would expand accountability of supervisors who would seek to retaliate against employees who report wrongdoing. also, require the v.a. to undertake more training procedures to ensure employees are well aware of their rights and methods to report wrongdoing, and supervisors know there are serious consequences. it is a massive substantial support focus on whistleblower protection. i introduced hr 94. it would give the secretary the ability to remove any employee in a similar process that found -- that was found in a choice act signed into law last summer. also our protections to ensure this process is not apply to

whistleblowers, an extension of nonmedical employee probationary periods and requirement that gao conduct a study of the a time space, and resources devoted to labor union activities. i encourage those of you today if you have not already research this legislation, please do so. we would welcome your support of these crucial pieces of legislation. i look forward to hearing from each of you today, and the groups that you represent. i now yield five minutes to the senator from georgia, my good friend mr. isaacson. senator isaacson: i want to do laughs because i was late.

i apologize. i will follow-up briefly on what chairman miller said. we are delighted to have you today. we appreciate what they do for the veterans. we have a lot of challenges but the chairman of the house and i have committed that we are not just caretakers of the status quo but instigators of improvement. we think v.a. health care is important. we want veterans health care to work. we want veterans to have the best health care they can get. what happened in denver should never happen again. every time you overspend on one hospital you understand on another. men and women invested their lives. we appreciate your presenting the veterans today and look for it your testimony. >> i yield to the ranking member, miss rice. senator rice: i want to thank

all of the witnesses for coming today. i would like to echo everything that chairman isaacson and chairman miller said. i will hold my remarks and reserve the balance of my time. senator miller: mr. blumenthal for five minutes. senator blumenthal: thank you to you, chairman miller and chairman isaacson for your leadership on this committee. most especially for your support of the suicide prevention bill. i want to thank everyone of the panel who are here today for your support and your leadership on this critical measure that was led by senator mccain and myself with the help of representative walsh and others on the house side. just as an example of the fact that we can get things done breed we can help veterans. we can make a difference. i knew you are making a

difference as leaders of your organization. as we focus on health care, we should never lose sight of the other challenges before us. veterans homelessness, veterans underemployment, and veterans needs for skills training and education, and jobs. some of the scams that prey on veterans both around military bases and elsewhere. they explode -- exploit g.i. bills. all of these challenges we will face on this committee and broaden our attention from strictly health care related. senator isaacson is right that the debacle in denver should never happen again but in some sense it has happened again because of cost overruns.

the need for reform is not only in denver but more broadly on v.a. construction programs. very likely taking away that responsibility or having them overseen and supervised by the corps of engineers. let me finish on this note in terms of the health care challenges ahead, we need to face the fact that the health effects of toxic exposures in this war, these wars, and others can impact not only servicemen and women who are exposed to the waste dumps, and nerve agents and other battlefields exposures, but also to their children and grandchildren, the toxic exposure research act that i introduced earlier this year with senator moran will provide

for a national center at a v.a. medical center to engage in critical research on this issue, and also if not more important mandate government disclosure. the declassification of documents that need not be classified. but will provide critical information to men and women who risk their lives for this country, and deserve to know what the exposures have been on the battlefield to possibly toxic substances, impacting the only their health but the health of their families, and their children and grandchildren. thank you for your leadership. thank you for giving me this opportunity. senator miller: thank you. if all members will hold their opening statements. i will begin by apologizing.

i'm going to have to leave. i need to meet with the speaker. and the secretary. we will try to work towards some resolution of what is going on at the hospital in aurora, colorado. i think we have all stated and can all agree they should never have occurred. we are trying to find a pathway for word. we are looking for people who were help us. if we have to drag the department kicking and screaming through this process we will do that. i'm not afraid of them. i think our veterans not only in colorado but the united states of america deserve nothing less than appropriate expenditure of federal dollars with proper oversight and management. with that, mr. kovacs is recognized. senator kovacs: i appreciate the

