since his people are -- >> negotiations and discussions? okay. >> yeah. >> thank you, mr. secretary. senator begich, i really to sympathize with what you talk about in terms of the ruralness of alaska as well as other parts of the country. while we're waiting for the measuring -- mou to be finished, alaska's one of two places where we are proceeding with tribal interactions, and i'd hesitate to use the word pilot -- >> right. >> to get specific agreements within a tribal unit in alaska i believe it's the southeast alaskan tribal association, and we are progressing in getting some arrangements made. it would be wonderful from my perspective if a veteran could make a choice and access tribal clinics if, indeed, that was more convenient and the care was -- >> yes. call. -- we call. >> and i think that's what we're

trying to do in alaska, and we have another effort going on in south dakota. .. this is a potential way to meld the two problems and create a solution?

>> senator, neither dr. petzel or i are familiar with this legislation. so if i may i -- >> absolutely. >> i will provide that for the record. >> that is on senate bill 914. we'll get you information on it. the last comment if i can, madam chair. if i can add my concern undersecretary shinseki. we had someone last friday couldn't get through on the 800 number. that is not old. it is new. we had a call center. a lot of people upset when their loan rates changed or didn't get their payment in whatever it might be. we had to go through a whole revamping of the system. the metrics we measured by were reported regularly. you mentioned you had a system where see the metrics of success, wait time, call time, hold time, response, all those. i would want to echo what the my colleague on the

other side said. i would really anxiously want to see that because we're, this is our number one caseload work is around va issues. second to that within the va is the 800 number. lack of response or inadequate response i should say. and that's current, not six months ago or year ago. this is very current and customer service is the name of the game. how to make sure these veterans have the services they need. is that something you could provide sooner than later so i get a better understanding? >> i'm going to dive into those numbers today. >> thank you. i think the only solution to your issue on the, i.e., is your whole department should be a two-year budget process. instead of one year and two year. that is the my personal opinion. that would solve a lot of problems. >> thank you very much. senator boozman. >> thank you, madam chair. i have a couple concerns. the budget request includes

operational efficiencies that estimated to save $1.2 billion that is being done in the past by various administrations. last year's budget request also included operational efficiencies of just over a billion. the, in the past gao really questioned whether or not those savings have come about. i guess if they don't come about, how are you planning for the risk? what's your contingency plan if we don't see a billion dollars in savings? >> i'm going to call on dr. petzel to respond to, since this is, they looked at his budget for the savings, anticipated savings but i can tell you ha right off the top $362 million saved because of dialysis using a medicare standard

pay rate instead of paying the rates we were being charged previously. $200 million in improper payments because we reduced those. through the program management accountability program office in i-t, about 200 dal million in savings because we terminated projects that were not going to deliver. and then about another $100 million first notice of death which we stopped payment on veterans accounts when they transpired. in the past this has been an issue. sometimes as much as $100 million in overpayments. and for the future we are agreed to provide as a minimum, $173 million in savings, cost, reducing

waste and in 2012 and 2013. so that's part of our effort to get at the savings and efficiencies. let me just ask dr. petzel to provide more detail. >> thank you, mr. secretary. senator boozman, the savings, let's just go through a little bit what went on in 11. we save ad heart amount of money. the gao reviewed that and we're still actually negotiating with them about what they actually found. the essence is going to be that we indeed carnival date the savings that we claimed from the various operational efficiencies. they do have a legitimate criticism about the way we measured things and granularity of the measurement which we'll be improving. for 2013 as the secretary mentioned we are going to save a large amount of money in dialysis. we have contracts now for blankket purchase agreements with virtually every

dialysis center we use that will save us hundreds of millions of dollars over what we would have expended had we not been able to do that. the medicare rate payment change that occurred with the regulations allowing us to charge, to collect, charge medicare rates for both the professional fee and the facility fee is going to save us about $300 million. that is absolute money we know we would have spent otherwise had we not been able to do that. and in the efficiencies with v-care, something we measure easily will be over $200 million. acquisition fees $355 million in savings. there is a long list and i will not take the time to go through that but i am absolutely confident we'll be able to save that money in vha. >> madam chairman, if i may, one last comment here. we'll look at all this and work it hard. i cautioned us that, in the end we have to focus on what

makes sense for veterans. and i will use dialysis as an example. we're after the best prices we can get and you know, just look at that, you may be encouraged to outsource all of it. i've argued that dialysis is something we have to retain a handle on. we should do a certain amount, a certain portion of it in-house. why do i say that? i'm just concerned that if we provide funds and let somebody else take care of dialysis we ignore what a medical profession is supposed to do and that is, as long as we're doing dialysis we'll have to ask ourselves what causes it? why do we have to do this? what are the things on the front rend that that allow us preventing diabetes so dialysis doesn't become a fact we have to live with. i think the medical profession is the best at

asking those questions and that's why i think within va we need to retain a piece of that operation. >> very quickly. the president's proposed a billion dollars in funding for the veterans conservation corp.. he anticipates that will create 20,000 jobs for veterans. we know a lot of backlog work done in the parks and infrastructure and those type of things. i had the opportunity to be chairman and ranking member on economic opportunity on the hoist side and worked very closely and attended the taft program and visited with a lot of veterans about their dreams and aspirations and i have a lot of concern spending a billion dollars in that direction. that is not, you know, kind of the direction that we were going in the committee i don't believe and like i said, i visited with lots of veterans and i really don't know, a billion dollars is a lot of money. i think that could be, you

know, put to good use but, for myself, i really don't believe that's the direction we need. i have never heard a veteran express to me that's the route they would like to go. and so again i just want to express real concern in that regard. >> all right thank you very much, mr. secretary. obviously we had a lot of participation by members on this time. we have another panel that needs to present today. we want to give them sufficient time and i've been called to the capitol. so i'm going to submit the rest of my questions for the record and senator berg glitch do you have anymore comments for the secretary? >> madam chairman, i'm going to submit a lengthy set of questions. i would ask the secretary and his leadership team for a quick response to them in lieu of asking a second round of questions and would make points to you. these are disturbing trend that i see from the information as we analyze the prior year. va took in 430 more claims than were decided.

