Huskey in Time Op-Ed: Proposed Bill is "Slap in the Face" to Military Families
Time magazine "Military Spouses and Kids Bear the Burden of Service"
May 27, 2016
With Memorial Day on the horizon, Associate Clinical Professor and Director of the Veterans' Advocacy Law Clinic Kristine Huskey published an on-ed in Time advocating for housing and education benefits for military families.
"A proposed bill (HR 3016) would cut in half certain education benefits to military families granted under the post-9/11 GI bill," writes Huskey. "This is a slap in the face to American service men and women. The sting will be also be felt by their children."
Huskey goes on to explain that spouses and children serve in their own way, and those benefits are crucial to the family.
"The service member has to have served six years with the promise to serve four more years or have already served 10 years," Huskey says. "These families are in it for the long haul. Having served that long, some service members have already established a trade or gone to school and do not need to take advantage of the educational benefits, so they pass them on to their children. This is a benefit for America. Who better to be the leaders of the next generation than well-educated children who already know what it means to serve their country?"
Huskey explains that Arizona Law's Veterans' Clinic represents nearly 200 veterans at any given time, many of them fighting to receive their benefits and waiting a year or more on a favorable decision. "The proposed House bill adds yet another roadblock for veterans and their families to receive a benefit that they earned through their service," Huskey says.