opportunity to testify today. -- mr. kovacs: i appreciate the opportunity to testify today. pva is a concern of the funding levels in this appropriations bill that passed the house of representatives. the funding levels outlined in this critical bill suggest that congress is not committed to addressing the internal capacity problems the v.a. faces. first and foremost, the spinal cord injury and disease service line. moreover it reflects an attitude that suggests how to do more with less. take care of veterans on the chief was never part of the deal when our country mortgage its future on the lives of the few who came forward to protect it. if congress is serious about fixing the problems with timely

access to high-quality care, it needs to get serious about the funding levels that would provide for the v.a. pva's dismay congress has continued to allow the inequity of the comprehensive family care giver law to stand. the v.a. only provides comprehensive benefits to caregivers of service-connected veterans injured after 9/11. no reasonable just the location can be provided as to why veterans injured prior to 9/11 should be excluded from the caregiver program. no single group of veterans understand the necessity of caregiver support better than pva members. men and women fought for our country in earlier times who rely on caregivers yet their service and sacrifice has been

devalued by time induced amnesia. imagine being a veteran who incurred a catastrophic injury facing saddam hussein during the first gulf war. tell that veteran and his family caregiver that they are not eligible for the caregiver program because congress has chosen not to pay for it. while we are grateful for the benefits provided to post 9/11 caregivers we believe all veteran caregivers deserve the support. it is a part of the cost of serving service members into harms way. don't force caregivers to pay your entire debt. pva is concerned of the construction problems that plagued the v.a.. we are disappointed that the appropriations bill slashes funding for major construction for $580 million. there are valid concerns about construction projects such as denver orlando and new orleans

all other construction projects and the veterans whose access to health care rely on their completion are being punished by the congressional decision. we call on congress to restore the dollars that you have stripped from the construction request. none of these failures is more egregious than the problems in denver. the problem with the denver v.a. construction program our years in the making. many staff members remain at v.a. bear responsibility for the problems that have plagued the project to the tune of $1.7 billion. this is a case right for accountability measures being considered. in the end, these committees need to consider what is best serving veterans in denver, colorado, and surrounding states, and not what better service their interests.

-- and other conditions which are time is of the essence. for our members, that choice by a mile would be denver. we are encouraged by the v.a. memo on denver outlined a way forward and hope that committees will address this request with urgency and seriousness it deserves before reaching the authorization gap. we urge congress to give senator mcdonald the opportunity to fix this problem which he has inherited from his predecessors. i would like you thank you again for the opportunity to testify today and will be happy to answer any questions you may have. >> thank you.

>> mr. chairman, on behalf of a quarter million members, we appreciate this opportunity to share our legislative concerns and comments on issues important to all veterans. guided by our core principles of patriots and volunteers, we seek to enhance the benefits of all men and women who served or have served honorably and selflessly in our armed forces. through leadership, advocacy and service. the leading advocate of veterans rights as well as one of the four authors of the independent budget, one of the claimant voices of american veterans on

capitol hill. while military action continued to decline in afghanistan, there is a increase in emergency emerging threats from around the globe. even as we look ahead to future threats, we must not forget the legacy of unmatched damage to the physical and mental well-being of those who serve in the most recent conflicts. it is both your responsibility and hours to make sure veterans receive any and all appropriate health care and other benefits in a timely confident, compassionate and efficient manner. our top priorities in these stations are federal government reform, toxic wound, veteran discrimination. federal government reform, the accountability including

extended advanced appropriations to remain discretionary and mandatory. we fully support the following legislation. hr 575, stop wasteful bonuses in the department of veterans affairs. the act of 2015. hr 658, v.a. regional office accountability act. hr 571, veterans affairs rehabilitation prevention act. hr 502 veterans health administration improvement act. hr seven 473. increasing the department of veterans affairs accountability to veterans act of 2015. dod including auditing the

pentagon and fiscal matters, including getting better control of the national debt spending. amvets supports hr 119, budget and accounting transparency act thrift act of 2015. hr 522, commission on accountability and review of federal agencies act. toxic wounds. this is an issue for amvets this year since we are chairing the national toxic wound tax force -- task force. we plan to take every opportunity to advocate for all veterans suffering from the effects of forms of toxic wounds. toxic exposure.

amvets supports hr 7069 . hr 35, low-dose radiation research act hr 969, the bluewater navy the anon veterans act hr 994, the radiation exposure compensation act amendments 2015, continued funding for the cdr illness research program at leicester's level of $20 million. we also support legislation to restore the oversight components and research advisory committee on gulf war veterans illness.

