RICHMOND -- On his first day in the U.S. Senate, Jim Webb of Virginia introduced legislation to enhance college benefits for veterans who have served during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On Thursday, more than 16 months after Webb introduced the measure, the Senate passed it with a veto-proof majority despite objections raised by the White House and the Pentagon. The 21st Century GI Bill of Rights was attached to a war spending bill.

In a conference call with reporters, Webb, a Democrat, said he hopes President Bush will sign the bill. But Webb and Republican John Warner, Virginia's senior senator, said they expect Senate support for the GI Bill to remain strong even if Bush vetoes the spending package.

"Wouldn't you feel we could get that mustered up?" Warner said to Webb.

"I believe that, one way or another, we're going to get this legislation through," Webb said.

The GI Bill would provide veterans with tuition aid equal to the most expensive public school in their home states and monthly stipends for housing expenses. The proposal was a major part of Webb's 2006 campaign agenda.

"The world changed after 9/11 and when the operational tempo of our military changed, I kept sitting on the sidelines wondering when the GI Bill educational benefits would change," said Webb, a decorated Vietnam War veteran and former secretary of the Navy.

Warner, also a former Navy secretary, said existing GI Bill benefits are not sufficient to cover costs at many public schools.

"They simply have not [got] the funds to go to some of the major universities all across America," Warner said. "This bill will enable them to do that."

Webb disputed assertions that the bill would hurt retention in the military, saying the vast majority of those who serve in the armed forces already leave on or before the end of their first enlistment. Webb and Warner, a co-sponsor of the bill, tried to ease the Pentagon's concerns by adding a test program that will allow career military personnel to transfer benefits to family members when they re-enlist.

The GI Bill has helped to raise Webb's national profile and fuel talk that he could be his party's vice presidential candidate. Webb brushed aside a question on that topic Thursday, saying: "I'm here to do what I said I would try to do when I was running for office and this [GI Bill] certainly was part of that."