Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar came under fire for tweeting support for a Marine veteran’s article advocating for a revised GI Bill that would apply to all.
Iraq veteran Will Fischer, who used the GI Bill to cover the costs of his college education, published a story on AlterNet on Feb. 6 that argued, “The ethos behind the original GI Bill” should apply to all.
Omar signaled her support of Fischer’s idea by tweeting out a quote from his piece.
“Imagine what it would do for our country and those who live here if we were to take the ethos behind the original G.I. Bill and apply it to everybody — canceling all student debt and making public colleges, universities, and vocational schools tuition-free,” Omar tweeted on Feb. 6.
Omar later came under fire for the tweet, with veterans and family members of veterans saying the GI Bill is earned by serving the country.
I’m a recipient of the GI Bill. The GI Bill was earned by agreeing to serve my country for six years and to put my life at risk as an infantryman in Afghanistan. It wasn’t something just given to me with nothing expected in return. Don’t cheapen our sacrifice w/ this comparison. pic.twitter.com/4CNspm8gXt
— Chris Manning (@Manning4USCong) February 7, 2020
My dad was a WWII vet who went to Brown University on the GI Bill. He still worked as a truck driver on the side to pay for his family’s food and housing while attending school full time.
He didn’t get “free” college. He paid his way with his service to the nation. https://t.co/lRQ6oRsck5
— Cam Edwards (@CamEdwards) February 7, 2020
Omar responded to the backlash by saying she was simply tweeting a quote from the story.
“These are the words of the veteran who inked this op-ed, not mine. Don’t deny him the opportunity to have his voice amplified,” she wrote.
? The number of people in my mentions and writers for rightwing blogs who don’t understand what quotations marks mean is astonishing.
These are the words of the veteran who inked this op-ed , not mine. Don’t deny him the opportunity to have his voice amplified. https://t.co/nk92A26mcr
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 7, 2020
Fischer gave a shoutout to Omar in his story, lauding her for legislation she helped introduce that would cancel student debt and make colleges tuition-free.
“Reps. Ilhan Omar, Pramila Jayapal, and Sen. Bernie Sanders have introduced legislation to cancel all student debt and to make public colleges, universities, and vocational schools tuition-free. These pieces of legislation just make sense, for our society and for our economy, and I strongly support them.”
