michaud, mr. miller.roud that we drafted this borne legislation to help get veterans' claims settled faster and more efficiently. i am proud to work with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to pass this. this commonsense legislation will push the v.a. to focus on the greater use of automation to boost efficiency and settle claims faster. as our service members and veterans transition back to civilian life, it is imperative that the v.a. and d.o.d. continue to collaborate on improving the deliry of care, eliminating the claims backlog and mitigating the impact of sequestration. it's simply unacceptable that so many of our heroic veterans are unable to get timely access to the care and services that they earned. this bill is an important step toward addressing this problem and i will keep fighting to end the backlog until the job is done. we owe it to our men and women in uniform, to our veterans, and to our mill tear families to do all we can to enshower that -- that their benefits and other services tra

michaud.as you might imagine, this is a critical time for our government and certainly for our veterans out there and that's why i asked the secretary and so pleased on very short notice, he was able to come in and give us some indication of where we are now within the v.a. and where we are going in the future depending on how long this shutdown does, in fact, continue. i welcome the only witness of this morning, the honorable secretary shinseki. your complete statement will be entered into the record and you are recognized for five minutes. >> members of the committee, thank you for entering my written staple. -- statement. let me, mr. chairman, just recognize in the room here, we have partners for all of us from our veteran service organizations. i would tell you and quite helpful to me over the past 4 1/2 years in trying to help us be better in our responsibilities in caring for veterans, but also service members and families and survivors that we are responsible for. mr. chairman, you call

michaud. >> thank you, mr. sec retear. i understand why you can't predict what the senate will to or what the house will do, but there are two areas we can solve this, the senate can pass the full appropriation bill we passed four months ago to fund all of the v.a., or the house can pass a clean senate c.r. with that will get us, unfortunately it's still a c.r. but it will move us beyond this particular point. i understand your -- that even with the full milcon v.a. appropriation bill, there are still services that veterans will not be able to receive because other parts of the federal government are not up and operating because of the shutdown. i totally understand that. but it's my hope that the bulk of the v.a. can be taken care of. my question to you, mr. secretary, you mentioned trying to get staff back up and running once the shutdown is done, if, say, today, that congress and the president was able to get the, you know, our act together, how long will it take the v.a. to get up and running, full steam ahead, and whe

. >> i want to thank you, thank you, and also ranking member michaud for inviting me here and other members of the cleanup and checking. it's a great committee. this is a terrible hearing though to make that happen. so 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. bill's, families whose veterans or active serviceman was have died, i think the american public needs to note the dire situation. we are going to be sending hundreds of thousands of people into dire straits, maybe making them homeless, and there's no excuse. we need to solve this problem. we need to solve it in the next week. so, i do have some specific questions. mr. secretary, in addition to mr. denham, my colleague and neighbor, i would like to know from you about the impact of the shutdown on the french camp project but i would like to specifically its priority. and i will take that off-line. now, as you know, the veteran service organizations staff members are used the va regional offices to help council vetera

michaud, you are recognized. >> thank you, mr. chairman. a quick follow-up question, mr. secretary. you mentioned oath about the delays and the overtime yet in the original budget you presented to congress, as well as anticipating i think it was $40 million to carry over our next year's budget. since you've utilized that $40 million to get carried over, and since the delays have caused a backlog to creep back up again, will you be requesting -- >> we will be the last few minutes of this hearing with a quick reminder that you can see this or any other c-span if an online anytime at c-span.org. live now to capitol hill for the house rules committee. they are taking of a newly proposed farm bill and we're told this legislation will make its way to the house floor later today. is just getting under way. live coverage on c-span2. >> i would like to direct the house to go to conference with the senate armed the farm bill. this is a very important step in implementing market-based reforms to our nation's agricultural programs, designed to provide our farmers and ranchers with the tools the

michaud. >> thank you, mr. secretary, and i can understand why you can't predict what the senate will do, or the house, as far as that goes. but as i mentioned in my opening statement there are two areas we can solve this. one, the senate can pass the full appropriation bill that we passed four months ago to fund all of the day. or the houston that's a clean senate c.r. unfortunately, it still a c.r. but it will move us beyond this particular point. and i understand, that even with the full milcon the appropriation bill that are still services that veterans will not be able to receive because other parts of the federal government are not up and operating because of the shut down. i totally understand that, but it's my hope that the bulk of the va can be taken care. my question to you, mr. secretary, you mentioned trying to get the staff back up and running once the shut down is done. if, say today, that congress and the president was able to get our act together, how long will it take the va to get up and runni

bishop: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from maine, many michaud, ranking member of the veterans affairs committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. michaud: i rise today in opposition to this bill, which is nothing more than a political poil. -- ploy. my colleagues on the other side of the isle said a vote against this bill is a vote to block veterans' services. it's actually this government shutdown which they have caused that has threatened v.a.'s ability to provide services for our veterans. if republicans in this house are really serious about helping our veterans, then pass a clean c.r. and end this government shutdown they have caused. if they really want to guarantee veterans' services are adequate, they'd bring forward in this house h. reform 813 as amended to the floor this bipartisan bill would fund all the v.a. through future advanced appropriations and take this political football off the table forever. passing this bail -- that bill will help make sure that veterans will no longer be used like they are being used today as the

so when we care for all michaud costs a whole bunch less because first of all we had to stop and answer the questions and they were really involved in their health care. number two they didn't want any money spent the didn't absolutely have to be spent. so there was informed consent and real efficiency in the health care delivered to them. they didn't have insurance. it was coming out so they were really interested in why, what and how. we don't have that today. and that is the only way that you are going to drive this excess cost. we are not competitive in a lot of areas in this country on the health care simply because we have a third-party payment system that doesn't make you responsible for your health care. republican of oklahoma thanks for your time. good to be with you. >> we are seeing here live outside of the u.s. capitol where a lockdown has just been lifted. the house and senate are in recess and there are reports that shots were fired and we are waiting to see if they will come back in session. the sergeant in arms in the senate said that there are reports of injuries in the