Number range CHAPTERGH HUNT REPORTING COMPANY

PARALYZED VETERANS OF AMERICAN, JEWISH WAR VETERANS, BLINDED VETERANS
ASSOCIATION, VIETNAM VETERANS OF AMERICA, NON COMMISSIONED OFFICERS
ASSOCIATION, AIR FORCE SERGEANTS ASSOCIATION, AND AMERICAN EX-POW'S
LEGISLATIVE PRESENTATIONS

Thursday, March 6, 2008

House of Representatives,

Committee on Veterans' Affairs,

Joint with

United States Senate

Committee on Veterans' Affairs,

Washington, D.C.

The Committees met, pursuant to notice, at 9:30 a.m., in Room 345,
Cannon House Office Building, Hon. Bob Filner \[Chairman of the House
Committee on Veterans' Affairs\] presiding.

Present for Committee on Veterans' Affairs: Representatives Filner,
Mitchell, Hall, Hare, Berkley, Donnelly, Space, Walz, Buyer, Brown of
South Carolina, Miller, Boozman, Lamborn, Bilirakis and Buchanan.

Present for the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs:

Senators Akaka, Burr, and Isakson.

The \*Chairman.\* Good morning. It is nice to see all of you. You can
feel the energy in the air. Thank you for coming to Washington. Senator
Akaka and I were honored to reinstate your annual visit and we are so
glad to see you here because we know how important it is. And you come
at a perfect time because we are right now getting the budget ready for
next fiscal year. So in your lobbying and your talking to congresspeople
you are right here at the moment you should be. I would like to
recognize my colleague from the United States Senate, and Chair of the
Senate Veterans Committee, the Senator from Hawaii who works everyday
for veterans, Senator Akaka. I welcome you for an opening statement.

Senator \*Akaka.\* Thank you, thank you very much Mr. Chairman. And let
me begin with a word that is so important to all of us coming from
Hawaii and that is aloha. And welcome to all of you here today. We are
delighted to have you here on the Hill to tell us what you are thinking
and for us to benefit from that. In particular I want to extend a
special warm hello to PFC Skinner. If you are here, will you stand?
Aloha, thank you for being here. PFC Skinner is here with the Non
Commissioned Officers Association this morning and he has come all the
way from my home state of Hawaii. Also, I am always delighted to welcome
Dr. Roy Kekahuna of the Blinded Veterans Association. \[In Hawaiian\]
aloha. It is very good to have you here today, Roy.

I am very pleased to join all of the leaders of the Veterans' Affairs
Committee in welcoming each of you here today. This forum offers a very
valuable opportunity to us, both in terms of hearing from you and your
views on needed changes, but also in helping us to craft an appropriate
budget for VA. All of the organizations testifying before us today have
proud traditions of working on behalf of those who have served in our
armed forces. I applaud each of you for all that you do to better the
lives of all veterans.

As Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, I am resolute
that veterans receive the highest quality benefits and services. Caring
for our troops when they return home is a solemn responsibility. Part of
our responsibility is providing the best healthcare and rehabilitation.
Another part of fairly and expeditiously compensating veterans for their
injuries, including invisible wounds. We must, in this time of War,
equip VA with the resources necessary to carry out these missions now
and into the future.

I have said this time and time again. I will keep saying it. Veterans
benefits and services are the cost of War, and must be understood and
funded as such. My majority colleagues on the Senate Committee and I
just recommended that the VA healthcare account receive a \$4.6 billion
increase over fiscal year 2008. The President's Budget took a meek
approach to funding VA. We must go even further, and I want you to know
that we will.

As someone who knows firsthand how valuable the GI Bill is we must make
sure that the value of education assistance benefits for veterans keeps
pace with the rising costs of higher education. Timely and accurate
adjudication of disability claims remains an issue. Veterans deserve to
have their claims addressed fairly and without needless delay.

Assisting veterans' families is the essential part of the successful
reintegration of new veterans into their communities. Family members are
often the primary caregivers for injured veterans. VA has taken steps to
reach out to these families in recent years, but much more work has to
be done.

Providing a seamless transition from military to civilian life for the
newest generation of veterans is vital. Many of you have made
suggestions in this area in your statements and we look forward to
evaluating those.

I am proud of the Wounded Warrior provisions we enacted last year as
part of the National Defense Authorization Act. I am especially proud of
the provision I authored to expand VA healthcare eligibility for
returning veterans from two to five years. My legislation on traumatic
brain injury was also recently signed into law. VA has a responsibility
to be at the forefront of TBI research and treatment.

Finally, there are some major bills that have yet to be considered in
the Senate and agreement needs to be reached to debate these bills. And
I hope there will be action to complete these bills in the near future.

In closing I, again, want to thank each of the national leaders here
this morning, and the membership of the organizations for your service
and dedication to our nation and its veterans. I thank you very much for
your appearance here today. And let me apologize, but I have another
obligation that begins in just a few minutes on the Senate side so I
will not be able to remain here for the rest of this hearing. So thank
you very much for being here, and with that God bless all of you and God
bless America.

The \*Chairman.\* Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator. And there are
approaching votes on the Senate side so we will recognize the Ranking
Member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, the gentleman from
North Carolina, Mr. Burr.

Senator \*Burr.\* Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Chairman Akaka, my good
friend Steve Buyer, let me welcome all of our guests today. Not just
those who are testifying but all of you who are here to support them.
And I do apologize that the Senate has decided to have votes early
today.

We have such a distinguished list of organizations which will be
presenting. The members of these organizations truly understand the
meaning of the word sacrifice. Within their ranks are those who have
given their sight, their mobility, and years of their own freedom in
defense of our country. I thank all of the members of these
distinguished organizations for your service, but more importantly for
your sacrifice on behalf of this entire nation. And I thank all the
witnesses that are here today to help us make sure Congress knows what
is important to your members. I would also like to extend a very special
welcome to those from North Carolina.

I think it should go without saying that the focus of today should be on
what you have to say, and not on what we have to say. So I will keep my
remarks extremely brief. Mr. Chairman, although VA has a world class
healthcare system, comprehensive vocational rehabilitation and
employment program, and a disability compensation program, VA does not
use those resources collectively to improve the lives of veterans.
Despite the mental health services available from VA the number of
veterans with service connected PTSD have been growing. And more
troubling, their disability ratings show that they are progressively
getting worse. In my view, we simply cannot allow this trend to
continue. But finding a solution may require that we depart from the
status quo and try new approaches that focus on treatment and wellness.
I look forward to working with the organizations here today to try to
move us in that direction.

Another area where I think there is significant room for improvement is
the disability compensation system. All too often, this system requires
injured veterans to endure a lengthy, duplicative, and bureaucratic
process at both the Department of Defense and VA to get their disability
benefits. For more than five decades experts have been telling us that
we need to update, simplify, and modernize this system. Similar
recommendations were made just last year by the Dole-Shalala Commission,
and the Veterans Disability Commission. Like past reports, those
distinguished commissions recommended that we get rid of the
overlapping, confusing roles of VA and DOD in the disability rating
process, completely update the VA disability rating schedule,
compensate, compensate, compensate our veterans for any loss of quality
of life, and place more emphasis on treatment and rehabilitation of
injured veterans.

I think it is clear that the disability system has needed changes for a
long time. So I do not want to add these reports to the shelf with all
the others to collect dust. It is time that we take action to improve
the system for our nation's veterans. My goal would be to create a
system that is more straightforward and up to date, that does not
distinguish between combat and non-combat injuries, and that would be
open to veterans of all generations. If we are willing to change this
system we can help ensure better benefits and more importantly improved
outcomes for veterans who have been injured in the service of their
country.

Mr. Chairman, before I turn back over to you I want to acknowledge that
some may be reluctant to make changes to a system that has been in place
for so long. But in my view, a fear of change should not stop us from
moving forward. Thomas Jefferson said, "I am not an advocate of frequent
changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go
hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more
developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths
discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of
circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the
times." I would challenge all of us that we have gone way too long
without changing the system. It is time that we advance the disability
system to reflect modern society, a changing economy, the new attitude
towards disability. I look forward to working with my colleagues on both
sides of the Hill, the organizations that are here today, so that we
might chart that new course as to how we go there together. Again, I
thank each and every one of you for your service to this country. Mr.
Chairman, I yield the floor.

The \*Chairman.\* Thank you, Senator Burr. And I would like to recognize
the Ranking Member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, who also
serves on the House Armed Services Committee. Do you serve on the Armed
Services Committee, as well, sir?

Mr. \*Buyer.\* For eight years.

The \*Chairman.\* Right.

Mr. \*Buyer.\* A long time.

The \*Chairman.\* Mr. Buyer from Indiana.

Mr. \*Buyer.\* Thank you very much. And Richard, as you go let me thank
you. I am working with Senator Burr right now to modernize the
disability systems. And as many of you know, just as Richard mentioned
in his comments about what it takes to be the agent of change, and I
recognize whenever you have to be the agent of change it never makes you
popular. And I will give you a prime example. You know, you applauded
when you said, "Well, gosh we've got our joint hearings back." Well when
I ended the joint hearings all of you had your opportunities to testify
and when I did is I advanced your testimony so it was done in a manner
that had the greatest influence upon the budgetary process. But what has
happened now is, the Chairman has taken advantage of that and now you
all are testifying at the time our views and estimates are already done.
So your testimony with regard to that is stale. But with regard to your
testimonies today, it helps influence our views and estimates that have
then been sent to the Budget Committee.

So I recognize any time that you try to change things you are never
popular. I recognized that when it came time, we went through the BRAC
process, and veterans learned that, especially the retirees, that they
could not find themselves an access to healthcare. I had almost 380 of
my colleagues were demanding that military retirees be shifted to the
FEHBP. And I said no. Now come to Congress and stand up and say no to
380 members of your colleagues. And what I did was, I created TRICARE
For Life. And when I created TRICARE For Life as a benefit, now many of
the military retirees enjoy that as a benefit. I also, it took me three
years to do the redesign of the military pharmacy system. And now, they
like the pharmacy system. It took me seven years to do the redesign of
the IT architecture of the VA. You know, fortunately as we went through
that process we had a bipartisan agreement. Bob Filner was very helpful
to me, Lane Evans, the entire Committee over here. The Senate was not
too excited about these types of changes. But it took seven years to do
that. And you know what was the impetus that helped perfect that change?
Was a stolen laptop, and wake up call across America that we had
vulnerabilities in our systems.

