{"id":30596,"date":"2018-11-16T02:20:24","date_gmt":"2018-11-16T02:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/11\/16\/lawmakers-grill-va-over-gi-bill-debacle\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T06:28:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T06:28:03","slug":"lawmakers-grill-va-over-gi-bill-debacle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/veterans\/2018\/11\/16\/lawmakers-grill-va-over-gi-bill-debacle\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers grill VA over GI Bill \u2018debacle’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nearly four months after the Veterans Affairs Department was supposed to have changed the way it calculates Post-9\/11 GI Bill housing stipends, students are still getting the wrong amount<\/a> each month \u2015 and there\u2019s still no end in sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a tense hearing on Capitol Hill Wednesday, in which members of Congress described the situation as \u201cunacceptable,\u201d a \u201cmassive failure\u201d and \u201cdebacle,\u201d VA officials were unable to tell lawmakers when they believe the necessary software updates will be complete, though they admitted they\u2019re planning as if they will not be ready in time for the spring semester. These updates were supposed to have launched by Aug. 1<\/a> under the new Forever GI Bill<\/a> law, yet the VA has run into major technical challenges and is still paying student veterans under old rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The implementation delays have also contributed to a backlog of pending claims<\/a> at the VA this semester, and thousands of veterans have had to wait longer than normal for their housing stipends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of the hearing, more than 10,000 claims of an overall 73,000 had been pending between 31 and 60 days, said VA Director of Education Service Robert Worley<\/a>; another 1,000 have already hit the 60-day mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese veterans, as you know, are relying on these payments to pay rent and put food on the table,\u201d said Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs Subcommittee Economic Opportunity. \u201cIt is no small thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worley explained that when VA was initially eyeing a July deadline to have its systems ready by Aug. 1, the department told schools to hold off on certifying students\u2019 enrollment until the new technology was live. Because schools are usually able to do this in advance, and the software ended up not being ready to deploy in time, the VA \u201cgot six months of work in about two months,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t