COA has just posted on the website some very good news about the Post 9/11 GI Bill transferability for PHS Commissioned Corps officers!
Yesterday afternoon the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee passed a revised version of S. 3447. This is Chairman Daniel Akaka’s bill to improve the Post 9/11 GI Bill. Subsequently, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid “hotlined” the legislation — which means that no formal vote is required. If no Senator places a “hold” on the bill it is deemed passed. Since the Congressional Budget Office has scored this revised bill as actually saving money over the next ten years, a hold is unlikely. Section 110 of the bill authorizes the Secretary of HHS and the Secretary of Commerce to use – or not to use – the authority for transferability of Post 9-11 GI Bill benefits for the USPHS and the NOAA Corps respectively.
Read more about this very important issue for all Corps officers at the COA website: http://www.coausphs.org/.
Look under the heading “Latest Stories” – the article is the first posting, entitled “Good News on Post 9/11 GI Transferability.”
I am requesting – urging! – all of our COA members to contact your Representatives in the House and ask them to approach Speaker Pelosi to accelerate bringing this bill to the House floor once it passes the Senate. As the Lame Duck session limps to a conclusion, action in the House is uncertain, but there is a chance to get this done now!!
Let’s make it happen!!
On another note …
Check out today’s release by the Office of the Surgeon General of the new the publication “How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease: The Biology and Behavioral Basis for Smoking-Attributable Disease.” This report reveals new scientific findings about how deadly cigarettes are and how quickly they can damage your body.
The press release, fact sheet, and full report may be accessed at the OSG website: http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/
Here is yet another reason the Surgeon General’s warning on tobacco products should NOT be removed!! Rather, it bolsters and reinforces our argument for retaining the immense authority of the Office of the Surgeon General for this and other public health warnings!
from CAPT Daniel Hickey, COA Chair