Dissing Webb?

On the day the U.S. Senate approved his long-sought GI Bill to give war veterans a free college education, Virginia Sen. Jim Webb said he was determined not to get too excited.

President Bush, after all, still had to sign the measure.

``When I'm standing in the Rose Garden and the president is actually signing it, I will be excited," Webb said Thursday, hours before the Senate vote.

Bush signed the measure Monday, but without the fanfare that might be expected to accompany the creation of a generous new government program for the nation's war veterans.

Instead of a formal Rose Garden ceremony, Bush signed the measure quickly and delivered a brief statement from the Oval Office.

Webb, the chief sponsor of the GI Bill, was not invited to participate, his office confirmed.

The two men are hardly close.

Webb, a Democrat, had a frosty encounter with Bush upon entering the Senate as a freshman last year.

Bush had asked Webb about his son Jimmy, who at the time was serving in Iraq as a Marine.

``How's your boy?" Bush asked.

``That's between me and my boy," Webb was reported to have responded at the private White House reception.

Webb has since said he has reconciled with the president and even brought his son Jimmy to meet Bush.

But the Bush administration fought Webb openly and vocally for months this year as the senator pushed his GI Bill.

The White House and the Pentagon warned that Webb's bill was costly, at $52 billion over 10 years. And they said the measure would entice too many troops to leave the military for college at a time of war.

In the end, Bush agreed to accept the GI Bill, partly to ensure passage of $162 billion in funding for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Webb's measure was included in the war spending package.

In a concession to the Pentagon, Webb agreed to allow veterans to transfer their unused education benefits to their spouses and children.

``I'm pleased that the bill I sign today includes an expansion of the GI Bill," Bush said in his brief Oval Offfice address. He added, ``It will help us to recruit and reward the best military on the face of the Earth."

Bush thanked Webb and co-sponsor Sen. John Warner, R-Va., along with senators who had lobbied for a less-generous education benefit: Sen. John McCain, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, and Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Richard Burr of North Carolina.

A spokeswoman said Webb was happy the president signed the bill, even though the senator couldn't witness it.

``This is a great day for our veterans," Webb said in a written statement issued after the signing. ``It also gives me confidence and renewed hope that the Congress can begin working more effectively across party lines to do the work of the people."

Comments

[Nancy Cowan]

Thank you senator Webb for all your efforts. Now my husband and I can go back to college and not worry about how we're going to pay the bills with an underfunded GI Bill.