So let us see, three years ago Duncan Hunter and I and some others, we
created the Disability Commission. Why? Because we recognized that there
were problems out there in the seamless transition of a soldier. If we
are patient-centric and view our systems through the eyes of the
soldier, the soldier, airman, marine, or coast guardsman, we recognize
that there are tremendous problems within that system and they should
never recognize that. So as we created the Polytrauma Centers within the
VA, and that soldier goes from the battlefield, to Landstuhl, to Walter
Reed, or Bethesda, and immediately into our Polytrauma Center, the
patient should not recognize that they are moving from one system to the
other.

But then as they begin to move into their rehabilitative care, that
subacute care, they still should not recognize that, "Oh my gosh, now I
have to deal with a medical discharge and a rating from DOD. And then I
have to worry about another one based on another type of system in VA."
And then veterans over the years trying to figure out, "How do I gain
both systems so I can gain access to better forms of benefit?" Well,
when we asked the Disability Commission, led by General Scott and some
of the nation's greatest heroes to examine all this process.

On top of that, then what happens? We had the analogous of the stolen
laptop, Walter Reed. Then we get the benefit of the President's Senator
Dole and Secretary Donna Shalala's Commission. So we have the Disability
Commission, the recommendations from Dole-Shalala, and we have our own
inputs. And that is what Senator Burr and I have done.

Now there are two paths here. We can move comprehensively, or you can
move incrementally. What I think we should do, we should move smartly.
And individuals in this town, organizations and individuals spend more
time, money, and volunteerism on breaking and stopping things than
building things. And I want to help build things and modernize this
system.

Like take for example, take into account quality of life. So how long
does it take an individuals to get ready in the morning? You know, if
they are a paraplegic, quadriplegic, they have lost an arm or a leg,
they should be compensated for the differential in that lost quality of
life and it should be accounted for in the tables. And it is not. And we
want to remove the duplicative systems, take DOD out of the disability
system. We want to create a retirement process. In others words, if you
are discharged, medically discharged out of the military, you then
receive a retirement pay, meaning you are paid and compensated based on
your years of service and your rank at the time. We eliminated then this
concurrent receipt. We have one form of medical discharge process. It is
done in the VA. That is where the evaluations process is done, and then
we modernize the tables.

Now, all of that is large and it is challenging. I cannot do it. Richard
cannot do it. Bob cannot do it. None of us can do it alone. We need you
to engage with us to perfect the best system for America's veterans and
I want to do it as soon as we can. And let us not say, "Because this is
difficult, because it is challenging, we are just going to push it off
to future generations." Shame on us if that happens.

And let me finish with this. I recognize how challenging this is. When
I, back in 1998-1999 time frame, when we were dealing with retention
problems in the mid-level NCOs and officer corps, I said I want to
change the pay tables. And DOD looked at me as though I was crazy.
"Steve Buyer, do you not realize that those pay tables came, Moses
brought those down with the tablets. You cannot change the pay tables."
Right? You cannot change those pay tables? Who do you think you are?
Well, we changed the pay tables. And that is exactly what we are facing
right now, is the modernization of the compensation pay tables. And you
need to engage with us to make that happen. I yield back.

\[The statement of Hon. Steve Buyer follows on p. \]

\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*INSERT\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*

The \*Chairman.\* Thank you, Mr. Buyer. Again, let me welcome all of
you. Those of you who are going to testify and all of your membership. I
want to put the budget in a little bit of context just before we begin.
As you know last year, or the current fiscal year, helped by the,
ironically helped by the scandal at Walter Reed, neither party could say
no to veterans. And we were able to add \$13 billion of new money for
healthcare. That was a 30 percent increase, unprecedented in the history
of the VA. And we set the stage for dealing with all the issues that you
are going to talk about. Our job and your job, of course, is to demand
accountability for those dollars. Are they spending them the right way?
Are they meeting your needs? And so we will work with you to do that. We
are not going to get the same gains this year. But we hope, for the
current fiscal year, or the next fiscal year, that we are not preparing.

You all remember when you had previous sessions here I waived around the
independent budget. This is the budget put together by the veterans
service organizations, which I think almost all, every one of your
organizations supports. This budget is put together by veterans for
veterans. It is a very professional job. I take it as my bible during
the budget process. And they recommended a much higher figure than the
President recommended just several weeks ago. And the President made
some, I think, terrible mistakes in his budget. He allowed for about a 5
percent increase or so in the healthcare budget. That barely covers the
cost of inflation. But he paid for that by bringing down every other
account in the budget, whether it was construction, or research, or
anything else. We said no. We are not going to allow those accounts to
decrease and we are going to make sure that there is no decrease, in
fact an increase, in all those accounts for the coming year.

In addition, the President, as he has done for the last seven years,
suggested that we raise enrollment fees for certain categories of
veterans and double copayments for pharmaceuticals. We said no to that,
as we have done for the last seven years. Not only, of course, does that
give some revenue, the President calculates, but it knocks several
hundred thousand people out of the system who would not be able to
afford it. Now that is a pretty interesting way to look at veterans
during a time of War, that we are going to save money by kicking
veterans out of the system. We say no to that. We say no to that.

And we realize what George Washington said, you know, over 200 years
ago. That the best indicator of the morale of our fighting troops is the
sense of how they are going to be treated when they come home. So we
have an obligation to make sure everybody knows that we are treating our
veterans right, because it is a big factor in the morale of those in
Iraq and Afghanistan.

And that War, as you know, is very controversial, divisive, but what is
not divisive, we are united in saying every young man and woman that
comes back from that War is going to get all the care, the love,
attention, the honor, the dignity, that we can bestow as a nation. And
we are determined to do that.

So this Committee made recommendations long with the President's, along
the lines of the independent budget. And the Budget Committee just met
yesterday in fact, and they have recommended for the Congress that for
the second year in a row we are going to exceed the independent budget
when it is time for the budget to be approved.

So we are going to try to do the job with the budget. And when that is
finished, though, we have a lot of other things to do. And you are going
to, I read all your testimony, and I think our priorities fit in with
yours. I think first and foremost we have got to update the GI Bill for
the twenty-first century. The benefits do not, have not kept up with the
rate of inflation and the real cost of college. The housing program,
with its values of refinancing and loans, are completely out of line
with the market today. And maybe most important, the Guard and Reserve
units, who are doing half the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are not
eligible for the GI Bill. We are going to make them eligible when they
come back from active duty for those benefits.

Along with that my colleagues brought up the disability claim system. We
are going to be debating that kind of change that has been advocated
here. But we have got to do something first, I think. There is over
700,000 or something backlogged claims. Many of you have been fighting
the VA so long on this stuff you think VA means veterans adversary
instead of veterans advocate. And that is not what this agency,
administration was set up to do. It was set up to help you.

How many here are Vietnam Veterans? A good number. We have a lot of
apologize for, by the way, to you guys and gals. When you came home, you
did not get the honor and care and respect that you should have. Many of
us who were against that War confused the War and the warrior. We should
never have allowed that to happen. We are not going to allow it to
happen right now, either. But as part of our effort to clean up the
backlog of claims, there must be several hundred thousand Agent Orange
claims. I do not care if your boots were on the ground, if you were on a
ship off the coast, if you were on a plane above the country, we should
honor those claims and just grant them now. That will get several
hundred thousand off our rolls.

And if we, although we have put in hundreds and hundreds of new claims
adjusters into our budget, that is going to take years until people get
trained and work their way down. I think that, you know, when you file
your 1040 tax return, I hate to remind you, it is going to be due soon.
But when you fill that form out and you have a refund coming you get a
check in about three weeks, subject to audit to keep you honest. And
there is a certain audit procedure. Why not treat our veterans with some
equal efficiency? If you filed a claim with the help of a certified
veterans service officer, grant it. Send out the check, subject to
audit. We could get that backlog down to, you know, almost zero if we
treat the system as a non-adversarial system, that we trust the
veterans, and we trust the certified officers and begin those checks
when people need them and not when it is too late for them to ever use
it. So we are going to cut down that backlog and hopefully very quickly.

And a third priority would be for so called mandatory or assured funding
of the budget. We know in the last couple years, and I think eleven
years, the last couple years, the budget was not finalized for the VA
for about four or five months. You cannot plan for the care of veterans
when you do not know what money is coming and when it is coming. People
cannot be hired. Vacancies, you know, are filled, research cannot start.
So we are going to try, and many of you have suggestions on that. Some
of you have come up with a so called forward funding proposal. We are
going to look at that.

But we want to take the healthcare of veterans out of the political
battlefield. The President has a number, as you heard me say we have a
number. The Democrats have a number, the Republicans have a number. The
Senate has a number, the House has a number. And we fight about that.
And you are watching this fight and say, "Hey, we just want to make sure
our benefits and our healthcare arrive on time." So we are going to try
to get a system that does not allow that to occur and gets the politics
out of it, and the assured funding will be there.

So that is some of our priorities for the coming year after the budget
is settled. We are going to have those bills that your organizations
will be looking at. And hopefully you will all, as members in your own,
back home, look at it and help your congresspeople to understand it.

So I thank you for being here. We are going to start the testimony. I
will just go across. And I will first introduce the National Commander
for the American Ex-Prisoners of War, Mr. Warren G. King, Senior. Mr.
King, you have five minutes to present your testimony, and we have your
written testimony, all of us have, for the record. Welcome.

\[The statement of Hon. Bob Filner appears on p. \]

\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*INSERT\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*

**STATEMENTS OF WARREN G. KING, SR., NATIONAL COMMANDER, AMERICAN
EX-PRISONERS OF WAR; RANDY L. PLEVA, SR., NATIONAL PRESIDENT, PARALYZED
VETERANS OF AMERICA; LAWRENCE SCHULMAN, NATIONAL COMMANDER, JEWISH WAR
VETERANS OF THE USA; NORMAN JONES, JR., NATIONAL PRESIDENT, BLINDED
VETERANS ASSOCIATION; JOHN ROWAN, NATIONAL PRESIDENT, VIETNAM VETERANS
OF AMERICA; H. GENE OVERSTREET, SERGEANT MAJOR UNITED STATES MARINE
CORPS (RETIRED), PRESIDENT, NON COMMISSIONED OFFICERS ASSOCIATION OF THE
USA; AND RICHARD M. DEAN, CHIEF MASTER SERGEANT (RETIRED), CHIEF
EXECUTIVE OFFICER, AIR FORCE SERGEANTS ASSOCIATION.**

**STATEMENT OF WARREN G. KING, SR., NATIONAL COMMANDER, AMERICAN
EX-PRISONERS OF WAR**

Mr. \*King.\* Thank you Chairman Akaka, Chairman Filner, Ranking Member
Burr, Ranking Member Buyer, distinguished members of the Veterans'
Affairs Committee, and guests. I want to thank you for the opportunity
to address the joint Senate and the House Veterans' Affairs Committee on
behalf of the American Ex-Prisoners of War.