>> thank you. colonel norton, you are recognized. colonel norton: thank you. thank you to the ranking members and members of the committee. it has been a distinct honor for me to testify on behalf of our 395,000 members for 18 years. my statement includes recommendations on specific bills under the jurisdiction. the leadership and support of the committees and congress for our nation's veterans has been very gratifying to us, especially over the last 13 years of war. we thank you for all of our nation's military. i will begin with the challenges veterans face accessing the a

care. the a has outsourced care for years but the process remains cumbersome for veterans providers, and the v.a.. last year, prior to the choice card program enactment, v.a. spend $5 billion on purchase care. last week's hearings brought into focus the challenges of integrating purchase care into an overall plan for delivering care to all of our nation's veterans. we liken it to a wobbly three layered cake, the first layer is local purchase care contracts previously can layer is the pc three contracts that have primary care and sing -- icing added on to the specialty care contract. the third layer is the rule rule veterans and those stuck on waiting lists. the v.a. is competing against itself because of the lack of coordination between local

purchase care contracts and the choice program network. this results in poor customer service to our nation's veterans. outsourced care for veterans as a complement to direct care is here to stay in some form. the question is how to best plan for it for the future? we regard this question as a trinity -- as an opportunity to engage the with the care established in the choice act to map out a long-term strategy for v.a. care in the 21st century. we agree with our service organization partners that the commission should have one year, not just 180 days to do its work. we urge the v.a. to continue to build internal capacity in three areas. hiring and training providers fixing the scheduling system, and reengineering clinical along the lines of leading civilian health care entities.

women veterans are the fastest growing cohort entering the v.a. system and the v.a. must step up its game by becoming more responsive to their needs. our state of points out that american society at large is struggling to recruit and train sufficient numbers of mental health providers. the v.a. has a critical role to play in this. 70% of our nations physicians. that training needs to include training on the unique cultural environment of military service. in the benefits area we are pleased to see a steady decline in the backlog of initial claims and we endorse bipartisan legislation sponsored by senators haller and casein aimed at improvements of the claim system. it is also time to reengineer the appealed claims process. those claims take upwards of three years to resolve. turning to the g.i. bill, we replaced to see the military

compensation and retirement modernization and doris a long-held position to sunset the montgomery g.i. bill and in favor of the post-9/11 g.i. bill. we asked the committees to recon a five the reserve montgomery bill into title 38 from title x or it has languished for the last 15 years. we also ask that you modified the price scholarships of that surviving spouses who lost military spouse early on in iraq or afghanistan will have sufficient time to complete their education under the new benefit. we support extending caregiver services to severely disabled veterans of all conflict areas and we thank senators murray and collins, and other members for the bipartisan legislation. i met alexis courtney and her caregiver husband jason at one of the press conferences on a

bill to extend caregiver services. alexis suffered a severe traumatic brain injury while serving in the coast guard. because she was injured in 1999, she is ineligible for caregiver back services and support. there is no policy reason to exclude alexis and jason from caregiver act benefits and we urge the committee support on this issue. as a vietnam veteran i want to offer support for blue water navy legislation, veterans who served on navy vessels off the coast of vietnam were exposed to agent orange according to many confirmed studies and deserve the same benefits for that exposure as their comrades who served boots on the ground. we support bipartisan legislation to honor veterans career reservists have not been called that under federal active duty orders. i want to conclude by saying that we work closely with all of

the groups here at the table and many others, to advance the needs of veterans across the country. i thank you for the opportunity to present our recommendation to the committee and look forward to your questions. thank you. >> thank you. mr. little, you are recognized. mr. little: good morning. as a national commander of the military order of the purple heart, it is an honor and privilege to appear before this body revisiting members of our organization. as my testimony will be entered on the record i would like to hit a few of the the military order of the purple heart is unique among veterans service organizations, and that our membership is comprised only of veterans wounded in combat by

enemies of the united states. not just in the battlefield or a broad, but now even at home as the global war on terrorism has brought the to our own shores. it was they suffered, each member would receive a purple heart medal. since created in 19 32, the military order of the purple heart has been the original wounded warrior organization. to our national service program, which consists of 87 service officers and 41 print support personnel, we proudly serve all veterans of all wars at no cost by providing tangible benefits to those veterans and their families who require assistance. in the past, 18 months, our service officers have assisted veterans and their families in filing 22,563 claims which resulted in monetary awards.

