chair man of the house veterans affairs committee. you're watching live coverage on c-span 3. >> after hearing from myself, chairman blumenthal and acting ranking member heller, i'd like to ask all other committee members to waive their opening statements. there is going to be an opportunity for remarks following testimony today. hearing no objections so order. it's an honor for me to be here this afternoon with so many dav members and i thank you all for coming to the hill once again. due to the hard work and dedication of vav's 1.4 million

members, especially dav service officers, veterans are provided with professional benefit counselling and claims assistance and transportation to and from va health care facilities. dav also assists with transition assistance services and on-site care at military treatment facilities, va medical centers and clinics and at home. that's just to name a few of the many programs that you, dav, provides every single day. i've witnessed many of these efforts first hand and i'm personally grateful to each of you for the hard work the dav does across the country as well as right here in washington d.c. on behalf of a grateful nation, thank you all for your commitment to our veterans, for your time this afternoon and for your brave and honorable service to our nation. i want to take a few moments to

welcome several individuals who have transitioned into new leadership roles with dav. i begin with national commander joseph w. johnston who was elected to the position at dav's 2013 national convention. mr. johnston retired from the united states army in 1992 and subsequent to his military service has dedicated his efforts towards working with nonprofit organizations. commander johnston, we welcome you here today. other new placements within the professional leadership of dav include navy veteran j. mark bergus. gary august steen is the new executive director. nice to have you back. marine corps veteran jim now serves as dav national service director and his fellow marine corps veteran barry janowski

leads as executive director of headquarters in coal spring, kentucky. very good to have you back, too. with us today is miss susan miller who was elected today office of national commander of the dav aux illry. she prefld served as a registered nurse with the veterans administration and her son, trent, is a member of the united states army, recently serving in his second deployment to afghanistan. gentlemen and miss miller, thank you for your leadership and for your service. i look forward to working with each of you in your new roles and continuing to work with those of you that are continuing in the roles that you have had for a number of years. i'd also like to recognize the dav members from my home state of florida who may be with us today. if you could just raise your hand so we can say hello.

isn't this just like home? this is just like home. welcome to those from the sunshine state. we're glad to have you here. each of you are a credit to our state of florida and to your communities, and i'm proud to have you here in your nation's capital. thank you for your military service and for our ongoing service to veterans. commander johnston, officers, and members of the dav, you have a tremendous force behind you to accomplish the immense mission that is before each of us. our charge, yours and mine, is to assist and oversee that the department of veterans affairs carries out america's promise to those who have worn the uniform of this country. this includes ensuring that veterans receive timely, accurate, and consistent decisions when seeking service-connected disability compensation, safe and high quality health care and prompt access to earned benefits.

it demands that in dealing with the department of veterans' affairs, veterans be treated with the dignity and professionalism that is earned through honorable service to our nation. the need for oversight is crucial. but it is the need for accountability that is paramount. speaking directly to the disabled american veterans, you and your members understand that leaders must set the example. true leaders lay out clear expectations, put others in positions to succeed. they follow through, and most importantly, they hold themselves accountable for their actions. follow me, that is the motto of the infantry. yet, those words can be easily translated to organizational leadership at the va.

when there's a mission to be accomplished, those who put themselves on the line are the leaders that others want to follow. and, it is a lack of accountability that corrodes trust within a chain of command. that said, an undeniable, wide-spread, systematic lack of accountability exists today in the department of veterans' affairs. in fact, if you look at recent preventable deaths at va medical centers, patience safety incidents and claims backlog increases, department senior executives who presided over mismanagement are more likely to have received a bonus than punishment. it is a leadership model that is primed for failure. so today, i ask for your support of a measure that i have

introduced, hr, 4031, the accountability act of 2014. this bill would provide tools to the secretary of veterans' affairs to better manage senior executive service employees, those who are directly responsible for the day-to-day success or failure of va programs. hr 4031 would give the secretary the power to hold leaders accountable when they fail to perform their duties in a manner that properly serves the veterans entrusted to their care. dav, you know leadership. and i hope that you will support this bill and work with us to empower the secretary to lead va into the future. i also want to comment on something from your written remarks. you noted that the department, specifically, the veterans' benefits administration, has