two, appeals that resulted in a decision took 1123 days to come to fruition. that's disturbing. va central office staffing increased 40% since 08. in that same time frame human resource administration increased 80%. for visits created in 1995, we envisioned 22 visns. 154 to 220 annual employees and budget of $227 million. today we have 21 visns, 1340 staff and $165 million annual cost. many of my questions will be referenced to these four areas. and i look forward, dr. petzel, with you and others to discuss some of the trend that i see that

should raise and do raise flags for me and hopefully will race flag for both. again i thank you. >> may i respond, madam chairman? i would be happy to provide details. i like you am concerned and watch the growth. there's been growth in the veteran population the last two years. we've added 800,000 veterans to our enrollment. the va headquarters is 1% of our budget today as it was in 2008. and it's reflection of accommodating that growth and i will be happy to provide the details. >> mr. secretary, thank you very much to you and your team for accommodating our committee today. we appreciate that and ask that you answer the questions that will be submitted to you by myself and members of this committee in timely fashion. with that i would like to invite our second panel to join us today.

and as i said, i've been called to the capitol so i will introduce the panel. i will let our first speaker go and i will be turning the gavel over in a very bipartisan way to my colleague senator burr. not to give you practice. only to let you do it today but appreciate your accommodating me with this. >> if we can keep room quiet as everybody changes chairs i would appreciate it because i would like to introduce the panel as they're coming up. we're going to be moving now to our second panel. come up and join us and are seated in the appropriate

places. i want to especially, again if we could have it quiet in the room. i want to extend a very, very warm welcome to a friend of mine from washington, bill shirer. mr. shier. is the american legion western region national vice commander. bill, thank you so much for being here today. for coming all the way across the country for the tremendous work you do and participation on the panel today to bring a local perspective that i think is important for all of us to hear. i appreciate that. mr. shyer is accompanied by jim tess national legislative commission for american legion. we also have the witnesses here who are here on behalf of independent budget. carl blake, national legislative director of the paralyzed veterans of america. jeffrey hall, the assistant national legislative director for the disabled american veterans.

diane samata national legislative director of amvets. raymond kelly, legislative director for veterans of foreign wars. finally i want to welcome to the panel. tom tarantino, deputy policy director, after again iraq veterans of america. we'll move down the table in order. independent budget witnesses will have 15 minutes total. american legion and iraq and afghanistan veterans of america will be given five minutes each. i again apologize guise to all of you. obviously we had tremendous participation in this committee hearing. it has gone longer. i and my staff and all the members of the committee will look at your testimony. it is extremely important to us and we'll be submitting you questions as well even though you we have, don't have a lot of members present. the and i especially want to thank senator burr for his accommodating my schedule as well. so with that, mr. shirer, thank you again and we'll again with you. >> chairman murray, ranking

member burr and members of the committee would like to take this opportunity to thank you for the invitation to be here before you today and testify on behalf of the american legion, nation's largest patriotic wartime veterans service organization about the president's proposed bum jelt for the department of veterans' affairs. the american legion is greatful to the increase in budget to deal with the need of our nation's veterans for those who have borne the weight of war for this nation we must always remember a promise made and promise must be kept. we like, we find like-minded allies who recognize the importance and even duty to insure we're keeping the promise to america's veterans. chairman murray, you know the importance of holding government to the promise made to our veterans. american legion in washington state no how tirelessly you fought for the veterans at the army hospital center to assure wound in war were not being given the short end of the stick in the interest of financial savings. american legion knows how

hard it is for this committee to fought the va to insure hard work on passing caregivers act and not to narrow, i'm sorry, madam chair. act and not lost the narrow implementation. we stood with you in the fights. we're here today because you've shown willingness necessary to fight for needs of american veterans. department of veterans' affairs is dedicated to provided earned benefits to those who have served. the president's budget is ambitious and certainly increase in size especially when the time government must be speak seeking ways of saving money. it is a positive step forward for our veterans. american liege remains concerned there are areas where a lack of foresight or faulty planning may lead the va to default on the promise to our veterans. we can not allow this to happen. one of the greatest shortfalls is proposed budget for major and minor construction. we're pleased to see needed projects such as mental

health services building in seattle moving forward when viewed as a whole the construction budget fails to meet needs of va owes own internal strategic building plan. the stra the gik capital planning or scip provides va with a 10-year plan to address most critical infrastructure needs. the american legion was concerned under the current budget figure it is would take close to the 40 years for the needs of 10-year plan to be met. we've auld heard recently importance of investment and infrastructure. these are the kind of bills you pay for now or you pay for later. when infrastructure is give the short end up front it becomes more expensive at the back. yes, these are serious needs and will require billions of dollars in funding and billions of dollars are those we can not afford not to spend. we can not condone veterans to be placed in aging facilities that can not meet their most basic of needs. if we fail to fund construction now, we'll break the promise once again to our veterans.

they are to reach necessary funding levels are not only concerns but must contend with this budget. we must also look closely to the va. it intend to spend their money and where they are spending their money and make sure it is not based on smoke and mirror but real money that will be there when veterans will need it most. ambitious prospects for medical care collections fund, mccf, unfortunately are based on premiseses. american legion fears this will not bear fruit in the real world of 2013. setting aside even concerns that the oig fund and ineffective process while cost cutting for the va over $110 million annually in revenue were unable to be collected. that is a great concern with the proposed increases in the billing amounts. va's new budget proposes to bill private insurance at prefered provider rate rather than current medicare rate. this change billing reflects 90% of the proposed increase

in this area of the budget. frankly this has never been authorized before and even if authorized, the va will be hard-pressed to meet these overly optimistic budget targets. when this fails to generate the necessary revenue, va will be forced to find savings elsewhere in the budget and of course that means more broken promises to our veterans. finally we're concerned about the overall budget prospect as a whole in these turbulent times and fiscal strife in the government. surely the committee is aware of the pessimism of the american people. regarding ability of congress to come to terms and pass a complete budget. we acknowledge many work tirelessly to break these budget deadlocks and surely share the frustration of the people when we can not reach these decisions continuing resolutions and-measures make for uncertain planning. while the vast appropriations offers relief there are still projects that languish waiting for start dates, contracts that linger, waiting for approval.