Originally our membership covered about 120,000 who survived captivity.
Now some 19,000 remain alive today. The average age is eighty-five
years, with a life expectancy of five years. Most are World War II
veterans. I was a combat medic in that War, captured in December of 1944
and liberated in the Spring of 1945 by the Russians and held as
prisoners. I am mindful today, as you are, that the Iraq/Afghanistan
conflict is still continuing and casualties are returning almost daily
to our military hospitals, many with extremely debilitating wounds.
Americans regardless of their views of the War, are united in their
feeling that these veterans should be provided whatever it takes for as
long as it takes to restore them to the highest level of independence
and meaningful living as possible. Americans are also aware this high
level of rehabilitation has rarely been achieved after past wars. As
memories of those wars fade so does the determination to keep this
promise. This concern is reflected in the Dole-Shalala Report on
Iraq/Afghanistan Wounded and the broader three-year Independent
Commission finding just released.

What happened to World War II prisoners of war after they were
discharged from service is a classic example of this outcome. Just
released POWs were briefly sent by the military to special camps for
immediate dietary and stress treatments. They were then returned to
military lines, outfitted for transportation to the United States.
Again, they were provided brief or no rehabilitation and then sent to
separation centers for routine discharge along with the millions of
other veterans being processed. They simply were returned to civilian
life as an invisible part of the 16 million World War II veteran
population.

Almost by accident, thirty years after this discharge, World War II POWs
became visible again. The publicity being accorded Vietnam POWs
stimulated this awareness. Max Cleland, then VA Administrator, initiated
a review of all battle statistics from World War II to obtain an actual
account of how many World War II POWs there were. Belatedly, both
Congress and the VA responded to this information with long overdue
action. Records of every World War II POW seen in medical centers or
benefit offices were identified and presumptive medical conditions
recognized as casualty related to captivity were gradually established
to facilitate treatment and disability benefits.

It has now been sixty-plus years since the end of World War II. A long
time for the nation to fulfill its promise to these veterans. While most
medical conditions casualty associated with captivity have now been made
presumptive and World War II POWs do receive priority care, there are
still two medical conditions that still deserve presumptive status,
osteoporosis and diabetes. The former is directly related to bone loss
due to starvation during captivity and the latter to the effects of
prolonged stress and other factors of the body's basic defense system.

These two proposed presumptives have again been introduced by Senator
Patty Murray and Representative Gus Bilirakis with supporting evidence.
We are deeply thankful to Senator Murray and Representative Bilirakis,
who again introduced these bills. We strongly urge your Committee's
immediate support. We also urge your prompt support of all legislation
to help veterans returning from the Iraq/Afghanistan conflict receive
the rehabilitation they need to regain an active and meaningful life in
their home and community.

In closing, we also seek your approval of H.R. 5315, introduced by
Representative Tom Udall, New Mexico, to grant the Congressional Gold
Medal Award to the surviving soldiers of the Bataan Death March of World
War II. This is not assigned to the Veterans' Affairs Committee, but we
urge your support when it comes before Congress. Also very important to
your former prisoners of war is H.R. 156 to amend 38 U.S. Code to
provide for the payment of DIC to survivors of former POWs who died
before September 30, 1999 with the same eligibility as provided to
payment of DIC to survivors of former POWs who died after that date.
This will be of great financial aid to the surviving spouses of POWs.

Thank you one and all. Thank you, have a good day.

\[The statement of Warren G. King, Sr. appears on p. \]

\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*INSERT\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*

The \*Chairman.\* Thank you, Commander. And thank you for mentioning the
bill from Congressman Bilirakis. There is a Bilirakis on our panel as
there has been for the last two decades, but this guy is a younger
version of Michael Bilirakis who has worked so much, worked so hard to
make sure we get concurrent receipt, that is the dual payment of both
retiree pay and disability. And thank you, Congressman, for this
legislation which we will take up as quick as we can.

The National President of the Paralyzed Veterans of America is Randy
Pleva, Sr. and we welcome your testimony, Mr. Pleva.

**STATEMENT OF RANDY L. PLEVA, SR., NATIONAL PRESIDENT, PARALYZED
VETERANS OF AMERICA**

Mr. \*Pleva.\* I want to thank you, Mr. Chairman, and everyone who sits
on these Committees. Senator Akaka kind of said my testimony, to be
honest with you.

The \*Chairman.\* Moving on to the next\--

Mr. \*Pleva.\* Yes, it is. But you know, since we only have five minutes
here I just, as I sit here and listen to sort of the debate going back
and forth, I cannot think in the back of the room when I see all
individuals in the uniforms how that, what is going through their minds
when they hear all this. When I was seventeen years old in Vietnam, and
was not supposed to be there, seventeen years old, I was there because I
wanted to do something for my country. I did not have the opportunity to
hear some of the debate that goes back and forth. Maybe if I had, maybe
I might have thought twice. But loving this country as much as I do, and
as the individuals in the uniforms do, when we went into combat we was
not worried about what my benefits were going to be. When we went into
combat we wanted to make sure this country would stay free. It is just
that simple.

And that is, I understand you all have one heck of a job in front of
you, I understand that. But I also want you to understand that there are
a lot of people depend on what you all do, up here on Capitol Hill.
There are families, we probably, I noticed the first time in, what,
twenty-some years that the VA has been funded like it is. But in those
twenty-two years I myself have talked to veterans who were turned away
from the VA because of this law and that law. And no, they did not have
the combat injuries. But they were the ones that were carrying people to
the helicopters. And because they did not get a scratch they were
penalized. And that is where I, you know, this makes my fourth time
coming to this Committee. A veteran is a veteran. I do not care if he is
combat wounded, or he is not combat wounded. When he signed that paper
to go into the service he put his all for this country. And I think at
least the country could give their all back to the veteran, I really do.

Mr. Chairman, believe me, I mean no disrespect to nobody. I really do
not. But the other day I was listening to an individual that is running
for the highest office of this land telling a veteran that, he is having
a little bit of trouble getting into the VA, and if this individual was
elected he will give him a card so he can go on the outside. That put
chill bumps down my back. PVA, and I will speak for PVA, no
privatization of the VA should ever happen. The VA is what we have got.
It just needs to be helped a little bit. It needs to be funded. We have
got doctors, we have got nurses out there, that they give their all. And
they are working overtime. They are being, I do not know how you say it,
they are just being overworked.

And from my understanding, we have nurses now, you know, I would like
for you all to look at the nurses' staffing reports that we have. They,
you know, they say they have let us say like thirty nurses. But ten of
those are on light duty, and they cannot do nothing, you know what I am
saying? I was shocked when I heard that they could not even hardly pick
up the phone to answer it, but they are still counted as bedside nurses.
This really has to be looked at.

I know my time is just about up. I see the yellow light. And believe me,
I wanted to say a whole lot more but I guess I throw the ball back in
your all's corner, I really do. You know, we can go out there and tell
the widow, we can go out there and tell the sons and daughters that,
"Hey," you know, "we are here for you." But it is you all, you are the
ones that is going to have to make that promise come true. Thank you,
Mr. Chairman.

\[The statement of Randy L. Pleva, Sr. appears on p. \]

\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*INSERT\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*

The \*Chairman.\* Thank you. We will take that to heart, I hope. The
National Commander of the Jewish War Veterans of the United States of
American, Mr. Lawrence Schulman.

**STATEMENT OF LAWRENCE SCHULMAN, NATIONAL COMMANDER, JEWISH WAR
VETERANS OF THE USA**

Mr. \*Schulman.\* Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Before I start I would also
like to thank the men and women in uniform in this room for their
service. We really appreciate what they do for our country.

Chairman Filner, Chairman Akaka, members of the House and Senate
Committees on Veterans' Affairs, my fellow veterans and friends, I am
Lawrence Schulman, the National Commander of the Jewish War Veterans of
the USA. JWV is congressionally chartered and also provides counseling
and assistance to members encountering problems dealing with the
Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and other
government agencies. JWV is an active participant in the military
coalition, a group of over thirty associations and veterans
organizations representing five million active duty and Reserve and
retired uniform service personnel and veterans on Capitol Hill. I am
accompanied today by the Chairman of our Coordinating Committee, Past
National Commander Joseph Zoldan; JWV's International Liaison and
President of our National Museum of American Jewish Military History,
Past National Commander Robert Zweiman; the President of our Ladies
Auxiliary, Norma Schreiber; the Chairman of our National Executive
Committee, Past National Commander Michael Berman; and our National
Executive Director Colonel Herb Rosenbleeth. In the audience today are
those JWV members who are here to meet with the senators,
representatives as part of JWV's Capitol Hill Action Day. Members of the
Committee, it was a singular honor for me to present the JWV Medal of
Merit to the Honorable Marcy Kaptur at our congressional reception
yesterday evening in recognition of her truly outstanding work for the
American veterans. It was equally rewarding for JWV to have so many of
you participate with us.

Mr. Chairman next week, on March 15 to be exact, we at JWV will
celebrate JWV's 112th birthday. For these 112 years JWV has advocated a
strong national defense and a just and fair recognition and compensation
for veterans. The Jewish War Veterans of the USA prides itself on being
in the forefront among our nation's civic and veterans' groups in
supporting the well earned rights of the veteran, in promoting American
and democratic principles, in defending universal Jewish causes, and in
vigorously opposing bigotry, anti-Semitism, and terrorism both here and
abroad. Today even more than ever before we stand for these principles.
The Jewish War Veterans of the USA represents a proud tradition of
patriotism and service to the United States of America.

On November 10, 2007 I had the honor of reading names at the wall for
the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Vietnam Veterans Wall. And the next
day, on the 11th, I had the honor of being at Arlington and attending
the Wreath Ceremony and listening to comments of Vice President Cheney.
In their program there was a quote by Abraham Lincoln that the Acting
Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Gordon Mansfield, put in the program. And
in that program it said quoting Abraham Lincoln at his second inaugural
address on March 4, 1865, "Set forth our obligation to care for those
injured in body and spirit by the defense of our nation, and for the
families of those who made the ultimate sacrifice."

