now veterans affairs secretary eric shinseki on the 2011 budget request for his agency.afternoon, everyone. thank you for joining us for today's budget rollout. we will be sharing with you the president's fiscal year 2011 budget and the advanced appropriations request for the department of veterans affairs. this budget request provides the resources necessary for us to continue pursuing the two overarching goals that the president provided to us a year ago. the first is to transform v.a. into a 21st century organization. and at the same time ensure that veterans have timely access to benefits and quality care from the day they take their oaths of office for the first time until they are laid to rest. to that end, v.a.'s 2011 budget addresses on focusing three critically important concerns for veterans. first, shorten processing time for received and earned benefits and reducing the backlog in disability claims. second, improved access to health care services, and finally, in the downward spiral that results often enough in veterans homelessness. v.a. is fortunate to have

this is about 45 minutes. >> ladies and gentlemen, secretary of veteran affairs, the honorable eric shinsekiring with you the president's fiscal year 2011 budget and the advanced appropriations request for the department of veterans affairs. this budget request provides the resources necessary for us to continue pursuing the two overarching goal is that the president provided to us a year ago. the first is to transform va into a 21st century organization. and at the same time ensure that veterans have timely access to benefits and quality care from the day they take their oaths of office for the first time until they are laid to rest. to that end, our 2011 budget addresses on focusing three critically important concerns for veterans. first, short processing time for receipt of current benefits and reducing the backlog in disability claims. second, improved access to health care services, and finally, in the downward spiral that results often enough in veterans homelessness. va is fortunate to have public servants that are both talented and skilled who are able to generate the good ideas and

. >> eric shinseki explains this at this news conference. it's under just 40 minutes. >> the honorable eric k. shinseki. >> well, good afternoon, everyone. thank you for joining us for today's budget rollout. we'll be sharing with you the president's fy2011 budget and the fy2012 advanced appropriations request for the department of veterans affairs. this budget request provides the resources necessary for us to continue pursuing the two overarching goals that the president provided to us a year ago. first, is to transform va into a 21st century organization. and at the same time, ensure that veterans have timely access to benefits and quality care from the day that they take their oaths of office the first time until they are laid to rest. to that end, the va's 2011 budget focuses on addressing three critically important concerns to veterans. first, shortened processing time for receipt of earned benefits and reduced -- reduce the backlog in disability claims. second, improve access to healthcare services and finally, end the downward spiral

va secretary eric shinseki said his department will take a fresh look at these cases and improve trainingor medical staffers who work with gulf war veterans. >>> to the president's health care summit. after an all-day televised meeting at the white house with leaders from both parties it appears that democrats are ready to go it alone on health care reform. the bipartisan summit was in itself and on its face histic, dominated by fundamental differences between the two sides. this morning we're asking did anything really change? ed henry is live at the white house for us this morning. you've covered this for years, you have acovered washington, you've covered politics, what stuck out for you about what we saw go down yesterday? >> you're right. after years of covering the white house i've never quite seen a summit like yesterday. the president of the united states taking this effort to go across the street to historic blair house and try to hash this out with republicans. but i think you're right, the bottom line question after all of the history onics, did it change any minds? >> reporter

i just met with the department of veterans affairs, eric shinseki, a veteran himself, who cares so deeply that veterans get their claims processed efficiently. we have been talking for 10 years about putting electronic systems in place for veterans affairs to reduce the backlog, and so far, it has not happened. not because people do not want it, but partly because previous purchasing decisions have mismatched what va has with what the department of defense has. they do not speak to each other. they do not emerge. none of this is acceptable. particularly at a time when we are experiencing so much economic difficulty and so many people are struggling. we have to get the best bang for every single dollar that the government has in its possession. when washington lags a generation behind in how we do business, that has real and serious impact on people's lives. when we waste billions of dollars, in part because our technology is out of date, that is billions of dollars we are not investing in better schools for our children and tax relief for our small businesses and creating jobs in funding