operating budget that the government moves month to month. questions remain about the va's profession of sequestration and whether this too will suffer across the board cut of 2%. despite the seeming protection from previous interpretation of budget controls. va planners need a stable environment to insure seamless benefits for the veterans they serve. more importantly, american veterans need to see this for themselves. chairman murray, that concludes my report and since we won't be taking questions right now, again, thank you and you, senator burr, for allowing me to be here. >> okay. >> madam chairman, senator burr, on behalf of the coauthors of independent budget paralyzed veterans is pleased to be here today to offer our views on the administration budget request for fiscal year 2013 and advanced appropriation of 201. in the interest of time i will limit my comment to

couple of concerns with particular issues in the budget request. first let me say up front we certainly appreciate the increase that the administration provided for in its budget request. that being said, we have real concerns as addressed also by the committee members here about the impact of sequestration may have. simply put we find it absurd more than six months after the budget control act was passed there is still no definitive position whether or not va programs in particular health care programs are protected from sequestration. i think committee and all the members of congress mate i had clear and i think it is time for a final decision to be made with regards to specific issues in the budget request we echo the concerns that were raised here by members of the committee with regards to medical care collections and roller coaster ride that has existed in recent years in determining the estimates for that. we also agree with the concerns that were raised about perceived management and program improvements and efficiencies, whether those savings were ever actually realized impact of not

realizing those savings may have on the delivery of health care. probably largest or single biggest concern that we have however is with a particular disclosure in the president's budget that outlines what they have said is a approximately $3 billion excess in resources that are provided for fiscal year 2012 and about $2 billion in excess resources for fiscal year 2013. this sort of begs the question. how can the administration clearly say that they have $3 billion in excess resources for this fiscal year with fully seven months of the fiscal year left to go? you know, we all hear the stories of shortages in staffing and those questions were raised earlier and all these different things, just sort of boggles the mind that we suddenly have this excess resources and we're not talking about a small pot of money either. we're talking about 5% of the va budget. particularly troubling in light of the fact that the va could potentially face a cut of 2% under sequestration. we would certainly urge the

committee and members of congress to investigate this and get to the bottom of this. this single fact could pose a bigger problem for the va and its delivery of care than any other issue the va is facing we believe this year and the coming years. with regard fiscal year 2014, the advance appropriation i would highlight a couple concerns we have. first with regards to the increase in medical support and compliance i would point to the fact it is pretty substantial increase projected for 2014. this is not unlike come of the comments you made senator burr about the growth in administrative function within vha. at the same time advance appropriation provides for a very substantial decrease in medical facilities. while i understand some of that is based on the assumption that they will transfer a certain amount of money and some fte from medical facilities into medical services it also contingent on a cut in nonrecurring maintenance of almost halfing that account. given a lot of discussion in recent years about impact of funding on nonrecurring maintenance and what effect

it is having on va facilities the committee should certainly be interested in looking at that further. i know my colleague from the vfw as he addresses construction probably will touch on this as well. so with that i will leave, i will conclude my statement. i would be happy to take any questions that you have. >> thank you. mr. holt. >> ranking member burr, thank you. on behalf of the disabled american veterans and as the coauthor of the independent bum jelt i'm pleased to be here today on behalf of our 1.4 million members to offer your views and recommendations regarding the independent budget for fiscal year 2013 as it relates veterans ben if the programs and judicial review and veterans benefit administration. as you know we're in our third year of vba latest effort to transform outdated inefficient claims processing system into a modern rules based digital system. over next year we'll begin to see whether those strategies to transform the people, processes and technologies will finally result in a cultural shift

away from speed and production into a business culture of quality and accuracy which to us is truly the only way to get the backlog of claims under control. although we've been very pleased with vba's increasing partnership and collaboration with vso stakeholders we urge this committee to provide constant rand aggressive oversight of the many transformation activities taking place throughout this year. perhaps the most important initiative is the veterans management system for vbms is which is scheduled to begin its roll out nationally june of this year with final completion of the role yacht in late 2013. as vba works to complete, perfect and deploy this vital new i-t system it is absolutely crucial sufficient resources are provided. we do know ranking member, burr the budget. vbms drops from $148 million in fiscal year 2012 to $128 million in fiscal year 201. while we don't know the reason for the decrease in

budget we can not emphasize the enough the vital importance of the vbms and need for the sufficient funding in order to complete the development and implementation. we hope this committee will thoroughly examine whether that level of funding is sufficient also. in order to sustain vba's transformation effort the ib for fiscal year 2013 recommends maintaining current staffing levels in most business lines given the large increases in claims processors over the past few years we believe vba should be folk cutting its efforts properly training new and existing employees with an emphasis on quality and accuracy to insure claims are done right the first time. we note that the vocational rehabilitation and employment service bin jet proposal for fiscal year of 2013 does request funding for approximately 150 new counselors designated for the expansion of the integrated disability evaluation system and the vets success on campus program. we fully support both of these increases and these programs however in order to

reach voc rehab's target of having one counselor for every 125 veterans served they will need approximately 195 additional counselors in fy-2013 to accomplish this. additionally the independent budget is recommending a staffing increase at the board of veterans appeals. although the board is currently authorized to have 544 full-time employees it adopted budget for fiscal year 20 only supports 532 and for fiscal year 2013 the budget request would further reduce the number to 527. looking at historical appeals rate and rising number of original compensation claims the ib, vso, vba provided sufficient funding for authorized workforce in fiscal year of 2013 of at least 585 full-time employee equivalent. finally the ibvso call on congress to enact legislation to finally end the inequitable prohibition on current receipt for all

disabled veterans and eliminate unfair offset between survivor's benefit plan ad dependents and compensation for veterans, widows and their dependents. ranking member burr, this concludes my statement and i would be happy to answer any questions. >> thank you, mr. hall. >> yes, good afternoon, senator burr. on behalf of amvets and the coauthors of the ib i thank you for this opportunity to share our recommendations with you today. my main focus will be the nca or national cemetery administration, the single most important obligation of the nca is to honor the memory achievements and sacrifices of our veterans who so nobodiably served in this nation's armed forces. these acts self-sacrifice by our veterans obligate america not only to preserve but to rehabilitate and expand our national cemetery system as necessary to meet the needs of american veterans. these venerable and commemorative spaces are part of america's historic material culture.