It has been 143 years since those words were uttered. What has happened
over the years? Since we went to War over six years ago we are
constantly hearing negative stories about the treatment of our
servicemen and women, and the shortage of protection equipment, and
problems with shortages of funds to care for our wounded. Congressman
Filner, you have already stated that the budget increases spending from
2009 will be up. However, they slashed programs between 2009 and 2013 by
\$20 billion below the levels needed to maintain what the VA is doing
today. We have not set aside any funds for our wounded warriors for the
next twenty years. This is one reason why we ask you for a mandatory
funding since every year from now on you will have to give the VA more
funds than you currently plan on giving.

You have soldiers that the administration urges the country to support.
However, when they get released and become veterans, our brothers, we do
not treat them as we should. Maybe it is because less than 2 percent of
our country, including the servicemen, are citizens fighting this War.
They have to pick up the pieces of our walking wounded, try to maintain
the families, live on food stamps, use coupons to stretch their food
dollars and feed their families.

On Veterans Day Congressman Louise Slaughter wrote a letter to the
editor of my local paper in Rochester, New York stating the on the
battlefield the military pledges to leave no soldier behind. As a
nation, let it be our pledge that when they return we leave no veteran
behind. All of our representatives see and hear what I see and hear.
Over the years we, you and I, have heard the pleas for better treatment
of our soldiers and veterans. We leave this hearing room with our
requests. I wonder why we came back with the same requests that are not
met? And today I have heard some fantastic ideas from both sides. And I
still do not understand why we still come back every year and ask you
for the same things.

Almost 4,000 have been killed. I attended the calling hours last Friday
in Rochester, New York for Specialist Kevin Mowl of Pittsford, New York
who was laid to rest on Saturday, March 1st. This War is going to cost
our country trillions of dollars. The human cost cannot be measured.
Thousands of our servicemen and women are broken, if not from PTSD then
from TBI or suicides, broken homes, or being homeless. These are the
extra costs no budget can cover. Our brothers and sisters need your
help. We here today speak for them. I wonder if anyone is listening?

I see that our new Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Dr. James Peake, has
increased the free medical care for combat veterans from two years to
five years. That is a step in the right direction.

I will leave you with this message I received from my Canadian cousins.
"It is the veteran, not the preacher, who has given us freedom of
religion. It is the veteran, not the reporter, who has given us freedom
of the press. It is the veteran, not the poet, who has given us freedom
of speech. It is the veteran, not the campus organizer, who has given us
freedom to assemble. It is the veteran, not the lawyer, who has given us
the right to a fair trial. It is the veteran, not the politician, who
has given us the right to vote. It is the veteran who salutes the flag.
It is the veteran who serves under the flag." Thank you very much for
listening to my comments.

\[The statement of Lawrence Schulman appears on p. \]

\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*INSERT\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*

The \*Chairman.\* Thank you. Thank you, Commander Schulman. Thank you,
Commander. The National President of the Blinded Veterans Association is
Dr. Norman Jones. And Dr. Jones, you are recognized for your statement.

**STATEMENT OF NORMAN JONES, JR., NATIONAL PRESIDENT, BLINDED VETERANS
ASSOCIATION**

Mr. \*Jones.\* Mr. Chairman, members of the Committee, on behalf of the
Blinded Veterans Association, we would like to thank you for giving us
another opportunity to come to our capital city and present our
legislative priorities to you. For some, Mr. Chairman, I would like to
reiterate that the Blinded Veterans Association is the only service
organization chartered by Congress to attend the needs of blind and
visually impaired veterans along with their families. We would to also
say thank you for letting us present these legislative priorities to
you. This year, Mr. Chairman, we will be celebrating our sixty-third
year of continuous service. Three score and three years we have been
doing it, and we are proud to be doing it, and doing it along with you
for this unique group of Americans.

But just how unique is this group of Americans? We do not figure we are
any better than any other disabled veterans. But since most of my topics
have been taken, I am going to take just a minute to give you an
awareness of how severe this disability is. I would like you, Mr.
Chairman, along with the Committee, just for a few seconds, to close
your eyes real tight. Also, everyone in the room do the same thing and I
promise not to sneak out. If I could find the door. But while your eyes
are closed I want to make this statement. This is the way, Mr. Chairman,
that we as blind American veterans wake up to our sunrise every morning.
This is the way we go to the kitchen and prepare our breakfast. This is
the way we go to the closet and pull out an ensemble that will match, we
hope. This is the way that we make it to the train or bus station. This
is the way we go through our work day. This is the way we return home to
our loved one. This is the way we watch the news and see what you are
doing up here on Capitol Hill. You can open your eyes now. The only
problem with us, many of us have this problem 24/7, 365 days a year. And
many of us have been doing it for ten, fifteen, fifty, fifty years,
sixty years to no light.

But along with all that, Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, we
want to thank you for working so closely with us through the VA, through
prosthetics, through our blind centers, and just continue to do the same
thing.

Many of the topics that I have had on my sheet, while in Atlanta,
Georgia I memorized these a hundred times over. But, Mr. Chairman, you
took up some of those already. Other members of the Committee have
already mentioned some, too, so I am going to make a quick turn around
within this five minutes and just try to mention a few.

We have prepared a listing in front of you, a written testimony. We
broke it down into fifteen different areas. But we did not want to just
put this in your lap. We also at the end of that testimony listed
fifteen different solutions that will help you as food for thought.

While we are thinking, too, we would also like to thank you for passing
H.R 797, the Impaired Organs Bill, also H.R. 1240, the Vision
Specialists Training Bill, that will help the VA to organize
scholarships for younger students to go into this area. It is great to
have positions and slots, but if we do not have qualified people to put
into those it is useless. Therefore, I would like to beseech upon the
Senate to pass as quickly as possible Senate Bill 1672, that is the
companion bill for that one.

Among the listings that we have we mention seamless transition. You
mentioned that one already, Mr. Chairman. One that was not mentioned is
the Eye Trauma Center of Excellence. We think this is a very important
act that should be, a lot of attention should be put here. The only
problem, it has been authorized with no funding. That is like giving us
a, giving us a cart with no horse. Like giving an airborne trooper a
helmet but no parachute. We have got to make a change in that.

We have already mentioned the backlog of VA claims. It is an antiquated
system. It really needs some help, and I understand that you are putting
help in that area. Many veterans die waiting on their claims to be
adjudicated and that is not fair.

I have just been urged that my light is getting ready to change, and I
did not see that so I would be a liar if I said I see my light turning
yellow. But I want to take just one more minute to show you how
important the last item we have on that list, research. I am holding in
my hand a simple cell phone, measures about two inches by three inches.
But on Monday of this week it was demonstrated to us, a cell phone of
this same size that is now also a reading machine for the blind. The
first reading machine we had, it was the size of a home chest freezer.
And I am holding it in my hand right now. You can take a picture of a
printed page, and in less than ten seconds it will read that page back
to you. So that is the kind of backing we need to keep research coming
to us.

In addition to that, we have also mentioned discretionary spending. I
was given a phone call from a blind center chief the week before I came
up. And he said, "Norman, we are getting the funds but they are always
late." That has been mentioned, too. It seems like everything we have on
that sheet, almost, has been mentioned.

But we want to thank you for doing a great job. We know that it is a
hard job you have. But we want to thank you for working so closely with
us over the past years. And if I was at home in my pool pit I would
close by saying, "Can I get an amen brothers and sisters?" But since,
but since I am under the present circumstances I am just going to say an
old saying that I am sure you have heard many times before. We may have
come over here on different ships, but we are all in the same boat now.

Therefore, therefore I am going to close with just seven words. In my
profession the number seven in biblical numerics means perfection,
completeness. Please continue to do the right thing. And if you do that
everything is going to be all right. And in the words of Red Skelton,
"May God bless."

\[The statement of Norman Jones, Jr. appears on p. \]

\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*INSERT\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*

The \*Chairman.\* Thank you, Mr. President, and amen. Representing the
Vietnam Veterans of America is the National President Mr. John Rowan.
Thanks for being here.

**STATEMENT OF JOHN ROWAN, NATIONAL PRESIDENT, VIETNAM VETERANS OF
AMERICA**

Mr. \*Rowan.\* Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Buyer, and the other members
of Congress who have joined us. And I am sorry our senators had to run.
In our thirtieth year VVA has many concerns. And I would like to go
through some of them.

We thank Congress for the significant increases and the administration
for the significant increases in the VA budget over the last couple of
years. It has been a hard fought battle and we appreciate it. However,
we urge Congress to give stringent oversight to the utilization of these
funds. We all know what federal bureaucracies sometimes, even the VA,
can do with money.

We still believe, however, that there is a need for \$3.4 billion over
the administration's proposed budget to serve the new and old veterans
for all kinds of reasons, because of the increase in new veterans as
well as all of the problems occurring with the Vietnam veterans and
other veterans of previous wars. And we still urge Congress to reform
the system through H.R. 2514 and S. 3331 to assure the VA's funding into
the future as many of my colleagues have mentioned.

Three weeks ago while testifying in front of the Senate Senator Burr and
I had a little discussion about student veterans and their needs.
Senator Sherrod Brown has introduced the SERV Act to create one stop
veterans centers on the campuses of America. I urge Senator Burr, since
we are in accordance with that idea last time, to join with Senator
Brown in this effort and implement this act as soon as possible. And we
urge our colleagues here in the Congress on the House side to do so
quickly as well.

And this effort should be coordinated with the new GI bill that was
mentioned earlier. This GI Bill should be like my father's GI Bill, the
greatest piece of social legislation short of the Civil Rights Acts ever
to pass Congress. Those generous bills from 1946, 1947, 1948 and those
periods should be here in 2008.

The Congress must also reestablish veterans employment programs and
veterans preference, which have dwindled over many years. They are just
not the same old preferences they used to be. And these need to be
coordinated with the enforcement of the law for veterans owned business
and service disabled veterans owned businesses under Executive Order
13360 and Public Law 109-461.

Recently my secretary traveled to Puerto Rico, as I did the year before,
and found the same continuous problem with the VA hospital system in
Puerto Rico. It is a disaster. And while the VA has said they have a
plan to renovate the hospital and build a new hospital we are very
concerned about that plan. And we note that a recent IG report showed
how dissatisfied the veterans are with the services they are receiving
in Puerto Rico. And we urge these committees in the House and the Senate
to look into this situation. And we encourage the development
immediately of satellite parking, not only for the staff but for the
veterans as well so that they can get to and from their appointments.
Furthermore, they also need a new cemetery. The old one is almost full.

