The Senate followed the House in overwhelmingly endorsing a new GI bill aimed specifically at post-9/11 veterans. The New GI Bill for the 21st Century (S. 22), introduced by Sen. James Webb (D-Va.), found solid bipartisan support in both Houses of Congress, but President Bush has threatened a veto largely because it is contained within the war emergency supplemental spending bill. Republican Presidential-hopeful Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) has called the new GI bill too generous since it extends the same benefits to veterans who have served three years and those who stay longer. In a May 22 statement, Webb declared: “There are no politics here. This is about taking care of the people who have taken care of us.”
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.