system and change the date at any time. TAPS has seen this happen to several family members and has asked us to look into it and try to correct the problem. When we contacted the Department of Defense to see if they could address this with an administrative fix, we were told that a legislative correction was needed, and this is why we are here today to introduce my bill.

The bill, as amended, includes this change that would eliminate the requirement to specify a period of transfer of Post-9/11 GI Bill entitlement to a dependent. This would prevent those entitled to post- 9/11 education benefits from accidentally inputting the wrong date and therefore preventing the dependent from taking advantage of the benefit.

It may seem a small detail, but for those individuals it is a very, very large benefit. I am grateful to TAPS for identifying this issue and grateful for Congressman Buchanan as well as Chairman Takano and Ranking Member Bost for their support. I would like to thank the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs for their assistance.

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Mr. BOST. Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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