exhibited reduced transparency and openness of late. i can assure you that this shift has been noted by this congress. i will underscore these ongoing concerns to the secretary. the va is to effectively to carry out its duties, the department as well as congress and veterans' service organizations must be open to candid and honest conversation. i will be paying close attention to the matters of transparency as vba pushes towards 2015, and i encourage you to continue your dialogue with congress and va to the maximum extent possible. i look forward to hearing your testimony today, and i am certain that we will work together over the coming months on many items that are on your list of legislative priorities. before i yield my time, i want to touch upon one specific area

that you have noted is a top priority for dav in 2014. that is the expansion of advanced appropriations for the department of veterans' affairs. thank you for your resounding support of hr 813, putting veterans' fund first act. while the health administration is largely shielded from budgetary impasse, other functions critical to the department and the veterans are not, including accounts for information technology as well as construction spending on vital maintenance and improvement projects. i'm going to continue to advocate for passage of this measure as well. gridlock must not compromise the functionality of the department of veterans' affairs. there's great work ahead for all of us, but with your help, i am confident that there is also great potential for success for america's veterans. thank you once again for being here today, and i now yield time

to my colleague and friend from the senate, chairman blumenthal for his opening statement. senator? >> thank you very much, chairman miller, and thank you to the leadership of the dav, commander johnston and others who are here today. most important, thank you to all the dav members who are here today. thank you so much for making the trip and sending a message by your presence about not only the concern and interest but your knowledge and power by your numbers and your presence here today. i'd like to ask that chairman sanders' full opening statement be placed in the record. he could not be here today because indeed he is helping to manage the bill, the comprehensive bill that is under consideration this week before

the united states senate. indeed, i will have to leave early to go back and assist him in that effort. i hope you'll forgive me, but with the chair's permission, i'd like to ask that his opening statement be placed in the record, and i'd like to make a few opening brief remarks. >> without objection. i thought it was probably going to be because of the snow that he was not able to be here. >> we are here in the warmth compared to connecticut and vermont. let me ask the connecticut dav members who are here to raise your hand so i can thank you personally for being here, all the connecticut members. i know that connecticut dav state commander robert whirlic, barry berneier and the vice commander all regularly advise me, and their guidance and thinking is so very valuable to me. let me begin by thanking the dav

for its support for the comprehensive veterans' health and benefits military retirement pay restoration act which is the bill on the floor of the senate this week. the dav set about this bill. this bill is and i'm quoting, unprecedented in our modern experience, would create, expand, advance and extend a number of va benefits, services and programs that are important to the dav and to our members. your help and support has been critical along with the help and support of virtually every veterans' and military organizations in the country, including the american legion, the veterans of foreign wars, the vietnam veterans of america, the military officers association of america, the iraq and afghanistan veterans of america, the paralyzed veterans of america, the gold star wives and many more.

we thank you for your support for this bill which includes many measures that were reported out of our committee, the senate veterans' affairs committee, by unanimous vote or on an overwhelmingly partisan vote. there's nothing partisan about supporting this bill or any other measure that provides what we owe to our veterans. they should be above partisan politics. this bill is big and broad because the needs and challenges of all our veterans are big and broad. that's why it's comprehensive. it would provide the restoration of cola for military retirees, improve va health and care benefits, expand educational opportunities, help in the backlog which we know be devil's

our country still and would help put our veterans back to work. i'm very proud to be supporting this measure. it's a historic effort to be comprehensive, to reach and aid our veterans in a multi-prong, multi-facetted way. of particular interest to me is hearing from you about where you think the priorities ought to be and how we can address the problem of uniting, for example, uniting the medical records and personnel data of the department of defense and the department of veterans' affairs. there are gaping divisions in that system where there should be none, and i am appalled by the delays that often occur in the transfer of information. i'm deeply appreciative of the work of the dav experts who help every day in aiding our veterans with their claims and i value

your expertise in addressing this challenge. i'm also personally committed to determining what we can do more and better to help veterans who suffer from posttraumatic stress. we should assist equally a veteran from today's conflicts as well as those from past conflicts, including our vietnam veterans who suffered posttraumatic stress before this debilitating condition was medically diagnosed or perhaps even seen for what it is. that's why i'm working to get the department of defense to give a second look at the records of our veterans of past wars, including vietnam, who may have been less than honorably discharged or otherwise disadvantaged because their condition was undiagnosed and untreated. given what we now know, those individuals who today are upstanding members of the community and suffered from posttraumatic stress ought to be

