the biggest production output. once it goes in the payment process, there is a sequence that goes along with how they are put in mind. hopefully when we get out of his mess, claims a's project. can you talk about the future plans for use of mandatory overtime to address the backlog, mandatory use in the future? >> mandatory overtime in >> yes. >> we use mandatory overtime. it's a device that's been used over the last several years when we see an opportunity and we want to get more production because for some reason we've

gotten little behind. and so in may we declared we were going to do this until the end of the year. our 2014 budget has $50 million in it for overtime. and that's essentially what i was counting on to be able to transition to that. so we do have a plan. we do need that piece of the budget recognized so we can . sume our overtime option we begin t we -- as to close out the year, before we knew a shutdown was going occur and how much carry over we were going to have, we thought we were going to be able to carry over $40 million to add to the $50 million in the budget so to give us a good run at the year

of additional overtime so the numbers would be up there closer to $100 million, $90 million or so. that $40 million was used to as our operation going for long as possible and as many claims lined up before the end of the month. >> thank you for that. we had a hearing about some difficulty with legislative back s acouple of weeks and had difficulty getting an answer like that. so i appreciate that. >> thank you mr. secretary. one of the important project that is the va has been working on is toth transition to a paperless system for claims benefit processing. in your written testimony you say on monday 20,764 employees were furloughed and then 7800 furloughed yesterday.

would you describe for me and for our committee what impact those furloughs are going to have on that transition to the paperless system? right now give us a snapshot this week and what it looks like if this shutdown continues into november. >> very important question. congresswoman, as you know, we have set long term goal of ending the backlog in 2015. key to that has been the ought mated system we've put into place. and we feel that -- finished fielding that six months ahead of schedule in june. .hat's fielding the basic model and much like any i.t. operation you have newer versions that add capability, give you more robustness and reduce the workload. so all of those plans that have

been in place we've had to put a hold on. there is no new development work being done and there is much to be done if we're going to get this up to where we expected we would have it to be able to hold our target of ending the backlog in 2015. i haven't given up on that. i'm hoping that we'll have an opportunity here to get back on track. but the longer we go, the more difficult that becomes. what i would like to assure you though is that i am allowed by the rules to maintain what we have. i can't add, i can't make it better, i can't increase capability. but i can and will maintain the operation. so if computers are having problems, i have sufficient work force to be able to bring them back online. >> so basically what you're saying is any progress in that

project has come to a screeching halt? >> that's correct. >> let me ask you secretary, you were general with an outstanding distinguished combat record. congress voted to pay federal employees when the shutdown ends so they are going to be paid. does it make any sense to you to ot allow them to work? >> i can't think of many. nd they are ready to work. i would just refer to the folks in the benefits administration who have brought this backlog down 193,000 claims in about 1 90 days. lots of folks wondered whether we were going to be able to do it. vbms will be important no that effort. but vms is just coming online. all of this work was done by

good folks in the benefits administration. i would speak for them. they are disappointed that the ground they gained is being lost day by day. >> i want to thank you for your leadership in the department and thank your employees for their good hard work and i yield back. >> i'd like to remind my colleague that only the house has passed a bill that would allow for furloughed workers. the senate continues to hold fast in not helping us resolve this particular situation. >> thank you mr. chairman and thank you mr. secretary for being here today. i like all my colleagues would like to see this shutdown put behind us as soon as possible. and i frankly wish that the appropriation process went on in regular order that we passed appropriations for all of the segments of our government.

i'm happy that the house has passed military construction and va bill in a bipartisan fashion. and i hope that the senate acts on that. and frankly i think that the entire government should be funded in that usual fashion. that this policy of continuing resolution is just a bad policy. but nevertheless i understand that we have to get something done. i had a couple of questions about the communication between the va and the committee here. as i understand it and correct me if i'm wrong, apparently the department issued a notice in late september that 95% of va employees would be exempted from furloughs, is that correct? >> i would ask for the opportunity to go and retrieve whatever this announcement you are referring to. but i would say if you look at va as a whole, 90% of us are in

v.h.a. and they are fully funded. and so as of october 1, our hospitals are seeing patients, community based out patient clinics are operating. so if this is the 95% that is being referred to, i would say i can understand why that information was provided. trying , congressman, to close out 2013 and understanding what kind of resource capability we're going to have, expecting we're going to have a budget, knowing that v.h.a. had a budget because it was passed last year through the advanced appropriations provision that you all have provided. so i think the 95% is refering to v.h.a. >> and frankly i tend to agree with you on the advanced funding

issue. frankly i don't see why we don't have two-year budgetting for everything. it would allow us more time to get the appropriations done. the president on september 30 indicated some ptsd counseling would be affected by the shutdown. is that true? >> i would say we are open for business at va and i believe as i've said, we have ties to other departments. e i.h.s. and h.h.s., the indian health service, we have veterans being served there. if those operations are not fund redirect examination not being seen for any variety of requirements, ptsd being one. lass can nate tives who are terans that we provide

services to through i.h.s. or the con sorgs there are being seen. that's why i say we can focus on va as long as we understand there is a broader -- >> i understand the cooperation with other departments is going to be hindered by this situation. there are no medical centers being shut down though, right? >> there is one that is affected and that is north chicago lolve healthcare center. it's a joint initiative between .he united states navy and va it operating off a joint account in which we each contribute dollars. so that is affected. >> why is that being affected? >> i thought we funded the

military, the president signed the bill to fund the military. >> the authorization to continue to fund that is the issue. however, we have accepted all of the civilian staff, accepted meaning they will continue to work and see service members and veterans and families and then we'll look for an opportunity then to make right their compensation. >> i know i would like to get this behind us. and i take that th opportunity to urge my senate colleagues to come to the table and let's get this figured out. thank you very much. i'm out of time. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. thank you secretary shinseki for being with us today. my question has to do with the vet centers and the services that in my district in new hampshire are particularly

valueable, the counseling, the group therapy and just having a place to go. and i'm just wondering where this falls in the shutdown. >> all three vet centers will continue to operate. they are covered under the health administration's appropriation. so they are funded for the year. >> thank you. >> and then my next question has o do with the november 1 payments. more ou give us a accurate sense here -- we want to get the government back to work and the country back to work, but each day that goes by seems to be critical in this. i would imagine with the number of checks that go out, there is a process and a procedure that takes a period of time. could you give us a sense --

you've talked about the end of the month. could you give us a sense about the number of days that a delay in reopening the government would cause a delay in those payments being received aafter november 1? >> sure the account against which i am writing checks so to speak, processing claims and having them ready to be executed. but as that account has demand written against it, it is exhausted at some point before the end of the month. the reason i can't be more specific is the rate at which i'm able to do this. but before the end of the month, the mandatory account will not support payments in november. ven though i have checks lined up to draw against it.

i think indicated $6.25 billion the requirement and i will be down to about $2 billion and if i can't pay it all, it stops. so on november 1, right now, unless i can provide mandatory funding to make the account solvent again, november 1 i will not be sending checks out. >> and could you give us a sense types scope of that, the of people whose lives will be harmed and sort of the categories and the numbers of that devastation? >> i think i gave sort of a ough population here of 5.18 million beneficiaries. and these are compensation payments, pension payments, these are education payments, and vocational rehabilitation and employment payments as well.

and within this category are veterans. there are also service members because we have active duty members who participate in some of our programs. we have surviving spouses and children of lost parents. >> and i know you can't speculate as to people's lives but would you say that these are people that generally don't have a lot of savings to fall back on that missing this type of disability check or this type of compensation check could really set them back? >> our eligibility for va benefits is usually income based large i would say that a portion of the beneficiaries we -- ice are lower beiged waged and are in need of our help.