they are museums of art and american history. they are fields of honor and aloed ground and they deserve and require our most respectful stewardship. the sacred tradition of our national some terries began in 1862 when the earliest military graveyards were situated at battle sites at field or general hospitals and former prisoner of war sites and since that time more than 3 million burials have taken place within the nca system. the nca currently maintains stewardship of 131 of our nation's 147 national cemeteries as well as 33 soldiers lots which are currently located in 39 states and puerto rico. as of late 2010, there were more than 20,000 acres of historic landscape, monuments and other architectural features included within established

mca sites. va estimates that of the roughly 22.4 million veterans alive today, that approximately 14.4% of them will choose a national or state vote rans cemetery as their final resting place. with a transition of an additional one million servicemembers into veterans status over the next 12 months this number is expected to continue rising until approximately 2017. in fy-2011 the mca, which is the nation's largest cemetery system, invested an estimated $31.49 million into the national shrine initiative in its efforts to improve the appearance of our national cemeteries. in order to adequately meet the demand for interment, gravesite maintenance and related essential elements of cemetery operation the ibvsoes recommend $280 million for the mca's operations and maintenance

budget in fy-2013 with an annual increase of $20 million until the national shrine commitments operational standard and measures goals recording height and alignment of headstones and markers as well as the appearance of gravesites are reached. finally, the ibvsoes call on administration and congress to provide resources needed to meet critical nature of the mca's mission and fulfill the nation's commitment to all veterans that served their country so honorably and faithfully. that concludes my statement. i will be happy to take any questions. >> thank you, miss zumatto. >> thank you. ranking member burr thank you for the opportunity to testify today. in partnership with the ib, it is vfw's responsibility to take care of construction accounts so i will limit my remarks to that. every effort must be made to

insure facilities are safe and sufficient environments to deliver care. since 2004 utilization in va has grown from 80% to 121%. facility conditions have dropped from 81% to 71%. this is having an impact on the delivery of health care. to determine an monitor the condition of facilities va conducted a facility condition assessment or sca. these assessments include assessment of building systems electrical, mechanical, architectural safety. the sca review team can grant rating a to an "f." an a through c is either new facility or an average condition of a facility. an f means the condition of the facility requires immediate attention. to correct the deficiencies of ds and fs, va will need to invest nearly $10 billion. va is requesting $400

million for four of the 20 one partially funded vha major construction projects in fy-13, leaving well over $5 billion remaining in partially funded projects dating back to fiscal year '07. these projects include improving seismic deficiencies, improving spinal cord injury centers, completing polytrama blind rehab and research facility as well as expanding mental health facilities. this request is too low to support the ever-growing need of veterans. therefore the ib partners request that congress provide funding of $2.8 billion to cover all major construction accounts this will allow va to complete current and partially funded major construction seismic correct shuns and mental health center and found the four va-identified projects for fy-13. although va's finding request for minor construction account is lower than the ib's request this level of funding will allow va to fund more than

120 projects. even know nonrecuring maintenance is funded through va's medical facility account and not through the construction account it is critical to have. a's capital structure. va is requesting $774 million in nrm for f ychlt-13 but to keep pace with need and reduce the backlog of nrm, $2.1 billion is needed. ib is not requesting this amount of funding for nrm, only pointing out the actual need to reach va's, that is the amount needed to reach va's strategic goals. enhanced use lease gives the va authority to lease land and buildings as long as the lease is consistent with va's mission. although enhanced use lease can be used for a wide range of activities the majority of these leases result in housing for homeless veterans and assisted living facilities. in fy-2030 theen va has not. however, this authority has expired and we encourage

congress to reauthorize enhanced use lease. so va can continue to put empty and underutilized space to work for veterans. ranking member, this concludes my testimony i look forward to any questions the you or the committee has. >> thank you, mr. kelly. mr. tarantino. is that correct? >> yes, north, it is. senator burr, and members of the committee thank you for allowing me to testify and represent iaba 200,000 members and supporters on the president's fiscal year 2013 budget request. i'm tom tarantino. i proudly served 10 years in the army beginning my career as enlisted reservist and ending active service as call havery office. i'm proud to work with this congress to have the backs of american servicemembers and veterans. while iba is pleases with the recognition that va needs increased resources to care for veterans from iraq and afghanistan we believe that va health care must be fully funded to the level

recommended in the 2013 independent budget. even though the proposed va budget does show a 4.5% increase over 2012 it is still more than $4 billion less than what the independent budget recommends. i'm also deeply concerned that congress has not passed a regular budget in actually is years. fortunately congress has maintained va funding both current in advance in various continuing resolutions and ad hoc appropriations bills however we are concerned if this irregular budgeting process continues and security that advanced funding is meant to provide for the va health care may erode. when political concerns endanger brinkmanship threaten va it is veterans and servicemembers who can at least afford to bear the burden that get the impact. we are at a critical juncture for both servicemembers and veterans. as the department of defense budget shrinks, threatens the earned benefits like retirement and tricare,

active duty and reserve component planning to shed over 90,000 active duty servicemembers, over the next few years, the workload on the va system is only going to increase. so failing to fully fund the va or appropriate the budget in advance will inflict pain and hardship on thousands of veterans. among the most useful programs administered by the va are its educational programs. more than 700,000 veterans and their family members have used post-9/11 g.i. bill to further their education, increase their job skills and secure employability. one of the single greatest threats to the success of the future of the g.i. bill is lack of useful metrics and subsequent inability of the va and state approving agencies to prevent fraud particularly in the realm of for profit schools. we recognize that majority of for profit schools are honest actors and provide invaluable resource for military veterans who do not need or wish to pursue traditional education however as pointed out in

the independent budget many for profit schools are not holding up their end. for example, for-profit schools receive a third of g ifund for accounting for less than a third of g.i. bill graduates. does not appear that we are giving veterans the tools they need to make sound educational sources. we recommend a three-prong approach to solve this problem. we must collect useful date on institutional success without mandatory uniform data collection across the board, private, public profit, not-for-profit, we will never be able to give students the tools to make the educational choices that meet their needs. we also need a clear comprehensiveable and easily accessible consumer education for veterans. having data on schools is useless unless we can present it to students in a manner they can digest. this should include both online methods of comparing schools as well as the commitment to increase educational counseling for veterans. finally, we have to insure

that the free and open market can weed out poorl poorly-performing schools by changing 90/10 rule to include classified dod and va benefits as government fund because they are. all of this must be executed with one goal in mind and that is to preserve the g.i. bill. preserving the integrity of the g.i. bill should be a top priority for every lawmaker on capitol hill. the benefit not only provides upward economic mobility for individuals to participate but benefits their entire community as a nation and in the nation as a whole in the long run. like the post-world war, like, the post-9/11 g.i. bill, i'm sorry. original world war ii g.i. bill returned $7 in taxes and economic out put for every dollar that was spent on the program. like then, the post-9/11 g.i. bill is currently threatened by schools that their whole existence is separating veterans from their hard-earned benefits.