at the same time, 1335 of our members donated $142,000 as the a volunteers, which the v.a. evaluated $3.8 million including $500,000 in cash donations. in addition to funding the national service office is, and other programs of the military order of the purple heart, our service and asian helps finance research and assistance to tackle the unseen wounds and things like ptsd, traumatic brain injury, suicide, and sexual abuse. through grants and outreach programs, we lend support to other organizations. as well as make small contributions to veterans facing exceptional difficult financial challenges. before i discuss the current concerns and priorities, i would be remiss if i did not acknowledge the good work of the

previous congress or passing legislation that has made such a positive impact on the lives of veterans and their families. on behalf of the military and the purple heart, i would like to think the previous congress for passing legislation that was good and made a positive impact on the lives of veterans and their families, particularly the veterans access choice and accountability act of 2014. the advance funding for additional nba -- additional v.a. counts is also appreciated. i would like to thank the congress for patching a chart 203 -- hr 203. we all agreed something must be done immediately to ensure that those who are willing to risk their lives for this great nation i given both the mental and physical health care needed upon the return from the battlefield. the purple heart order believes whatever physical problems facing nation, it should not have any bearing on the level of health care or other benefits provided to those as a result of

honorable military service. as i mentioned before, the military of the purple heart legislative priorities for 2015 is spelled out in detail. i would like to take a few minutes to highlight a few. the a claim -- va claims is something everyone has struggled with for years. there has been some progress but more remains to be done. they report as of january 2015 a back load of claims older than 125 days is over 200,000. that is good when compared to 600,000 in 2013. while we have some improvement there are still veterans who have fighting the system for years to receive benefits they earned. the v.a. needs to continue to be transparent and work with congress to make this move forward. tbi is a signature injury of

modern combat, and makes up 20% of the wounded in iraq and afghanistan. we have heard that some cases are being diagnosed as pts. we recommend the v.a. screens all iraq and afghanistan veterans for tbi and provide those who screened positive with the latest treatment. mr. chairman, i would be remiss if i did not use this opportunity to raise an issue of serious concern to the military of the purple heart. during the armed services committee in 2016 national defense or is -- authorization act, a commitment was an amendment to award a purple heart medal to victims of the 1995 oklahoma city bombing. we are dismayed by and opposed this amendment. while the military of the purple heart is sympathetic to the

losses of the oklahoma city bombing, especially those who are serving at the time in the armed forces, it cannot support or concerns -- or condone for the act of pure domestic violence. the attack on oklahoma city federal building was carried out by timothy mcveigh and terry nichols in retaliation for perceived federal government mishandling of the 1993 siege of ruby ridge. it was time to coincide with the second anniversary of the deadly fire that ended the season in waco, texas. his concludes my testimony. i will be pleased to answer any questions. thank you. >> thank you mr. little. >> good morning everyone. good morning senator. dr. owen is right. i want to focus on two things. first, 901 hr 1769, the exposure

research act of 2015. we want to thank the senators for introducing this important legislation. and the senators and representatives who have and will cosponsor. we are disappointed that hr 1769 was withdrawn for tomorrow's markup section. we understand there is concerned the bill has not been scored yet. it is our estimate that the course might be as high as 20-25 million based on appropriations for the gulf war resource center. we would be happy to discuss this with staff or members. and we urge the committee leadership to expedite this review. what is disconcerting however, is the disinformation campaign that emanates from various staff at the v.a. this is typical of the reaction of the reaction vietnam veterans have received from the first day we raised the specter of orange.

