VA Loan Updates

Critics say legislation would cost $500,000,000 over five years.

WASHINGTON — Fresno resident Rufus Hernandez and his fellow Merchant Marine veterans from World War II would receive $1,000 a month tax-free under a bill passed by the House on Monday.

Hernandez thinks it’s only fair, considering the risks merchant mariners took for their country. The Bush administration and some veterans groups, though, are skeptical of the package that could cost taxpayers nearly half-a-billion dollars over the next five years.

“It’s long overdue, and there are not many of us left,” Hernandez said Monday.

Hernandez is now 80, long retired from the restaurant business. Several lifetimes ago, as a 17-year-old Sanger High School student, he went off to sea and served on a convoy supporting the invasion of Okinawa. All told, he served two years and on three different wartime ships.

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Being somewhat long in tooth and short on memory, it is easy to forget that this society, which has given me so much, was not made by me or through my efforts. I am the recipient of so much that is the result of good fortune and favorable birthright.

The freedom to become someone, that my station would not have allowed in almost any other time, is a testament to generations of wise and inspired thinkers whose dedication to the principle of equal opportunity and shared responsibility is the heart of any society that would call itself democratic.

My father was an immigrant. He came here seeking a better life for himself and his unborn heirs. I believe he succeeded. Although he never went past fourth grade, I, with the assistance of the GI Bill, graduated from college.

Thanks also to this same GI Bill I was able to buy a house rather than rent one, an event that, through the Depression years, was unthinkable for most working families. After working and paying into the Social Security System, I retired and am able to live the sort of life that the authors of that enlightened social contract had envisioned.

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“Dee’s Bill”, according to Delisi, was inspired by a visit to Brooke Army Medical Center with Dee Thurman, wife of Lieutenant General James D. Thurman, the former commanding general of the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Hood.

“While visiting the American heroes, Dee and I were touched by the children standing by their parent’s bedsides,” Delisi recalled. “In past wars, soldiers with profound injuries often became fatalities. However, today’s advanced medical care means many of these soldiers are returning to their loved ones. Unfortunately, some of these brave men and women may have suffered injuries too great for them to return to civilian employment.”

“By including these totally disabled veteran’s children under the Hazlewood Act, we remove one source of concern for soldiers trying to recover from their injuries. They will know with certainty that their children will be able to go to college,” Delisi concluded. “It is one small thing we can do to honor their sacrifices on our behalf.”

The Hazlewood Act is an education benefit that enables Texas veterans to attend a public college or university after exhausting their federal “G.I. Bill” benefits by directing these institutions to waive tuition and most fees. In 2006, the U.S. Congress expanded the federal benefit to include the children of disabled veterans.

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For those veterans who still have G.I. Insurance, there are new features on the Web site:

www.insurance.va.gov. You may now view your beneficiary designation and apply for a policy loan online. You may also access current information about your policy. Click on the link, “Online Policy Access.” You may obtain the Personal Identification Number (PIN), which is needed to log on, at this Web site. The PIN will be mailed to you. The current interest rate for new loans and existing variable rate loans is five percent. This rate will remain in effect until October 1, when it is subject to change. To apply for a loan, send a request over your signature to: P.O. Box 7327, Philadelphia, PA 19101-7327. The V.A. Insurance phone number is 1-800-669-8477.

News for veterans who use the Department of Veteran Affairs. A new service at the Department’s call center is available to answer your billing questions. Call toll free, 1-800-601-6286, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. eastern time. The VA Health Revenue Center staff in Topeka, Kansas can assist you with your VA billing statement questions. A new computer system allows them to view your billing records and get the information they need to answer your questions quickly. The new system is accurate, secure and confidential.

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A VA-guaranteed loan is a loan made by private lenders (such as banks, savings & loans, or mortgage companies) to eligible veterans. If you want to purchase or refinance a home, condominium or manufactured home, the VA can guarantee up to $417,000 of the total loan — much higher than you can get with most conventional home loans. Better yet, there is no need to worry about financing a down payment on a VA loan. However certain funding fees and closing costs apply, and you must be able pay a portion of these fees upfront.

With a VA guarantee, you get a mortgage with a competitive interest rate. The lender you borrow money from is protected against loss up to the amount of the guarantee if you fail to repay the loan, and you have the flexibility to purchase a great home. Visit the Veterans Administration website for the current table of VA Funding Fees and for information on veterans who are exempt (pay zero) from funding fees.