america's newest veterans also place a tough economy in serious employment challenges. in 2011 the average unemployment rate for iraq and afghanistan veterans was 12.1%. congress took bold action last year in passing the vow to hire heroes act. we thank this body for their work. we stand ready to help implement the law for veterans to get back to work. we hope congress will continue to focus on veterans that choose not to go to the workforce but choose directly to go to school so they get the job training they need. i thank you for your time and attention. >> mr. tarantino, thank you, on behalf of all the members of the committee i would like to thank the entire panel for your willingness to be here. let me make assurance to you all of your testimonies are in their hand. i would also ask you to make yourself available to all members and the committee for questions that will follow up this. i would like to make a couple of comments and then

ask one question at the end. mr. tarantino, i agree with what you just said, the data is absolutely essential to our ability to evaluate what we're doing but more importantly the effectiveness of what we're doing. i might throw a cautionary note out. not all individuals who leave active duty are after a debut most are africa rear. and when you start looking at placement, you may find out the assessment we make about one institution versus another institution is actually reversed and, that those that maybe don't do a good job of providing the degree do a great job of providing the tools for a career and i think that's where we've got to stay focused. many of you have heard me with colleagues at the va, as i have questioned the need for our focus to stay on delivering a product to a

veteran and i will work with the secretary and his leadership team if they need plus-ups in central office or they need plus-ups in public relations or wherever it is. the only way i will sit still if i know that the core mission of the va which is to deliver the benefit to the individual servicemembers is being fulfilled. so, miss zumatto you talked about the national cemeteries. secretary murrow was here and you notice he didn't get any questions. i will speculate. because he is doing a damn good job. because he understands what the mission is. and we've got, we've got work to do. i think he would be the first to admit it but he is not losing focus of exactly what that threshold of accountability is going to be for him and i appreciate you pointing that out. i think all of you have questions on sequestration. i have them.

one, i don't think this should have ever been something we entered into. i think that congress is here to do our job. it is not to leave it up to a super-committee or group of individuals that then decide that we would rather punt the ball than throw it. i think that it's time for us to do our job. starts with doing a budget. required by law to do one annually. without a budget it is hard to do appropriations bills. so very simple process. for all you pointed out dollars that have been designated as not needed, 3 billion and 2 billion respectively, i have the same concern how in advance, so far in advance we can identify that. and i think if you go back, all of you, to when we started working on a advanced appropriations this is one of the concerns that skeptics have that you would have a plus-up only to find out it wasn't needed only to

have it shift somewhere else to grow something. i think the chairman is committed, as am i, to get to the bottom. work with the va. try to understand how this happened. and quite possibly talk about different ways to reprogram money. i know from the standpoint of the intelligence committee when an agency that is under our jurisdiction has wants to reprogram money they have to give approval from us to reprogram that money. think that is probably a wise thing and we'll look at any potential changes that need to be made. some of you mentioned, and i'm sure all of you are concerned about construction and maintenance. i'll just make a personal observation. facilities are crucial to the access and the call quality of and care that our veterans receive in the future. we're in the 21st century and medicine is changing.

i won't comment on other states but in north carolina dr. petzel knows this, i have two facilities that were built in the 1950s. they're not constructed in a way to put an mri machine, much less some of the new technology that's going in. even to run a computer that is networked means drilling through walls that were never intended to have holes, much like the capitol of the united states where we have to make the drill bits to actually drill through those. but more importantly they're not conducive to outpatient care. you have to navigate a health care facility to find the room that they happened to be doing endoes copies in that day -- endoscops. in that day. we expose everyone to institution has much like higher likelihood a means of infection. i think it is important and the va is headed on a new

course of creating that super outpatient facility that can handle 95% of a veteran as needs. it will take us a while to do but we will never get there until we build it into the long-term and short-term maintenance requests, construction requests. i think that i could question whether the total that's in the budget this year even comes close to handling just the maintenance needs that we have in existing facilities and i think, ray, you probably agree with me on that. those are just some of my thoughts having heard your testimony and tried to put it in perspective with what we've heard from the va and what the administration's budget proposal is. i would just pose one more question to each of you. if you want to respond, you can. what trend do you see that you haven't highlighted in your testimony that you think should be alarming to our nation's veterans and to

policymakers in washington? and i will just start down here and go down the line. >> ranking member, burr, the signature wounds in vietnam were about ptsd and agent orange. the signature wound in our wars today are about ptsd and tbi. the stigma has never been taken off ptsd. young warriors still in uniform it frightened to step forward when he or she is suffer symptoms. we need need to remove that tbi, a good analogy. former players in the nfl are currently suing the nfl because they're suffering from concussion. it goes back 30 and 40 years and these symptoms now manifesting themselves. what will our warriors suffering from tbi today facing in 20, 30, 40 years? and what are we going to do about it today to insure there is something there tomorrow to take care of them? thank you. >> fascinating thing.

