S. 1598: Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017

115th Congress · introduced 2017-07-20 · Armed Forces and National Security · Latest: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 200.

federal

Follow this bill, step by step

Where it came from: introduced 2017-07-20 · official record
Who proposed it: Sen. Isakson, Johnny [R-GA] · what a sponsor is
What happened next: no floor votes in our records yet. Why?
Where it stands now: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 200. Not final yet: this can still change. We check for updates every day.
If it becomes law and spends money: follow the money to money laws, then agencies and contracts and grants.

What does this mean?

Official title

Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017

Plain summary

Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017 This bill revises education and related benefits provided to veterans, service members, dependents, and survivors. The bill amends the Post-9/11 veterans' educational assistance program to: remove certain time restrictions on program use; increase assistance for reservists, guardsmen, dependents, and surviving spouses and dependents; provide full eligibility for Post-9/11 Purple Heart recipients and certain reservists and guardsmen; provide an extra academic years' worth of benefits for STEM (science, technology, engineering, or mathematics) degree candidates; establish a five-year pilot program for high technology courses; restore eligibility for service members whose school closes in the middle of a semester; authorize funding to improve claims processing; permit assistance to be used at certain institutions that are not institutions of higher education; and pro-rate the housing stipend for reservists called to active duty. The bill authorizes the Edith Nurse Rogers STEM Scholarship to help veterans complete STEM degrees. The Yellow Ribbon program is extended to Fry Scholarship recipients (surviving dependents of service members who died on active duty) and certain Purple Heart recipients. (The Yellow Ribbon program helps veterans pay for higher education tuition and fee costs not covered by the Post-9/11 program.) The bill: (1) extends the Advisory Committee on Education, (2) increases survivors' and dependents' educational assistance, and (3) extends funding for state educational program approving agencies. The bill provides statutory authority for the veterans success of campus program which provides veterans with on-campus educational and vocational counseling. The Department of Veterans Affairs shall: (1) make a new determination regarding each denied veteran's claim for disability compensation in connection with full-body exposure to mustard gas or Lewisite at specified locations during World War II, and (2) presume such exposure unless there is affirmative evidence otherwise.

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

What a vote does

A “Yea” vote

If it passes both chambers and is signed, it becomes law.

A “Nay” vote

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What does this mean? (plain words)

Official text

Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017

Source: Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)

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The strongest published arguments

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How did my representative vote? · This bill's floor votes

Officials and money

Sponsor: Sen. Isakson, Johnny [R-GA] · 63 cosponsors

Cost estimate: CBO cost estimate: S. 1598, Harry W. Colmery Veterans Education Assistance Act of 2017 (2017-09-14)

Cosponsors on this site

Mike Rounds (R-SD), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), John Cornyn (R-TX), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Steve Daines (R-MT), Susan M. Collins (R-ME), Gary C. Peters (D-MI), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Margaret Wood Hassan (D-NH), John Boozman (R-AR), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Patty Murray (D-WA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), John Kennedy (R-LA), Kirsten E. Gillibrand (D-NY), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Christopher A. Coons (D-DE), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Roger F. Wicker (R-MS), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), John Thune (R-SD), Jack Reed (D-RI) and 3 more.

No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.

Words on this page, explained (3)

Authorization: A law that creates or continues a government program and says what it may do, often with a suggested spending ceiling. An authorization alone does not provide money; a separate appropriation does.
Bill: A proposed law. It becomes law only if it passes the legislature and is signed by the president or governor (or a veto is overridden).
Statute: A written law passed by a legislature. A statute can be changed by a later law; changing a constitution needs an amendment.

Plain meanings written from linked sources. All words.

Sources

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)
Congress.gov
Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-115s1598.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/115/s>

Record fed-us-cong115-s1598 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong115 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong115