This might not be the year Congress modernizes GI Bill education benefits for Reserve and Guard members, says Rep. Vic Snyder (D-Ark.), chairman of the House armed services subcommittee on military personnel.

But if Snyder and other key lawmakers have their way, 2007 will be the year Congress streamlines statutory responsibility for the GI Bill. That will "set the table" for GI Bill changes in 2008 and beyond that truly will improve the lives of reserve component members, he said.

The lead vehicle for GI Bill Reform this year is the Total Force Educational Assistance Enhancement and Integration Act of 2007, a 41-page bill (HR 1102 and S 644) backed by a bipartisan group of lawmakers.

Also behind the measure is the Partnership for Veterans' Education, a consortium of military, veterans and higher-education groups that endorses the bill and helped draft it after years of study.

"The big motivator for all of us is the disparity (in education benefits) — reserve component people versus ... active component, even though both may have served a full year overseas in a war zone," Snyder said.

Drilling reservists have seen the gap in education benefit widen compared to active-duty members. More significantly, in Snyder's view, drilling reservists and even mobilized reservists still lose all of their education benefits when they separate from service.

The Total Force GI Bill is intended to boost benefits and end inequities. Though sharp GI Bill benefit increases are costly, supporters contend a modern Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) for reservists is overdue.

Congress a few years ago passed the Reserve Education Assistance Program (REAP), which enhanced GI Bill benefits to reservists activated for 90 days or more after Sept. 11. Payments are set at 40 percent, 60 percent or 80 percent of active-duty MGIB, depending on length of activation. But as with Selected Reserve MGIB, REAP benefits can't be used after discharge from service.

The Total Force MGIB would guarantee that Reserve and National Guard education benefits rise proportionally with active-duty MGIB benefits. It would allow REAP benefits to accrue month by month for mobilized members at the active-duty rate, currently $1,075 per month.

It would establish "portability" for REAP benefits so once-mobilized reservists who left service could use benefits for up to 10 years.

But before Congress can even estimate the cost of these enhanced reserve GI Bill options, Snyder said, it must pass another provision of HR 1102. This one would consolidate active and reserve MGIB programs under the Department of Veterans Affairs. Reserve benefits now are awarded and funded by the Department of Defense. This split in GI Bill responsibility between departments and between congressional oversight committees has created inconsistencies and inequities in benefits.