in high school football today, many schools around the country are getting a baseline that they can establish for players so that as you have individuals who have concussions you can compare after to the baseline to figure out whether there was a brain change. novel approach. but, we're beginning to recognize the importance of that maybe. we maybe we will from the standpoint of our military personnel as well. carl? >> i will frame my answer as sort of a broad based idea about demand for health care services. while the va sort of shows its trends in its budget every year seems like when they return the next year the demand trend spiked higher than what they originally had projected which sort of points to my concerns how you end up with excess resources when you have a demand curve that's much steeper. as far as something to think about in the near or short term, long term with regards to demand, we have to keep

in mind that we've basically drawn down in iraq now. at some point in the near future we'll draw down in afghanistan. while there is commonly held belief demand will reach a plateau and maybe tail off because the aging population of veterans, we don't believe we've gotten to that point yet. we believe you could see an even higher spike as you demand for services as you have the individuals out of iraq and may be leaving the service and who eventually will leave afghanistan and presumably leave the service as well. we have to make sure we're in a situation where we're able to meet their unique health care demands while continuing to meet the demand of population of veterans that the va serves today. >> when i made the comment earlier to the secretary which will be in the for of a question that the va took in 430,000 more claims than were decided, it's not give the va a black eye. it's to say, let's make sure that our expectations on what we can accomplish are

rational. hard for me to believe that you could have 430,000 more claims this year and within a three-year period we can eliminate the backlog. under my calculation you will have to process 150,000 more claims than you take in every year to eliminate the backlog. if you just look at what's in front of us in additional claims to come in, i'm not sure you could make a rational statement like that. so i hope through our dialogue we're able to get not just on disability side but throughout the va a rational discussion about what expectations should be because i think we've got to have a yardstick, there haste got to be a matrix and there's got stock accountability. >> i would just like to follow-up with that exact point regarding the disability claims process. as you are well aware, va has a lot of parts in motion and with a complete transformation process that we're looking at, over the course of a year i would

like to commend va on one aspect and that is it's very, very difficult and challenging to not only transform an antiquated system into a modern paperless system, at the same time reducing the backlog. and so while they're working towards reducing the backlog, that's why we want to insure that the focus remains on quality and accuracy. as far as a specific trend, veterans as you know communicate electronically. va is trying to get there with their i-t system and as my comments had mentioned earlier about the vbms system, we hope it gets there as well but we just don't know what the outcome is going to be. we know there is positive results coming out of it from the test stations and we'll have to wait and see what happens when it goes out nationally. we're cautiously optimistic

about that. veterans demand that modernized system. va is trying to get there. hopefully we help them get there together. >> i agree with. va deserves credit for trying something different. none of us know whether it will work. i will only say this. in the time that we've designed this and begun to implement it, the trend that you can't ignore is that in 2008 our productivity per fte in the claims process was 87 claims per year. today, 2011, 73.5 claims per year. it is alarming to me, i'm hopeful that the i.t. thing will be the solution. we're roughly getting 14 less claims per employee that processes claims. and when you look at that

trend, that's, that's very troubling from a standpoint of if this doesn't work, we start at a new, lower baseline of productivity and it means that the ability to do away with the backlog is that much longer. miss zumatto. >> thank you, senator burr. i want to say i appreciate your comments. and that i agree with all the additional comments made by ib partners. as far as mca having any a alarming issues i don't think i have the expertise to speak to that but i will be meeting with the folks and, at the in. ca, if i come up with something -- >> share it with us. ray? >> i think my testimony pointed out my concerns with construction but i want to touch on another issue that we've ignored in the past that has led to, to lack of

research in other areas. i use an example. took us 40 years to finally get to the point where we took care of the folks affected by agent orange. we can't let that happen to folks exposed to burn pits. we lack the science to identify it. to diagnose it and to treat it. we need research dollars and we need research dollars specifically for burn pit exposure. >> i hear you loud and clear and as a guy trying to get the same thing done for camp lejeune marines for three decades, i hear your warning and the frustration. tom? >> senator, we're alarmed about the lack of clarity with the high suicide rate among veterans. we do a pretty good job of tracking active duty but we really don't have any clear idea of the suicide epidemic in the veterans population. the va does a good job or decent job of tracking veterans within their system,

but in terms of oef beds that is just over half. which means around half of iraq and afghanistan veterans never set foot in a va hospital. we have no idea what is happening out in that population. so when we're looking at the budget and increases to mental health and sort of this shock approach to suicide prevention and mental health where we're trying to develop programs with awareness but we're not doing it in a targeted fashion, it's one thing to increase aawareness about stigma and have suicide prevention campaigns. but if you don't know where are the problem areas and what are the methodologies and what type of issues are those servicemembers facing you're basically crawling around in the dark. so what we're proposing that we need to have a national effort to track veteran suicide in all 50 states. there is couple ways to do it. i'm happy to talk about it with you off-line, but until we do that we'll never get

our hand around this issue and we'll never solve the problem. >> i think i speak for the chairman that the committee is committed to to do a much better job at understanding the problem and more importantly the trend that we find it alarming. i think that, and to speak for the va i think they take this very seriously. in our last hearing, relative to progress we were making, one individual, and i put this caveat in, their responsibility was the hotline. said, well the progress is evident by the fact we're getting calls to the hotline. now, when you look at things from a overall architecture, you get more calls to the hotline you've got a much greater problem out there than what you might have thought. so i'm, i think we've got to connect these things within the administration to understand how to interpret something like an increase in calls. but i think we're all

committed, not just in the veterans population but in the active duty force, to make sure that wherever these pressure points are we find a way to relieve them long before we reach a suicidal end. let me take this opportunity, you've been patient with us and we did have great participation from members today. i want to thank you on behalf of the chairman and myself for your willingness to be here for the insight that you give us and for the time that you put in to not only your testimony but your proposals. this hearing is adjourned.

>> coming up today, presidential can date mitt romney is in cleveland, ohio. the former massachusetts governor is joined by his wife and new jersey governor chris christie at a campaign rally four days before the state's super tuesday primary. live coverage starting at 7 p.m. eastern here on c-span2. >> on this friday the senate

continues working today on the transportation bill, setting highway and transit programs and policy for the next two years. senators are considering amendments to the measure. the bill has been held up due to negotiations over unrelated amendments. yesterday senate democratic leader harry reid inserted 37 amendments agreed to by bill managers on both sides of the aisle. work on the transportation bill is likely to continue through next week. and now to live coverage of the u.s. senate here on the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the chaplain dr. barry black

will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. almighty god, sustain america with your providential protection as you inspire us to cultivate faith, hope and love. bless our lawmakers, using them to make a positive difference in the lives of those in need. touch our senators with your love and peace, as your will is done in the senate

and in all the offices and homes represented here. purge our hearts of anything that doesn't honor you. we pray in your great name. amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the presiding officer: the

clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington, d.c., march 2, 2012. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable daniel k. akaka, a senator from the state of hawaii, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: the leader of the senate is recognized. mr. reid: thank you very much, mr. president. i'm very happy to see you there this morning. it's not often that we get our senior members to preside. we appreciate it very, very much. following leader remarks, the senate will resume consideration of s. 1813, the surface transportation bill. today we'll continue to work with the republicans, hopefully find a path forward. there will be no roll call votes today. the next vote will occur tuesday morning. mr. president, it's the new year

and thankfully it's brought new signs of economic recovery. not as vibrant as we would like, but some recovery. but it will never be good enough while we have millions of americans unemployed in this country. as we say in the senate, those on this side of the aisle, that's democrats, are not going to be taking our eye off the target. that is a healthy economy. the bipartisan transportation bill before the senate is an important step in that direction. this bill would save or create almost three million jobs, yet my republican colleagues have caused the waste of about a month of precious time here on the senate floor in obstructing this very important piece of legislation. so it's with disappointment i'm going to file cloture on this transportation bill.