delay and deny until they die. unfortunately your efforts have succeeded. all too many vietnam veterans have said that's passed away without confirming what it was that killed them until it was too late. we have 75,000 members. this month veteran 200 members passed away. this is not uncommon. one example, that 62, heart attack. 77, part of that. 70, lung cancer. 69, ischemic heart disease. that 69, parkinson's. 67, bring cancer. 66, als. another, jerome o'donovan, type two diabetes, liver and renal failure. he was a marine officer in vietnam, and was a former republican minority leader of the new york city council.

in their testimony at the subcommittee hearing, the v.a. says this bill would duplicate research efforts in other federal agencies. while other entities may stay particular illnesses, nobody has studied us or our offspring and not in conjunction with military service. was it in there trying to focus on causation while studies focus on the degree of association not causation. va cost athersys -- are -- cost are a lot. it sounds like a lot until you realize that the v.a. has allocated between 660 and $700 million per year for research and has never done a study on the effects of agent orange. 50 years and. -- 50 years and no studies. this should not be up to the whims of the eight researchers

and university counterparts. interestingly, one study is the national vietnam veterans likely to total study completed last year and has yet to be publicly released. why? by the way, the gulf war resource center is an example of how the v.a. bureaucrats have eliminated those who care and hijacked valuable resources in order to ensure nothing is wrong stance continues despite the fact that 48% of gulf war veterans are listed as disabled. the other thing we want to touch on is the appeals process. in order to lower the backlog on claims, the review officers in regional offices have been taken off regular work and as a result the appeals process has broken down. this has been compounded by the staff at various parts being told they are not have contact with dso's. -- dso's, thus eliminating any

chance to get things done at the regional level. this is exacerbated by the failure of the regional officers to -- complete the required paperwork, leaving veterans in limbo. our appeals staff has seen a distinct drop in claims because of these actions. in puerto rico, our staff found some appeals languishing for as long as seven years. seven years. this is seven years where a case was moved to appeal but was never formally certified. it's not common in a regional offices or the board of veterans appeals. that case does not exist until somebody certifies it. this is criminal in my opinion. this intolerable situation must be rectified. we win 70% of clients we service at the appeals level. this is my 10th year. in 10 years, we have been doing the same thing every year.

we win 70%. 50% remand, 25% direct readings. that is unbelievable. there is no other business in the world that would lose 70% at a time and stay in business. 70% of the time. and we are not alone. the other folks at this table run around the same numbers. the lowest is about 55-60% and it goes up from there. all of that means is a veteran has to wait many years to get what is due them. and to many find all kinds of issues with poverty and everything else. the whole system needs to be blown up, quite frankly. congress needs to take a serious look at this issue. thank you. >> thank you for your testimony. you are recognized for five minutes. >> thank you chairman isaacson,

chairman row, ranking member brown, members of the panel. one of the issues i would like to bring up on behalf of blinded veterans and the blind veterans association and our president is senate bill 171 and has resolution to 88. what those bills asking for our transportation for the catastrophically disabled veterans to one of the many v rehab centers we havea. there are 13 blind rehab centers and 26 support injury facilities. the legalize rape, section 10 let -- the way the law is written, the secretary will only grant members who are connected to catastrophically disabled. most of our members in the blind veterans association, their blindness is due to age-related

illness. but they do not qualify for travel to these blind rehab centers. rehab centers right now have 70% that occupancy. that is because we cannot get veterans to the blind rehab centers. there is no cure for blindness. we had rehab. and we need to get these blind and had her eyes -- blind and paralyzed veterans to facilities so they can once again be active members of the community. approximately, i think three quarters of the beds are only filled. right now, it costs on average for a veteran to be housed in a state veterans home, between 70-90,000 dollars a year per veteran. a one-time round-trip plane

ticket is $500-$800 to one of these facilities. i'm not a mathematician but i think spending $800 one time is better than spending $70,000-$90,000 a year per event to house them in a state veterans home. they say if you get a man a fish, you can feed him for a day and if you train him to face, he can eat for a lifetime. that is what this bill is doing. we want these individuals to get rehab training necessary so they can continue to be part of the community, and better themselves. another issue that we are looking at is 508 compliance. 1973, the ada law was enacted stating the federal government all information technology will

