. >> i am delighted to yield to the democratic leader, a strong advocate for veterans, a strong ,dvocatefor this government the leader, ms. nancy pelosi from california. >> the gentlewoman is recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker and i thank the gentleman for yielding and i thank him for his great service to our country, for his leadership on behalf of our veterans. they are precious to us. they make us the home of the brave and the land of the free. we could not be who we are as a nation without the service and sacrifice of our veterans and of their families. mr. ranking member, i thank you for your participation in our meetings that we have on a regular basis with the veteran service organizations where so many of them come and give us their priorities as to how we can help them. veteranst was the budget or forward funding -- a receipts of concurrent -- so many issues we talk about and now of course the backlog and the rest. in those meetings, almost every time we meet, at the beginning or the end, we always practically in a careful way -- way - ayerful on the battlefield we leave no s