it seems 85 votes begin debate on a measure no longer indicate a smooth legislative path forward. we would think with 85 votes that we would have timely approval of the bill, but that has not taken place. that's because my republican colleagues want to waste time on unrelated, ideological, nongermane, nonrelevant amendments instead of talking about the nation's failing infrastructure. mr. president, there is no one, no one who thinks -- and i say that, no one believes that our roads, our highways, our bridges are up to snuff. they are not. we need significant work to bring them up to better condition. tens of thousands of bridges are in a state of disrepair. so republicans instead of working on this valuable

infrastructure bill have been causing us to waste time on issues not related to this. we have spent the last several weeks on a woman's access to health care. and, of course, the amendments that they have talked about doing in addition to that would weaken our environmental protection, would make our water less pure, our air dirtier, this instead of rebuilding as i indicated we need to do our roads, our bridges. even against our better judgment, one republican leader said yesterday we had spent enough time this year on trying to repeal the health care bill, but they have had to retract that because the tea party rose up and said oh, we have to have more votes. they are meaningless votes, mr. president.

everyone knows there is going to be no repeal of the health care bill this year. and so the republican leader who talked about this yesterday was talking about maybe doing what senator alexander and senator pryor think we should do -- spend our time on things that are constructive like getting our appropriation bills done. no, the tea party stepped in and now there is going to be efforts made to repeal the health care bill. in fact, i read in the paper today a complete flip-flop from yesterday. instead of not dealing with starting to repeal the health care bill the rest of this legislative year, now the word is the entire month of march is going to be spent dealing with health care. so, mr. president, it's time to move forward on this bill. hopefully seven -- that's all we need. there are 47 republicans. we need seven of them to invoke cloture on this bill. that vote will occur tuesday

morning. all the nongermane, nonrelevant amendments, let them do it on a piece of legislation, mr. president, that is not so vital to the economy of this country. so we're going to move forward on this bill. i certainly hope that we can get seven republicans to join with us. there are 53 of us, seven of them. now, if we -- mr. president, of course, i have always said i would be happy to come up with an agreement. they want to offer -- if they want to offer amendments that are relevant to what we're doing, that's fine, but that hasn't been forthcoming. i hope the weekend will give my republican colleagues a chance to reflect on whether they are willing to put ideology ahead of the economy. mr. president, three million jobs. and what have we spent our time

on? an ideological issue to take health care away from women. would the chair announce the business of the day? the presiding officer: thank you, majority leader reid from nevada. under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved and under the previous order the senate will resume consideration of s. 1813, which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 311, s. 1813, a bill to reauthorize federal-aid highway and highway safety construction programs, and for other purposes. mr. reid: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i want to make sure the record is very, very clear

what the vote will be on on tuesday morning. before the day's end, i will file cloture on a work product. it's a bill that has the approval of barbara boxer, a progressive senator from california, jim inhofe, a conservative senator from oklahoma. we have now added to that something that came out of the finance committee, something that came out of the banking committee, something that came out of the commerce committee. all these measures have been relatively without any challenge. i can't understand why people wouldn't approve this. and what we added to this is 37 approved amendments. the staffs with the respective

senators have been working for days to come up with amendments that have been filed but not offered, and these amendments, mr. president, have been approved by the respective chair and ranking members of the committees, 37 of them. so what we will be voting on tuesday will be that product. all of it, mr. president, bipartisan, all of it noncontroversial, so that we can complete work on this bill. if we did nothing else, nothing else on this highway bill than what we are going to vote cloture on on tuesday, it would be really a good, strong, good, strong legislative day for this body. then we could have a conference with the house. the house has already announced that they can't do their senseless piece of legislation. even the tea party-driven

republicans in the house recognize that was something that was a figment of someone's imagination to get it done. now they are going to do a two-year bill, like us. it would be easy to conference something like that. they may have some differences in some of the policy efforts, but that's why we have conferences. this legislation is critical. at the end of this month, the end of march, the highway bill is no more. projects that are being worked on in hawaii and nevada and around the other 48 states will come to a stop. there will be no money. new projects won't be able to go forward. this is a really important bill involving billions of dollars of construction for our country, which is badly needed. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: it is so ordered the absence of a quorum. the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call: quorum call:

the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: so ordered, without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, as i indicated to the presiding officer this morning, the junior senator from hawaii, how fortunate i am to have one of the senior members of the senate preside. that doesn't happen often and here it is again, the senator from west virginia. i was just commenting to my friends here, our staff, who don't know you very well -- you know, they don't know a lot of us. we just whip through here -- tell them a brief synopsis what a wonderful man you are. and what you have done to contribute to a better society. i have such gratitude to know

the presiding officer, to know his background and the sacrifice he's made for his country and the -- what he's done so much for his state. that when the history books are written, that will certainly be a very big chapter in what's taken place in the state of west virginia during the presiding officer's service there. mr. president, i have a cloture motion at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion. we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, hereby move to bring to a close the debate on the reid amendment number 1761 to s. 1813, a bill to reauthorize federal aid highway and highway safety construction programs and for other purposes. signed by 17 senators. mr. reid: mr. president, i would ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i have a second cloture motion at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion.

