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Rep. Calvert Introduces Bill to Streamline Veteran Education Benefits

January 7, 2015

Today, Congressman Ken Calvert (CA-42) reintroduced legislation, H.R. 182, to streamline veteran education benefits at community colleges.

"Our veterans continue to deserve a simple, straightforward education benefits process that is free of unnecessary, bureaucratic delays," said Rep. Calvert. "I'm hopeful that the House will once again show strong support for this important reform and the Senate will follow suit."

"I'm proud to join my colleague Rep. Calvert in reintroducing this legislation," said Rep. Mark Takano (CA-41), the lead Democratic cosponsor of the bill. "With Riverside Community College District campuses in the 41st and 42nd congressional districts, centralizing the reporting for veterans' enrollment will be a great benefit to veterans in the Inland Empire looking to attend institutions of higher education. The current reporting method uses unnecessary and duplicative procedures that create delays, and increases processing time and costs. Our veterans have sacrificed so much and we should be doing all we can to help them return to civilian life. Creating a centralized reporting system that is efficient and cost effective will do just that and I look forward to its passage."

H.R. 182 would streamline the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) processes for community colleges that have multiple campuses. Currently, the VA requires community colleges to certify that their veteran students are enrolled for a specific number of classes before the VA will disperse student benefits. These rules must be updated to account for multi-college Community College Districts, such as Riverside Community College District (RCCD). Without such an update, veterans that take classes at a multi-college District see their benefits delayed while colleges and the VA complete and shuffle unnecessary paperwork. H.R. 182 would direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to permit the centralized reporting of veteran enrollment by certain groups, districts, and consortiums of educational institutions.

Similar legislation (H.R. 331) was approved by the House during the 113th Congress, however the Senate failed to take any action.

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