there are those by virtue of the sevty of their combat injuries will qualify because of that. but by in large our population is older, sicker and in need of support. >> thank you mr. secretary. and i yield back my time. i appreciate you coming today and i hope your testimony will cause all of us to redouble our efforts to get the government back to work. thank you for your service. >> did i hear you say that disability is income based, disability ratings are -- >> no, i said there are some by virtue of the sevty of their disabilities come in at a high category here. but in the lower categories -- >> people with shaving bumps or sleep app knee i can't or hemorrhoids, all those they get that regardless of the income, correct? >> well, mr. chairman you're

getting into some detail here that i want to give you a better answer for. i will just tell you -- i'll do my best to answer your question on some of those issues. november 1, no monday tear account, 5.18 beneficiaries do not receive checks and a large portion of them are compensation or beneficiary checks are crucial to thare being able to have order in their lives. thank you mr. chairman. i appreciate the opportunity and i really find this a difficult question to ask you mr. shinseki given the discussion we've had but do you think senator reed doesn't like our veterans or the

a in particular? it is a tough question. the reason i ask that mr. secretary is as the chairman has indicated 127 days ago the u.s. house passed the appropriations. 105 days ago the appropriations committee actually sent to the floor of the u.s. senate and for 05 days now senator harry reid has refused to bring it to a vote in the u.s. senate. have you asked him could you please bring that to a vote in the u.s. senate? >> i'm happy to answer the question about senator reid. personally i think he very highly values veterans. as to why we are unable -- congress is unable to do its

business i will leave to the members to discuss. >> and i appreciate that and you mexed congress but it is an issue in the u.s. senate. have you visited with the senator? i've been disappointed in the house that four out of 12 appropriations bills is all we passed through the u.s. house and that includes a budget. that means eight out of 12 have not passed here but 1 out of 12 have not passed in the senate now and that's been the case since 2009. has there been any indication in your visits that they would at least consider passing your appropriations? i appreciate the work you've done to meet the needs of our veterans in this shutdown period. >> have i visited senator reid over this i would answer i have not.

it is not something that i would ordinarily do. i deal with this committee and with the appropriate committee in the senate when it comes to my budget and that's where the work is done. >> i haven't compared the budget to what came through the house by a pretty wide margin and hopefully it would meet your need. i would encourage that conversation to take place. i would ask you specifically about cemeteries. are all of them still open for business and would they be impacted in late october like you have indicated for other programs? >> that's a great question. i will tell you that our operations will continue. at some point here in the next days to weeks we will expend our carryover moneys for n.c.a. and we will be furloughing a good

portion of the force. owever, our cemeteries will go into modified burial schedule which means we will continue taking care of families and burying our honored but it won't be at the rate we had planned or would like. our cemeteries will be open for our normal hours which is sunrise to sunset. you may see some of our maintenance standards go a bit because we won't be able to maintain the high standards we like but that's retrievable once we have a budget. but the focus is on taking care of families on a most painful day for them and making sure they feel their veteran is respected and has been accorded dig any fide burial. >> i appreciate that assurance

and your current work to make sure that is available for our veterans and their families as well. you've seen the damages of other federal places and locations that have been bar acaded to our veterans but i want to make certain we keep the cemeteries open and i appreciate you making certain that does occur. i yield back the balance of my time. >> it does go without saying we all care about the veterans of this country. and what we do have is a failure to communicate, negotiate and there has been a break down in the institutional process of how appropriation bills are in fact passed through both houses of congress. if i'm not mistaken, i think the va milcon bill out of the house only had four decenting votes. it was an extremely bipartisan piece of legislation.

mr. walt you are recognized. >> i'd like to give the gentleman 30 seconds to apologize to senator reid if he wants to. we may have differences on policy and ideology, we don't have differences on love of this country. i would give 30 second to the gentleman if he wishes to claim it. >> thank you and i was asking the question given it's very clear as the chairman has indicated that senator reid controls the calendar and has the opportunity to move that bill to the floor. since this shutdown has occurred unless there was a recorded vote yesterday. >> i reclaim my time. >> disappointed to say the least. i hope that goes on record. the one thing i would say is this committee and i'm proud to serve on it is one of the few place that is still works in congress. the collaboration in here is incredible. the work done by subcommittees

have power and that's a testament to mr. chairman you give that power to people. and i sat in this chair arguing and making the case for advanced appropriations with my colleagues and we did that. we've sat here and made progress. you know mr. secretary the work you've done i'm proud of it and i'm your staunchest supporter but your harshest critic. when something goes wrong we bring it up and figure out how to make it better. and the conscious representing millions of veterans expect that. and it still works. what is so disappointing when we get into this is we're wasting valueable time and resources by a self-inflicted wound that should be going towards our veterans. and it's so frustrating and what happens and i appreciate my colleagues on this but it starts to be cancerous into this

committee. last week when the bill came up on the veterans to try and make the case, be very clear about this, you are trying to find ways and i respect that. mr. run i don't know made a case for a cemetery that's been needed. three weeks ago we got a notice and there was a thank you from 56,000 veterans that were going to get that. last week's bill zeroed that out. i know you didn't do that in purpose but i can't support that. but within 180 seconds of my vote the campaign committee on the republican side sent out an attack that i don't support veterans by not doing that. there are lots of reasons to tell people not to vote for me but not supporting veterans is not one of them. that's where we get people's

frustration and anger. we can come together. the continuous going back and forth. i don't question a single person's commitment to our veterans or the love of country. is not a marshall law going to the floor with veterans saying why do i hate congress do i need to see more proof. i'm frustrated you are here. i understand the questions. this wouldn't be so bad if you portfolioize differently. but the questions i was going to ask you answered. interaagency collaboration is breaking down. i.t. and as it impacts electronic records. for seven years i've been fighting to get that right. that progress is going backward. i don't have any questions for you. the thing i would say is the

comment we shouldn't be talking about furloughs, the va is an organization of people. fur furloughs are critical. it's because of the people. and when those people have uncertainty, those people are laid off and not there, it can impact. that's why we advanced appropriate yated. you know it ourself, not having has .t. budget prorpeyated a beautiful m.r.i. machine unhooked that can't help patients. that doesn't make any sense. we should talk about that. and i end with the chairman and ranking member have approached this the right way. the fix to this and the way to reinvolve -- remove veterans from this fight. don't allow people to use them as pawns and continue the work to go forward. there is a suggestion on the advanced appropriation on the full va funding is the way to go. i yield back.

>> thank you very much. i can ask the committees indulgence for just one second and recognize ms. kirkpatrick for an introduction. >> thank you mr. chairman. i just wanted to welcome to the committee mr. and mrs. summers in the back of the room. their son daniel committed suicide earlier this year. we're going to do a round table with them at 1:30. i want to acknowledge their presence and invite everybody to participate in the round table at 1:30. i yeel back. [applause] >> >> we welcome the summers and we are extremely sorry for your

loss. >> mr. secretary, going back to the cemetery thing for just a second under the heading of triage until something changes, do your present procedures allow on a case by case basis if there is private funding available to either go ahead and compensate the personnel at cemeteries to perform burials in a timely manner. >> is there anything that would prevent somebody to pay the expense instead of warehousing people, is there anything that prohibits that from happening in >> congressman, i'm not aware that there is anything that prohibits that. but again, we try to serve all the veterans that come to us and as equitable manner as we can. or at least the appearance of equal treatment. and so just let me research that and come back to you.

