The new GI bill passed by a vote of 75-22 in the Senate, and so was attached to Bush’s Iraq war supplemental.

Republicans, including the sick old man running for president, John Sidney McCain III, argued against this, saying that it was “too generous”, and so might lure soldiers out of the military because they would want to go to school and better themselves now.

Note also that McCain couldn’t even be bothered to show up for the damn vote.

They included some other extras too:

The bill also includes money for housing and levees devastated by Hurricane Katrina, heating subsidies for low-income families, the space shuttle program, the Food and Drug Administration, biomedical research, roads and bridges, federal prisons, grants to local police departments, aid to rural schools, suppression of wildfires and preparations for the 2010 census.

The bill would extend unemployment benefits by 13 weeks nationwide, with an additional 13 weeks for workers in states with high unemployment.

The only thing that surprises me here is the fact that we aren’t already paying for preparations for the 2010 census.

The Bush Blue Dogs in the House are insisting that there be some sort of tax to offset these costs, but I think that they will fold, as this is ready made for the campaign slogan, “Congressman voted not to support our veterans”.