U.S. President Barack Obama says the country needs to do more to make good on a long-standing promise to its troops.
Obama used his weekly address Saturday to decry colleges and universities that have been trying to take advantage of troops and veterans - some of them with serious injuries - in order to make money. He said a new order he signed Friday will help inform troops about financial aid to pay for their education. And he said his administration will crack down on schools and lenders that try to prey on troops.
Starting after World War II, the United States helped veterans get a college education with an assistance program known as the GI Bill. The program was renewed following the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. But President Obama says a small number of schools and recruiters have turned to the program as a way to make money.
Obama said that in one case, a school recruiter enrolled a group of Marines with brain injuries that were so severe they could not even remember what courses they had signed up for. He called such behavior on the part of schools and recruiters "appalling" and "disgraceful."
Representative Paul Ryan from the central state of Wisconsin gave the weekly Republican address. The chairman of the House Budget Committee criticized Obama for "going into campaign mode" instead of offering solutions to the country's debt problems.
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