what i will tell you is we continue our burial operations, just at a rate less than we are acustomed to. last year 122,000 veterans were laid to rest. >> i appreciate that. i'm just saying if an instance developed somewhere in the country at a cemetery says it's going to be a few weeks and somebody says we'll incur the expense to have it happen in three days from now or something like that, it's not something -- i guess my question you'll get back to me is there is nothing that prohibits an infusion from funds from a private source to allow somebody to do that in whatever the customary manner is? >> congressman, my guess is if it were permitted, i would be doing it now. these are funded positions and people have been put on furlough because of the law and i want to

be careful here that i don't suggest that we have ways to work around it but i will take a look at it. >> when you look at it make certain it is no cost to the government so it's reimbursement so if furloughed people have to be brought back at non-government expense there better be a long opinion that says no we will not allow somebody to pay these folks whatever that expense may be. with that i'll yield back. >> may i just conclude this thought mr. chairman? i would say that the law directed furlough and it's less the cost but it's the decision that drove us to do this and i want to be sure that i'm clear on the law before i answer you. it's less how much it cost. i think there is a requirement for me here to be in compliance. >> if i may, mr. chairman, to

that i think there is also a requirement to look at the overall mission which is bigger than the law. when you look at those law, i get the furlough, i just want to make sure everything is looked at so those get the full benefit of all the laws before the little situation we're in now. thank you. >> i'm happy to do that. >> mr. secretary i know we're in a fluid situation but we reached out and asked we were talking about p.t.s. and indian health service and whether they could get their service provided there. the service will largely be unaffected by the shutdown and they would continue to provide direct clinical healthcare services as well as referrals for contract service that is cannot be provided through their clinic. we're just somewhat confused as to the comment that was made in regard to post traumatic stress chi think everybody on the

committee is very concerned with. and i get it. your statement that you came in here with today paint it is worst possible picture that is out there. but in your statement it does not talk about the hundreds of thousands of va employees that are still working in the healthcare that is provided. we just want to be honest with the questions and comments that are provided. i'm not saying you were not. i'm just saying there was an inference earlier on that veterans with post traumatic stress would not get their treatment and there appears to be no corner in which they will not have that treatment provided to them. thank you for y, the presentation and your answers to our questions and statements so far. i think they've been helpful. i wanted to add to a comment you made about the va and veterans

being dependent on other federal didn'ts and agencies that may or may not be funded in a piece mill continuing resolution approach. i want to note that there are nearly 600,000 veterans who work for the federal government. and that constitutes nearly 30% of the entire federal work force. these men and women who have served our country and are being furloughed or working without regardless of funding the va and different departments within the va. that's especially important to me as a representative for texas where we have the fifth largest concentration of federal government employees of anywhere in the country. over 10,000 of them are veterans

who are being affected by this current shutdown. it adds to the point that you made that we cannot afford to look at this on a piecemeal basis. when i look at options to get out of this. i want to urge the senate and our federal government to move forward on advance funding for military construction and veterans affairs. i think that is critical. in the short term, i think our best option is what everyone refers to as a clean funding bill or a clean c.r. that funds all of your services and programs and personnel at a sustainable level. the piecemeal approach that we saw last week and i appreciate those who want to address the issue that way but it had zero dollars for research, for funding for the cemetery administration, no money for general administration,

information technology at a point where we are trying to get veterans to file claims online because when they do that the ait time which is now 450 days comes down under 100 days. if we're not funding i.t. we're not helping them get the response they need. construction on projects is zeroed out as are grants to state va homes and state cemeteries. that's why i support a clean funding bill. no strings attached. let's fund the entire federal government so we can work out a larger deal. that is the quickest cleanest way to help everyone involved, especially our veterans. i think that's why presidents and leaders of national veterans service organizations have come out against a piecemeal approach. they want to see us tackle this comprehensively. that's what you and all of us want to do.

we reached out yesterday to our local v.s.o.'s and said i'm going to have a chance to ask questions of the secretary and want to know what you want me to ask. much of it you already addressed. the v.v.a. budget is just as important as the v.h.a. budget and we all agree with that and want to see that move forward. david of the american g.i. forum is concerned about what happens if the shutdown prses and we have veterans in homes who are homeless, will you have the resources to take care of them. richard, the vice commearned of the american liegend talks about problems that veterans already have being exass baited. >> veterans who are recipients of va and social security benefits having a really hard time after november 1 and kay davis actually came up with a

solution. limits forn was term members of congress if we can't figure this out. the questions are with us and with the need to respond to this in a way that will get the government up and running, functioning again for all dements because veterans work in all of them, for all veteran services because veterans are impacted by all of them. and again, from my perspective the quickest way to do this is to vote for a clean funding bill. so mr. secretary thank you for your presence today for answering our questions and commenting on our statements. my time is up so i'll yield back to the chairman. thank you. mr. secretary and i thank the men and women who work for your department to take care

so of those who have made many sacrifices for our freedom. my question is about the hospitals in under construction. certain quote major construction and facilities management support functions will all be suspended during the shutdown. what has been the status of the our ongoing major projects during the shutdown? congressman, i indicated that where we have work on site, that work will continue. our administrative oversight responsibilities will be diminished but we will exercise those responsibilities. payments to contractors and payments to the subs and administrative process that will

be slowed but in time payment will be made. we just don't have the folks to do that as robustly as we would like. t in terms of site work with supervision, that will continue in those locations you described. >> as you know, the payment has already -- the process has already been very slow according to a report that came out in april. in terms of these setback that will they about, affect in your view the completion date and the budget totals for each project for these four major hospitals? >> our work is slowed. the longer this goes, we do -- i would be concerned that we begin to affect the end of the project

that we continue to slide project execution to the right. >> thank you. i yiled back. >> thank you very much. >> i wish to associate myself with the remarks with the gentleman from texas. i think he stated clearly my sentiments about what theeds to be done, the clean c.r. and i want to thank the chairman for the tone he set for this committee. i think you mr. chairman understand each of us in this committee regardless of party have a deep commitment to our veterans. i thank you for that mr. chairman. let me also state that beyond the bipartisan bill that we passed on mill con veterans, teen budget act of 2011 reflects

that bipartisan spirit in the fact it exempted the veterans administration from sequestration cuts. and it's my belief that it's my conjecture that what is happening in the senate and the holdup with consideration of this bill has to do with the complexities of sequestration and the divisions that are occurring between our two sides. there is a reluct tons pass all the appropriations bills until we see in total what we are deal with in terms of how we're going to have to deal with debt limit, whether we will lift it or negotiation is going to happen. we need to get to negotiations on the bigger picture. i cherish this committee. i cherish being on it because it is one corner of the congress that is still functional. and i want to fight fearsly to keep that spirit. and i thank the chairman for the

small ways in this committee that he's tried to keep that alive. i yield back the balance of my time. i have to get back to a meeting in my office. > thank you very much. >> thank you for your testimony, general. general, let's summarize again. i walked in just a little late in your statement but which programs i understand because of legislation that we passed the va, the healthcare, the out patient clinics, the hospitals are protected, is that correct, they will not be impacted. but tell me which programs will shutdown.d due to the i think our constituents have a right to know if you could summarize.

