Last week, during the markup of the College Affordability Act, Congresswoman Virginia Foxx read a letter signed by over 100 members of VCE that are current students or graduates of career, tech and trade schools. She also asked that the letter be entered into the official record.

This is a much-watch video of a member of Congress fighting for Veterans' choice!

Over 100 veterans, servicemembers and military family members that are current students or graduates of a private career, technical or trade school signed a letter against the 90/10 rule change in the College Affordability Act. 

In a stunning press conference led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Democratic leaders rolled out a massive bill that includes disturbing language aimed at restricting choice for military veterans, servicemembers and their families at private career, technical and trade schools. 

Buried on page 770 of a bill close to 1,200 pages long, the College Affordability Act seeks to change the 90/10 rule to 85/15 and label earned veteran education benefits, like the GI Bill®, as similar to federal student loans and grants. 

If this bill passes in its current form, Congress is essentially telling veterans that they are incapable of choosing the school that best fits their career goals. 

In a joint letter to the chairman of the committee responsible for higher education policy, the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the US (EANGUS) and Veterans for Career Education expressed support for Senator Alexander's bipartisan efforts on higher education policy.

The Reserve Officers Association (ROA), America’s only exclusive advocate for the Reserve and National Guard, sent a letter to Senator Alexander calling for freedom of choice among veterans on the GI Bill® and other earned veteran education benefits. In the letter, ROA's executive director and retired U.S. Army Major General, Jeffrey E. Phillips, writes:​

Joshua Browder, U.S. Navy veteran, Florida resident and VCE ambassador joined Michael Dakduk, VCE Marine veteran and VCE co-chair, in authoring an opinion piece on GI Bill® choice in the Florida Daily. 

In Congress, seven bills and one draft piece of legislation are under consideration to restrict choice for veterans using the GI Bill and servicemembers using military education benefits. Lawmakers are advancing these bills under the banner of protecting veterans and servicemembers.

Tim McMahon, U.S. Air Force veteran and co-founder of Veterans for Career Education (VCE) testified today before the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity. In written testimony, Tim said: ​I am excited to be among the nearly 100 veterans that flew from across the country to Washington D.C., just before Memorial Day, and helped to found Veterans for Career Education (VCE). We founded VCE to support the right of veterans to use their earned education benefits, like the GI Bill®, to gain career skills at the college or institution of their choice. We fundamentally believe that education policy should not dictate where veterans use their earned education benefits.

Tim's full written testimony may be found here. 

Details on the hearing may be found here.

In testimony before a Congressional panel charged with overseeing the GI Bill®, a Department of Veterans Affairs' official said that "Based on preliminary research, we identified 133 schools that would be potentially affected by closing the 90/10 loophole, which in turn would immediately impact approximately 60,000 students."