Rep. Susie Lee’s Student Veteran Protection Act Passes Committee
***VIDEO FILE INCLUDED*** CLICK HERE TO WATCH ON YOUTUBE CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD VIDEO FILE Washington, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Susie Lee (Nev.-03), a member of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs and Chairwoman of the House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Technology Modernization, delivered remarks thanking her colleagues for including the Student Veteran Protection Act, a bipartisan bill she led with Republican Rep. Jim Banks (Ind.-03), into Rep. Mike Levin's (Calif.-49) Protect the GI Bill Act. The Committee approved the inclusion of Rep. Lee's bill and it passed the Committee as part of the Protect the GI Bill Act. Below is the text of Rep. Lee's remarks, as prepared for delivery, urging her colleagues to support the Student Veteran Protection Act's inclusion into the Protect the GI Bill Act:
BACKGROUND: A 2015 GAO report that found the VA identified $416,000,000 in overpayments under educational assistance program during fiscal year 2014, affecting approximately one in four veteran beneficiaries and about 6,000 schools. By making overpayments the responsibility of schools instead of students, schools would return overpayments directly to VA, instead of sending the payments to students who would then be responsible for reimbursing VA. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), schools return 97.7 percent of overpayments when a student's enrollment status changes, however students only return 87 percent of those overpayments to VA – causing veterans to lose benefits over time. By simplifying the overpayment process, CBO estimates this section will save the VA an estimated $120 million over 10 years. ### |