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As soldiers from the Minnesota National Guard finally come home from their near two-year deployment in Iraq, there will be a lot of recognition on just how much they have done for their country. Now it’s time for their country to do something for them.

Congress has been debating extending educational benefits through the GI Bill to members of the Guard and Army Reserve. Many of these “citizen soldiers” do not have the same benefits provided full-time military personnel. That made sense when the role of the Guard and Reserve was mostly restricted to helping with natural disasters and other domestic calamities. Their duties were restricted to several weekends of training and two full weeks a year.

But since 9/11, these citizen soldiers have been on duty much like regular full-time military. They’ve taken on full-time combat roles in overseas locations. Some 600,000 of them have been called to full-time duty since 9/11; 425,000 of them served in Iraq, Afghanistan or other nearby danger zones. Some 133,000 of them have had more than one tour of duty.

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While lawmakers debate over funding for the Wisconsin GI bill, some veterans take the heat.

Key lawmakers are trying to restore recent cuts to the Veterans Tuition Remission Program. In a four-city tour, certain Republicans and Democrats joined forces, they say, to “keep their promise” about the bill’s “original intent,” but one Iraq veteran isn’t buying it.

“They were flip-flopping all over the place and that really frustrates me because they’re all telling us ‘hey, we’re standing here protecting you.’ But in the end it sounds like they’re willing to make compromises and not willing to share with us which ones they’re willing to make.”

Michael Trepanier of Madison will be a full time law student this semester, as he makes use of the 100% free tuition benefit for veterans … or so he thought. Trepanier says, before the 2006 law even took effect, state lawmakers went back on their word and made some cuts to the benefits.

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Wisconsin’s Lt. Governor travels the state, urging lawmakers to fully fund the Wisconsin GI Bill.

Lt. Governor Barbara Lawton says it’s a matter of “keeping our promise” with veterans. State Senator Jim Sullivan, chair of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, stands beside Lawton on their four-city tour, urging lawmakers to restore their cuts to the veterans Tuition Remission Program.

“We are here today to tell our veterans that we will work to fund the Wisconsin GI Bill. We must honor those who have served, not only with words but with opportunity once they reenter civilian life.”

The lawmakers talked about restoring the measure to its “original intent,” but what does that mean, how should that be implemented and how will it be funded? Representative Terry Musser (R-River Falls) chairs the Assembly Committee on Veterans Affairs. He says many lawmakers didn’t quite understand the ramifications of the bill when they signed it, nor when they made the cuts.

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The Walter Reed scandal this past March brought the issue of veterans’ care to the front page of the newspaper. Elected officials and the public alike were horrified by the conditions in which veterans lived at a military hospital while waiting for their papers to be processed by a complex and inefficient system. The scandal eventually led to the resignation of the chief of Veterans Affairs. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the federal government has undervalued, ignored, and even abused the men and women who fought and sacrificed for their country.

When testifying before the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs this February, John Rowan, National President of Vietnam Veterans of America said, “With troops in the field, years of underfunding of health care organizational capacity, renovation of an archaic and dilapidated infrastructure, updating capital equipment, continued underestimation of usage by veterans, particularly returnees from Iraq and Afghanistan, and several cohorts of war veterans reaching ages of peak health care utilization—these are extraordinary times.”

Hundreds of thousands of veterans haven’t yet returned from Iraq and Afghanistan to begin using the already understaffed system. Furthermore, many Iraq veterans—500 to 1,000 soldiers—have returned to find themselves homeless, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

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Over the road drivers who also are U.S. military veterans can take home up to $12,000 in G.I. Bill money through a new program offered by Roehl Transport.

Created to honor the men and women who served in the military with their transition to long-term success in civilian life, the Roehl honor program allows drivers to earn industry-leading Roehl pay and receive career training benefits under the G.I. Bill.

The program is available to qualified veterans who have been discharged from duty within the last 12 months or who are serving in the National Guard or reserves. The length of time participants can receive the GI Bill benefits and the amount they are eligible to receive each month is determined by the U.S. Department of Defense, but for many it is as long as two years and can total more than $12,000 tax free.

G.I. Bill benefits are in addition to Roehl’s pay plan, which includes practical-route mileage pay, achievable bonuses, a mileage per diem pay option and profit sharing.

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