So lavish with other people’s sacrifices, so reckless in pouring the national treasure into the sandy pit of Iraq, Mr. Bush remains as cheap as ever when it comes to helping people at home.The basic argument that he and Mr. McCain use is that with such a lavish gift of a college education, most service members will not re-enlist.
In fact, the Congressional Budget Office does predict that the number of re-enlistments will go down about 16%, BUT the CBO also predicts that the number of new enlistments, given the education incentive of the Webb/Hagel bill, will increase about 16%! It would be a wash. Of course, to finish his dirty little war, Tsar George would probably be happier if that would be 32%! Won't happen. No incentive; no increased enlistments.
One would like to think, given the bipartisan support of the GI Bill, that Congress will finally show the cajones the Democrats promised by overriding the threatened veto by the Tsar. It already is veto-proof given the support by which it was passed. The Republican wizards will be working overtime, you can be sure, to make sure the veto sticks if it comes to that.
The NYT's final say in the editorial is great:
By threatening to veto it, Mr. Bush is showing great consistency of misjudgment. Congress should forcefully show how wrong he is by overriding his opposition and spending the money — an estimated $52 billion over 10 years, a tiniest fraction of the ongoing cost of Mr. Bush’s Iraq misadventure.Misadventure? They are too kind. Everybody else but the Tsar knows it's a total disaster...
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