There's good news for veterans and bad news. Let's look at the good news first.

The 21st century GI Bill to provide education aid to veterans was proposed by Senator James Webb, Democrat from Virginia, on the first day of the 2007 legislative session. His bill would give veterans who have served since 9/11 a level of educational benefits identical to those received by veterans of World War II.

In 1944, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Servicemen's Readjustment Act, known as the GI Bill. The GI Bill proved to be one of the most significant and far-reaching laws in the country's history - providing free education for returning veterans. It gave a boost to the nation's economy when five million returning service men and women were not unemployed and untrained. They became students and graduated into an expanded middle class in the country.

On February 13, 2008, Webb reintroduced the Veterans' Educational Bill with the support of other key senators as co-sponsors: Frank Lautenberg, ( Democrat of New Jersey), Chuck Hagel, (Republican of Nebraska) and John Warner ( Republican of Virginia). Warner, a WWII veteran and Korean War veteran, attended both college and law school under the GI Bill. A solid bi-partisan measure, the bill has 58 senators as co-sponsors including 11 Republicans. In the House of Representatives, Bobby Scott ( Democrat of Virginia) introduced a companion bill ( HR2702) that gained 96 co-sponsors.

The nation's top veterans' organizations all supported the bill: Veterans of Foreign Wars, Vietnam Veterans of America, The Enlisted Association of the National Guard and The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Opposition to the bill came from the Department of Defense, President Bush and Senator Mc Cain, the Republican presumptive presidential candidate. Their main argument was that offering educational opportunities after service would hurt retention in the Armed Forces. The military has lowered its age and ability standards for recruitment and struggles to meet the goals of the volunteer army. It is important to note that the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the new GI Bill would result in a 16 percent drop in re-enlistments, balanced exactly by a 16 percent increase in recruitment because of the new educational benefits after service.

George Lisicki, commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, met with President Bush in late May to express his strong support for the bill. He said after the meeting, "People are leaving after their first enlistment because they are tired of being shot at, and their families are tired of the frequent deployments. Whether they stay in 4 years or 20, we owe this newest greatest generation the gift of education." Senator Webb said, "This will expand the recruiting base because you can approach people just finishing high school, who are worried about paying for college and say, 'If you serve your country, you'll get a first-class education.'" He added, "It is time for those of us who have been calling on these service members to serve again and again to assist in providing them with the most tangible thanks that our country can offer." The Democratic leadership of the Senate and House decided to incorporate the GI Bill into a package of domestic initiatives that also included a 13 week extension of $8 billion unemployment aid for millions of Americans and $2.6 billion Midwestern flood relief. This accompanied separate votes that gave the President $162 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through the end of his administration into early 2009. The GI Bill will cost $63 billion over the next decade. This strategy was successful in avoiding a threatened Bush veto of the GI Bill and the other domestic programs.

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And now the bad news: The Department of Veterans Affairs announced their decision to ban voter registration drives among the veterans living at federally run nursing homes, shelters for the homeless and rehabilitation centers. More than 100,000 veterans live for a month or more at the V.A. sites across the country. This number continues to expand as veterans return from Iraq and Afghanistan. Matt Smith, a spokesman for the Department said they "wanted to ensure that our staff remains focused on caring for our veterans instead of having to determine the political agenda of each group that might try to enter our facilities." Voting rights groups protested this decision. Mary Wilson, president of the League of Women Voters, said, "It's just seems wrong to the league that the V.A. is erecting barriers to voter registration for our nation's veterans. They appear to be using technicalities to block many veterans from registering to vote." In May, the V.A. rejected a request by the secretary of state in California, Debra Bowen, asking that federal veterans' sites in her state become official voterregistration agencies. The V.A. said that her request would be too expensive and would distract veterans' sites from their main mission of providing health care. In California, the V.A. runs eight major medical centers and eleven nursing homes that provide care for more than 200,000 veterans. Bowen noted that it takes about 90 seconds for a veteran to fill out the registration form.

In the past, the V.A. department has allowed the managers on the sites to decide whether to permit registration drives. Law suits have made their way to federal appeals courts. In February, 2008, a federal appeals judge ruled that the department could only prohibit political demonstrations that were disruptive and threatening to decency or decorum. However, the department made their decision to ban all outside groups from registration drives on its properties. Pat Halloran, a Republican and supervisor of elections in Okaloosa County, Florida, said she had to cancel plans for a voter registration drive with the League of Women Voters at a veterans' clinic because of the new ruling. She said, "I'm dismayed that they won't even allow groups that have a long-established reputation of doing nonpartisan work." There are 50,000 veterans in Okaloosa County.

On July 22, 2008, a group of Democratic senators - Feinstein, Kerry, Clinton, Leahy, Schumer, Wyden, Reid, Murray and Obama - introduced a bill, S.3308, to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to permit facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs to be designated as voter registration agencies in accordance with the National Voter Registration Act. It also requires the V.A. to accommodate voter registration assistance by nonpartisan organizations and election officials. The House of Representatives introduced a companion bill the next day.

Congress is in recess for the month of August. We will have to wait until their return in September to see whether Republicans will join Democrats to pass these bills and give our veterans in federal facilities the chance to register to vote in the national election this November. They certainly have earned that right through their service in the Armed Forces. The Veterans Affairs Department should not be putting up a road block in their path!

Joyce S. Anderson's articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer and other national publications. She is the author of "Courage in High Heels," "Flaw in The Tapestry," "When Winter Comes" and "The Mermaids Singing." She can be reached at JSAWrite@aol.com.