Here is Rep. Devin Nunes' response to my May 26th column criticizing Nunes and two other San Joaquin Valley lawmakers for voting down a bill that would increase education benefits for veterans who have served since Sept. 11, 2001.

"“This letter is in response to recent reporting by The Fresno Bee, which incorrectly suggests I oppose improved GI Bill benefits for veterans.

"In an article printed on May 26, The Bee noted that 256 of my colleagues in the House and 75 U.S. Senators voted for legislation that would provide improvements to the GI Bill. However the paper failed to explain why, given both House and Senate passage of GI bill improvements, no legislation has been sent to the President or will become law.

"The answer is simple. Leaders in Congress were not trying to improve benefits for veterans. Instead, they were playing partisan political games in advance of the Memorial Day recess. Improvements to the GI Bill, as well as urgently needed funding for our soldiers in combat, are being held hostage as a result.

"This summer 490,000 active duty military troops will face the prospect of no paycheck and 300,000 military families could lose their housing benefits because Congress has not passed a clean war funding bill. Unfortunately, our local paper took the political bait related to GI benefits and missed out on reporting the complete facts.

"What really happened? Democrat leaders, with the support of specially created Marshall Law rules, did not allow Congress to vote on clean legislation to improve GI benefits or fund the war. Instead, the speaker tied these issues to massive tax increases on small businesses, an unprecedented increase in unemployment insurance spending and a requirement to withdraw troops from Iraq. Take a look for yourself online at www.thomas.gov – just pull up HR 2642. You will find three votes, as well as the rule linking them together. While it takes a little digging, you will quickly see how The Bee’s reporting was misleading at best.

"Last week, I and other Republicans voted for a clean bill to improve GI benefits (Roll Call 364). Only two Democrats voted against their party leaders and supported the proposal. Instead, as we have witnessed for the past two years, most Democrats supported the political exercise of pretending to support veterans and our soldiers, while actually doing nothing for them.”

DEVIN NUNES
Congressman, 21st District of California