Rutherford Commends the House for Passing the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman John Rutherford issued the following statement after the United States House of Representatives passed the bipartisan Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017 to modernize the GI Bill. This bipartisan, bicameral package, which is the product of the hard work of many veteran service organizations, the House and Senate VA Committees, and veteran advocates, is budget neutral and includes Congressman Rutherford's Julian Woods Yellow Ribbon Program Expansion Act. This is the fifth Rutherford-authored legislation to pass the House of Representatives this year.
Congressman John Rutherford said, "I was proud to vote for legislation that empowers our service men and women, and I applaud the House of Representatives for passing this important legislation. When our brave men and women put on the uniform to protect our nation, we have a sacred responsibility to provide them, and their families, with opportunities in repayment for their service and sacrifice. This package makes important reforms to the GI Bill, including removing the time frame in which it must be used, to improve veterans' access to quality education. The bill also includes my bipartisan legislation that allows those on the Fry Scholarship to be eligible for the Yellow Ribbon Program was included as a key provision of this package. I am proud that Julian Woods' legacy will live on through this bill and will strengthen benefits for those who gave so much to protect our freedoms."
Rutherford's Julian Woods Yellow Ribbon Program Expansion Act expands eligibility for the Yellow Ribbon Program to recipients of the Fry Scholarship, a scholarship which allows service members who are killed in the line of duty to transfer their education benefits to surviving spouses and children. The bill is named in honor of Petty Officer 3rd Class Julian Woods, a Jacksonville native and Hospital Corpsman in Fallujah during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Petty Officer Woods was killed by enemy fire when rushing to the aid of a fallen soldier. His daughter is now of age to attend college, and without passage of this legislation, she will be limited in the colleges she may attend under the Fry Scholarship.
More information on the GI Bill reform package, which now advances to the Senate for consideration, can be found here. More information on Congressman Rutherford's Julian Woods Yellow Ribbon Program Expansion Act can be found here.