McCain Doesn't Support Troops

On Thursday the Senate passed, with solid bipartisan support, a GI Modernization Bill with 75 votes. The bill updates a variety of benefits to veterans, including education benefits that assures veterans the chance to get a college education without going into debt. Sounds like an appropriate thing to offer veterans after they have put their lives on the line. The legislation sounded appropriate to 75 senators, including Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama. Republican Presidential candidate John McCain he does not support the legislation and didn't even show up to vote, instead electing to stay in California for fundraisers.

McCain argues that added educational benefits will draw veterans out of service at a time when our armed forces are already having a hard time reenlisting soldiers for Iraq and Afghanistan. Sounds like a catchy argument, unfortunately it's not based in fact. A Congressional Budget Office study shows that the improved educational benefits will increase recruitment at levels that will more than offset the loss of soldiers due reenlistment losses.

Apparently McCain, the self-promoted champion of soldiers, believes it's better to trap soldiers into service because they have no where to go other than to continue fighting. Barack Obama and 74 other senators, however, believe a better way to support the soldiers is to pay for their college education when they have finished their terms of service and to recruit more and better soldiers by offering improved education funding.

McCain talks one way but doesn't back it up with his vote. Here's yet another reason I support Obama.