Kaine, McClellan, and Wittman Lead Congressional Amicus Brief Supporting Veterans’ Access to Education Benefits

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and former civil rights attorney, Mark R. Warner (D-VA), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), the Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and U.S. Representatives Jennifer McClellan (D-VA-04), Rob Wittman (R-VA-01), Bobby Scott (D-VA-03), Don Beyer (D-VA-08), John McGuire (R-VA-05), Eugene Vindman (D-VA-07), Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA-10), and James Walkinshaw (D-VA-11) filed a bipartisan, bicameral amicus brief in a challenge to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefit eligibility rules that make it harder for more than a million veterans to access education benefits under the GI Bills.

"Veterans who have served long enough to receive benefits under both the Montgomery GI Bill and the Post-9/11 GI Bill deserve the full benefits of their service - it's that simple. Army veteran and Virginian James Rudisill took that principle all the way to the Supreme Court and won," said Kaine. "But the VA has, in defiance of the GI Bills and the Supreme Court decision in Rudisill, created more bureaucratic barriers that unfairly punish veterans for serving the country continuously without a break in service. That's why I am again working with a bipartisan, bicameral group of colleagues to ensure that the court considering this case understands the legislative history and congressional intent of these GI Bills. I will always advocate for our servicemembers, our veterans, and their families."

"Our nation's veterans have taken on great risk and sacrifice through their service, and they deserve every penny of the benefits promised to them. It is unacceptable that instead of complying with the Supreme Court, the VA is continuing to limit and deny veterans, like Virginian James Rudisill, access to the benefits they are legally entitled to," said Warner. "I'm proud to stand with these veterans in support of their earned benefits and educational opportunities."

"The Supreme Court was clear in Rudisill that veterans deserve all of their earned education benefits and VA cannot reinterpret that decision to narrow those benefits. Yet, the Trump Administration has denied millions of veterans these benefits over the past year. This must stop, and I will keep fighting until VA provides these benefits to every veteran who earned them," said Blumenthal.

"Our veterans make tremendous sacrifices for our country, putting their bodies and lives on the line, and we must ensure they receive the full educational benefits they have earned. Yet veterans who deserve only the best that our nation has to offer, like James Rudisill of Richmond, have been denied their benefits after a lifetime of service thanks to needless and unfair eligibility rules," said McClellan. "The VA must fully and immediately comply with the Rudisill decision, not waste time looking for workarounds. As this case finds itself before the U.S. Court of Appeals, I urge the court to deliver justice and live up to the promises made to our Army community."

"America's servicemembers honored their commitment to defend this country, and we must honor our commitment to them," said Wittman. "I applaud the steps the Department of Veterans Affairs is taking to move forward on ensuring veterans receive the education benefits they earned through their service to our nation."

"The Supreme Court made the law clear in Rudisill v. McDonough: veterans who qualify for both the Montgomery GI Bill and the Post-9/11 GI Bill are entitled to use them, up to the full 48 months Congress intended," said Beyer. "The VA should stop putting roadblocks in the way of veterans who've rightfully earned their education benefits through service."

"As a 25-year Army veteran, I know firsthand the sacrifices our service members make. The education benefits they earn through their service are promises that must be honored," said Vindman. "The courts have already affirmed that eligible veterans can access benefits from both the Montgomery and Post-9/11 GI Bills. Trying to strip those benefits away now is a cruel cost-cutting measure at the expense of those who have risked their lives in service to our country. I'm proud to join my colleagues in this bipartisan effort to affirm that our nation's veterans can continue to access the benefits they've earned."

"When Americans sign up to join the military, our country pledges to provide them with benefits like health care, home loans, and education. We don't ask servicemembers to pick which risks they take in the military, so we shouldn't be picking and choosing which benefits servicemembers can use. The VA must comply with the Rudisill v. McDonough ruling and allow servicemembers to use their earned education benefits," said Subramanyam.

"Our veterans bravely answered the call to serve this country, and they deserve the benefits Congress promised them. For generations, the GI Bill has opened the door to education and opportunity for those returning from service. We must ensure that every veteran can access the entirety of the benefits they rightfully earned," said Walkinshaw.

The case, Virginia et al. v. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, is before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The Commonwealth of Virginia, veterans' groups including the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, and several individual veterans are challenging the VA's education benefit rules that illegally and unfairly keep veterans who qualify for education benefits under both the Montgomery GI Bill and the Post-9/11 GI Bill from fully using them just because they served the country without a break in their service.

In the congressional amicus brief, the members lay out the text, history, and purpose of the Montgomery GI Bill and the Post-9/11 GI Bill to show how the VA's overly narrow interpretation of the law short-changes veterans and creates a bizarre, artificial distinction between different groups of veterans who may have served the same total amount of time.

In 2023, Kaine and McClellan also led the congressional amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in Rudisill v. McDonough.

A link to the full amicus brief can be found here.

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