given a second look, and their discharge status re-evaluated if necessary. on all of these issues, again, your expertise and guidance not only today but every day is very, very valuable, and i want to welcome you and thank you for your service to america in uniform and when you have returned to your communities and today as you come back to the capital. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you very much, senator. i yield five minutes or as much time as he may consume to the ranking member of the full house committee. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman and thank you for your service for this great nation of ours as well. good afternoon, commander. i want to thank you and all members of dav and the aux illry for your service. we thank you for your continued dedication to our nation's veterans. i want to take an opportunity

also to welcome those in the audience from maine, the sons and daughters of maine have a history of serving our nation. i'm glad to see that they're continuing that tradition as well by fighting for veterans' issues. dav and other veterans' groups are partners with us in congress as we work to keep our promise to america's veterans. i want to thank you for your work of advocating and the passage and enactment of hr 813, putting veterans' funding act first. it is time that the rest of va's discretionary budget be treated the same way. we owe it to the veterans to provide funding. va is pursuing a wide range of initiatives from new methods of health care delivery to

electronic benefit management. these investments will help bring the department into the 21st century. working with you in the department of veterans' affairs, we will make sure that these initiatives implemented fairly, transparently and in the best interest of veterans and the american taxpayers, making sure that the department of veterans' affairs can meet the challenges of the 21st century is a job of all of us. i know the dav, your members across the country and your staff here in washington, are ready and eager for that challenge. so i look forward to your testimony today, commander, and again i want to thank you and d.a.v.'s long history of distinguished service for the men and women who wear the uniform. it is because of our organization that will actually give members of congress the information that we need so that we can make those decisions

important for our veterans and their families in this country. once again, thank you very much, and thank you, mr. chairman. i yield back. >> recognize for as much time as we may need, the acting ranking member, mr. heller from nevada. >> mr. chairman, thank you. >> glad to have you here. >> good to be back, seeing old colleagues and some old friends that i have on this side of the capital. i want to thank the commander for being here today and everybody that will be testifying and answering questions today. thanks for taking time. it's always a wonderful view to see this crowd. everybody here and your advocacy for issues that are important to all of us. i want to take a moment to acknowledge the veterans who have flown here from my home state, bill bowman and john hanson. are you out there? there we go. any other nevada veterans please raise your hand. they're tremendous advocates. they had poinappointments at my office at 9:30 this morning and they were there at 8:30. if that gives you an idea of how

aggressive they are. i appreciate all the work you do and they respepresent our state quite well. i think we can agree there's a lot to be improved upon when it comes to our american veterans. which is why the work that the group does is so important. this is the second year i have had a privilege to sit on the senate veterans' affairs committee. while that may not be for as long a period of time compared to some of the other members here, it's clear that one issue continues to be a primary focus, and that's the disability claims backlog at the va. the va promised veterans that there are claims to be completed in 125 but they have waited much longer than that. nevada has the longest waiting time in the nation. that's why i made it a top

priority to work to address this issue in a bipartisan manner. the claims backlog is the greatest challenge facing the department of veterans' affairs today. but this issue has been plaguing the va for over 20 years, two decades, and the reality is we must update the process. it's a 1945 system for a 21st century veteran. the va needs a claims process that is proactive rather than reactive. one that can anticipate the needs of veterans to keep a backlog from happening. some may want to point fingers, place blame, but at the end of the day, the congress, the vsos and the va all have a part to play. for the past year i worked with senator casey through a bipartisan va backlog group to learn what can be done to fix it. it has taken significant time and resources to dig into this

issue and shortly i look forward to rolling out suggestions that we have developed with the help of the dav. our nation owes it to our veterans to keep our promise, to care for them and resolve this problem together. this is just one of the many important issues that will be discussed today, and i appreciate the dav being here and look forward to the testimony. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you very much. senator, we are certainly glad to have you back on our side of the building. before i yield to my colleague, dr. win strupt, i want to recognize two other people that i did not talk about. dr. joseph, it's great to have you here with us and see you on the hill all the time, and ron mentor, national director of voluntary service. ron, glad to have you here, too. my staff just said i was going

to yield to representative winstrupt to introduce the commander, but i think it's important that you understand that dr. winstrup is a combat veteran of iraq, a surgeon by trade, and a bronze star recipient. [ applause ] >> with that, you're recognized. >> thank you, mr. chairman. as a proud member of the house veterans' affairs committee, it's my privilege to introduce joseph johnson. as commander johnson works to represent injured and disabled veterans, i have had the honor to represent him in the house of representatives. having personally served as a combat surgeon in iraq i saw our