we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, hereby move to bring to a close the debate on s. 1813, a bill to reauthorize federal aid highway and highway safety construction programs, and for other purposes. signed by 17 senators as -- mr. reid reid: mr. president, id ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the clerk be asked to modify the instruction lines on any amendments filed in order to match page and line numbers on the pending reid of nevada amendment number 1761 and those amendments and instructions lined -- instruction line modifications -- i'll sigh that again. reid amendment number 1761 and that those amendments and instruction line modification be considered timely filed under rule 22. further that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived for the two cloture motions which were just filed. finally that cloture vote on the reid amendment number 1761 occur

at 12:00 noon tuesday march 6. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators allowed to speak for up to ten minutes each during that time. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i'm told there is a bill at the desk due for first reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will report -- read the bill. the clerk: h.r. 1837, an act to address certain water-related concerns on the san joaquin river and for other purposes. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask for second reading in order to place the rule on the calendar under rule 14. i to be my own request. the presiding officer: the clerk will read for the second time. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask consent when the senate completes its business the senate adjourn until monday, march 5 at 2:00 p.m. following the prayer and pledge, the journal of proceedings be approved, the morning hour

deemed expired and the time for the two leaders be reserved for use. following morning business the senate proceed to morning business with senators permitted to speak for ten minutes each. the filing deadline to s. 1813 be 4:00 p.m. monday deadline and filing deadline for second-degree amendments to the reid amendment 1761, s. 1831 be 11:30 a.m. tuesday, march 6. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i note the absence of a quorum, mr. president. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. reid: i ask the quorum call be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that on tuesday, march 6, 2012 at 2:15 p.m. the senate proceed to executive session to consider nominations calendar number 439 and 440, that there be two minutes for debate equally divided in the usual form and that upon the use or

yielding back of that time the senate proceed to vote with no intervening action or debate on calendar number 439 or 440 and that be in that order, that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table, there be no intervening, and no further motions be in order, that any related statements be printed in the record and president obama be notified of the senate's action. the senate then resume legislative. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, today i filed cloture on the reid amendment on the underlying transportation bill. the cloture vote on that amendment will occur at noon on tuesday. we'll continue to work on a path to get this bill done. the quickest way to get this done would be to involve cloture. at 2:15 on tuesday two votes on the confirmation of the phillips and rice nominations. if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask it adjourn under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until senate stands adjourned until

>> the president's 2013 budget plan calls for nearly $45 billion of house expenditure. 3.2% increase over 2012. >> mr. secretary, welcome back. talk about 2013 budget request for the housing and urban development. as we begin our work on next

weeks budget there are encouraging signs that our economy is moving out in the right direction. although we are not moving quickly enough for it families i continued to struggle and we certainly have a long way to go. the private sector has been adding jobs for almost two years. businesses are growing in confidence is up. we seem to step back finally from the precipice which, of course, is very good news for the housing market which depends on a strong and stable economy to recover and thrive. but despite the positive signs we still face significant challenges. over 22% of homeowners are under water. the recent settlement does announce among the five largest banks in the states and federal government is an important step. it holds banks accountable and provide relief to homeowners. the settlement also paves the way for bank to proceed with foreclosures that have been stalled in the pipeline. while it is important to reduce the excess inventory of distress housing, increase sales of these

properties at reduced prices may further depress home value. climbing back from the housing crash will not be easy, and i'm interested in hearing your views on how we can increase the stability of the market. the depressed housing market has also taken its toll on fha. this is a clear and the president's budget. the budget indicates that for the first time at aj may require federal funding to cover its losses. i have long been concerned about the solvency of fha's market fun and i applaud the effort of this administration to strengthen fha's risk controls. but many of the financial problems facing fha are related to older books of business injured at the height of the housing boom. so while these changes to strengthen the program are important and long overdue, it will also be important to recover or prevent expected losses from older loans. i'm pleased the recent mortgage that includes money for fha him and of the settlements most

notably bank of america, will also provide money to cover losses related to improper mortgage origination. the settlement should help avoid the need for taxpayer funding, and i hope you'll consider to look for opportunities to recoup losses from fraudulent or poorly underwritten loans. additional changes to fha premiums contained in the budget as most those announce on monday represent your continued efforts to improve the solvency of the mmo i find and protect the taxpayer from having to cover its losses. beyond fha today we'll also examine other aspects of the administration's request which is 44.8 billion growth resources to support hud program. what is represented increase of over 3%, it is largely a current services budget as a result of numerous offsets included in the fiscal year 2012 bill. as the secretary's testimony knows, 83% of house budget is housing to the nation's most

vulnerable. these programs require annual adjustments. as we continue to live under the caps of the budget control act, this presents us with very difficult choices. last year senator collins and i worked very hard to protect had core rental assistance program, budoing so meant difficult cutso programs like homes and housing for the elderly. the cuts that begin in fiscal year 2011 are being widely felt today. cities and towns are cutting services to vulnerable citizens, laying off workers or doing critical investments in their communities. this years budget faces many of the same challenges we struggled with last year. how do you craft a budget that protects low-income residents who rely on hud assistance, makes the economic development in a portal housing investments to strengthen our committees, and gives had the tools it needs to effectively manage its programs. while the administration's

fiscal year 2013 budget try to address these goals by balancing priorities. i'm concerned about some of the proposals. the proposed budget for project-based rental assistance will manage within the requested level by intentionally not funding contracts for a full 12 months. i have seen this policy before, and while this may be manageable in the short run, i'm concerned we will have the resources when the bill eventually becomes too. in the rental assistance got i'm also concerned the funding level requested to renew vouchers is effectively flat. inspite anticipate inflation and the need to renew vouchers for the first time. the budget also relies on savings from a number of policy changes which are not without controversy. so as to make the difficult choices in this budget i want to be sure we're making decisions with an understanding of the consequences and an eye towards the future. but my concerns there some bright spots in this budget. the request again seeks 75 million for new trend for

vouchers which have really helped to reduce homelessness among our veterans by 12% between 2010-2011. the administration has worked hard to develop a plan to finally end homelessness, and very glad the request for homeless programs reflect a continued commitment to that plan. at a time when resources are scarce, oversight of hud's programs become even more important i look forward to contain to work with the department and my colleagues to find additional ways to improve hud stroke or. i want to acknowledge today tranfourteen inspector general who is with us today. i welcome his vision for hud's office of inspector general and look for to working with them to protect taxpayer dollars and improve the efficiency of hud stroke or. fiscal year 2013 budget once again requires difficult choices to be made. as i work with my colleagues, senator collins, and those on on the subcommittee together this bill i will be mindful of the millions of americans who rely on