Outreach, we ask you to support S. 1314, the Feingold-Burr Bill, again,
I like to see the joining of forces here, to force the VA to inform
veterans about the health impacts of their service. Many veterans have
diseases today that they do not understand are related to their military
service in previous years. It is kind of hard to tell a sixty-year old
that their prostate cancer is due to something that happened to them
forty years earlier, but it is true.

The disability system we have talked about. We all want to revamp it. I
urge you to immediately adopt some sort of system for virtual VA today
for the new veterans. We do not have to redo the entire old system and
redo all of the files and everything else. But for every new veteran
walking in the door they should be under a new virtual VA system. It is
all available software. It could be done tomorrow instead of people
coming up with all kinds of creative, genius ideas.

We urge you, of course, in the research facilities, the National Vietnam
Veterans Longitudinal Study needs to be completed. We need to fully
understand the impact of that War on us from forty years ago. And we
urge you to start a new study with the new veterans today, and track
them out over the next forty years. Because we know that the impacts of
their service today is going to hurt them, unfortunately, and
deteriorate their lives as they get older. And not necessarily when they
are seventy and eighty but often when they are forty and fifty. And too
many of my Vietnam veteran colleagues are already in the VA cemeteries.
A million and a half of the Vietnam era veterans are already deceased
and we do not know what the difference is in that million and a half
between those who served in Vietnam and those who did not. Our gut tells
me the Vietnam service, those who served in country have a higher death
rate.

And I will leave you with one last thing. And it is not totally really a
purview but that is the whole POW issue. We still support all of the
efforts of the government and we hope they keep fully funding the
programs in Vietnam, Laos, all over the world, to find those who gave
their all. And this new DOD ridiculous acronym DUSTWUNS does not change
the fact that the four soldiers that went in Iraq and are still missing
in action. Thank you.

\[The statement of John Rowan appears on p. \]

\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*INSERT\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*

The \*Chairman.\* Thank you. The President of the Non Commissioned
Officers Association of the USA, Retired Sergeant Major of the Marine
Corps, Gene Overstreet. We always take orders from the Sergeant Major.
We have one of our own. He left for a little while, Congressman Walz, we
had to protect us from you, Sergeant Major. So go ahead please.

**STATEMENT OF H. GENE OVERSTREET, SERGEANT MAJOR UNITED STATES MARINE
CORPS (RETIRED), PRESIDENT, NON COMMISSIONED OFFICERS ASSOCIATION OF THE
USA**

SERGEANT MAJOR \*OVERSTREET.\* Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member
Mr. Buyer, and distinguished members of the House and Senate Veterans'
Committee. I am pleased to have the opportunity to meet with this joint
committee and discuss the Association's 2008 legislative agendas, and
more particularly focus on those veterans, those spouses, and surviving
family members. It is appropriate at this time with so many military
personnel deployed in harm's way to comment on these programs. Not only
do they benefit the active duty servicemembers that we have serving
today and their families, but veterans as well.

I am joined today by some that have already been recognized, and I would
like to recognize them again. Throughout the room you will see members
of the Non Commissioned Officers Professional Development Program, the
12th Aviation Battalion. May I ask that battalion to please stand? Thank
you.

Ladies and gentlemen I would point out that these are patriots and
defenders of the nation here. Tonight when you go home you need to know
that one of these servicemen or someone just like them wearing that same
kind of uniform is going to be standing the watch. So that is the reason
you can sleep well tonight.

Mr. Chairman, you already have our written full statement for the record
but I would like to focus on a couple of issues and agendas, if I may,
as we march down through there. Seamless transition, a great theory.
There is a little more work that needs to be done with that and I have
no doubt that we are going to see some programs come out of that that is
going to streamline that even more. It is very important that we do
that. That we capture those military records and transfer them to the VA
so that will help expedite these claims and everything else that we
have.

Needless to say, we need adequate funding and appropriation for the VA.
Two things there, it would be nice if we had mandatory funding and, as
you suggested before, we need to do this in a timely manner so they can
get on with the business at hand each year instead of pushing them back
and living in a vacuum before they can do anything. If we had
appropriate and adequate funding obviously there would be no increase in
co-pays and no enrollment fees. There needs to be open enrollment to
every veteran that served.

Healthcare, a couple of key issues here, accessibility and quality of
health. For the most part we get great quality but we still have a bunch
of veterans out there that is disenfranchised from the system that
cannot get to it or we do not take care. It needs to be accessible to
all veterans. I would also like to see mental health integrated into
that healthcare system. We know with the combat situations that we are
in today, with the young men and women that we are bringing back from
combat situations, we are not for sure what those mental health issues
are going to be just like the guys that came out of Vietnam and some of
those. We need to implement that now so we can take care of them before
we get there.

To do that, we need an adequate, professional staff. And that
professional staff has to marry the workload. For the amount of volume
and work that they are doing, we have to have enough professional staff
to take care of that. And I would continue to say, okay, those research
initiatives that support signature injuries such as multiple amputations
or TBI, and some of those, we need to keep that going.

Veterans Benefit Administration, as you suggested earlier, you used a
number of 700,000. I have heard the number 850,000. It is projected that
we are going to bust 900,000 this year. I hope we are not sitting here
next year saying 900,000, looking down the bell of a million. Surely we
are not going to go a million in backlogged claims. To help do that we
need to secure and implement long overdue technology and hire the people
we need to push that forward.

National cemeteries, ladies and gentlemen I would like to salute you for
the fast track opening. Now we finally recognize that we do not have to
have everything in those cemeteries in place to start putting people in
there. So thank you for that. Hey, somebody had their head screwed on
straight when they made that decisions.

2008 promises to be a challenging time for your Committee, certainly in
regards to implementation of issues and benefits. NCO recognizes that
the Veterans Disability Benefits Commission has released a final report
in 2007 and I would like to applaud many of those points evident in
their recommendation. I think a lot of veterans are going to get some
great support out of that. But on the other hand I would tell you this,
we strongly oppose driving a wedge between a lot of veterans out there.
For example, if you are talking about disabilities, the same disability
of a veteran from different eras. You mean to tell me a veteran from
Vietnam, a veteran from Korea, a veteran from World War II, a veterans
from Desert Shield, is going to be different? I do not think so. I think
a disability is the same thing is the same thing. We have to look at
that.

I would hate to think that we are going to go down the road and make
another distinction between combat veterans and non-combat veterans. You
mean to tell me a young Marine that loses his arm on the battlefield is
going to get more than a young sailor that is in the well deck of a ship
and he gets pinned against a bulkhead and loses his arm? Both are
serving, both are veterans. We need to take a hard look at that.

I would suggest also one other thing. If there are state benefits and
federal benefits that some veterans have, I do not think the VA should
be taking a look at that and saying, "Well, because you get this benefit
we are not going to give you as much as some other guy with the same
kind of benefit." We need to make it fair across the board.

There are many things, and it is in our written statement, but I just
want to thank you, Mr. Chairman, and the entire Committee for the
opportunity to come here and share some of those views with you. And
thank you for what you are doing because you are doing a lot of good
things. We appreciate it.

\[The statement of Sergeant Major H. Gene Overstreet appears on p. \]

\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*INSERT\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*

The \*Chairman.\* Thank you, Sergeant Major. Rather than rush your
testimony, Chief Dean, we are going to recess for fifteen minutes. There
are two votes over at the House. That is why everybody, they are not
leaving because they do not like you or anything. We have got to vote.
We will be back in fifteen minutes. We will conclude our testimony and
then we will have questions from the members. I am sorry we have to do
this, but that is the nature. So we will recess for fifteen minutes.

\[Recess\]

Mr. \*Hall.\* \[Presiding\] Okay everybody, welcome back. The lively
discussion was had by all, and our Chairman, Mr. Filner, is still on his
way back from the Capitol so I, Congressman Hall from the 19th of New
York will be acting Chair for just a minute, and Ranking Member Boozman,
who is the Ranking Member on Economic Opportunities Subcommittee, will
be the temporary Ranking Member of the full Committee until Mr. Buyer
returns, and thus we can keep you from having to wait still longer. So
the hearing is now resumed. And we will now hear, please, from Richard
Dean, Chief Executive Officer of the Air Force Sergeants Association.
Your statement is entered into the record, and you are recognized for
five minutes, sir.

**STATEMENT OF RICHARD M. DEAN, CHIEF MASTER SERGEANT (RETIRED), CHIEF
EXECUTIVE OFFICER, AIR FORCE SERGEANTS ASSOCIATION**

Chief Master Sergeant \*Dean.\* Thank you, sir. On behalf of the Air
Force Sergeants Association's 125,000 members, I thank you for all that
you do and the opportunity to present our views on the critically
important Department of Veterans Affairs programs.

Through your oversight, this nation honor the commitment to our
soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and coastguard members who make
everyday free for all of us Americans. We applaud Congress' recent
decisions which translate into the Wounded Warrior Programs. When
America's sons and daughters are sent off to War we must be prepared for
the consequences of that action. We are grateful Congress understands
this solemn duty and has increased the administration's program budget
in each of the last few years to fulfill that commitment. We believe
more work needs to be done.

We ask Veterans Affairs funding be moved to mandatory annual spending.
This nation should hold as its highest obligation the willingness to
fully fund VA healthcare, facilities, and other programs for those who
are willing to serve. Recently, new categories of veterans have been
created, limiting those who can receive VA hospital services. This is
especially taxing for older veterans. For those veterans who are
Medicare eligible, transferred Medicare funding to the servicing VA
facility would lighten the financial burden for the VA and provide cost
effective care for the veterans. We believe a VA-Medicare subvention
would create a win-win situation for all involved.

AFSA is pleased Congress has called for creation of a joint DOD-VA
office to oversee development of bidirectional electronic records.
However, we strongly recommend the Subcommittee upgrade the scope of
responsibilities and span of authority for the new DOD-VA Interagency
Program Office to include top down planning and execution of all
seamless transition functions, including the joint electronic health
record, joint DOD-VA physicals, implementation of best practices for
traumatic brain injuries, post traumatic stress disorder, and special
needs care and joint research.

We urge this Committee to ensure any legislative changes to the military
disability evaluation and retirement systems do not reduce compensation
and benefit levels for disabled servicemembers.