troops in the minutes and hours after being wounded. but oftentimes the toughest battle our veterans fight is when they come home. disabled american veterans is a strong advocate for those who have served our nation and given more than most, and commander johnson does yeoman's work on behalf of the nation's disabled veterans. i've had the honor of sharing the stage with mr. johnson during veterans' tributes in ohio. his passion for our military veterans is clear. it's selfless and with great conviction. a 100% service-connected disabled veteran who served in the vietnam and persian gulf wars, commander johnson joined the u.s. army in 1966 serving first as an enlisted soldier and later a commissioned officer. he retired at the rank of co

concern nal in 1992. our state of ohio and nationally commander johnson has been elected to and held various management and leadership positions with the dav and is active in various chapter and department programs, culminating in his election as national commander last year. fellow members of congress from the house and senate, it's my honor to introduce national commander joe johnson to present the davs legislative agenda. >> welcome, commander. you're recognized for your

testimony. >> thank you very much. chairman miller, acting ranking member hiller and ranking member michaeu, i want to thank you for convening today's hearing and for your leadership in helping to fulfill the promises to the men and women who have served. chairman sanders has recently brought forth introducing senate bill 1982, and that is indeed one of the most wide ranging veterans' bills ever brought forward. i'd like to extend our sincere appreciation to chairman sanders and all members of these committees on behalf of the more than 1.4 million members of dav and its auction illry for the outstanding support you have given our nation's injured and ill veterans and their families and survivors. we wish you all the best in your

efforts to the rest of the 113th congress on behalf of america's veterans, their families and survivors. allow me to introduce as seated at the table with me as well as some distinguished guests. national adgent mark burgess, service director jim marcelek, director joe violante, ron mentor, national commander susan muller of colorado, national adgetent, judy, ron hope at north carolina. junior vice commanders, moses mcintosh of georgia, dave riley of alabama, and dennis krulder

of new york. judge advocate mike dobmeyer of north dakota. national chief of staff, raymond hutchinson of ohio and let me introduce the love of my life vicki and my son james who is also a dav member and his wife rhonda. one man who for the first time in decades is not at the table with us today is art wilson. he retired in 2013 after a 47-year career, serving as dav's suburbly effective chief executive director. after such a long and distinguished term will clearly leave a void but dav has selected an able, experienced executive in mark burgess as our

new ceo. the dav national executive committee please stand and be recognized.wthe dav national ex committee please stand and be recognized.ithe dav national ex committee please stand and be recognized.lthe dav national ex committee please stand and be recognized.lthe dav national ex committee please stand and be recognized. the dav national ex committee please stand and be recognized. will the members of the national legislative interim committee also please stand. i'd also like to recognize the entire dav delegation from my home state of ohio. please stand. i've already submitted for the record my written testimony detailing a number of concerns and ideas for your information

and consideration. so i will use my time today to highlight a few of the most important issues facing veteran today. mr. chairman, veterans stand with each other and support one another in combat. long after the bullets cease to strike, we always rely on our warrior brothers and sisters. i'm hoping that every member of congress will also stand with us and for us each and every day of your respective terms. since our founding dav has remained dedicated to fulfilling our promises to the men and women who served, their families and survivors, dav's core mission is carried out through our chapter department, transition in national service officers and all dav has nearly 3,000 service officers including county veteran service officers who are credited by dav. during 2013 dav's 276 national

service officers interviewed over 187,000 veterans and their families. reviewed more than 313,000 va claims files, filed over 215,000 new claims for benefits, and participated in more than 272,000 va rating board actions. in addition, our national appeals officers provided representation in almost a third of the appeals decided before the board of veterans' appeals. our transitions service office conducted 1400 briefings to groups, counselled 31,000 persons in individual interviews, reviews the military service treatment records of 230,000 individuals and

submitted benefits applications for 19,000 personnel for filing with the va. our mobile service officers traveled almost 90,000 miles last year to 833 cities and towns and met with more than 20,000 veterans and other potential claimants to offer our assistance. about 17,000 dav and zilry volunteers donated more than 1.8 million volunteer hours to assist america's wounded, injured and ill veterans every year, saving taxpayers over $40 million in cost. dav's national transportation network logged almost 26,000 road miles and transported over 700,000 veterans to va health care facilities. nearly 9,000 volunteer drivers spend over 1.7 million hours transporting veterans. from 1987 to 2013, we have