>> the veterans health administration because of special opportunity to have advanced appropriations because of the congress is funded, that's hospitals, medical centers, hospitals, vet centers, community based out patient clinics and every version of healthcare center in between. >> no exception, correct? >> no. >> no exception, they will be funded? >> the only exception where there is impact is the north chicago where i say it is operating but it's in an accepted category. everyone else in the va system is fully funded. >> thank you very much. >> which programs will be impacted in your opinion and if you can give me some deadlines? i know we went through a lot of this but i'd like for you to

summarize. >> all the other programs that are not advance funded are are impacted and being impacted. and some of this is the degree to which and when they are going to be impacted is a function of how much 2013 residdle carry ver funds we have available. a device that the congress authorizes, certain percentage that is we are allowed to use as carryover to transition between budget years. but if this continues, every one of our departments will be impacted. we have a requirement in the benefits administration even if we have expended the mandatory account and therefore have no necessary implication, this is

one of the clauses for exception, to keep people working, at that point, there will be a significant requirement to furlough work force who will be working until the end of this month, towards the end of this month. there after, we will have inghly 1,000 folks operating the 56 regional offices to ensure that we can receive, account, date stamp and control claims that will continue to be submitted both through the normal process and through the call center. so there are people working in the call center as well. >> thank you very much. i yield back. thank you, general. >> mr. mccloud. >> thank you mr. chairman. mr. secretary, i know that you said that the va not only deals

with the va but other departments also. and so those veterans receiving educational benefits under the g.i. bill and that are attending school now because school has already started at various institutions, what will happen after november 1? if they won't get their money, have you talked to the colleges, the institutions, the universities? >> congresswoman, we are doing everything we can while we have mandatory funds available, at least two accounts, two categories that we will expend money to cover immediately. one is the retroactive aspects of a claim so someone who is due money for previous authorization up until this point, to the best of our ability we pay those and

for students currently in school, we pay those as well. but that draws down this mandatory account i'm speaking about. so before the end of this month it will be in a situation where i can no longer pay. and the november 1 payment that is should be going out will not be able to do that unless more mandatory funding is provided. if there is funding in the mandatory account which has got to come through appropriation, then i can accept people to continue to work to draw that down. without that, by law, i have to furlough these folks. >> so what happens to students that are already in classes that have already started the semester or the quarter, whichever they are on? >> at this point, this is a crucial question because for students who have already

registered and had their tuition and fees paid up front, i think they are going to be okay. d if they have drawn their books stipen then i think they are probably covered. every situation is different. but i will not be able to pay the monthly housing. and that would be an issue. >> have the schools or the universities or the colleges made any kind of -- i'm sure they are aware of our sha unanimous gans here. >> i can assure you we've reached out to schools and doing the best we can to get their support and cooperation to be able to carry this for payment. but the schools are not involved in the housing spipen. that is directly from va to the students so that is an issue. i'm going to tell you that in my

past experience the schools have been quite cooperative but there are 6,000 of them so we want to be sure we have contacted all of them. >> thank you for your testimony. thank you mr. chairman. >> thank you. >> thank you mr. chairman. good to see you again mr. secretary. you had mentioned earlier the c boc would be delayed. they were notified more than four weeks ago there was already a delay. my question is it obviously has nothing to do with this government shutdown. so would your plan be to expedate that once the furloughed workers are back and will it be expedated after the shutdown? >> we'll do our best to get back on schedule. it was going slower than we would like but this as exass baited the situation. our effort will be to get all of these projects back online as soon as we can. >> my second question is

according to the most recent monday morning report the indianapolis regional aufs has clamings pending, has nothing to do with the shutdown, prior to the shutdown and they are taking an average of 402 days to complete, over a year in the state of indiana to process the claims. so my first question is there an urge gent plan when these furloughed workers come back to deal with the hotspots in the country? and number two if the act is signed by the president, are your employees coming back to work the next morning? >> i don't know about the next morning but as soon as they are notified we expect they will be in promptly. >> what would the plan be for high places like ind no fault of their own waiting for claims to be mitigateded on their behalf?

>> i think you'll recall we have made decision that is created an increase in the inventory and increase in the backlog and we predicted three years ago that that backlog would sort of hit the high point this year and it did on march 25. since that time we priorityized claims older than two years. 99% of those are done. claims that are one year of age or older were well into the 80% of taking that from 300,000 down into the double digits here. i'll have to look at indianapolis and see what the issues are. but they would be in this proirptization that we've be n. anything older than one year we intended to have done before the end of this year. and we're on a track to do that. and would like to get back on it. >> thank you mr. chairman.

i yield back my time. mr. chairman and thank you mr. secretary for being here. i will apologize if some won't for the inappropriate attempt to drag you into the politics of this unfortunate situation. i'm the ranking member of the disability assistance subcommittee and i carefully monitor those monday morning reports. i guess we won't be able to get those now because of this unnecessary shutdown. and i'm optimistic about the strides you've made. we've heard in that committee about the 80% of the one year backlog, the 99% of the two year back logs. i think it's remarkable progress and it's just a crying shame that some of that is now going to be pushed back because of this shutdown. we've spoken a number of times about what is happening in the

reno office which serves las vegas. it also has very long waiting periods but we've addressed some of that. general hick ki has been out to visit. that's kind of in process and making some progress. still a long way to go. i've been hearing some conflicting reports about the closing of the regional offices, some closed, some not. could you go into some detail about how that choice is being made or what is happening in those regional offices during this shut doubdown? >> congress wam, i laid out a time line here that i have roughly the benefits administration just round figures about 20,000 people, nearly 8,000 of them have been furloughed two days ago. the remaining 12,000 continue to work because there are mandatory funds available in the account

and i continue to draw down on that. at the point that mandatory account is depleet before the end of this month that will happen, at that point, i have no necessary implication to continue to have this work force present. and at that point we will be forced to furlough these individuals. the law requires it. beyond that, we will keep a small work force present. my understanding is all the regional offices and the national call center will have presence snort receive claims, date stamp claims and control that property for the veterans who have made the effort to submit them. but it will be much reduced operation, receipt only and no processing. >> but you won't make choices between two offices, it's going

to be across the board? >> that's correct. >> if somebody walks in, will there be someone there to receive a claim, they just won't be able to get information about the progress of their claim? >> i will say yes, claims can be submitted. by location, we are in facilities that are run by the general services administration and merely walking in, i will have to find out exactly how that goes. but we are not sole occupants of many of the regional offices. many of the buildings in which our regional offices are located. but that's a good point. that's something i will go check on. >> and if they called and can't get you, they are going to call our office to find out. so if they call your office to get an update about claims, what will happen? >> our national call center will

be taking calls and will be up and running. >> but not the regional offices? >> the regional offices will be much reduced and my sense is they will be fully engaged in receiving and date stamping claims and they won't be running a call center out of the regional offices. >> thank you very much and thank you for what you are trying to do to make the most of a bad situation. i can only imagine that the challenges you are facing are much greater than you outlined for us today because of this unnecessary shutdown. thank you. >> thank you mr. chairman and thank you mr. shinseki for being here today. thank you for your service to our nation and veterans. i want to give a shoutout to the waco regional office and they were making remarkable progress

on taking care of their backlog. they have done an outstanding yob. i am very concerned about the impact this shutdown could have on their operations and what could potentially happen to our veterans. so i have a couple of questions in that regard. the first one is: why is the g.i. bill hot line closed when others remain open? >> say that again. >> why is the g.i. bill hot line closed when other v.b.a. hot lines remain open? >> the one hot line i know remain open is our veterans crisis hot line. that is funded by the health administration. >> i'm talking about the call sernt in muss cog gee. >> it is apparently closed.

