The veterans work-study program in Illinois is going to look a little different now.
On Tuesday, July 23, Illinois U.S. Congressman Rodney Davis announced that his H.R. 3535 bill was unanimously passed in the House of Representatives. The bill, referred to as the GI Bill Work Study Improvement Act of 2019, will now start to improve on the veterans work-study program that is utilized by veterans at multiple universities throughout Davis’ district.
Congressman Davis explains the process of how this bill started to gain momentum in allowing it to pass through the House, as well as what is included in the bill itself.
“It was in a meeting with Dr. Roe in Springfield, Illinois last summer, that he heard from my constituents who represented the 13 colleges that I represent in Central Illinois. They got together and they talked about the GI bill Work Study Improvement Act language that is included in this bill right now. Section 5 of this bill contains our approvemernt language. This legislation creates a block grant program to disperse the funding that would normally be used by the VA to administer their work study program.”
According to Congressman Davis, the main issue he saw with the previous bill was that the colleges and universities were not the ones who were able to administer the VA work study program. Congressman Davis introduced this bill after the issue was raised by several universities at his veterans roundtable at the University of Illinois-Springfield.
Congressman Davis also details why he feels this bill is necessary for the state.
“This is a fix that came directly from listening to the people who are serving our veterans at our educational institutions. This is what bipartisanship looks like. It is an idea that comes from people who are affected, and those that are affected are our heroes that protect this great nation. This change is necessary, this change is bipartisan, and this change is long overdue.”
This new legislation will now change the way the work study benefits are paid to the veterans.