donated nearly 3,000 vans to the va at a cost to the dav of more than $537 million. mr. chairman and members of the veterans' affairs committee, let me thank you at our press conference calling for advanced appropriation for all veterans' programs, services and benefits. we are also joined by members of many other veterans' and military organizations, by all uniting with a message for congress to pass the putting vut rans' funding first act. in addition, hundreds of dav members and supporters have been visiting your offices. thousands have been calling from back home, and over a million, that's over a million, have sent or heard our message through

facebook, twitter and the other social media, all calling on congress to keep the promise by passing advanced appropriations. today if you open up any of the capitol hill publications, you'll see our full page ad, and you can see them online at corresponding websites. you can also read the op-ed in today's would you te today's "wall street journal" that i co-authored. i wrote together with the national leaders from the vfw and the american legion. together our organizations represent more than 5 million veterans. mr. chairman, you and the other members of this committee know

the importance of advance appropriations judging by the overwhelming votes in favor of this legislation in both your committees. let me especially recognize chairman miller and congressman micheau for sponsoring the legislation in the house and the senators for sponsoring this legislation in the senate. i also want to thank you, chairman sanders who isn't here, for getting behind this legislation, ensuring that senate bill including the benefits and for moving it through the committee. the government shutdown last october confirmed what has become increasingly clear, the federal budget and appropriations process is broken. over the past 25 years, the f r four-year budget has been enact

by the start of the fiscal year only three times. in 2009 as a result of a grassroots advocacy effort by dav and other vsos, congress passed and the president signed the veterans' health care budget reform and transparency act that provides advanced appropriations for a va medical care program. this past october, while many va offices and services were shut during the shut down, va hospitals and clinics were able to provide uninterrupted health care. the backlog was slowed, activities were scaled back and what medical research projects were nearly suspended. when va regional offices were shut down, many of our national service officers resorted to occupying temporary quarters, including tents, in order to continue helping veterans seeking their earned benefits,

we at dav were determined that our free representation would not and could not be interrupted. during last year's veterans' day activities, a woman approached me to say how grateful she was to the dav for our efforts in helping the government shutdown before va ran out of funds for disability compensation. she and her husband's only income was his monthly va compensation, and as the shutdown lingered on, she told me with tears in her eyes that they were terribly worried that they would not be able to buy food, gas, or pay their rent. as national commander of this tremendous organization, i was grateful for those kind words about dav's effective advocacy, but it concerned me greatly that she and her husband were forced to go through a terrible ordeal

given the sacrifice they made for this country. we should never again put a disabled veteran or his or her family in similar circumstances. this is why dav's operation keep the promise has made advanced appropriations for all va funding accounts including its mandatory disability payments to veterans, our highest legislative priority in 2014. mr. chairman, advanced appropriations is a common sense approach to a long-standing problem, and it has broadened bipartisan support in congress and the veterans' community, and by the american people at large.

now it's up to the leaders and congress to bring this legislation up for votes in both the house and the senate. it's time for congress to keep the promise to america's veterans. of course, authorizing benefits for veterans, especially disabled veterans, without providing the systems to deliver those benefits in a timely, accurate manner, is a promise unfulfilled. for decades, va's benefits claims process has failed to meet that promise. today, however, for the first time in years, some good news is coming from the vba. after four years of comprehensive transformation that included 'em plimt tags of new organizational and operating processes, new i.t. systems and

new training, testing and quality control regimes, there is measurable progress in addressing the backlog of pending claims for a veterans benefits. similarly, without the infrastructure to deliver services and benefits, the promises made by our government will ring hollow. dav believes one of the greatest challenges facing va in the enormous short fall and funding for the infrastructure, according to va 'own analyses just to maintain it's current infrastructure requires up to 63 bllgds over the next ten years. va will need more than 25 years to complete that work. in major construction alone, va estimates that say that there's an average of $2.3 billion is needed each year for the next decade, but this funding's level was a pitiful $342 million.