be accessible to those individuals with disabilities. since 1973, the department of veterans affairs still is not at all compliant with the 508 laws. meaning, blind veterans and paralyzed veterans who utilize screen readers, dragons, and other computer technology cannot access the v.a. websites. our service officers at the v.a. are also blind veterans. when they file claims for our blind veterans, they cannot complete the claims because they are not 508 compliant. the v.a. wants to eliminate the filing claims with a paper trail. i think that is wonderful and more speedy, but guess what? that hinders the blind veteran population because we cannot utilize the computer technology

and the online forms the v.a. is pushing. thank you. also the kiosks throughout the v.a. they are a great tool. once again, they are not finally compliant or it blind veterans cannot utilize them. we would like for the house and senate to look at the v.a. and pressured them to become finally compliant. lastly, the public law 111 163 was passed in 2010, which stated the secretary of veterans affairs was to provide scholarships for individuals who want to get into blind rehab. since 2010, not one scholarship has been given. and it has never been advertised either. it is granted $500 million per year. where is that $5 million per

year going for the past five years? we have lost one third of our blind rehab -- lists at the centers over the last decade and we are planning on losing another third 15 date -- third this decade. we would like to convince the panel to tell the set -- the secretary to see that the money has been appropriated is actually still there and being utilized for this. that is my statement. thank you very much. i will answer any questions at the end. thank you. >> thank you. mr. rieckhoff: on behalf of veterans of america, thank you for the opportunity to share our priorities. this time last year i can do for you to sound an alarm about the issue of suicide. the response was called to draft, introduce, and has

suicide prevention for american suicide. despite -- bipartisan effort to get it passed with historic. it showed america what congress can achieve when we are united. the road was long, but together we got it done. we sincerely thank you for your support. but the fight is far from over and the stakes have never been higher. 2015 will be the most important year ever for iraq and afghanistan veterans. the v.a. scandal left us betrayed. unemployment is high and suicides continue. our country seems to could -- forget we are still at war. in washington we see in congress divided. with election looming, it will only get worse. veterans can be the one thing that unites you. and all americans. we need you to put politics aside, listen to the community and get to work. the 2015 iab has extensive recommendations have a blueprint for how you, the white house

the president, governors, mayors and all americans can support iab veterans. our plan is led by four priorities. we look forward to working with you to pass a clay hunt style comprehensive piece of legislation. number one, continuing to combat suicide. the save act was just the first step. we lose our brothers and sisters every day. of all generations. now that the a needs to swiftly impertinent -- swiftly implement the save act. the save act 2.0 focused on access, supply and quality. number two, invest in the success of women veterans. it is time to get focused. female service members make up the fastest-growing segment of the veterans. there are 35% of our leaders. research department recently conducted a survey of almost 2000 women and a seven c2 are

hosting focus groups. they highlighted the huge challenges e-mail veterans continue to face -- female veterans continue to face. they highlighted multiple occasions were just being recognized as a veteran was a challenge. receiving letters addressed to mr. or letters -- medical charges where they are listed as male. our analysis shows only have of the v.a. employees treat women veterans with respect. just half. that shows how far we have go. progress has been made, but the v.a. and the nation at large is still far behind in recognizing and supporting women warriors. we must strengthen public awareness and research and improve employment, housing, and childcare. number three, reform the v.a. and dod for the veterans. after the scandal, the problems became clear to the whole world. the crisis was preventable and

predictable it the leaders had listened. but in this moment there is an opportunity to finally reform a broken system. the new v.a. system -- president -- secretary must be given the tools to succeed while being held accountable. the president must be involved as well. additionally, funding and key structures must be protected from shortsighted cuts and political posturing. this is a year we can work together to create a system tailored to meet our needs. it is no secret challenges exist. almost daily reports surface outlining problems at the v.a. almost did not happen under secretary mcdonald's watch, he must deal with them aggressively. that is why we supported chairman miller accountability act to give him the authority to remove the bad actors. since he has been on the job the v.a. has improved. the claims plot has been reduced. homelessness is down and veterans crisis monitor remains

