{"id":59968,"date":"2018-11-29T19:54:54","date_gmt":"2018-11-29T19:54:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/11\/29\/congress-blasts-va-on-gi-bill-you-cant-simply-change-the-law\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T10:04:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T10:04:58","slug":"congress-blasts-va-on-gi-bill-you-cant-simply-change-the-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/veterans\/2018\/11\/29\/congress-blasts-va-on-gi-bill-you-cant-simply-change-the-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Congress blasts VA on GI Bill: \u2018You can\u2019t simply change the law\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Editor\u2019s Note:<\/b><\/i> This story has been updated.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawmakers at a Capitol Hill hearing Thursday questioned whether the Veterans Affairs Department has the authority to change a major deadline for implementing a portion of the Forever GI Bill<\/a> \u2014 and seemingly act as if the original one, mandated by law, never existed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The questions from House lawmakers came one day after VA Sec. Robert Wilkie announced<\/a> the department will hold off on implementing changes to housing stipend payments until Dec. 1, 2019. These changes to how the stipends are calculated were supposed to go into effect Aug. 1 of this year, a deadline the VA was unable to meet because of IT challenges<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while VA leaders plan to correct students\u2019 payments from this fall by paying a retroactive cost-of-living increase come January, VA spokesman Curt Cashour confirmed to Military Times that the agency is not planning go back and pay students for another required change, related to a student\u2019s physical location, once the IT systems are finally up and running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in an apparent contradiction, the VA posted a statement<\/a> from Wilkie to its website at 4:16 p.m. Thursday, after this story was originally published, stating that it does plan to make \u201ceach and every post-9\/11 GI Bill beneficiary …100 percent whole \u2014 retroactively if need be \u2014 for their housing benefits for this academic year.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should the VA fail to do so, it would be going back on a promise VA officials had previously made to Congress. The agency\u2019s own website states<\/a> that \u201cVA will correct any discrepancy between what a student was paid and what he or she should be paid once the technology fixes are in place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an exchange with VA Undersecretary for Benefits Paul Lawrence, Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., said, \u201cYou can\u2019t simply change the law yourself if you\u2019re unable to meet the obligations that your department agreed to and the Congress of the United States mandated<\/a> by law and the president of the United States signed<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An aide for the House Committee on Veterans\u2019 Affairs<\/a> told Military Times Wednesday the committee is seeking legal justification from the VA and is awaiting the agency\u2019s response.<\/p>\n\n\n\t