our veterans deserve more than aging facilities that may soon be falling down around them. we need your support to increase funding for maintaining va's infrastructure needs to continue delivering the health care and benefits our nation's heros have earned. mr. chairman, family care gives play an indispensable role as a part of va's service and support systems. they provide the vast majority of the care for loved ones with chronic needs and functional limitations. as a result of legislation passed in 2010, va provides essential care give services and support only to the newest generation of severely injured and wounded veterans. family care gives of veterans from earlier wars do not receive the same comprehensive support to fully address the burdens and strains of a lifetime of care

giving. dav urges congress to correct the inequity and extend this successful program to care gives of all eras. in closing, i'd like to point out to all of you that before you are men and women of honor, that means that they did whatever was needed to be done when our country called. ladies and gentlemen, you can still call on us any time that you need us, and we would be proud to serve. that's why this country is never going to be overrun by an enemy force as long as we all draw breath. mr. chairman, this completes my testimony and my staff and i would be pleased to respond to any questions that you may have. thank you for allowing me the opportunity to appear before you an behalf of the dav and share

our proud record of service to veterans in our country. may god bless the men who are in harm's way and may god continue to bless the united states of america. thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you very much for your testimony, commander. what i'd like to do since the senators may have to depart to go back to the senate side for the debate that's on the floor, i'd like to go ahead and yield to the chairman for any questions he may have in case he has to leave. senator?

>> thank you, chairman miller. i very much appreciate that courtesy in yielding and very grateful for that very stirring and inspiring comment and testimony. i want to focus my brief couple of questions on the capital budget, the ten-year plan, that as you very wisely and per receptively say can't be accomplished in less than 25 years which is a contradiction in terms and really a betrayal of the promises that we do need to keep. i want to ask you about the impacts, the human impacts, if you could tell us from your deep and vast experience of failing to fulfill that ten-year plan. >> yes, sir. the impact is going to be even

greater if we bring down the army and the other services to preworld war ii levels. the va is going to be inundated with new requests for claims and health care services, and to have these infrastructure facilities falling down around folks' ears is absolutely the wrong thing to do. we need to make sure that we get the appropriate amount of funds budgeted to cover these shortfalls that are certainly going to occur in the years to come. simply because the war ends does not mean that the necessity for va services gets any less. it gets greater. >> in fact, perhaps you would agree with me that the contrary is true as the wars end and as we downsize to levels of world

war 2 and preworld war ii, we are going to see a million men and women leave the military over the next five years. those statistics come from the v va itself, many of them afflicted not only with highly visible wounds but also the horrific invisible wounds of posttraumatic stress and traumatic brain injury, one million men and women added to the ranks of our veterans. they're the ones who will be impacted by this failure to fulfill the ten-year plan. in connecticut, for example, we see the va hospital in west haven found wanting and failing in a number of critical areas by

the ig, the inspector general, of the va in a recent report that has to be addressed through capital improvements as well as changes in procedures and practices. so i would agree with you very strongly and really want to commend and thank you for the statement and the presence of so many of the members who are here today so that we can fulfill that promise. thank you very much. request i want to thank you, mr. chairman, for allowing me to ask that question in case i have to leave. thank you. >> senator heller. >> thank you for your testimony and everybody that's here today. it's good to see you here. at 4:30 this afternoon i have the secretary coming into my office and i'm going to ask him

a lot of questions. i'm going to ask him obviously about the veterans' backlog issue and progress if any are being made. the issue of lack of communication between my office and reno will be another question that i'm going to ask and hopefully get a good answer for. but there are other questions that you might think that i should ask him. are there any questions, if you were talking to the secretary today, what question would that be, and i'm going to take notes and this is your chance to advocate. >> i wouldn't presume, sir, to tell you what to ask the secretary, although the secretary is an airborne ranger like me, so he is my friend. he has told me that he will reduce the backlog by 2015, put i would defer to members of my staff for any additional information they might want to share. >> love to hear from them.

