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Emergency Supplemental Bill Addresses Many Pressing Concerns for Kansans

WASHINGTON, D.C.  – Congresswoman Nancy Boyda (Kansas Second District) announced today that the U.S. House of Representatives, in a bipartisan show of support, voted for an Emergency Supplemental Funding Bill. 

Boyda said "Kansans should be pleased that my colleagues from both sides of the aisle came together in voting for this bill. It addresses many important issues for the Second District of Kansas, including funding for a much needed new hospital at Fort Riley, assistance for disaster stricken areas, and an extension of unemployment benefits for the jobless."
 
The Supplemental contains $161.8 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through the summer of 2009, as well as $2.65 billion in disaster relief funds for areas of the Midwest hit by tornadoes and flooding.  It extends unemployment compensation by 13 weeks for Kansas workers unable to find jobs because of the ailing economy. It expands the GI Bill to provide improved education benefits for veterans and allows veterans to transfer education benefits to their families.
 
The original GI Bill launched millions of families on a course of prosperity and toward achieving the American dream. It also helped stimulate the economy. Statistics show that every dollar spent on the GI Bill created a seven-fold return for the economy.  However, veterans education benefits have dwindled to where they cover only about 60% of the cost of a public school education.
 
The new GI Bill restores those benefits. Service members with three years of active duty will be entitled to benefits that will cover the cost of a four-year, in-state college education. Benefits will include a stipend for housing, books and other expenses.  Education benefits would also be available to troops who have served at least three months of active duty service since September 11, 2001, including members of the National Guard and Reserve. Veterans will have 15 years, instead of the current ten years, to use those benefits.
 
The Supplemental provides $4.6 billion for military construction and veterans hospitals. It includes an increase of $863 million in Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) funding, $863 million for military hospitals – of which $404 million is designated for a new hospital at Fort Riley, and $396 million for VA hospitals and polytrauma centers.
 
The bill also requires that any money spent for Iraq reconstruction MUST be done on a cost-sharing, dollar-for-dollar basis.
 
The Emergency Supplemental helps seniors and the disabled, by putting a moratorium on six Medicaid regulations that would cut services to these individuals. Those regulations would have cost Kansas' safety-net program $115 million at the very time a slowing economy makes that safety net more vital. 
 
Boyda said "The Emergency Supplemental Bill makes critical investments in the Second District of Kansas and the country as a whole."