>> i'll go if you permit and try to provide you a better answer on what is open. >> you can follow up. the next question is fairly simple but it's going to take time to give you the background so we can build up it to. it goes back a few months starting with the newer information that says that the white house had some vovepled in the irs targeting of certain groups. and then it builds from there is aing that the park service has said they've been told to make it as tough on americans as possible during this shutdown period. that doesn't have anything to do with you or me right now. but back on september 19, this committee held a hearing anded the assistant secretary general moonie and i asked her questions about whether or not the office of congressional legislative affairs had ever been influenced

by the white house in terms of responses to congress. she replied at the that they had not. but then she sent me a followup letter a few days later and she said that sometimeshouse does in correspondence. this is still setting up the background for this information. if you go through the timeline of activities that we have seen recently, there was a field guide issued on friday, september 27, the the a stated that claims pressing with would not be affected. housea. notified the veterans affairs committee that they would not be able to send november benefit checks because funding would run out late october. you have confirmed that today. on september 30, president obama had an interview where he stated "veterans will find their support centers unstaffed" which was a direct contradiction to

the field guide. in that same interview, the president intimated that the shutdown would affect somebody in a v.a. office who is counseling for ptsd. on october 1, the v.a. updated the field guide. it was amended to add that the end of month caveat. get the news that the waco regional offices had to layoff -- furlough a third of their staff. this goes back to my question which is fairly simple. did someone at the white house or the office of management and budget for the treasury or any other federal agency ask you or anyone else in the v.a. to modify the timetable under which the v.a. was going to begin its operational wind down to deal with the latin appropriations? >> fair enough. i think if your perspective is

that there is the ability to reach in and understand and influence how we operate, i would say it is just the opposite. we are faced with an unusual event. a shutdown of government doesn't occur frequently and we have no good plans in place. we had to go back and look at what happened in 96 to have some idea what the requirements were going to be. at the same time, we have a 13 close up. whenever she testified, if someone had said, we are going to shut the government down, i guarantee you between the fifth of september and the 30th of september, there would have been actions that i would have perhaps taken differently. that didn't become obvious to us until last week, maybe wednesday of the last week of september.

we had to do these assessments. --your complaint is >> let me reclaim my time for just a minute. i am not complaining. i was asking you a simple question about whether or not the white house had any influence over the timetable for the v.a. shutdown process. i think you have answered it no. >> the answer is no. >> i am glad to hear that answer. you and i both agree -- let me rephrase that. i think most of us in here agree that the house has done its work by passing two appropriations bills that would deal with this issue. v.a. and wend the wouldn't be having this discussion today. we also passed a resolution which would fund the v.a. so that we wouldn't have this conversation. as of those bills passed on a bipartisan basis. i would urge those perks that senatetening to urge the

to take up those bills. >> thank you very much. mr. brown, you are recognized. >> thank you very much for being here. i keep hearing the senate, the senate. i put the responsibility straight here with the house. we could pass a clean cr and you would not be sitting there. i have done my entire career -- all i could do that veterans would not be caught up with the house and the senate and i don't lay in the senate. i thank god for the senate. let's don'tt, confuse nobody with the facts. we are talking about november 1. i want to talk about october 17. the full faithss and credit -- if we default, what will happen to all of the mothers and the spouses in the

checks that go out for the ba -- v.a.? tell us what happens when these people in the house let us default on our credit. what happens to the v.a.? the people that have been talking to me aren't federal employees. they are contractors. the contractors are not going to get any backpay. they are being laid off in droves because the government is not effective -- affected. the house is responsible. they could pass a clean cr for the first time ever -- i voted against a v.a. bill because it was $6 billion less than what we passed out of here. please respond. congresswoman, i would just

repeat what the president has pointed out. what he looks to the congress to do is to things. one, provide a budget so that we can operate of the government. two, pay the bills. both of those issues are at play here. i am looking for a budget and so is the rest of the government so we can do what we are charged to do. and then, paying the bills is the issue of the debt ceiling. those are authorizations. >> what happens on the 17th if we default? what happens to the v.a.? will the veterans -- the veterans ask me, will they get their checks? >> congresswoman, i am planning to operate as long as i can this month. but at a certain point, i will begin to furlough people. that will have to do with my inability to continue to operate under the carryover.

so whatever occurs with the discussions of the debt ceiling, i imagine it will be even worse. beginning here, before the end of this month, the v.a. will be reduced in operations. my office will be 90% shutdown. legislative affairs with whom you deal frequently will be down to one person. public affairs down to one person. for the rest of our operation, other than receiving claims and looking after families that are expecting us to provide the appropriate burial services, all of that will be reduced. >> so, i just want to be clear. imposed disaster on the veterans and on the country.

there is no need as we sit here -- the senate and the president had agreed. they have agreed to it. clean cr and we can move forward. yet, we have people that want to blame the senate, went to blame the president. at 20 minutes to 12, we won a conference. it was over. house -- i have been here for 22 years and i have never seen anything like the people that serve in this house that want to act like they care about the veterans. they talk the talk but they don't walk the walk. are out of the cemeteries saying, we don't know why it is shutdown. you voted to shut it down a few hours earlier.

this is a sad state of affairs. this committee used to be bipartisan. now, you got a few members that's dragging the house of representatives down. the people's house. i yield back the balance of my time. >> thank you, the gentlelady's time has completely expired. for the members of this committee and those that maybe the continuing, resolution that the house actually put on the floor that has been re-rated by a couple of members saying that it was less by $6 billion,ed was exactly the same piece of legislation that senator sanders filed monday night. folks that are out there saying we shouldn't do this by piecemeal, senator sanders along

others, who held a news conference at the very same time we have been having this hearing with the secretary to say that we should not be using him as a punching bag, mr. secretary, i trust that we have not used you as a punching bag today. we are trying to get the information out to the veterans. again, you have talked in depth about those things that we will not be able to do. employeeson, how many within v.a. will still be on the if thisr november 1 shutdown continues? chairman, let me take that one for the record to give you the specificity that you are looking for. as i say, there are still

factors coming together. tell me how long i operate. i have told you that the mandatory funds are expected to be depleted before the end of this month. affecting both november checks and vba in large measure, the present workforce of about 13,000 people will be severely reduced. it will be down to about 1100 and roughly 1000 people in vba so we will have people functioning in vba. nca will likewise have to furlough a significant portion of their workforce and will go to modified operations. vha is fully funded and so when you look at the account and look very large, that is because vha is about 80% of our

workforce and our budget. >> mr. chairman -- >> i do think it is important to remember that your total employees are about 335,000. when we talk about numbers of 10,000, 4000, those are big numbers. but as it relates to the overall number of 335, i would appreciate -- you have already said that you would take it for the record. i would appreciate you getting that information to us. >> mr. chairman, i have just a quick question. >> the chair does not recognize the gentlelady from fraud -- florida. her time has expired. -- my question is, how many people that receive checks will not be getting those checks? i think that is a bigger question. >> again, the gentlelady is not recognized for her question. askingciate what she is

knew that the possibility of this sometime ago. i don't believe anybody in this room wanted to be where we are today. do you believe the same thing, mr. secretary? background, i would say you look at all the options, this was not one i believed would happen. the members of this committee or the congress would allow this to happen. and we have quickly dusted them off. have gonehours, we into emergency procedures to continue to take care of veterans as long as we could. and then ensure the orderly shutdown of our activities so that we take care of our people as well. mr. chairman, if you knew the

shutdown was going to happen, it wasn't shared with me. >> yes? >> you always look at the possibilities. you wouldn't think allow this to happen. >> i think most numbers of this committee would say that we do not want to be here. this was not an intended consequence. we are here. we have asked you to come in and talk to us and my question is, at what point did you start doing extraordinary measures to prepare for this and begin to scale back some expenditures so that you would not be perceived as making foolish expenditures of funds that may be necessary? you can probably gather where i am going with this question. >> i don't gather where you're going. >> how did we end up with the -- why have weof

been spending over $1 million and the d c area on pr ads? i think those that are being furloughed want these questions asked. it is not a political question. it is a question as to prioritization because we are talking about the people not getting the benefits that they have earned. not being able to be buried in a timely fashion. yet we can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on things that probably the general public would think were inconsequential to taking care of our veterans. >> urey's artwork. i think -- you raised artwork. i think the suggestion that this was year-end spending was not the case. there are facilities that have been in the process of being constructed. of the miami

facility, it is an 843,000 square foot facility. 11 floors. major renovations in this facility hadn't been done since 1980s. that project is completed and part of the project was to replace wall hangings. photographs. prints. they had to that environment that says it is a healing environment and welcoming to veterans. angeles, a 16,000 square foot facility in which homeless and mental health clinics have been provided. the jacksonville community based project, 102,000 square feet needed to be outfitted. all total, about 1400 wall