yes. >>you. we do believe that the va is making progress on the backlog. we obviously feel that advance appropriations is necessary because every year there is a lapse between the start of the fiscal year and when the budget is finally approved. that causes all kinds of problems in training, getting things accomplished and business -- efficient businessman business manner. we would like the secretary to support our efforts to get advanced appropriations for the rest of the va and for discretionary. he himself has indicated that it's very important for his i.t. budget and construction budget to be received on time because of the problems associated with those two issues. so we would like to know if

secretary will continue to advance or to support our advanced appropriations? anyone else? >> i certainly appreciate those comments and they will be well heeded. one of the issues that comes up in my office commander is the fully developed claims program. it's a new initiative by the va office. veterans who submit a fully developed claim are able to receive a decision under 125 days. and suring that the claims do not become backlogs. what more can congress and va did to ensure that veterans do get a fully develop the claim? >> i would make just a general comment before i turn this over to my staff. we believe that the reduction of the backlog is a combination of a claim process and dbqs and

then also accountability that's passed onto the review officers. we think those three things are exactly the types of answers to not only reduce the claims but to a manageable level but then reduce the backlog entirely. >> let me -- if i can ask a follow-up question, i know they work hard to encourage veterans be served to file as complete a claim as possible, but i also recognize they need options to file any way they want. whether that is on that forum or perhaps on paper. is that accurate and can you explain why it's important that veterans still have the option to file a claim any way they want? >> i'll defer that to the staff. >> it's important that veterans still have the opportunity to

file a claim, paper on the standard or regular form. currently they can take that regular piece of paper or as many people refer to as a map ka and sends it to the va regional office and they have a duty to send the claimant the correct appropriate form to be completed and then they return it. but that starts to date the day they receive the claim. and va's proposal, they are recommending that you have to file it on that 526 ez in order for them to start to date. that's what we don't agree with. it's very important that they still have the opportunity because not everyone has easy access to these forms and not everyone can do it electronically either. still in the early stages and filing claims electronically so we feel it's important to allow them to submit claims on paper for effective dates.

>> you mentioned fully developed claims. in order to encourage people to develop their own claims, veterans, it's very important to have that process so that they can establish what's called an informal claim and as mentioned, protect the effective date. they can then go out and develop the information that's needed to be a fully developed claim. >> that claim goes through the process much quicker. without that protection, on their effective date, they will not be motivated to go out and develop that. we'll leave it to the va which causes the claim to have a lot longer development time. >> mr. chairman, thank you, my time has run out. it's been a pleasure to participate in operation and keep the promise. thank you. >> in your written testimony you

talked about several initiatives that they find have had a positive effect on the backlog of disability claims and one of those initiatives that dav refers to is the quality control regimes or as va refers to them quality review team. i don't know if you or your team is aware that the despite the positive feedback, there was a memo that was sent out a week ago today basically saying that all staff would be working on for the quality review teams would be discontinued until further notice so that all hands could be on deck. to continue processing claims and what i would like to hear from you, is the effect that a temporary elimination of these review teams may have on a secretary's goal of 95% accuracy within 125 days.

turning numbers out is one thing but the accuracy is critical. and so again, you may or may not be aware of it and joe may be aware of it. but i'd like to hear from you what you think the potential effects, negative or positive could be. >> i'll let the staff answer that question. >> thank you, mr. chairman. quality is our number one priority. always has been. we were very supportive with the qrt teams. we are aware of this initiative. this was to go through the end of march and it's important the va makes the decision right first time. that's the only way we want it. we are going to monitor closely over the next 40 days or so to see how impacts -- we don't want to see this continue to happen. that was our concern in the beginning when the qrts were

created that they would use folks when initiative came up. we've been happy with the progress in the qrt teams locally there being able to do centralized training on particular issues they are seeing at the local regional va office. we feel it's important that quality is a number one priority over quantity. [ applause ] >> also in your written statement, you stated that the most important factor driving vva's productivity gained was the policy put into place of mandatory overtime for claims processing. i think that over time the overtime initiative has been helpful. but it is not sustainable in the long term due to employee burnout and reduced accuracy rates. indeed the benefits program portion of the independent budget recommends that we

provide sufficient resources to ensure adequate staffing levels at the vva and it goes on to state that the vso's recommended increase staffing levels instead of sole reliance on mandatory overtime. what i would like to hear is a further explanation of the independent budget rationale for the positions that -- or the position that you take and the organizations took that hiring additional employees may prove more beneficial than overreliance on mandatory overtime. >> i would like to say a few general words before i defer to staff for the specifics of that. over the years, the independent budget has been the bellweather of the actual requirements for what was needed in the va budget each and every year. every time that budget is ignored, it always results in additional appropriations in

