Update: Shaheen discusses Webb GI bill

MANCHESTER- Sitting around a table of veterans, former governor Jeanne Shaheen (D-Madbury) said he supports a new GI bill.

Shaheen said she supports U.S. Sen. Jim Webb's (D-Virginia) bill that would expand college benefits to current members of the armed services.

"A value we should we as a nation is to honor those who have served their nation," Shaheen told the eight veterans at Southern New Hampshire University.

Shaheen also said the bill would help veterans obtain the skills they need to find employment after their service.

"This is a benefit that is just not about the individual who are going to benefit," she added. "It's about the rest of us, it's about the promises that we made before the war started, it's about our future, it's about folks getting trained to then get the jobs we're going to need to stay competitive."

Webb's bill would extend educational benefits to members who have served post-September 11.

Opponents to the bill claim the bill could lead to retention problems and the benefits are too generous.

"Senator Sununu believes that the best features of the two bills that have been introduced to modify and update GI education benefits (S. 22 and S. 2938) can be pulled into a strong bipartisan package and sent to the President," said U.S. Sen. John Sununu communications Director Barbara Riley. "He will continue his work to ensure that transferability, higher benefits for longer services, and incentives for retention are part of any final bill."

Riley noted that Sununu is a co-sponsor of related legislation introduced by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX).

An earlier version of the story noting that Sununu is opposed to the Webb bill was incorrect.

Update: The U.S. Senate has passed the Webb GI bill. Senate Sununu voted in favor of the bill.

"We should never tell a single veteran that we cannot provide him or her with the resources they need to get a good education.  The brave men and women of our armed forces put their lives at risk for each and every one of us in this country and they deserve nothing less than our full admiration, respect and support," former governor Jeanne Shaheen said in a statement. "In the Senate, I will be a tireless advocate for veterans' benefits because I believe it is a fundamental American value that we stand up for those who have stood up for us."