,angings, photographs, prints pictures of veterans, pictures of local scenery that veterans in that area would recognize -- i think artwork is probably an inappropriate description here. i think the average cost is under $400. all expenses included. those are part of the project. way to have a anticipated the shutdown and redirected some of those moneys, i probably would have done it. that it is not until the last week in september that it was clear that what was going to happen and happen. happen.would >> i apologize for not recognizing your question.

thank you for your indulgence. your recognize. >> i want to thank you, mr. chairman miller and also ranking members for inviting me to the hearing. it is good to be back here. it is a great committee. this is a terrible hearing to make that happen though. i do want to say the situation is dire. on november 1, we are going to cut off hundreds of thousands of disability recipients, students that are depending on g.i. bills, families whose veterans -- i think the american public needs to know the dire situation. we are going to be sending hundreds of thousands of people into dire straits, maybe making them homeless. there is no excuse. we need to solve this problem in the next week. i do have some specific questions. mr. secretary, in addition to mr. denham, i would like to know

from you about the impact of the shutdown. i would like to know specifically its priority. i will take that off-line. as you know, the veteran service organizations staff members are used to help counsel veterans but the villa so staff members -- vso staff members are not employees of the the a. -- the v.a. can they continue to use those facilities to help counsel our veterans? >> i am told that we are not allowed to do that. again, this is a day-to-day assessment. we go back and check to make sure that the interpretation of the law is clear.

pretty well-e defined rules that we operate under. the anti-deficiency act has provisions for two categories. one is protection of life and property. the other one is necessary implication. >> were there any other so hasons that the v normally performed that they are not able to perform now? >> we will look for every opportunity to help them be successful. it is part of our mission as well. trying toe are process as many claims as we can. before the mandatory account is depleted. thereafter, we are receiving and date stamping claims. >> you said, i believe, that the

v.a. processing claims are continuing. are there decisions being made about these claims? if so, are the veterans being notified about those decisions? circumstances where we are able to pay -- and i described the retroactive aspects of this -- we won't be able to pay continually, monthly benefits. but for those benefits -- veterans who have a date stamp that goes back some time when that was awarded, we try to pay the retroactive portion of that. the monthly cycle picks up in november. >> oh they will be notified if a decision is made? if wey will be notified are able to pay the retroactive aspect of that and we will process the remainder of the claim and put that in the line. for students who are currently in school, i think i answered a

question earlier that says as long as we have mandatory funds remaining, we will honor as many of those requests as we can. those all draw the mandatory account down. before the end of the month, it will be depleted and i will -- we will look to furlough. >> are the prescription drug benefits being impacted? >> say that again, i'm sorry. >> on the veterans prescription drug benefits being impacted? >> prescriptions are fully funded. are available and will be filled. >> and you, mr. chairman for allowing me to but is a bit today. >> mr. bilirakis, do you have any other questions? mr. coffman? >> just one more question.

my oversight investigations subcommittee uncovered the v.a. cybersecurity protection measures were inadequate even when the v.a. has been fully funded before the shutdown. the investigation discovered numerous occurrences when foreign state-sponsored hackers infiltrated the v.a. network. how has the shutdown affected the private information of veterans and their families? are these 20 million individuals and dvs system now -- in the v.a. system now at even greater risk? >> what we know, we have -- we will have the ability to respond to what we know. as you would expect, there is more to this than sometimes even we are able to know. steps to assure the

security of our system. prepares usbetter for the next. we are active here. >> inc. you, mr. chairman. i highly -- i you back. mr. michelle -- ichaud, your recognize. $40 million -- since you have utilized the $40 million carried over and since the delays have caused the backlog to creep back up again, will you be requesting additional supplemental to deal with were placing that $40 million as well as more overtime money to get you back where you have to be as far as backlog? >> i think the basic question is, am i going to try to

reconstitute that $40 million? i will find every way i can. and am not able to do that i need to look for support here to get that funding in place to be able to get veterans the care they need, i will seek it. >> thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. >> mr. huelskamp? >> thank you, mr. chairman. i would like to apologize to anybody who might have been offended by my trying to find out exactly why the u.s. senate has not voted on these appropriations. i appreciate the bipartisan nature of this committee but i think we all agree that our veterans should not be used as pawns in this particular debate. i appreciate the work in terms of the secretary. the language that i have seen in

reference to the individual and the senate that asked a question about -- language was used that i don't think anybody in this committee has used. -- that is thene language we hear and it does no service to our veterans. i apologize if you took offense. i appreciate secretary trying to work with the senate encouraging them to bring that to a vote. i am confident that that can go right to the senate. keep those doors open. i yield back. >> thank you very much, mr. huelskamp. we have asked -- do you have a question? >> sorry, mr. secretary. >> your recognize. >> thank you very much. mr. chairman, secretary shinseki , thank you for your service to our country. the government shutdown has

caused a crisis that could have congress simply worked together to put people ahead of politics. it is unconscionable that congress continues to put political gamesmanship above the needs of our veterans. the best way to help veterans in my district and across the country is to end this reckless shutdown. now that the v.a. is required to furlough thousands of employees, how will that affect the claims backlog and constituents specifically in my district, meaning how will furlough's impact the l.a. regional office and the san diego regional office which review claims for veterans in my district? >> congressman, as i indicated , our availability of

carryover funding for 2013, roughly $40 million, we exhausted that. we there and then had to furlough about 7800 people. we have about 13,000 benefits employees who are doing what they always do and that is process claims as quickly and as accurately as they can. of mandatory overtime, we are doing that at 1400 claims each day less than 30were doing before september. there is a cumulative effect here. these employees will continue to work until such time as something because the mandatory account that currently has some residual funds and it, they will continue to process claims until that point. whatever we can pay for

retroactive claims or for student claims, we will continue to do that. as we do that, we draw down the mandatory account. when the mandatory account is exhausted before the end of this month and the best majority of these people will also be furloughed. that will begin to have great impact on the backlog. today, the backlog is already 2000 higher than it was on 30 september. it is already beginning to have an effect. >> i want you to know that we will continue to advocate for a pragmatic solution so that we can open our doors and specifically for veterans. my office in the district has not shut down. and we extended hours are working weekends if a veteran needs it, to come and pick up the mantle. the metal that has been dropped

at this ridiculous shutdown. we will be there for our veterans and i look forward to collaborating with you so that once we open our doors, those veterans that have been ill- affected by this will have expedited prioritized treatment so that we can continue to serve the veterans to the best of our ability. i appreciate your service to our country and thank you very much. >> that is my intent as well. >> thank you. >> i would like to recognize ms. brown. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i would like before i ask my questions, the service organizations sent a letter to congress about supporting the bill onl the a -- v.a. the floor. is it possible that i could submit that to the record? thank you.

