VA Loan Updates

Veterans’ Home Loans Would Rise to Match Stimulus-package Levels

U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), Chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, introduced legislation today to raise the maximum guaranty amount for veterans’ home loans. The Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, passed by Congress and signed into law last month, raised loan limits for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and FHA home loans, but inadvertently did not do so for the VA Home Loan Program. Akaka’s legislation would provide needed relief to veterans struggling to purchase homes in an uncertain economy. Akaka was joined by a bipartisan group of cosponsors: Senators Reid, Durbin, Burr, Rockefeller, Murray, Obama, Sanders, Brown, Baucus, Clinton, Kerry and Boxer. The Department of Veterans Affairs projects that, if passed, his bill would make home ownership a reality for thousands of additional veterans. Sen. Akaka’s floor statement introducing the bill is copied below:

MR. AKAKA. Mr. President, today I introduce a bill that would rectify an oversight made in the recent passage of the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008. If enacted, this bill will allow thousands of veterans to realize the American dream of owning a home. Senators Reid, Durbin, Burr, Rockefeller, Murray, Obama, Sanders, Brown, Baucus, Clinton, Kerry and Boxer join me in offering this legislation.

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At a time when the all-volunteer military of the United States is facing greater challenges both at war and at home, a battle is brewing in Washington over whether the government has a moral obligation to further subsidize the educations of those men and women returning to civilian status.

That battle is starting to heat up at college campuses across the country.

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., said he adamantly believes the government has a greater obligation to help veterans who served after Sept. 11, 2001. Webb, along with Sens. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J. and Chuck Hagel R-Neb., authored the Post 9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act, which aims to modernize the GI Bill.

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Any way you cut it, Kyle Williams is a success story. He did two tours in Iraq and came back in one piece.

Well, sort of. A mortar attack that threw him into a wall ended his second tour a little early. He had to have surgery to his shoulder and the bottom half of his face. All in all, he looks pretty good.

And now he’s taking advantage of his veteran’s benefits to get an education.

Well, sort of. Last fall, Williams was finishing up at Sierra College and preparing to transfer to UC Davis when SN&R spoke to him about his activities as president of the Sierra College Veterans Club. He’d helped to organize The Road Home: From Combat to College and Beyond, an event to provide information and assistance for veterans who wanted to make use of their educational benefits.

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California campuses deal with factors keeping veterans away. 

Why aren’t more former GI Joes going to college?

That’s the question being asked these days in California, where state officials estimate only 14,000 veterans are using their Montgomery GI Bill benefits to go to college.

Although nearly all new recruits sign up for the bill and pay $1,200 from their paychecks toward their future benefits, only a fraction of them ultimately receive degrees, according to state and national figures.

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State Sen. Scott Brown, R-Wrentham, announced a new partnership with the Division of Apprenticeship Training and the Veterans Administration that will help to speed up the process of collecting GI Bill benefits for veteran constituents.

The DAT came to an agreement with the VA on the terms for the application process to receive GI Bill benefits while enrolled in an apprentice program. The DAT has been awarded its first three-year contract from the Department of Veterans Affairs for administrative oversight to help veterans in the commonwealth access the educational and monetary benefits they have earned through their service.

The DAT as authorized by Chapter 23 of the Massachusetts General Laws is the state approving agency for all apprentice education and training programs. As a condition of the agreement between the parties, once veterans are enrolled in an apprenticeship program that is registered with DAT, they willneed to submit their paperwork through this office only. Apprentice veterans should not submit their paperwork to the VA before submitting it to DAT. It will be returned by the VA, slowing down receipt of benefits. Once the paperwork has been examined by this office for accuracy and recorded, it will be forwarded to the VA office at the Kennedy Federal Building in Boston for processing.

This new procedure will speed up the time it takes for veterans to receive their benefits.

Please contact the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development’s Division of Apprentice Training at 617-626-5407 with any questions regarding GI Bill benefits for veterans while they are enrolled in an apprenticeship program.

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When he signed the G.I. Bill, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared it “gives emphatic notice to the men and women in our armed forces that the American people do not intend to let them down.” Today, we have the opportunity to send that same notice to the over 12,000 brave Tennesseans that have risked their lives for our country in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The General Assembly is currently considering the Helping Heroes Act. This legislation, sponsored by the House and Senate Democratic Caucuses, uses funds from the Tennessee Education Lottery to create a grant program for Tennessee veterans of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The program will provide these veterans with $1,000 per semester for full-time attendance at approved state colleges and universities and will supplement benefits they receive from the G.I. Bill. In effect, the Helping Heroes Act makes a public college education virtually free for these veterans.

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Oooops! When Congress and the White House put together the recent bipartisan $150 billion economic stimulus package, they raised the maximum mortgage limits in high-cost areas for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration.

But lawmakers neglected to include a similar increase for the government’s primary home purchase program for veterans — VA-backed loans. While the limits of the other three programs now extend to $729,500 in the highest-cost areas — at least through Dec. 31 — VA loans remain capped at $417,000.

For home buyers such as Greg Rasnake, a lawyer and disabled veteran who works for the federal government, the $417,000 VA limit is a deal-killer. He, his wife and children moved to the Washington area a year ago from Oklahoma. They’ve been searching since for a single-family detached house in the close-in Virginia suburbs, but have been unable to use the VA loan guarantee program because of the $417,000 ceiling.

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Sen. John Warner Thursday endorsed a proposal to revamp the GI bill to make the costs of attending private colleges and universities more affordable for veterans.

Private school tuition is “beyond the reach of the American GI stepping out of uniform, unless we make this change,” said Warner, a Virginia Republican, at a news conference.

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., reintroduced a bill Thursday that would modernize the veterans’ education plan. The latest version strips out benefits that would have covered room and board costs and adds federal funding to match contributions private schools make towards veterans’ tuition.

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The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is expanding eligibility for education benefits to National Guard members and reservists serving multiple deployments.

They previously had to serve two years on active duty without a break to qualify for the maximum education benefit.

Now those who serve three years on active duty, regardless of breaks in service, will be eligible for maximum benefits.

Also, benefits will be available for 10 years following active duty to members who complete their service.

The top payment under the Reserve Education Assistance Program is $880.80 a month.

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Legislation led by Senators Webb, Hagel, Lautenberg and Warner will expand educational opportunities for veterans. 

Arguing that “soldiers who share the same foxhole for the same length of time should get the same benefit,” U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) announced his support today for the “Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act” (S.22).

Reintroduced late last week, the legislation commonly referred to as the “21st Century GI Bill” will provide service members who have served since September 11th, 2001 with improved educational benefits similar to those provided to World War II-era veterans.

As Wyden noted the legislation will provide Oregon members of the National Guard and Reserves who have been deployed overseas with the same educational benefits enjoyed by active duty service members.

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