VoteVets Thanks Us and Reminds Us that we Have a New Reason to Celebrate!

30,000 petition signatures. Tens of thousands of letters to Capitol Hill.
Thousands and thousands of letters to the editor. Donations that allowed us to air national TV ads on the bill. That’s what you did to help pass this bill, in the name of VoteVets.org, and that’s why I was invited to stand with Senators as the bill was brought up for consideration.

More importantly, your work made passage of the bill a reality.Now, the bill will go to the President’s desk, and he has signaled he will sign it. It wasn’t so long ago that the President had threatened to veto the legislation, with Senators like John McCain backing him up on that decision. The President’s reversal can also be attributed to just how much you worked to pass this bill. The President and those in his party know that there could be nothing more unpopular than vetoing increased education benefits for those who serve in war, in a time of war.

That’s why I want to thank you, from the bottom of my heart, on behalf of all Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. What you have done is make the American dream possible for so many of us. Many of us who couldn’t afford college will now be able to. We’ll go on to become doctors and lawyers and teachers, and have the chance to raise families in the American middle class. It was a promise made to us by Franklin Roosevelt, and your work has restored that promise.You are truly patriots, in every sense of the word.-- Sincerely,Brian McGough
Iraq and Afghanistan War Veteran VoteVets.org

Nothing really to add to this other than I am proud to have been a part of the fight for a new overdue GI Bill. Oh, and who's going to design the new stamp?

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Senate Votes to Fund War Through 2009

On this memorial day weekend some good news and some bad. There was a vote to fund the GI bill BUT there is no timetable, no end in sight for the war, and plenty of money still going to fund this illegal and immoral fiasco.

The Senate has passed $165 billion to fund the war in Iraq until President Bush's successor takes over. The 70-26 vote came just minutes after a majority of Republicans voted to add tens of billions of dollars for veterans college aid and extending unemployment benefits to the war funding bill.

But Bush has promised to veto the bill if it contains the domestic measures, and the president still has enough GOP support to sustain a veto.

The Senate also voted 63-34 to block a Democratic plan to urge Bush to begin redeployment of combat troops and place other strings on his ability to conduct the war in Iraq.

The House still has to act on the bill. Last week, the House voted to reject money for continuing the war. - AP, Washington

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VoteVets Call To Action and Excellent Ads

(from the signing of the first GI Bill)

It is time for a new GI Bill.
VoteVets.org is putting on the pressure.

It's crunch time. This week, the Senate is expected to take up the 21st Century GI Bill, offered by Senators Jim Webb and Chuck Hagel, after the measure passed the House last week. And, VoteVets.org is right there to keep the pressure on, with a 36-hour ad blitz on the bill.

For the next day and a half, no one in Washington DC will be able to turn on their TV, without seeing an ad on the GI Bill that challenges Senator John McCain to back the Webb-Hagel bill. As you know, Senator McCain has his own watered-down measure that only gives a fraction of the costs of college to veterans. As our veterans say in the ad, "We didn't give a fraction in Iraq, we gave 100 percent."

Meanwhile, in key markets in Texas, we challenge Senator John Cornyn to back the Webb-Hagel bill. Senator Cornyn is one of the few Senators representing a large veterans population who has not signed onto the Webb-Hagel Bill.

As our Vice Chairman, Iraq and Afghanistan Veteran and Texan Brandon Friedman said today, "After serving in combat, veterans shouldn't be placed in a position where they have to choose between going to school and paying the rent. That was never the intention of the original bill. Senator Cornyn needs to follow the lead of so many of his colleagues from both sides, who are doing the right thing to support our troops and veterans by voting for this bill." The same goes for Senator McCain.
Thank you,- Brian McGough http://www.votevets.org/index_html

Here is their excellent ad.

Send them some blog-love and support for their important campaign.

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No More Money

The House of Representatives just voted 149 to 141 to cut off funding for the war in Iraq. This was followed by votes to put significant restrictions on President Bush's war policy, including a timeline for withdrawal, and creating a new GI Bill to help returning veterans.

100 republican congress-critters voted "present" rather than yes or no on funding. The fear of job loss in the GOP reaching a pretty fevered pitch. (from Open Left)

Find out how your rep. voted, and say thanks-- or give 'em what for!

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