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Right now. Now, let's talk about the GI bill and
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the potential expansion of the GI bill. How could expanding
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the GI bill possibly be detrimental to those who are
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serving us well? Marine Corps veteran will Hubbard says, there
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are some things we might need to look out for.
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He's on with us now. William Hubbard is the Veterans
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policy leader, and he is a Marine veteran himself. Is
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it Will or William? Which do you prefer? Either way?
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I usually go by Will though, Thanks.
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Okay, let's roll with Will. How are you man?
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I'm doing well.
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How are you?
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Thanks for having me on?
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No, of course, so when you just read headlines and
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you know, admittedly that's all of us, you can scroll
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past something that looks at the expansion of the GI
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bill and say, great, we're serving those who serve us.
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That's a fantastic thing. But I'm reading through here and
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for roughly a quarter of a million Louisiana's who have
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Louisiana veterans who have served our nation proudly, this might
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have some detrimental effects. Walk us through what's actually on
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the table.
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Yeah, it's a great question, and it's a really hot
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topic right now. There is a highly controversial bill being
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considered in Congress at the moment that would do a
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lot of good things. This bill actually has a lot
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of different components that many veterans advocates have pushed for
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for many years, some over a decade. Unfortunately, the way
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that the bill is structured, there's a very controversial element,
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which is how it's paid for. So there's a lot
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of heartburn over that right now, and groups like the
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Veterans of Foreign Wars and Disabled American veterans, as well
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as Iraq and Afghanistan veterans of America have been extremely
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outspoken in their opposition. But that's not necessarily what we're
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focused on. There's two very overlooked provisions that we're concerned
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about that would have a detrimental impact on the GI bill,
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and you know, we're just very concerned about those.
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At this point, walk went through the details. What are
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your concerns?
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Well, the first issue is a small section will one be?
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So Section two will one be basically sets up the
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opportunity for online trades training. Now, trades training, as we
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all know, is an important part of our economy. The
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trades are incredibly necessary for our country to continue to improve. Unfortunately,
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the way it's structured, it would make it fully online.
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And this is the part we have concerned with. For example,
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imagine doing welding as an online program. You know, I
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don't need to explain why the number of reasons that's
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a bad idea, and anybody who's been in the trades
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understands that that's a hands on experience, and so that's
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a real issue that we have.
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Now.
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The proponents of that section have said they're looking to
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do it for hybrid training, but Brian hybrid training is
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already allowed under the current law, and so when you
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peel back the onion, really what they're going after is
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online unaccredited programs, which is really just a bad idea.
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So can I hop in here real quick, will? Because
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I want to ask you if this is a part
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of the equation. When you're talking about those who have
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trained in the military learned things in the military, there
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are a lot of applicable skills that have been learned
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along the way. Does this open the door for certification
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without further delaying things by them going to a trade
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school to learn something they already know.
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No, unfortunately not. I mean there are several pathways for that,
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but the reality is without any sort of industry recognized credential,
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getting a job as next impossible. So you'd be spending
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your time potentially trying to learn things, but really there's
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no application for it. Moving on, so it's just a
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waste of time.
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Hey, want to go back to the top real quick.
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I has somebody asking me what's the bill and who's
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the author?
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Yeah, So it's called the Take Care of America's Veterans Act,
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and it's being championed in the House of Representatives by
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the chairman, Mike Boss from Southern Illinois, and then in
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the Senate the chair is also championing that. He's from Kansas,
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Senator Jerry Moran.
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Okay, all right, back to it. There were other concerns,
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not just online welding, but other concerns. Yeah.
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The second piece is on a potential increase and the
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housing allowance for folks who are going to school fully online. Now,
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a lot of people, particularly past the pandemic, have found
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that online learning provides a lot of flexibility and there's
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certainly value to that. Unfortunately, for those who are fully online,
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they have we found that there are quite a few,
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very very poor programs out there who've taken advantage of
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this increased interest in online learning, and what they'd like
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to do is increase the housing allowance for those who
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are fully online, which presently sits at fifty percent the
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national average of the housing allowance. Unfortunately, the way that
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the text is structured, they would just simply move to
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one hundred percent the national average. But keep in mind
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that means half of the people who are using it
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get too much money.
