HF 903

as introduced - 85th Legislature (2007 - 2008) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

1.1A resolution
1.2exhorting Congress to reform the federal Montgomery GI Bill for the Selected
1.3Reserves to permit members of the National Guard and reserves who have been
1.4mobilized into federal active duty in support of current wars to receive and use their
1.5federal educational benefits following separation from active reserve status and final
1.6discharge from the military.
1.7WHEREAS, the reserve component of the United States Armed Forces, consisting of the
1.8National Guard and other reserves, comprises 1.1 million citizen-soldiers, or nearly 45 percent of
1.9total United States military forces; and
1.10WHEREAS, since the 9/11 terrorists attacks and the commencement of the wars in
1.11Afghanistan and Iraq, over 550,000 members of the National Guard and reserves have been called
1.12to federal active duty in support of those wars; and
1.13WHEREAS, those reserve component troops have shared fully in the fighting and other
1.14dangerous supporting military roles in those wars, and also comprise a proportionate share of
1.15United States military casualties; and
1.16WHEREAS, many of those reserve component troops have been mobilized multiple
1.17times for the current wars, in many cases for as much as 18 months of active military service
1.18for each deployment; and
1.19WHEREAS, upon enlistment in the military, those reserve component troops were promised
1.20certain postsecondary educational benefits, including 36 months of educational assistance under
1.21the federal program entitled the Montgomery GI Bill for the Selected Reserves, or MGIB-SR; and
2.1WHEREAS, MGIB-SR Program benefits terminate upon the separation of the National
2.2Guard or reserve member from active-reserve service, which typically occurs at the end of the
2.3person��������s sixth year of military service, unless the member reenlists; and
2.4WHEREAS, due to lengthy and frequent mobilizations into active military service, many
2.5National Guard and reserve members are unable to receive and use their promised MGIB-SR
2.6benefits; and
2.7WHEREAS, the citizen-soldiers losing those promised benefits are the very patriots who
2.8have provided the most national service and sacrifice in the current wars; and
2.9WHEREAS, Congress has now delayed nearly five years without extending the time-frame
2.10for reserve component members to use these promised educational benefits; and
2.11WHEREAS, ranking members of Congress itself have gone on record as decrying this
2.12structured loss of educational benefits as "Deplorable and unconscionable"; and
2.13WHEREAS, the Legislature and Governor of the State of Minnesota also decry as
2.14"Deplorable and unconscionable" this structured loss of the promised educational benefits for our
2.15dedicated and patriotic citizen-soldiers; NOW, THEREFORE,
2.16BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota that it strongly and urgently
2.17demands that Congress and the President move with all haste to reform the MGIB-SR Program
2.18to permit members of the National Guard and other military reserves who have served in active
2.19military duty to use their promised educational benefits following military service, irrespective of
2.20whether or not those patriotic citizen-soldiers choose to reenlist in the National Guard or reserves.
2.21 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Congress and the President should make such reform
2.22retroactively applicable to all National Guard and reserve members who have served in active
2.23military duty since 9/11.
2.24BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the State of Minnesota is
2.25directed to prepare copies of this memorial and transmit them to the President of the United
2.26States, the President and the Secretary of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk
2.27of the United States House of Representatives, the chair of the Senate Committee on Armed
2.28Services, the chair of the House Committee on Armed Services, and Minnesota's Senators and
2.29Representatives in Congress.