Norton Introduces Bill Naming DC National Guard Tuition Bill for General Wherley (7/23/09)

Norton Introduces Bill Naming D.C. National Guard Tuition Bill for Gen. Who Died in Metro Collision

July 23, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A month after the June 22 Metro collision, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today introduced the Major General David F. Wherley, Jr. D.C. National Guard Retention and College Access Act in honor of the recently retired commanding general who died, along with his wife, Ann, and seven others, when Metro trains collided on the Red Line. The Congresswoman said at the Wherley funeral that she would re-name her D.C. National Guard Retention and College Access program, introduced in May, after General Wherley, who worked with Norton to get funding year after year.

The bill provides recruiting and retention incentives to help equalize benefits to the federally-controlled D.C. National Guard (DCNG) with similar benefits offered by Guards in surrounding states. The bill authorizes funding for college assistance tuition to the members of the DCNG, providing an education benefit of $400 per credit hour, up to $5,500 a year to be used in combination with current Department of Defense education assistance programs. Working with Wherley, who brought the tuition difference between D.C. and other Guard members, Norton has been able to get some funding from the Appropriations Committee for several years. However, the Office of Management and Budget regards this funding as an earmark, which endangers it as a continuing tuition benefit. By authorizing the tuition funding, the Norton bill will assure that it cannot be challenged.

"General Wherley's devotion to his soldiers led him to commit hours with me figuring ways to get funds from the Congress for tuition for DCNG soldiers. We were successful because worked, and then he showed up, not only in my office, but in the offices of the appropriators," Norton said. "The small education incentives in this bill have encouraged high quality recruits to join and remain with our Guard, one of the nation's most important because of its mission to protect not only hometown D.C., but also the federal presence." Norton not only worked closely with Wherley, but got to know, and became fond of, him and his wife, who decided to move here and make D.C. their home.

The Congresswoman's full introduction of the bill is available online at https://www.norton.house.gov/.