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Half of the people will get well.
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Yeah, frankly, that's not a real solution. So there's there's
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more sophisticated ways to actually solve the problem. And the
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text that they're using right now is not it.
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Oh man, that because that's one of those ones. Like
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I said, when you read the headline or if you
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skim the bill, it sounds good on the front that
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does sound good on the front end. But as soon
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as you said it like that, I'm like, that totally
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makes sense. There's there's one other part that that I
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took notice off along the way, and I think this
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is kind of might be leading to something bigger. There
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are a number of veterans who could have already been
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on the path towards further education and training and just
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connected with the wrong school and can end up getting
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screwed over it.
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Yeah, these are people who we hear from on a
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daily basis. You know, everybody in the military knows and
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is told get it, get an education, get a degree,
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that's the path forward to the American dream. And you know,
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I firmly believe that. But the problem is not all
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schools are made equal, and a lot of schools know
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that the GI bill is a big pot of cash
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and they simply want to tap into that, and so
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they go after veterans and their family members, even survivors
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of falling service members, to just get their GI bill dollars.
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And so we're very concerned about these folks. And in
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situations where someone decides, you know what, this degree is
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not for me, or maybe it's not even a real program,
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and they get out, they move on. If they want
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to get those GI bill resources and those GI bill
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dollars back, there is no way to do that right now.
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Now.
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This is in contrast with average individuals who may use
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the US Department of Education money and they can get
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their loans wiped, they can get their grants restored. If
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you're a veteran or somebody using the GI bill, you
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have no chance to do that.
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Got just two and a half minutes left with Will
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Hubbard talking about the possible expansion or changes to the
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GI bill. First of all, let's talk about numbers. Here
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here in Louisiana's I understand we have just shy of
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a quarter of a million veterans. Ken are you able
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to determine how many of those veterans would be affected
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by this or how many are already past that part?
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The reality is tracking these folks is very difficult based
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on the number of stopouts, and it's all self reported
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at the end of the day, because it's difficult to
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discern if somebody simply found a job and decided not
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to pursue the degree or if they actually were defrauded.
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So it really comes down to people reaching out and
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raising their hand and telling us about it, which is
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why you know, we continue to work with them and
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it encourage them to speak up, because as long as
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people are not speaking up, then this is this stuff
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is going to continue to happen. But if we can
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get the Veterans Benefits Restoration Act done, you know, that's
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that's something that we think will really have a major impact.
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I've said two more and now I mean two more
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with Will Hubbard. How much room or timeline wise is,
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you know, as we go to the schoolhouse rocks the
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bills on Capitol Hill, how much time in the process
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do we have to make potential changes to this to
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correct some of the minutia that needs to be moved around,
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maneuvered around.
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It's really hard to say, because the leadership on the
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committees have said this is the bill, this is what
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we're doing, and we're moving to a vote. Now. That said,
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if there's no viable pass forward, that may force them
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back to the negotiation table to rework some things. And
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that's our hope. Our hope is that this ultimately is
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seen as a draft and can be worked on, including
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dropping those two sections that I mentioned and then perhaps
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adding the Fraud Restoration Bill into that. Yeah, but you
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know they're trying to move fast. I mean, there's only
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so many days left on the legislative calendar, and so
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they really are.
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On the clock last one for you, and I know
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these are the things you want to see change. But
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if none of those get changed, and the take care
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of America's veterans AC and moves forward. Do we not
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want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. You
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started off by saying there's a lot of good in
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this thing. So overall, are we looking to tweak or
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we're looking to dump?
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Well, I think ultimately it's going to be an opposition vote.
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You know, the members that I've spoken to on Capitol
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Hill have said that both sides too. You know, it's
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not just a partisan issue. They've said they're very concerned
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about some of the elements in there, and frankly, a
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lot of the stuff that is good is not good enough.
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Some of the versions that were used for some of
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these elements that people do like are still not exactly
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what they want. So it'd be a partial solution plus
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a lot of negative stuff. I mean, that's hard to
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vote for.
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He is Will Hubbard, the Vice President for Veterans and
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Military Policy with Veterans Education Success. I appreciate a couple
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of minutes this morning.
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Hey, thanks a lot, Brian taking Thank you absolutely
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Right now. Now, let's talk about the GI bill and
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the potential expansion of the GI bill. How could expanding
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the GI bill possibly be detrimental to those who are
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serving us well? Marine Corps veteran will Hubbard says, there
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are some things we might need to look out for.
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He's on with us now. William Hubbard is the Veterans
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policy leader, and he is a Marine veteran himself. Is
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it Will or William? Which do you prefer? Either way?
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I usually go by Will though, Thanks.
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Okay, let's roll with Will. How are you man?
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I'm doing well.
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How are you?
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Thanks for having me on?
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No, of course, so when you just read headlines and
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you know, admittedly that's all of us, you can scroll
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past something that looks at the expansion of the GI
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bill and say, great, we're serving those who serve us.
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That's a fantastic thing. But I'm reading through here and
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for roughly a quarter of a million Louisiana's who have
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Louisiana veterans who have served our nation proudly, this might
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have some detrimental effects. Walk us through what's actually on
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the table.
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Yeah, it's a great question, and it's a really hot
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topic right now. There is a highly controversial bill being
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considered in Congress at the moment that would do a
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lot of good things. This bill actually has a lot
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of different components that many veterans advocates have pushed for
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for many years, some over a decade. Unfortunately, the way
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that the bill is structured, there's a very controversial element,
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which is how it's paid for. So there's a lot
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of heartburn over that right now, and groups like the
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Veterans of Foreign Wars and Disabled American veterans, as well
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as Iraq and Afghanistan veterans of America have been extremely
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outspoken in their opposition. But that's not necessarily what we're
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focused on. There's two very overlooked provisions that we're concerned
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about that would have a detrimental impact on the GI bill,
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and you know, we're just very concerned about those.
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At this point, walk went through the details. What are
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your concerns?
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Well, the first issue is a small section will one be?
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So Section two will one be basically sets up the
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opportunity for online trades training. Now, trades training, as we
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all know, is an important part of our economy. The
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trades are incredibly necessary for our country to continue to improve. Unfortunately,
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the way it's structured, it would make it fully online.
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And this is the part we have concerned with. For example,
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imagine doing welding as an online program. You know, I
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don't need to explain why the number of reasons that's
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a bad idea, and anybody who's been in the trades
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understands that that's a hands on experience, and so that's
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a real issue that we have.
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Now.
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The proponents of that section have said they're looking to
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do it for hybrid training, but Brian hybrid training is
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already allowed under the current law, and so when you
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peel back the onion, really what they're going after is
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online unaccredited programs, which is really just a bad idea.
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So can I hop in here real quick, will? Because
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I want to ask you if this is a part
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of the equation. When you're talking about those who have
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trained in the military learned things in the military, there
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are a lot of applicable skills that have been learned
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along the way. Does this open the door for certification
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without further delaying things by them going to a trade
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school to learn something they already know.
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No, unfortunately not. I mean there are several pathways for that,
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but the reality is without any sort of industry recognized credential,
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getting a job as next impossible. So you'd be spending
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your time potentially trying to learn things, but really there's
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no application for it. Moving on, so it's just a
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waste of time.
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Hey, want to go back to the top real quick.
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I has somebody asking me what's the bill and who's
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the author?
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Yeah, So it's called the Take Care of America's Veterans Act,
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and it's being championed in the House of Representatives by
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the chairman, Mike Boss from Southern Illinois, and then in
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the Senate the chair is also championing that. He's from Kansas,
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Senator Jerry Moran.
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Okay, all right, back to it. There were other concerns,
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not just online welding, but other concerns. Yeah.
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The second piece is on a potential increase and the
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housing allowance for folks who are going to school fully online. Now,
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a lot of people, particularly past the pandemic, have found
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that online learning provides a lot of flexibility and there's
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certainly value to that. Unfortunately, for those who are fully online,
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they have we found that there are quite a few,
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very very poor programs out there who've taken advantage of
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this increased interest in online learning, and what they'd like
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to do is increase the housing allowance for those who
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are fully online, which presently sits at fifty percent the
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national average of the housing allowance. Unfortunately, the way that
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the text is structured, they would just simply move to
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one hundred percent the national average. But keep in mind
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that means half of the people who are using it
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get too much money.
