Last year President Donald Trump signed the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act-commonly called the "Forever GI Bill"-a piece of legislation that greatly expanded educational opportunities for U.S. veterans.
Among its provisions, the bill eliminated the 15-year deadline for using benefits and expanded access to more service members, including those in the National Guard and Reserves. And it offers scholarships for veterans choosing to study science, technology, engineering and math.
The legislation was hailed as a landmark achievement. But there's been a glitch. A big one.
It seems the Department of Veterans Affairs doesn't have the information technology infrastructure in place to make sure the benefits reach the veterans. The agency's workload doubled from September 2017 to September 2018 and they just can't handle it. The VA estimates 82,000 veterans in college are still waiting for housing stipends. That means some have had to go deeply into debt to cover those expenses and others are facing eviction and homelessness.
While thousands of veterans never got promised payments, the VA says more than 300,000 others have been issued late payments or incorrect amounts that do not reflect promised increases for 2018. The agency can't say for sure when they will be reimbursed for the full amount due.
This isn't the way to serve those who served this nation. Congress and the White House had good intentions with this bill. But in expanding the GI Bill they did not include needed funding for the VA to expand its IT capabilities. And now our vets are paying the price.
The House Committee on Veterans' Affairs has set up a hearing Wednesday to look into the matter. Will that accomplish anything? We can only hope.
At the moment, though, there is no telling when the VA will catch up. In the meantime-even on this Veterans Day federal holiday-thousands of U.S. heroes are facing financial disaster through no fault of their own.