Across the Aisle: The Seven-Year Journey of the Historic Montgomery GI Bill

Chapter 14. Summer 1987 Road to Enactment: Senate Passage, Conference, and Rose Garden

Summer 1987— Road to Enactment: Senate Passage, Conference, and Rose Garden SONNY’S SUMMARY We conclude the almost seven-year journey with four culminating events: First, the Senate approving S. 12 as amended on May 8, 1987; second, the House and Senate resolving minor differences between S. 12 and H.R. 1085, as amended on May 13, 1987; third, the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate signing the enrolled bill on May 19; and fourth, the President signing H.R.1085 into law (Public Law 100-48) on June 1, 1987, in a Rose Garden ceremony.Secretary of the Army John Marsh and Assistant Secretary of Defense Chapman Cox had quietly helped move the bill along. Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Member, Committee on Armed Services Senator Alan Cranston (D-CA), Chairman, Committee on Veterans’Affairs Senator Frank Murkowski (R-AK), Ranking Member, Committee on Veterans’Affairs Senator John Glenn (D-OH), Chairman, Subcommittee on Force Management and Personnel, Committee on Armed Services Senator Bill Armstrong (R-CO) Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Member, Committee on Armed Services Senator Strom Thurmond (R-SC), Member, Committees on Veterans Affairs and Armed Services Senator Bill Cohen (R-ME), Member, Committee on Armed Services Senator Spark Matsunaga (D-HI), Member, Committee on Veterans’Affairs Sonny’s Cast of Characters across the aisle 140 Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY), Member, Committee on Veterans’Affairs Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD) Rick Maze, Congressoinal Editor, Army Times Honorable Thomas Turnage, Administrator of Veterans Affairs Honorable Howard Baker, Chief of Staff to President Reagan Honorable George H.W. Bush, Vice President of the United States Honorable Ronald W. Reagan, 40th President of the United States John Marsh, Secretary of the Army, 1981-1989 Col. Michael Meese, U.S. Military Academy S.12,as amended,survived the vote in the Senate Armed Services Committee. Noted one observer speaking both seriously and humorously: “The debate in the Armed Services Committee was sufficiently spirited at one point that the s o m e t i m e s - u s e d Washington saying of ‘blood, hair, and eyeballs all over the floor’ may very well have applied, as Senators debated the ‘opportunity cost’ of the program and whether it would bring in high-quality recruits.”1 I wrote scores of thank you letters to persons and organizations that supported our legislation over the seven years.2 It’s important to thank people.In this letter, I offered my thanks to Congressman Joe Kennedy for his support and leadership. 141 Sonny’s Scene Setter & Journey Guide We cover a lot of the legislative landscape as we are at the Senate, the House, and the White House. On the Legislative Journey chart pages 10 and 11, we are boxes S-12, H-14, S-13, and concluding box “destination” as the House and Senate approve H.R. 1085, as amended, and the President signs it. Mr. Montgomery And I offered my thanks to Senator Edward (Ted) Kennedy in this letter. Senator Kennedy consistently supported my efforts and those of Senators Armstrong, Cohen, and Cranston over the seven years. The Senator sent me a letter,too. Note Senator Kennedy’s postscript at the bottom of his letter, in which he speaks of the significance of his nephew, Representative Joe Kennedy, serving on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee and in fact pushing for a New GI Bill. “Now when they say‘who does that darn Kennedy think he is?’—there’s a 5050 chance they don’t mean me!” The Senate Vote It’s now May 8,1987,and the full Senate approves S.12,as amended,89 to zero!3 Here’s a sampling of what 11 Senators had to say during the debate on S.12 in the Senate chamber prior to voting on it. Mr. Kennedy CHAPTER 14 Mr. Montgomery The full Senate convenes. “… BLOOD, HAIR, AND EYEBALLS ALL OVER THE FLOOR…” These are selected excerpts from each Senator’s remarks,not the full statements. We’ll start with Senators Cranston and Murkowski,who were the Democratic and Republican floor managers, respectively, for the bill, and then we’ll hear comments from nine other Senators who spoke on the bill. “The dividends our country has already reaped from past GI Bills [are] so vast as to be virtually incalculable. However, it is widely accepted that for every dollar spent in GI Bill...