order to meet the needs. we have confidence in our numbers and we have confidence in the quality of that product and we certainly believe that you all should pay attention and heed it. so with that, i will defer to the staff. >> mr. chairman, i'll respond to that and just say in the independent budget, what we thought about was what happened several years ago when they brought on for temporary employees and trained them and put them into the workforce and through attrition either kept them off after the temporary period or let them go. we felt that that provided va number one with the resources with sufficient trained employees and also gave va the opportunity to make a determination as to who was successful and who they can keep on. so we feel that overtime is nice but after a while people do get burned out and we would rather see even if it's temporary in

the beginning, a core of people coming on board to take care of the needs and again, with automation and what va is doing, the needs for the numbers that we've asked may go down over the years. and that gives the va the ability to then decrease their workforce when necessary and just keep those that are productive. >> thank you, my time has expired. >> thank you, mr. chairman. in this year's independent budget you included a recommendation that they must develop a new metrics in assessment tool to measure the performance of every level of the claims processing system based upon a scientific methodology of projecting workloads and resources requirements and allocations. can you provide some examples of the performance measures that

you believe that should be instituted at the vva? >> i'll defer that question to the staff. >> thank you. we firmly believe they should be progressive methods with benchmark transparent so we as vsos can establish the va are meeting their needs and making sure that it's more than just production goals but also quality goals. we will continue to watch them closely and make them accountable for those benchmarks. >> there's an old saying, if you can't measure it, you can't manage it. what part of the claims process in your view should be counted in order to be measured? clearly you can get a lot of claims out the door but the

accuracy rate might be terrible. what part of the claims process do you think should be measured? >> there's no doubt that the va's making sure that everybody knows about their production metrics. so of course, we are very concerned about the quality of those claims being done. and for all of the claims that we represent, we take a look at the claims before they are promulgated to make sure there are no mistakes and take them back to the va before they are finalized. however there are many veterans not represented so it's very important to make sure that quality across the board is being done and that they do it right the first time. [ applause ] >> having that said, that would

also reduce the appeals because if they get it right the first time, then you're not going to have as many appeals. >> that was my next question, as they move down the lower the backlog, the amount of appeals are actually as concerning is actually going up. what are you recommending as far as we should do as far as the appeals process? because that is a huge concern as a backlog claim comes down the appeals process, is going higher. >> there's no doubt. appeals are even a longer time frame than the regular adjudication of regular claims. the more we can do to fix it at the front end and i believe that about fdcs, those will help the appeals process. not only will the evidence be there at the very beginning that

they need to do it right the first time but the time frame for those claims are much shorter. and i believe veterans would be much more satisfied to get a claim in a matter of weeks as opposed to months or years, knowing the evidence they submitted and all of the evidence was considered as opposed to starting a claim, getting an exam, and then not having a claim add jude indicated to months later when it can change we the time they had their exam and ajude kate the claim. >> i have no doubt that that bill was brought to the floor, it would pass congress overwhelmingly. what are you doing to get leadership to bring the bill to the house floor for a vote on

it. >> actually yesterday our the department of ohio had a meeting to discuss that fact in bringing advance appropriations forward. today along with operation keep the promise, we had thousands of call made into the capitol hill switch board at the time we were at the rally. we hope that with those phone calls and e-mails that we'll be generating today and business that our members are making that you get the message to bring the bill to the floor for a vote. >> thank you very much and thank you very much, mr. chairman. >> thank you very much. >> i thank the chairman, i got the message. [ applause ]

>> in the dav, hold your hands up, any of my tennessee colleagues that are here. as commander, i want to thank you for your leadership for the dav. i want to briefly tell you a very quick story about how much i appreciate why you're here and about a year and a half ago i got to back to korea where i was stationed and colonel, mine is still straight after 40 years, people as civilians might not understand that, you do. i got a chance to go back to korea. and i was there in 1973. and i saw a country that was digging its way out of a war. they were never recovering from one end to the other. in 1960 they the fourth poorest economy in the world. today because of what you men and women did and people like you, there are 50 million free people and the leadership of that country said every time you

get in front of a group of veterans, you thank them for us and we're doing that today. you're seeing the largest christian church in the world in seoul, korea. it's a methodist church. thanks to what the american people did, saw what happened after world war 2 roemtz. i cannot thank you enough for what you've done and made us a free nation. i could never do enough for our veterans in this country. we have a va hospital a mile from my front door in johnson city tennessee and you have my commitment and i wrote down your advanced appropriations. i couldn't see why we wouldn't do it. i think it makes absolute sense to do it with a whole budget, get it done in one years. the va was a good start and it shows us that the veteran