FILE - In this Feb. 6, 2013 file photo, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington. There is plenty of blame to go around for the pending automatic budget cuts that have put the U.S. military on the brink of a readiness crisis, McKeon said Wednesday. McKeon said that neither Congress nor the Obama administration has "clean hands." The debt crisis forcing the cuts was decades in the making, yet both sides opted for the easy path "when we should have explored the bravery of restraint," he said at a committee hearing. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Congress spares military's tuition aid program
Published: 03:51:03 PM, Thu 21 March 2013 UTC
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress has spared the military's tuition assistance program from the budget knife.
The House cleared a bill on Thursday to keep the government running. It includes a provision reversing the decision by the Army, Air Force and Marine Corps to suspend the program.
Faced with some $43 billion in automatic cuts that kicked in March 1, the military abandoned the program that pays up to $250 per semester hour for active duty personnel, or as much as $4,500 per year. The Pentagon said the move would save $250 million to $300 million.
But Oklahoma Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe and North Carolina Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan fought to spare the program. By voice vote Wednesday, the Senate backed an amendment instructing the Pentagon to find the money for the program.
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