Hoyer defends pay-go strategy on GI bill

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Tuesday defended a decision to allow a new GI bill to sunset at the end of the next year, which will allow Democrats to avoid so-called pay-as-you-go budgetary rules.

The GI bill, which greatly expands educational benefits for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, will be included in the supplemental war-spending bill House leaders hope to have on the floor Thursday. The initial legislation’s price tag is roughly $50 billion, and the benefits will then cost about $4 billion annually.

{mosads}Hoyer said pay-go rules were important, but defended the decision as a way to ensure U.S. veterans get necessary help. He also noted that the $170 billion being allocated for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars also will not be offset under pay-go rules.

“None of the $170 billion is going to be paid for. We’re going to borrow that money,” Hoyer said. “But we have a lot of people coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan physically injured and psychologically injured, and they need care.”

He labeled the effort as a way to invest in the future by rehabilitating veterans and reintegrating them into society, drawing a parallel to the original GI bill for veterans of World War II.

“We feel strongly about pay-go. We’re going to have to address the pay-go issue,” Hoyer said in response to questions about whether he was relying on budgetary gimmicks. “As you well know, doing it this way does not raise the pay-go objection. We need to deal with it and I’m a strong proponent of dealing with it.”

A small number of conservative House Democrats have begun to grow concerned about the recent number of items that Democratic leaders have been classifying as “emergency” or “stimulus” bills in order to waive pay-go rules.

“The GI bill is a classic example of something we’d love to do if it were paid for,” Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), a member of the conservative Blue Dog Coalition and a senior Democrat on the Budget Committee, told The Hill Monday.

He suggested the bill would not properly honor veterans if it contributed to the U.S. budget deficit.

“I bet most veterans would be shocked to learn that we’re putting their needs on a credit card instead of paying for them like we should,” Cooper said.