We applaud the actions of these committees in recent years to directly
address the issues of the unique health challenges faced by women
veterans. Between 1990 and 2000 the women veteran population increased
by 33.3 percent, from 1.2 million to 1.6 million. Women now represent
approximately 7 percent of the total veteran population. As the number
of women veterans increases the VA must be funded to increasingly
provide the resources and legal authority to care for female specific
healthcare needs.

Congress supplemented the administration's VA Construction and
Renovation Budget last year. We applaud you for that, and ask for your
action again to supplement the President's fiscal year 2009 VA Budget
for Construction and Renovation. This is a critical matter and must be
dealt with in light of the increasing number of patients, many very
young and facing long term care as we continue to wage this lengthy War
on Terrorism.

State Home construction appropriations have been cut and the backlog for
State Home Construction Grant Projects is now nearly \$1 billion. One
year ago there were ninety-two pending projects but funding sufficient
for only twenty-two. AFSA urges this Committee to earmark substantial
funding in fiscal year 2009 for the construction and renovation of State
Veterans Homes. Investment in these homes is a wise one. State Homes
provide nursing home care at less than 30 percent of the total cost
provided by the VA itself. We urge adequate support and funding for
these important veterans facilities.

We are extremely pleased the President mentioned transferability of the
Montgomery GI Bill benefits during his State of the Union. Shortly
after, both houses of Congress introduced legislation that would allow
such transferability. We have said the Montgomery GI Bill is a benefit.
With us today, I have Senior Airman James, from the United States Air
Force Honor Guard. He has two children and a wife. If this Montgomery GI
Bill is truly a benefit then Senior Airman James should be able to spend
that benefit as he so desires. Several changes need to be made to both
the active duty, Guard, and Reserve Montgomery Educational Programs in
order to make them a more viable benefit. It needs an overhaul to make
it fair and equitable to all military members. It is time that the
benefit became a true benefit for all our personnel in uniform.

We would be remiss if we did not mention the Veterans Educational
Assistance Program, the one we normally refer to as VEAP. It was a lousy
program. Many of our military personnel were counseled to not enroll in
the program, and many have and are now exiting military service today
with absolutely no educational benefit. And I think that is a crying
shame that we are putting these people in that kind of predicament. We
need to correct this and provide an open window for all those VEAPers to
enroll in the Montgomery GI Bill immediately.

Mr. Chairman, in conclusion, this Committee has a daunting task and so
do the Americans who step forward to ensure our freedom and liberty.
This nation must be fully committed to their care. We are pleased by the
hard work of this Committee and its commitment to America's veterans. On
behalf of all Air Force Sergeants Association's members, we appreciate
your efforts and as always are ready to support you in matters of mutual
concern.

\[The statement of Chief Master Sergeant Richard M. Dean appears on p.
\]

\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*INSERT\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*

Mr. \*Hall.\* Thank you, sir. Thank you, Chief Dean, we appreciate your
comments and take them to heart. And we are going to at this point
recognize Mr. Boozman for any comments or questions he has.

Mr. \*Boozman.\* Thank you, Mr. Hall. I just want to very quickly
welcome you all here and tell you how important it is for you to be here
and how important it is to be with your members of Congress. The
Veterans' Affairs Committee in a very bipartisan way works really hard
to try and get these things accomplished. But we cannot get it done
without you all. So we really do appreciate your efforts. I especially
want to thank the guys from Arkansas that are here, and as I said with a
group the other day, I am not going to make you call the hogs, but we
really do appreciate your being here and making the trip.

What I would like to do is go ahead and defer the rest of my time to Mr.
Buchanan.

Mr. \*Buchanan.\* Yeah, again I would like to thank all of the veterans'
groups who are here. As excited as my colleague mentioned, we need your
input, all of us on the Veterans' Affairs, because with that input we
can better represent the veterans' groups. How many, I am from Florida.
How many members do we have, or how many people here from Florida, just
out of curiosity? So we are glad you are here. Again, we are all up here
fighting hard, making sure we get the share of the budget that you
deserve and we are trying to make a difference every year. I think we
had a pretty good year last year but we have got a lot more work to do.
But again, I appreciate everybody being here and we appreciate the
opportunity to get a chance to visit and better understand your issues.
Thank you.

Mr. \*Hall.\* And the Chair will recognize Mr. Brown for comments or
statements?

Mr. \*Brown of South Carolina.\* Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I too
would like to thank the gentlemen on the panel today. This is my eighth
year on the Veterans' Affairs Committee. I chaired the Health Committee
and the Benefits Committee in the past. And it is a pleasure to work for
veterans. My dad was a World War I veteran. He served over in France. I
had the privilege to speak on Memorial Day two years ago at Normandy,
and we recognize that there is a tremendous price that has been paid for
our freedom and we never take it lightly here. We are grateful for you,
that has come today, to petition for those needs of our veterans that
have come home after performing such an admirable duty.

And I also would like to recognize anybody from South Carolina? Is
anybody here from South Carolina? Oh, very good. Well, thank you very
much. We are grateful that you have come this far, and to participate.
But this is the great freedom that has been afforded by our veterans, to
come and petition your needs and concerns, and we are grateful to be
able to listen today. And thank you very much.

Mr. \*Hall.\* Thank you, Mr. Brown. And I will just recognize myself for
a moment. I am honored to have been asked to chair the Subcommittee on
Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs. And we are working very hard
on that Subcommittee to reduce the backlog that unfortunately in recent
weeks has gone up from 177 days average to 183 days from the time that a
veteran presents a complete claim until that claim is adjudicated and
granted or denied, in which case the appeal takes an average of about
two year. So this is a scandalous, shameful length of time for our
veterans to have to wait to get the disabilities that they earned, to be
made to jump through hoops and prove service connectedness, and prove
that they have actually suffered these injuries and disabilities in the
service of their country. We are very quick to send men and women in
uniform abroad. And unfortunately slow to take care of them when that
comes back, and that will change.

I am honored, especially to recognize Commander Schulman and Mr. Rowan,
other members of New York organizations who are here, some of whom I had
breakfast with or met with over the last couple of days. I cannot help
but notice the diversity within the veterans' community that you and
your auxiliaries represent. Although there are many different periods of
service or rank among you you are all here to serve your fellow veterans
and your country, and that is something we all thank you for.

I heard a lot of interesting testimony over the last six month of
hearings of the Subcommittee. I will just give you a couple of sound
bytes. Colonel Norton, a West Point grad, talking in front of the
Economic Opportunities Subcommittee that Mr. Boozman is Ranking Member
of and Stephanie Herseth Sandlin is the Chair of, said that it is
important in today's time when Guard and Reserve are being used and
redeployed over and over again alongside regular active duty
servicepeople that they have the same educational and economic benefits
when they come home. And he said his slogan is same service, same
battlefield, same benefits. And I agree with him wholeheartedly, that
they should receive that.

As far as the seamless transition that we have heard so much about, I
was in Landstuhl, Germany in October on my way back from Iraq and I had
the chance to talk to the Commander of the hospital about this. And he
told me that, you know, in the early days of the War in Iraq that
soldiers who were wounded would have something written with magic marker
on their forehead describing the injury and the diagnosis, and how much
morphine or whatever they had gotten, and then they were loaded on a
helicopter and shipped off to Balad to be stabilized. Now, he says, as
of October that there is an electronic record that is being created. He
called it an onion. And every step of the way they add another layer of
information to the onion. One layer is added at the battlefield, one
layer in Balad, one layer on the plane to Germany, another layer in
Landstuhl, each one saying what further diagnosis, what improvement or
deterioration in their condition, what surgery or medication they have
received. And that whole thing comes home with them to Walter Reed, or
Brooke, or Bethesda, whichever DOD facility they are at. And when it is
time for them to separate, if they determine that they are not fit for
service, able to continue, they, or whatever time they decide to
separate from the service, that that entire thing, starting in December,
two months ago, could be handed off. And they were beginning to hand
this off as an electronic file to the VA.

Now about two weeks ago in a Subcommittee hearing I asked Under
Secretary for Benefits Walcoff, Michael Walcoff, if he knew how close
the VA is to achieving this, to having compatible software that can
receive the medical file from DOD so that they have a starting point
that confirms without the need for stacks of paper and going back
through old files, that confirms that these injuries or exposures or
blast damage and TBI or loss of limbs, or loss of mobility, or vision
impairment, or what have you, that it was caused on such and such a date
by such and such an attack. And the Under Secretary's answer was, "I
don't know."

Now that is not good enough for us on a bipartisan basis. We on the
Committee are determined to try to move this forward. and we realize you
cannot do everything with artificial intelligence. You cannot do
everything with computers and software. But private industry is not
moving boxes of papers from one desk to another with rubber bands
wrapped around them and sticky pads. Private industry is working with
computers, with rating systems that can be computerized. And we have
been told by some of the experts from the private sector that they think
we could get to the point where about 80 percent of our claims are
ratable by a properly designed computer and software system. And that is
something we are seriously exploring and pushing for as part of speeding
up the claims process, and also of speeding up this seamless transition
that we all want.

Of course, there will be problems. Of course, there will be cases, we
hear about 20 percent of all cases, regardless of technology, will
require human interaction and somebody to go through the most
complicated or the most severe of these injuries and deal with them. We
have also had things as far afield as a grandmother with her orphaned
granddaughter, a seven-year-old girl whose name is Kayla, I cannot
remember that last name of the family. But her mom last summer was at
that time the 184th single mother who was killed in Iraq. So the
grandmother was trying to talk to us about how to raise a child who
needs clothing and school and food and all the expenses that any child
needs to be taken care of on a fixed social security income. And we are
going to work on that. We are going to work on raising the DIC payments
so that it amounts to something that is a workable fund for the
custodial surviving family member to take care of an orphan in this War.

And of course, we have had more women, as more than one of you have
mentioned, more women deployed in these Wars that we are involved in
today than any other time in our history. So this is a relatively new
problems that we are dealing with.

At any rate, I want you to know that the DAMA Subcommittee, like the
full VA Committee, I believe is operating in a bipartisan, nonpartisan
basis and we want to get this job done, and we want to get it done now
if not yesterday. But the process is slow. The bureaucracy is
entrenched. People are used to doing things a certain way. And also,
there is a legitimate concern, which we hear from you as well, that we
do not do something that makes it worse. We do not want to leap into
something that, in all good intentions, actually makes a bad situation
worse. But I want you to know that we hear you and that we are
determined that our actions will complete the part of the contract that
the American people owe to the veterans who fought for America. That you
and your comrades kept your part of the contract, and it is a solemn
contract with the citizens of this country. And we need to make sure
that we uphold ours, at which point we will be worthy of your service.
And with that, I would return the chairmanship to Chairman Filner.