a critical resource and key partner. but it is not enough here it we must finally end the backlog transfer care, defend troops against sexual,, and support the survivors of sexual assault at the v.a. we knew this would be a long road and bob mcdonald is the right man for the job. but you must give him the funding and its ability to reform to be a -- and flexibly to to reform the v.a.. we have sent over one million veterans to college. we continue to get e-mails and tweets by the day of folks who are grateful for that in a advantage. but predatory actors in the scho . . . . . . . . . . we must strengthen regulations for career goals and help right

away. the on the big four, we must also continue to support families of the fallen, focus on appointment -- employment, support our military families, expand on the success of veterans course and and veteran homelessness. it is a long list by veterans deserve it. after a decade of war, they have waited long enough. our veterans are not a charity they are an investment. it is time to double down on the investment and stay focused. days before memorial day, it is time to stand as one and get to work. thank you for the opportunity should -- to share today. >> thank you. colonel nora knows this, i now recognize the highest ranking major. >> thank you mr. chairman. to our distinguished committee

thank you for what you do. mining is jean overstreet. and the president of the noncommissioned officers association. we would like to thank you for that. i am here today to urge you and to commit your continued commitment to our armed forces. the reason i say that is each of you visited our hospital, when you visit bethesda or fort sam or burn centers, you see the commitment of our servicemembers to this nation. i think we should have no less commitment to them and taking care of them. obviously being at the end of the row here, most of the priorities have been outlined. and our written testimony the priorities were testified. i would like to talk in center

-- some general terms. it seems that -- first of all i would like to say thank you for your continued commitment on over watch for the v.a., what you are doing in denver and all of the bills and everything else. you need to know that everyone at this table monitors those every day and we applaud your continued success and support on that. we would like to say it is done, but we know there are many other things left to be done and we appreciate moving forward with you. some would say that they should paint all federal workers with the same brush which would have all the same benefits and same pay. but i totally disagree with that. just down the mall here, there is a piece of black granite with 58200 and 56 names. i think that is a little

different from the average federal worker. in a few days, many of you certainly myself, will be over at arlington cemetery to see the commitment our servicemen and women have had thus far. that is the ultimate commitment. once again i don't think we should do anything less for them. it is kind of a risk reward scenario and we need to know which to apply for each of those. the mc rcm report, even though it does not directly affect you will have a trickle down effect. a lot of things will come to you sooner or later. one thing i'm kind of perplexed that, we had no enlisted guys on there. we even have some who can do numbers, but nonetheless, i'm a little concerned because it deals with compensation and

medical. it depends -- all of those things are within that. it actually kind of suggests that the military compensation and pay and benefits are broken. i kind of disagree with that. i don't think it was totally broken. i'm not saying we couldn't do -- get a little steer and make it better but i don't think it is completely broken. i think there are a lot of things that have happened in our years of combat here. between 1950 and 1999, we had 30% of our veterans on some kind of disability. the last 14 years, that has raised to 47.7%. unbelievable. when you look at the number we are getting at, 8.5. that has gone up to over 19%. absolutely crazy. some say it is not about money. it probably is about money. and has a lot to do with that.

we interviewed a kernel and the san antonio express news. the colonel said he could do less, take less, not go to the commissary, and he would be willing, but i don't have to remind you that everybody did not retire asa a colonel. i was talking to it a good friend of mine, and i said, what does a gun sergeant make today if he wanted to retire today with all the bells and whistles? he said, about $25,000 a year. and when he or she are contributing to their own military benefits and everything else, that is not going to reach. that is not going to reach if we are going to change this and make them contribute to the medical and things of that nature. we are changing that around. at some point in time, it is going to come to you.

sometimes when we rush into those decisions, like the early outs i know a lot of them who have taken early outs and they regret. t it. as we look at all of these major changes, maybe we need to slow down a little bit and hold them up to the light and see if this is really good for the veterans and what long-term affect this is going to have down the road. i realize my time is over and once again, i want to thank all of you for what you have continued -- your continued success and what you do for sgt. major overstreet: we stand by to answer any questions you may have. >> thank you. i appreciate you being here and your testimony. i will yield myself five minutes for questions. before we start, i have a special guest.