about what a senator introduced, i don't want to talk about the senate. i want to talk about the house. the house of representatives where i serve. mr. secretary, my question to november or the third week in october, will 3.8 million veterans not get their checks in the mail? the benefits -- that is a nice thing, but checks are what they live on. most veterans that get those checks are on fixed income. explain to me how they are supposed to make it. effective 1oman, november, if we don't resolve this, those veterans will not .eceive pension compensation for veterans who are in school, ,heir education checks

vocational rehab, those beneficiaries -- when you add surviving spouses and children, it is over 5 million. this is serious. i am hoping that the leadership of this committee will help us resolve it. >> thank you, mr. secretary. i was told that the house, somebody stepped in some snake oil. i went home and try to find snake oil. i think it is just in texas. but this is not a joke. this is very serious. veterans have come up to me in church sunday because that is the only place i went sunday, two services and i needed more. they wanted to know about their benefits. i told them, as of october 17,

if we default, they will not get their benefits. i told the social security people the same thing. is this true? will they not get their benefits? is this again? ?- a game >> it is not a game. there are veterans and servicemembers, families, children counting on us. they expect us to deliver. 5 million of them will be impacted here. severely. >> i hope there is some leadership on this committee that will work with the leadership in the house and come up with a clean continuing resolution because the problem that we have is that so many of the people that have been furloughed, they are contract people. they will not get back pay. many of them are veterans.

all have contracted employees also? >> we do. thank you. >> thank the gentlelady. you, mr. secretary for being here. we appreciate you taking the questions. we do have other questions that we will submit to you for the record. in particular, i want to ask that you help this committee in furthering a bill that was passed out of this committee, in a bipartisan fashion, that is advance funding for the remainder of the a's budget -- that we don'tso get into the situation again. thank you. this hearing is adjourned. [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

>> on c-span tonight, the u.s. house debates bills on resuming payments to the families of soldiers killed in action. the senate debates the government shutdown and president obama nominates janet yellen as the new federal reserve chairman. treasury secretary jack lew will testify tomorrow morning about next week's debt ceiling deadline. he will take questions from the senate finance committee. live coverage at 8:00 eastern on c-span two. on c-span three, the senate banking committee will hold a

hearing on the debt limit and the potential impact the u.s. default could have on the global economy. a former governor will testify. live coverage at 10:00 a.m. eastern. the house voted unanimously to retort -- restoreth military death benefits for families of fallen servicemembers. the benefits assist families with funeral costs. this debate is about 25 minutes. chairman, i yield myself such time as a may consume. i rise in support of the resolution for honoring the families of fallen soldiers. our government has no greater responsibility than to take care of the families of our brave men and women who have fought and died for our country. this bipartisan legislation

provides continuing appropriation to ensure that if troops are killed serving our country, our government will honor its obligations to them and their families without delay. specifically, the bill would provide for the payment of death gratuities and other benefits such as military housing allowances to the families of our fallen soldiers. it would provide for authorized funeral and burial services first for servicemembers and their families. this would also pay for families to travel to meet the remains of their loved ones returning home. this bill provides appropriations to pay benefits upon the death of the literary servicemembers. my colleagues, while this bill is written as a continuing appropriations act, i want to be very clear. the intent of this legislation is to fully fund this specific benefits for all authorized recipients. mr. speaker, we have a solemn duty to take care of our troops and their families, especially

as we remain a nation at war. our men and women serving in uniform in dangerous places all over the globe deserve the peace of mind in knowing that during the worst of times, their families will receive the benefits they deserve immediately. this bill removes any ambiguity on this point. this is a bipartisan bill that with democratic and republican cosponsors should be passed with overwhelming support. esther speaker, we are looking for legislation upon which we can reach consensus. i am hopeful this bill will bring us together and i urge support for it. i reserve the balance of my time. >> the gentleman from indiana is recognized. >> i yield my time -- myself such time as i may consume. mr. speaker, i rise first of all to thank them for bringing this legislation to the floor. i want to thank the chairman and the subcommittee members for their work.

i certainly support the gentleman's legislation. the department of defense had to support that since october 1 of this year, 17 servicemembers have perished. there are survivors would be entitled to a death gratuity payment. the gentleman's legislation is correct. it is timely and it should pass. the only other observation i would make at the beginning of the debate is, the house passed the pay our troops act, 32-10. i would hope that none of our colleagues are under the misimpression that we haven't solved -- have solved all of our problems. in a comprehensive fashion, they essentially deal with about 40% of the department's budget. the problem that they are attempting to address today is but a slice of that 60% that unfortunately, the government of

the united states is now not dealing with. again,rongly support -- strongly support. >> the gentleman from new jersey. >> i yield five minutes to the chairman of the appropriations committee, mr. rogers of kentucky. >> i think the chairman for yielding me this time. bille in support of this honoring the families of fallen soldiers. said willhas been ensure that the families of u.s. military members who have given the ultimate sacrifice will receive the benefits they are promised in spite of this unfortunate government shutdown. the house has voted to take care of our war fighters by ensuring that they will be paid during the fiscal crisis but our responsibility to our soldiers doesn't end there by any means. as they put their lives on the line on behalf of this nation,

our nations soldiers shouldn't be concerned about who will take care of their families. that is part of our nation's agreement with our men and women in uniform. take care of the united states and we will take care of you and your beloved family. to this end, the bill allows continued funding to guarantee that the government honors its commitments to our military families without delay. it allows funding to provide a death gratuity to families of fallen soldiers. that is a lump payment to assist them in one of their greatest times of need. the bill also allows for the financial assistance for funeral costs, family travel and housing , back salary payments and living expenses. it is certainly the least we can do for those who make the ultimate sacrifice for our country. the reality is, we are a nation

at war. wars don't stop just because our government is not functioning properly nor do our obligations to our soldiers get put on pause while we work to clean things up. to the families who have lost a son, a daughter, a sister or brother, husband or wife, this bill is our commitment to you. you should not have to suffer even more heart ache after such a significant loss. this legislation is the right thing to do. it should be passed without delay. i urge a yes vote. i yield back. >> the gentleman from new jersey reserves. the gentleman from indiana. >> i would yield two minutes to the gentleman from arizona. >> the gentleman from arizona is recognized for two minutes.

>> i think the gentleman. mr. speaker, i first of all want to thank chairman rogers and s for taking up this critical legislation and moving it so quickly to the floor. mr. speaker, over the weekend our nation lost five patriots in afghanistan. we need to remember who they were. they were first lieutenant jennifer marino, u.s. army. sergeant joseph peters, u.s. army. sergeant ettrick hawkins, u.s. army. private first class cody patterson, u.s. army. lance corporal jeremiah collins, u.s. marine corps. killed, after they were their families were notified

that our government would not pay death benefits because of the government shutdown. when i heard about this yesterday morning, i simply could not believe it was true. i asked my staff to look into the matter and find out if it could possibly be true. unfortunately, they confirmed that indeed, we had denied these benefits. we took a meeting of action and along with a bipartisan group of members representing the district where these fallen heroes lived, we moved forward and introduced the legislation. as it has been said, the bill will provide funding to pay survivor benefits and cover the funeral costs for these military families and all servicemembers who may give the ultimate sacrifice during this shutdown of our government services. god forbid that any other family

should be put in this situation again, it is absolutely abhorre nt that we would leave military families without assistance when they are at their most honorable. trying to deal -- most vulnerable. trying to deal with their loss and grief. >> the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from new jersey. >> i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise the remarks and include material that i may include. i am pleased to recognize the gentleman from texas for two minutes. >> the gentleman from texas is recognized for two minutes. >> mr. speaker, i appreciate the leadership of the gentleman from new jersey in all matters related to national security as

well as the leadership of the gentleman from indiana. i also appreciate the gentleman from new jersey bringing this measure to the floor. it is rather unfortunate and somewhat amazing to me that he has to. passed our military act the house on september 29, passed the senate and was signed by the president the next day. it says clearly that there are appropriated such sums as necessary to provide pay and allowances to members of the armed forces. who would have ever thought that some lawyer in the pentagon would say that the death and other benefits we are talking about today would not be included in that? rather than spend more time in squabbles with lawyers, i think the gentleman from new jersey wisely has brought this measure to the floor just to make it clear so everybody understands that all of these allowances should be paid. i think it is also very important for all of us to say that our hearts grieve with the

fact these -- the families for whom this is relevant. alone cannot express our gratitude for the sacrifice and service that their loved ones have given this country. but it is important. even in these times when we have differences on fiscal and other issues that the house come together, that everybody unite regardless of our opinion about other targeted funding issues, that everybody unites to say that we will stand with those families who have given so much to our nation. again, i commend the gentleman from new jersey for bringing this. i hope that all my colleagues will vote in support of this matter and i yield back the balance of my time. >> the gentleman from new jersey reserves. the gentleman from indiana. >> i would yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from minnesota. >> recognized for two minutes. >> thank you, mr. speaker.

