mr. filner, is recognized. mr. filner: thank you, mr. chairman. and i just want to point out to the chair of the subcommittee, and i guess the chair of the committee, also, we're taking an important step today but it is a small step, and the chair, the gentleman from new jersey mentioned other small steps. we ain't going to clean up this backlog problem which approaches a million cases without major steps, a major blowing up of the whole way we do this stuff. we just hired 10,000 new people in the claims process -- i mean, the number of claims backlogged doubled. we're not getting any where with this brute force kind of thing. i have suggested many times to just cut out the red tape completely, at least in the short term, to clean up the backlog, to say to those who have submitted claims that are backed up both by the medical evidence and help from the veteran service officers of which we have thousands certified across the nation, that we ought to accept those claims and honor the service of our veterans. until we get to a mindset that says blow

mr. braley, for his bipartisan support as well as chairman miller and ranking member filner for bringing t the bill. with that i yield back my time to mr. miller. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from indiana yields back his time. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. miller: madam speaker, i reserve the balance. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from minnesota. mr. walz: madam speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from minnesota reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. miller: madam speaker, i yield to dr. benishek, an abled member of our committee and this subcommittee two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from michigan. mr. benishek: madam speaker, i rise in support of h.r. 1657. i want to thank congressman stutzman for his leadership on this bill. before coming to congress i spent 20 years as a physician working at the v.a. health care system in iron mountain and i'm fortunate at this time