The \*Chairman.\* You may stay there. You look good up there.

Mr. \*Hall.\* I yield back.

The \*Chairman.\* Thank you, Mr. Hall. I thank all of you for being
here. It is very important, and especially as you lobby your individual
congresspeople.

Let me respond to a sense that I had from several of you, but Mr. Pleva
especially, of frustration, of a sense that are we listening, and why
are we talking about the same things again and again. I think that is a
real sense. And, you know, hundreds of thousands if not millions of
veterans sometimes feel that. And what the hell are we doing here if we
are not doing the job that we know we have to do? And I, I mean, I do
not want to have to necessarily give you excuses. But I just want to
mention two things which I think are important and you can help us with.

Clearly, everything, although everything is not a question of throwing
dollars at, it costs money, what we are doing. And when you deal with
money and a budget you are dealing with priorities. Your priorities, I
think, are my priorities too. Veterans should be first. We should not
balance the budget on the back of veterans. We should not force veterans
out of the system to save money. You do not turn veterans on each other
and have them compete. And, you know, in context we have a \$3 trillion
budget. So when we are \$3 billion too short it sounds like a lot of
money, you know, on the surface. But that is one-tenth of 1 percent of
our budget. We cannot afford not to do that. Come on. I mean, it is a
question of priorities.

And we have the money as a society. I mean, there is no question. We are
at War. We want to spend, we are spending \$1 billion every two days. We
find the money when we want to do it. As all of you said, this is a cost
of War. We should put in the supplemental that funds the War the
supplemental for the warrior, because we have got to pay for it. We have
got to pay for it.

And every congressperson who comes Memorial Day and Veterans Day, and we
say, "Oh yeah, we support you." You have got to follow it and, you know,
for your members, how they vote. Do they vote the priorities that they
give lip service to? So we have a lot of work to do as a nation, whether
it is in education or environmental protection or, you know, healthcare.
And we say, "Well, we cannot do it all so we have to prioritize." Well,
your job is to make sure we prioritize the veterans. And we sometimes do
not do it. You have got to go back next year and try again. But that is,
you know, that is the politics of this thing and I know it is
frustrating, and I know it is, it feels like we are not doing the job.
But in America the politics is pressure politics, unfortunately. It is
not who does the right thing or what we owe you, it is who puts the
pressure on. You have got to do that too. You should not have to. You
should not have to. We made a contract with you. We should live up to
the contract. But the fact is, we are not. And you have got to pressure
us.

And that leads me to a second point here. When many of you were in
active duty, 80 percent of the United States Congress were veterans, or
had active duty. It has reversed itself in recent years. Now barely 20
percent have been in the armed forces. I am one of the 80 percent who
has not. Now that does not mean we are evil or anything else. That just
means we do not know the issues as personally as those who served have.
Your job is to tell your story and make us understand.

Now, we on the Committee, but there is only twenty-nine, tend to get
those issues. Others may not. So when you go home, it is important that
you are here, but when you go home you have an even bigger job. You have
got to go see your congressperson. Just say what you are going through,
your stories. I mean, we call it lobbying but it is just telling your
stories. And you have got to remember that these people do not have the
background that you might assume. They have not been through the
process. You have got to educate them. So we need your help to do that.

So going home and talking to individuals about the budget, about the
kind of testimony that we heard so eloquently today. You just have to
keep doing it. Because if you are not there telling your story, someone
else is. The oil companies, the banks, you know, the special interests.
They are all in there getting their stuff. And you should not have to be
there. But that is the nature of the beast. You have got to do it. And I
will tell you, you have enough numbers to either elect or throw out any
person at any level of government if you decided you wanted to.

Now you are not supposed to be political, you know, as organizations.
But your people have got to be politically aware and informed so they
can do what they have to do when an election comes along.

So we have heard you. Many of us are passionate about responding to you.
We need your help because we have to make it a priority, and we have to
make it, as I said, a part of the cost of what everybody recognizes. It
is a part of national security. Somebody has estimated that the cost of
the next ten years of the veterans just from this War will be about \$60
billion a year. I mean, that is three-quarters of the budget now. We
should be putting the money in there so we have the money when these
kids come home with PTSD and brain injury because we are going to have
major problems, as we see from some of your comments from earlier wars.

You know, my colleagues will kill me because, you know, congresspeople
are supposed to have the last word. If any of you would like to make to
make a statement after the\--

Mr. \*Boozman.\* Say one thing?

The \*Chairman.\* You want to say something first?

Mr. \*Boozman.\* Yes, sir.

The \*Chairman.\* I want to give you all a last word in response to
anything you have heard or underlined. But my friend Mr. Boozman from
the other side wants to say something first.

Mr. \*Boozman.\* Yes, sir. While you were gone I deferred to some of my
colleagues.

The \*Chairman.\* Oh, I am sorry. I thought you had your time.

Mr. \*Boozman.\* No, no. I had a very short, anyway.

The \*Chairman.\* Okay, please. I apologize.

Mr. \*Boozman.\* I, he did.

The \*Chairman.\* By the way, Mr. Boozman and I spent a week recently in
Iraq and Afghanistan. And we traveled together, and we put on our vests
together, and our helmets. And we were blown away by the incredible
professionalism, the bravery, the solidarity that these troops had. But
we know when that adrenaline breaks down, and the comradeship is gone,
and the reality of what some of them are asked to do comes, there is a
lot of needs. So we have to stick with these kids and do what we have to
do. Thank you, Mr. Boozman.

Mr. \*Boozman.\* No, I agree totally. I was looking at Sergeant Dean. My
dad was in the Air Force for twenty years, retired as a Master Sergeant,
so I was telling we have a Sergeant Major, you know, on the Committee
now and he is a great advocate, you can imagine, you know? I was telling
the guys the other day, though, that I was a little nervous being around
him. Like you, I always feel like he is getting ready to tell me to do
something like my dad, you know? But I grew up, literally, reading the,
you know, the Sergeants Magazine, the Air Force Magazine that is put
out, which is an excellent publication.

And I would agree with what Mr. Filner said. You know, this, again, this
is a very bipartisan endeavor. I would say though that because of you
all you cannot get discouraged. I mean, a lot of the issues that we have
worked to, Chris Smith was a great advocate, a lot of the issues that
we, you know, that we have grappled with for the last six, seven, eight
years, concurrent receipt went back to the Civil War. Again, we were
able to make some inroads there. The widows tax, you know, is another
thing that has been laying around for years. So we really have made some
significant improvements. As you know, the spending is not where it
ought to be. But there has been a lot of sad things that have happened
as a result of 9/11. One of the good things is is that I think people,
despite the fact that many of them, as Bob was alluding to, many of my
generation did not serve. But my uncles, my dad, I grew up in a military
family. We all did, because of World War I, World War II, Korea, and
Vietnam. Many of the young people now, though, have no idea at all,
though, because there have been, but the good thing is that the
population as a whole is very, very supportive of the military.

And that is due to your all's efforts. You have got tremendous staffs
that help out up here. So I would just encourage you. It is easy to get
discouraged, but like I say I would encourage you. We have got a lot to
do. And then also, as Bob said, the only way we can get that done, we
cannot get that done individually, it takes you all pushing hard. So I
appreciate you very much.

The \*Chairman.\* Thank you, Mr. Boozman. You know, a great friend to
all of us and to all of you retired during the current year, and that
was Lane Evans from Illinois. He should have been in this spot right
here, a tough Marine who came down with Parkinson's and had to retire,
and is trying to fight that. A former employee of his is his successor.
And his successor is going to fill very big shoes but he is going to do
it because he is passionately for veterans. And the gentleman from
Illinois, from Rock Island, Illinois, is Mr. Hare, and I want to
recognize him.

Mr. \*Hare.\* Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The \*Chairman.\* And think of Lane Evans as we do that.

Mr. \*Hare.\* I am much better looking than Lane, I just want you all to
know that. I really appreciate the panel and all of you for coming here
today, and I apologize. I was on the Floor for a while.

But I just want to say a couple of things. First of all, I am proud to
serve on this Committee. Bob Filner is a wonderful Chairman. When he
talks about veterans' issues, and I listen to these all the time, nobody
speaks with a greater passion and a greater sense of commitment than the
Chairman does. I have introduced, as many of you know, H.R. 2514, the
assured funding bill for veterans. That is my big bill here. I have 118
cosponsors and the list is growing.

One of the things that I have heard from every service organization is
how can we possibly function, how can VA healthcare possibly function?
For eleven years in a row we have not even known how much money we are
going to have? So as someone justified earlier, it just seems to me the
right thing to do is to put the VA on assured funding so that every year
they know what they are going to have and they can provide the
healthcare for our veterans.

And I would like you to do me a favor today. I would like this 118
co-sponsorship to grow, and the Chairman has committed to this, and I
thank him for giving me the opportunity to lead on this bill. But if you
are lobbying other members ask them to get on this bill as cosponsors.
And we will push this and we will keep pushing harder.

The \*Chairman.\* Give them the number again.

Mr. \*Hare.\* It is H.R. 2514, the Assured Funding for Veterans
Healthcare Act.

Let me, just a couple of other things. You know, we have talked about
the disability and the Chairman is right. VA is supposed to stand for
Veterans Advocate not Veterans Adversary. And I do not know why in
heaven's name we have to err on the side of the VA. We have claims that
are backed up for years. And why cannot we do it, when I was talking to
the Chairman and Joe Donnelly from Indiana, why do we not treat these
like we treat taxpayers? You file the claim with the VSO, get the
paperwork, we start the claim processing immediately for you. We can
hire a bunch of people, but by the time they get trained up people are
retiring and we are kind of back to where we were before we started. Why
do we not err on the side of veterans instead of the VA? Start the
claim, pay the claim. It is not going to cost us any more money because
at the end of the day they are going to make the claim, we hope,
retroactive.

Plus, one other small problem, as the VA would say, but I think large,
is that if you are in the middle of this process of claim, and the
spouse dies, or the veteran dies, the spouse has to start all over again
at square one. I cannot think of anything more disingenuous to do. You
know, my bottom line here to all of you is if this nation makes a
promise to our veterans, when we make that promise you keep it or do not
make the promise. It is just really that simple.