made a purelyans political choice to shut down our government to advance their agenda. unbelievably, house republicans decided to shut down our government with thousands of american servicemen and women on the battlefield in afghanistan. because braveday americans who gave their lives on the battlefield are going to be denied funeral benefits because of the shutdown. their families were being denied payment of survivor benefits. this is a disgrace. it is a shameful consequence of the irresponsible republican majority. this is an outrage. the fact that we are here today to pass this bill is a clear admission that americans have been abandoned and the shameless political game being played. passing this bill is absolutely needed but this bill requires us to recognize the failure of the

republican leadership in this house to fund our federal government and provide our service men and women with all that they need. i yield back. >> the gentleman from indiana reserves. the gentleman from new jersey. >> i am pleased to yield division of men from out california. >> i could not for one minute. >> i thank all of my colleagues on the appropriations committee for bringing this up so quickly and fast tracking it. i was in the marine corps. i did three tours, two in iraq, one in afghanistan. i served, i met their wives, their husbands, their kids. i sat down with them. i have had dinner with them. i want to say from the bottom of my heart, i apologize for the shameful lack of the of ministrations lawyers in determining that what we passed last month does not count for paying death benefits. when the lawyers and the administration made the decision to not count the death benefit, they broke a sacred trust with our u.s. military men and women.

it is up to us in this congress to restore that trust for the american people and for our military that we have sent to war and that we have a responsibility for. i yield back. the gentleman from indiana. >> i would yield one minute to the gentleman from arizona. >> recognized for one minute. >> i thank the gentleman. i just want to say that this denial of benefits is outrageous and a disgrace. we have broken a fundamental promise to fallen heroes. we must also ensure it never happens again. that is why later today i will be introducing a bill that will make sure we never forsake our fallen servicemembers or any member of our uniformed services ever again under the circumstances. i am pleased that we came

together today in a bipartisan fashion. i thank my colleagues for coming together, putting their differences aside, to honor these commitments to those who have fallen and take care of their families in this time of need. i hope we will see a unanimous vote in approving this bill. i think the dolmen and thank you mr. speaker. >> the denim and run new jersey. >> i am pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from south carolina, mr. wilson. >> recognized for two minutes. >> thank you. mym very grateful that oldest sons in-laws are ably served in new jersey by the congressman. i stand today to express my shock at the administration's absolutely disgusting failure to keep faith with those who pay the automatic rice and service to our country. four of our fallen will arrive at dover airport -- air force

base and families will have to pay their own money to be there for their arrival. this is a disgrace. this administration's actions are disrespectful of those who have made our freedoms possible. we will vote to reinstate the critical deck gratuity is that we owe. to correct the injustice that has been thrust upon them. i am particularly disappointed in the administration as the son of a veteran, as a 30 when you're veteran myself, but most as the father of four sons currently serving in the military. the congress passed the pay our military act and it was signed into law for the express purpose of making sure that those who served in our armed forces in defense of our freedom are paid all that they are owed. the administration already has the authority to pay this gratuity. every effort should be made to respect our service members. the administration is playing

politics on the backs of families of our fallen. this is unconscionable. today, this pope will give us an opportunity to do our duty to take care of our fallen families and fallen servicemembers. i urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote in favor of this bill. >> the gentleman from south carolina gives back. the gentleman from indiana. >> i would like to yield one minute to the gentlewoman from texas. >> the gentlewoman from texas is recognized for one minute. >> i rise in enthusiastic support of the resolution and i thank the ranking member and the chairman for recognizing that all members, all members have a pain in their hearts regarding those mothers and fathers who are now suffering the loss of their children. four young man and one young woman to my recollection, names that we should never forget because we are a nation at war.

for that reason, i believe that this was of great concern to the administration and secretary hagel. they are in a dilemma. a conflict if you will on the present shutdown of the government. i would say to the chairman and ranking member, this is what congress is all about. fixing the problem. mr. speaker, i introduced or would like to send into the record unanimous consent, my askingto secretary hagel for relief of these families. we have it. i would like to inquire of the hj res if i might, on 91, would you accept unanimous consent -- >> gentlelady time has expired. >> i will yield the gentlewoman 10 seconds. >> can i unanimous consent that

every member of the house the considered an original cosponsor of this legislation? >> the request cannot be entertained. there is proper procedure. >> i make that request now. gentleman from indiana reserves. the gemini from new jersey. >> i reserve as well. >> the gentleman from indiana. >> i would recognize the gentleman from georgia for two minutes. >> recognized for two minutes. >> i thank the gentleman for yielding. this past sunday, for united states servicemembers died. lieutenantny before, jennifer marino, sergeant hawkins, sergeant peters and private patterson were killed far from home by an improvised explosive device in a remote province of msn. due to the government shutdown

-- afghanistan. due to the government shutdown, their families have not been dispersed benefits that they are rightfully owed. these benefits include reimbursement for funeral expenses, reimbursement of travel, and other expenses. this is beyond an outrage. two of the fallen, sergeant hawkins and private patterson were based in my district. both soldiers were members of the regiment. sergeant hawkins was serving his fourth to plummet to afghanistan and private patterson his second. imagine the pain these families are going through. imagine being greeted with a cold shoulder by a government that turns on them because of an unnecessary shutdown. how dare we not provide these grieving families with the necessary support in their time of need? i am embarrassed that these shenanigans have impacted the

soldiers families in these way. remember these families. this is not minimal. these are our sons and daughters. they should never have to question our nation's resolved in taking care of their families. we must reopen our government so that such an inconvenience is never here to plague our nation. in the meantime, pass this bill for our nation's military families. i thank the gentleman for yielding an ideal back my time. >> the depomed from new jersey. >> i reserve the balance of my time. >> the general from indiana. >> i would yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from new york, the ranking member on the appropriations committee. >> recognize for two minutes. >> mr. speaker, without question, every member of the house should support providing the death gratuity for family members following the death of service personnel.

the majority is once again proposing an approach that addresses today's problems but leaves the overarching crisis before us unresolved. major gaps in capabilities remain with neither a fully functioning national defense nor a fully functioning federal government. the republican shutdown and piecemeal plan is damaging to the department of defense. it hurts our credibility with our allies. reports from the asia-pacific economic forum suggest that the shutdown raises questions about u.s. political stability and plays into chinese and russian foreign policy objectives. the army chief of staff has said the shutdown is harming readiness. bills wereublicans

enacted, at the rate they are going, it would take until after christmas before the government is fully up and running. we could end the shutdown today. if republican we could end the shutdown today if republican leadership would allow a vote, vote. democrats have negotiated. we didn't just meet in the middle, in fact. we agreed to the republican spending level in the stopgap bill. how many times, how many more times will the majority discover an unintended consequence before they come to their senses and allow a vote to end the reckless republican shutdown? the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from indiana reserves. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. frelinghuysen: reserves as well. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey reserves. the gentleman from indiana.