FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ana Cobian, Ward Circle Strategies: 323-360-1827 ana.cobian@wardcirclestrategies.com

Government Shutdown Delays GI Bill Payments, Leaving Veterans and Families Without Support

Veterans Advocate Urges Congress to End the Shutdown and Restore VA’s GI Bill Hotline as an Essential Service

 WASHINGTON, D.C. (October 28, 2025) — Veterans Education Success, a veterans advocacy non-profit, is calling for Congress to come to a bipartisan resolution to the shutdown. They issued the following statement:

“The current lapse in funding is not just some academic exercise in poor budgeting. The government shutdown is doing real harm to service members, veterans, family members, surviving spouses, and families in ways that affect their daily lives.

Of particular concern, veterans are unable to reach anyone at the GI Bill Hotline at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, transition and counseling services are suspended, and the infrastructure supporting education and benefits access needs critical maintenance.

It is unacceptable that survivors and veterans are missing payments for tuition and housing due to unfixed IT failures. We’re deeply concerned about VA’s continued failure to address this mounting challenge amid a shuttered government.

Congress must act now, so that veterans, service members, families, and survivors can continue with their lives and their educations.”

Veterans Education Success is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to work on a bipartisan basis to advance higher education success for veterans, service members, and military families and to protect the integrity and promise of the GI Bill and other federal postsecondary education programs. The organization offers free help, advice, and college and career counseling to veterans using the GI Bill and helps them participate in their democracy by engaging with policymakers. Veterans Education Success also provides non-partisan policy expertise to federal and state policymakers and conducts non-partisan research on issues of concern to student veterans. Additional information is available at vetsedsuccess.org.

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Press Release - Shutdown Statement