[NBC via RedState] Democratic lawmakers on Veterans Day reintroduced legislation that would grant GI Bill benefits to the descendants of black Americans who fought in World War II but were prevented from taking advantage of the program. It is intended to atone for the reality that many soldiers were discriminated against when they attempted to obtain the educational and housing benefits the GI Bill granted.
NBC News reported:
The GI Bill Restoration Act would provide descendants of these veterans a transferable benefit that could be used to obtain housing, attend college or start a business, according to the announcement Thursday from the bill’s sponsors.
To mark Veterans Day, the bill was unveiled Thursday by House Majority Whip James Clyburn of South Carolina and Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts in the House and is expected to be introduced by Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia in the Senate. The Democratic lawmakers said that Black veterans had limited access to GI benefits in the past because most state and local veterans administrations were largely run by white officials.
The report noted that "[t]he bill would extend access to Post-9/11 GI Bill educational assistance benefits to the surviving spouse and direct descendants of these veterans who were alive when the bill took effect.
Rep. Clyburn released a statement in which he pointed out that black soldiers who served in World War II were "treated unjustly" after returning to the U.S. and were denied a "path to the middle class." |