No Funds in Bush Budget For Troop-Benefits Plan
He Made Proposal in January Speech

By Michael Abramowitz and Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, February 9, 2008; A01

President Bush drew great applause during his State of the Union
address last month when he called on Congress to allow U.S. troops to
transfer their unused education benefits to family members. "Our
military families serve our nation, they inspire our nation, and
tonight our nation honors them," he said.

A week later, however, when Bush submitted his $3.1 trillion federal
budget to Congress, he included no funding for such an initiative,
which government analysts calculate could cost $1 billion to $2
billion annually.

Bush's proposal was added to the speech late in the process,
administration officials said, after the president decided that he
wanted to announce a program that would favor military families. That
left little time to vet the idea, develop formal cost estimates or
gauge how many people might take advantage of such a program. Some
administration officials said the proposal surprised them, and they
voiced concerns about how to fund it.

Some critics in Congress cite the episode as a case study of what they
consider the slapdash way Bush has put together the legislative
program for his final year in office. Still, the idea is generating
bipartisan interest from members of Congress who are eager to assist
military families coping with long-term absences of loved ones
deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have drawn up legislation that
would remove restrictions that currently prevent most troops from
transferring education benefits to family members.

"It has some merit to it. I don't have any idea what it costs --
that's been one of the problems in the past," said Rep. John M. Spratt
Jr. (D-S.C.), chairman of the House Budget Committee. "That's not the
only inconsistency or contradiction in his budget by any means. The
budget overstates revenues and understates expenditures in a big way."

A senior White House official said the proposal was suggested to the
president by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who got the idea from
a military spouse who told him that the Army has a limited program to
transfer education benefits. The spouse told Gates, " 'Army spouses
get this benefit, other branches should, too.' He brought it to the
president and said, 'I think this is a valid point,' " the official
said.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Bush liked
Gates's suggestion, which eventually became one sentence in the
president's 53-minute State of the Union speech. "It is a good idea,
and we are trying to determine the cost and put together a proposal,"
the official said.

Under the current GI Bill, service members are eligible for nearly
$40,000 in education benefits, such as college tuition or employment
training, after they complete three years of active duty. Nearly 70
percent of active-duty U.S. troops and veterans use at least part of
these benefits, which cover three-quarters of the cost of tuition,
room, board and fees in a four-year state university, according to Lt.
Col. Jonathan Withington, a Pentagon spokesman. U.S. officials concede
that the cost would probably soar, with most families making full use
of the benefits.

The GI Bill education benefits cost nearly $2 billion in fiscal 2006.
Pentagon officials said they are unable to provide a figure for the
potential cost of the new proposal, or for other initiatives for
military families that Bush proposed in his State of the Union speech.

The president also called for expanded access to child -- care for
military families and for new preferences for military spouses
competing for positions in the federal government. Pentagon officials
are working on those proposals as well. They said Bush envisions
expanding child care for at least 58,000 military children ages 1 to
12 year-round. The Pentagon already provides care facilities for about
200,000 children.

A third component of the Bush initiative involves opening up more
government employment opportunities for military spouses and providing
money for training or professional certification so they can more
easily find jobs when they move from state to state. A pilot program
now provides up to $6,000 over two years to help spouses create such
"portable" careers.

The Pentagon is still working out the potential costs, but it reports
that about 77 percent of the 675,000 spouses of active-duty troops say
they want or need to work and that they might take advantage of such a
program.

The Army has a limited program that allows soldiers to transfer some
of their education benefits to spouses or children, but it has several
restrictions. For instance, only soldiers reenlisting in certain
critical skill areas are eligible, and they are allowed to transfer
only about half their benefits.

Retired Col. Robert Norton, deputy director for government relations
at the Military Officers Association of America, said military
families have been "clamoring" for an expansion of the GI Bill in
recent years as a critical incentive for troops to stay in the
service. He noted that the families endure much hardship and stress
while following their spouses around the world or being separated for
great lengths of time.

Most U.S. troops who use the GI program use only about half the
education benefits, Norton said, and only a tiny percentage use all of
their money, so the cost of allowing family members to participate in
the program would probably be high. "There is likely to be a pretty
hefty price tag," Norton said. "We think it's a good thing for
military families. We would like to see the details."

The idea of allowing more troops to extend education benefits to
family members has been percolating on Capitol Hill for some time.
Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett (R-Md.) has been pushing it for years and
introduced a bill after Bush's surprise endorsement. His measure would
drop the restrictions on how many benefits can be transferred and
would allow members of the reserves and National Guard to participate.

In the Senate, Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) has introduced similar
legislation. In an interview, she said that she hopes the White House
will back her plan. "We ought to be able to get it pretty quickly
through," she said. "It was their idea, and they ought to get credit
for it."

The idea has bipartisan support. "It was a very pleasant surprise
coming from an administration that has tried to balance its budgets on
the backs of military families," said Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), who
is co-sponsoring Bartlett's bill. "I don't know where they got the
idea, but I am not going to quibble."