And the Chairman and I were talking last night, and this old adage of,
"Well, how are we going to afford to do all of these things?" That is
not the question. The question is, "How can we afford not to do these
things that we need to do?" I mean, I have only been here, as the
Chairman said, I am sort of the new kid on the block, but I have to tell
you I have seen this government throw away millions and billions of
dollars and yet we always have to seem to try to fight it out, slug it
out, to find out if we can afford prosthetics for veterans, or clinics,
and hospitals, and all this nonsense. Look, we make the commitment. And
the commitment is, is that the people that have served this country,
that are serving this country, and that will serve this country, they
are the best and our brightest and we owe them everything we have.

Let me close by saying one thing. Yesterday in my office I had two
representatives from the Paralyzed Veterans of America. And I think this
kind of summarizes. One of the gentlemen has a rotator cuff problem, and
he is trying to move his chair. He has been slugging it out with the VA
and now he is probably going to, now he is going to go do it. This is a
gentleman, by the way, who came here from Germany, went through the
process of becoming a citizen, and in 1969 was drafted and served this
country. Now he is back here. And he is in, besides the rotator cuff
problem, he is in his sixth year of a claim that he is filing. And this
gentleman was smiling, and was upbeat, and outgoing. And I said, "How
can you do this in the face of everything that happened?" And he said,
"My service to this country came first. I wanted to be a citizen." And
let me say he is exactly what every person in this room and your
families are all about.

And one last thing. When we help our veterans we have to remember we
have to help the families too. They pay a terrible price for these
injuries and things that happen. So for the families, we owe it to them
as well. And I just want to say, I hope we can get this bill through. I
thank the Chairman for his leadership on this bill. But let me tell you,
we will get it done. It may take a little bit of time. But when we do,
we will not have another eleven years of having to wrangle about a
budget so we can provide healthcare for our veterans right away. And I
just want to thank you all for coming today. I really appreciate your
being here. You are the best and the brightest. And as long as I am on
this Committee, you know, we will keep slugging it out for you. And I
thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

The \*Chairman.\* Thank you, Mr. Hare. Again, I would be happy to hear
any last thoughts given what happened, starting with Mr. King and just
going down the row. If you have anything, or you can pass. Mr. King,
anything? Or Mr. Pleva?

Mr. \*King.\* I do not have any other comments at this time. I
appreciate it. Thank you.

The \*Chairman.\* Thank you. Mr. Pleva? Thank you.

Mr. \*Pleva.\* You know me. I will say this, sir. I said it the first
year I came in front of this Committee, and I know some people back in
the back room are going to cringe. But you are absolutely right. You
give us a call, and we will do our damnedest to get 20,000 wheelchairs
up here. I mean that, sir.

The \*Chairman.\* Thank you. You know, we take what you said to heart.
We get recommitted to the battle when we hear from you. So, you know, it
is very important that we hear even though there is frustration,
etcetera. But thank you. We will work hard together. Mr. Schulman?

Mr. \*Schulman.\* Yes, thank you. Two things. I had the honor of
attending a Subcommittee hearing in New Windsor, New York that
Congressman Hall had, and at that time the subject came up about if a
veteran goes to the VA with more than one problem and the service
officer sees him and sees he has more than one problem, and he has
visual problems in the sense that the service officer can see that there
is problems, and he submits five or six different items, and
unfortunately the VA wants to go through the whole system before they
give him funds for the items. And you have said it already, that they
ought to take the serviceman at his word, start the process, give him
the money, and then check on the other items later. And so, I would like
to see this happen primarily because it is a fantastic idea and it would
get rid of the claims. And this is basically what we are trying to do.
We are trying to emphasize cutting down on the number of claims that are
out there and try to make the system work better.

My other comment that I have is I am in receipt of a letter from an
attorney in Georgia that wrote to General James Conway, Commandant of
the U.S. Marine Corps, where he was, he apparently is sending out gloves
and various items and eye protection to some Marines. And he got a
letter back from one of the Marines, and I will just read it. It says,
"Thank you very much for the eye protection that you bought for us. It
was originally for another Marine in my platoon, but I took a blast from
an IED that ruined my last eye protection. I was lucky that I had them
on because I would have lost my eyesight. These new glasses cover my
eyes better and definitely make me feel more comfortable riding in the
front. Thank you so much. I hope that you know you have made a
difference to us in the military."

Now, you know, it is shocking to me to have a copy of this letter. I
cannot understand why we are funding this War with so many billions of
dollars, why are the troops being shortchanged? Can you please help us
with this answer?

The \*Chairman.\* I cannot use expletives, I am sorry. We hear you.

Mr. \*Schulman.\* Thank you.

The \*Chairman.\* Dr. Jones?

Mr. \*Jones.\* Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, as I closed my
discourse earlier, I just want to say please continue to do the right
thing. We realize that you all have hard jobs here in Washington. But as
we make it back to our homes, please continue to speak for us while we
are gone. Thank you.

The \*Chairman.\* Thank you, sir. President Rowan?

Mr. \*Rowan.\* Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You know, if I could highlight
just three things. First of all, the War will end some day. I mean, we
all think it will not but it will. And that makes it even more important
that the assured funding bill that Mr. Hare is pushing and others goes
through. Because when the War is over and the bands stop playing is when
the problems begin. And we only have to look at our experience as
Vietnam veterans, and look at the fact that we have come back here year
after year kicking and screaming to get the VA to finish their study of
our travails as veterans, and that is the National Vietnam Veterans
Longitudinal Study. And it is just absurd that that study has not been
completed.

I would also urge you, and particularly as House members, to join with
Senator Brown, and I hope Senator Burr will pick up on that cue and join
with Senator Brown, in creating and following through with this SERV
Act. I think it is a brilliant idea. As a Vietnam veteran one of the
best things we had in those days was on the campuses was the federally
funded programs that brought together the veterans on the campuses, and
gave us information, and gave us each other. Now that we know so much
about PTSD and other things we can only improve upon that in some sort
of one stop shopping center.

And last but not least is the issue of outreach and our support of S.
1314 and hopefully there is a House version soon of Feingold-Burr bill,
on getting the VA to do outreach. And an example of that occurred in
November of last year when we had our twenty-fifth anniversary of the
Wall parade. And at the end of the parade we had an Agent Orange tent,
and giving out information to people. And we had a couple came in with
their daughters. The veteran was a Vietnam veteran, suffered from both
diabetes and prostate cancer. And the daughters both suffered from spina
bifida. And none of them knew they were entitled to compensation from
the VA and healthcare from the VA. And that should never, never occur.
And unfortunately, far too many of my colleagues are in that situation.
The VA, as I pointed out, has presently got about 250,000 Vietnam
veterans collecting disability for Type 2 Diabetes. That is about 10
percent or a little less than those who actually stepped foot in
Vietnam. We think that number is at least double if not triple that.
Which means anywhere from a quarter million or more Vietnam veterans are
walking around with Type 2 diabetes that do not understand that they are
not just fat, and they are not just old, they are Vietnam veterans and
they were exposed to Agent Orange. And that is why they got the damn
diabetes and everything that flows from it. And the same thing with
prostate cancer, and lung cancer, and all of the other laundry list of
presumptive diseases. Never mind the fact that there are many diseases
that probably should be presumptive that are not.

So we urge you to pass all of those legislations. And we need it today.
You know, again, we have been kicking around these things far too long.
And I would also urge one more thing. I know that the VA is going
through some process now of putting out an RFI, I believe, for finally
creating some sort of virtual VA. There are hundreds if not thousands of
software companies in the United States today who could probably give
them tomorrow a fully functional operation. I know when I retired five
years ago from the New York City Comptroller's Office I worked in a
virtual program to review 1500 page contracts at will through a computer
screen. And there is no reason why that or some other similar kind of
software cannot be bought by the VA tomorrow and not spend millions of
dollars on research, and on RFIs, and everything else because they want
to have their own version and not somebody else's. So I would hope that
we would push them to finish this once and for all and move on. Thank
you.

The \*Chairman.\* Thank you, sir. Sergeant Major Overstreet, please?

Sergeant Major \*Overstreet.\* Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Again, we
appreciate the opportunity to testify before you and bring some of these
issues out. As I look around this room one thing comes to mind. As we
get new recommendations coming down the line, I think one of those
recommendations may be to kind of overhaul the benefit program here. But
I would caution the Committee here, as we look at reoverhauling those
benefits, I think we ought to bear in mind that we have a lot of
veterans out there who have adjusted their lifestyle and their quality
of life based on what they get right now. So I am suggesting to you, as
in our testimony, that we grandfather those veterans in there. Because
if you start changing what they are getting right now it is going to be
catastrophic for them and their families, and it is really going to
change their way of life.

Coat tailing on my neighbor's presumption here, I have had the
opportunity to testify before a number of committees and I would like
say something about presumption. When we stood up at Disability and
Compensation I realized those folks thought that that might be bigger
than what they could get their arms around so they stood up a couple of
other subcommittees for that and one of those was a presumption
committee. And I had the opportunity to testify before that. And I said
to the Presumption Committee, "I am not so sure what presumption is. But
I can tell you what presumption is when it comes to any a young
serviceman and some of these folks sitting behind me." When they raise
their hands for so many years of honest and faithful service, their
presumption is that we are going to give them the best equipment and the
best training that money can buy. They also presume if one of them
should get hurt, we are going to take care of them. They also presume if
one should fall in battle and not come home that we are going to take
care of their family. Every one of them, and every young American out
there today that we deploy that raised their hand, they have that
presumption. I think we certainly need to live up to that, sir. Thank
you.

The \*Chairman.\* Thank you for those definitions. I think they are very
important. Chief Dean?

Chief Master Sergeant \*Dean.\* Thank you again, sir, Mr. Chairman, for
allowing us this opportunity. It has been said, I am not sure I can say
it any differently. But a disability is a disability, and a veteran is a
veterans. It does not matter if it is active, Guard, Reserve. We are
depending on our Guard and Reserve today more than we have ever done in
the past. And when they are out there on the battlefield, it does not
matter whether they are in the plane at 35,000 feet or on the ground. We
need to treat them all the same. Thank you.

The \*Chairman.\* Thank you. Again, thank you all for being here, both
those in the panel and those in the audience. We learned a lot. We do
think about the things you said and we will take action. Thank you so
much. The hearing is adjourned.

\[Whereupon, at 12:05 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.\]