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Half of the people will get well.
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Yeah, frankly, that's not a real solution. So there's there's
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more sophisticated ways to actually solve the problem. And the
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text that they're using right now is not it.
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Oh man, that because that's one of those ones. Like
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I said, when you read the headline or if you
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skim the bill, it sounds good on the front that
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does sound good on the front end. But as soon
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as you said it like that, I'm like, that totally
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makes sense. There's there's one other part that that I
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took notice off along the way, and I think this
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is kind of might be leading to something bigger. There
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are a number of veterans who could have already been
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on the path towards further education and training and just
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connected with the wrong school and can end up getting
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screwed over it.
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Yeah, these are people who we hear from on a
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daily basis. You know, everybody in the military knows and
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is told get it, get an education, get a degree,
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that's the path forward to the American dream. And you know,
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I firmly believe that. But the problem is not all
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schools are made equal, and a lot of schools know
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that the GI bill is a big pot of cash
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and they simply want to tap into that, and so
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they go after veterans and their family members, even survivors
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of falling service members, to just get their GI bill dollars.
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And so we're very concerned about these folks. And in
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situations where someone decides, you know what, this degree is
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not for me, or maybe it's not even a real program,
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and they get out, they move on. If they want
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to get those GI bill resources and those GI bill
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dollars back, there is no way to do that right now.
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Now.
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This is in contrast with average individuals who may use
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the US Department of Education money and they can get
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their loans wiped, they can get their grants restored. If
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you're a veteran or somebody using the GI bill, you
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have no chance to do that.
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Got just two and a half minutes left with Will
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Hubbard talking about the possible expansion or changes to the
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GI bill. First of all, let's talk about numbers. Here
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here in Louisiana's I understand we have just shy of
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a quarter of a million veterans. Ken are you able
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to determine how many of those veterans would be affected
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by this or how many are already past that part?
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The reality is tracking these folks is very difficult based
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on the number of stopouts, and it's all self reported
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at the end of the day, because it's difficult to
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discern if somebody simply found a job and decided not
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to pursue the degree or if they actually were defrauded.
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So it really comes down to people reaching out and
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raising their hand and telling us about it, which is
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why you know, we continue to work with them and
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it encourage them to speak up, because as long as
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people are not speaking up, then this is this stuff
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is going to continue to happen. But if we can
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get the Veterans Benefits Restoration Act done, you know, that's
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that's something that we think will really have a major impact.
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I've said two more and now I mean two more
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with Will Hubbard. How much room or timeline wise is,
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you know, as we go to the schoolhouse rocks the
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bills on Capitol Hill, how much time in the process
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do we have to make potential changes to this to
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correct some of the minutia that needs to be moved around,
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maneuvered around.
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It's really hard to say, because the leadership on the
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committees have said this is the bill, this is what
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we're doing, and we're moving to a vote. Now. That said,
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if there's no viable pass forward, that may force them
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back to the negotiation table to rework some things. And
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that's our hope. Our hope is that this ultimately is
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seen as a draft and can be worked on, including
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dropping those two sections that I mentioned and then perhaps
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adding the Fraud Restoration Bill into that. Yeah, but you
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know they're trying to move fast. I mean, there's only
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so many days left on the legislative calendar, and so
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they really are.
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On the clock last one for you, and I know
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these are the things you want to see change. But
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if none of those get changed, and the take care
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of America's veterans AC and moves forward. Do we not
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want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. You
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started off by saying there's a lot of good in
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this thing. So overall, are we looking to tweak or
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we're looking to dump?
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Well, I think ultimately it's going to be an opposition vote.
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You know, the members that I've spoken to on Capitol
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Hill have said that both sides too. You know, it's
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not just a partisan issue. They've said they're very concerned
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about some of the elements in there, and frankly, a
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lot of the stuff that is good is not good enough.
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Some of the versions that were used for some of
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these elements that people do like are still not exactly
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what they want. So it'd be a partial solution plus
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a lot of negative stuff. I mean, that's hard to
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vote for.
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He is Will Hubbard, the Vice President for Veterans and
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Military Policy with Veterans Education Success. I appreciate a couple
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of minutes this morning.
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Hey, thanks a lot, Brian taking Thank you absolutely