today is foster youth shadow program. i have a young woman, who is shadowing me. there are 63 people young people who lived in foster care. if you would stand up wherever -- i know you're here somewhere. in the back. mr. roe: these young people overcome tremendous obstacles. i want to congratulate her for being here. if there are any tennesseans here, i know there are. if you would hold your hand up. i would appreciate. the volunteer state didn't show up today. that's not good. i want to start by saying it's been a privilege, my six years and change i have been on the veterans' affairs committee. i share a frustration all of you-all share. when i got here we were spending about $100 billion a year, which is a lot of money, on v.a. care and administration and benefits. we have gone up 74% since i have

been here where the other part of spending, discretionary spending in our government has stayed level. 74% in the six years i have been in this congress. and how we are spending the money is absolutely driving me crazy. it's almost impossible to make a politician speechless, but the v.a. succeeded. and i look at things like the aurora, colorado, v.a. that's been promised for years from the time of construction to now, it's a billion, that's 1,000 million dollars over budget. you mentioned about the care, i could not agree with you more. it's an arbitrary date. we could be spending that money on health care for people. on custodial care. all those things are very expensive. i have a mother who is 92 now that we are doing that. it is very expensive to do. all those things that could have been spent on veterans health care that we overspent, bungled, whatever, the veterans choice card.

just last week, the first $500 million that's been spent on that program, 60% was on administration. i looked at the number of visits that actually had been scheduled for veterans, 43,000. that's only $11,000 per scheduled visit. that is ridiculous. and i looked at my own medical group, after i left -- i told the chairman, after i left the hearing, i started thinking, there were 11 of us in our group, in our practice, and we saw over 40,000 people a year. i can promise you if we had been paid $500 million, i would be on a yacht somewhere, not here having a speech today in front of you-all. what can we do, chairman coffman is here, what can we do in the v.a.? i can assure you as long as i am allowed to stay on the veterans' affairs committee, i am going to keep an absolute laser focus on this, the money that's wasted because that means when you waste money, moving a senior

v.a. official from washington to philadelphia to the tune of $300,000. how in the world can you get up and look in the mirror this morning and not throw up when that happens? i just ask you-all, i throw it out to anybody who wants to take it, what should we do in the congress? we are going to support many of these bills that you mentioned. but to keep wasting the valuable resources the taxpayers give to take care of veterans when we all know they are limited. yes, sir. mr. rowan: swear everybody in that comes before you. mr. roe: we are doing that now. i would have never thought in my lifetime when i came up here that anybody would come up in front of a congressional committee and deliberately mislead us. maybe i'm naive. probably am. but the truth always needs to be told in front of these committees. and mr. rowan we are doing that. mr. rowan: when you look at your budgets, pare away the administrative overhead. it's ridiculous.

the divisions just got fat with administrators. they are not health related people. you need to get the v.a. to break down their staff which they don't do very well at all. between administrators and health providers. i think if you start seeing that in your accountability aspects you get a much clearer idea what's going on. mr. row: the other thing that we have to do and the v.a. has had the capacity to allow veterans to go off, i saw -- as a physician i saw veterans in my office. and they absolutely make it so hard it's unbelievable you would make it so hard for a veteran who wants care to get outside the v.a. system. that is mind-boggling to me. if you have a service that's provided in the community, the veteran wants to go there, they can't get the service at the v.a., let the veteran do that. mr. minney, you are absolutely spot on. i as one congressman want to help you make sure we can get those blinded veterans, whether they were service connected or not. you are right. i work with the blind at home closely. you are correct. it's much cheaper to do what you're talking about doing than

institutionalizing a veteran. my time has expired. senator isakson, you are recognized for five minutes. senator isakson: sergeant major overstreet, you may have been captioning performed by vitac >> we all know the ncos really run the military. so we appreciate -- we appreciate what you do very much. mr. rieckhoff, i want to associate myself with your testimony. your five points that you made at the end were very telling. and in particular the focus on secretary mcdonald. he was -- a lot of the problems at the va were not of his making, but solving them have been put in his lap. he's going to need an awful lot of support. the last conversation i had last night at 11:00 was by cell phone with bob mcdonald. we're trying to work through the difficulty to get us through the denver project and get us new footing and get va out of the construction business and back in the health care business, but the core of en