v.a.'working rapidly develop a process to be notified when veteran sees care at a community facility paid the veterans benefits administration provides a variety of benefits and services to help reduce or eliminate risk factors associated with suicide and promote prevention for veterans. solid start, veteran readiness, employment and education assists veterans transitioning to civilian life, connecting with benefits, achieving career and vocational goals and supporting financial well-being. v.a.'s committed to suicide prevention research to inform and advance our knowledge. the v.a. office of research and development and the office of mental health and suicide prevention work together to ensure research and funding are synchronized so operational priorities align with the national strategy of preventing veteran suicide. we hold our core tenets, number one, suicide is preventable. number two, suicide prevention requires a public health approach providing -- combining clinical community based

v.a. to update its decision notices to ensure that there are more sensitive -- they are more sensitive to the experiences of m.s.t. survivors? ms. murphy: and i -- mrs. miller-meeks: and will you engage stakeholders in the revised language? ms. murphy: this is ongoing work. this is particularly a recommendation and an action item from the secretary -- what was mentioned earlier, the secretary's work group to engage with v.h.a. and our veterans experience office, from human center design standpoint, to look at those communications and see where there could be improvements to make them -- to really reach out in a more compassionate way to our m.s.t. survivors. mrs. miller-meeks: and do you plan to engage stakeholders? ms. murphy: we can -- we can add that to our list if it wasn't already on there, yes, ma'am. mrs. miller-meeks: thank you, chairman. i yield back my time and i thank you to our panelists. chair luria: thank you, dr. miller-meeks. i'll call on representative pappas for five minu

the v.a. since february 8. any veterans -- many veterans are struggling with covid-19, lasting physical and invisible combat wounds, adapting to civilian wife -- life. a report made public indicated that vets comprise 14% of all adult suicides in 2019. access to care is among the top issues for the v.a.. veterans appear to have difficulty accessing care specifically in rural areas of the country. according to the national center for veterans analysis and statistics, and the u.s. departments of veteran affairs office of rural health, of the nearly 20 million veterans in the united states, 4.7 million live in rural america. 2.7 million or 58% of these vets are enrolled in the veterans affairs health care system, with more than half affected by a service related condition. the task of ending homelessness among the nation's veterans is immense. according to the department of housing and urban development, more than 37,000 veterans are homeless. if that was not enough, tackling claims is front and

the v.a.dressing, including mental health care, veteran homelessness and care for female and lgbtq veterans. this is one hour. [indiscernible voices] welcome to >> welcome to the national press club, where news happens. i'm lisa matthews, 114th president of the press club and assignment manager for u.s. video at the associated press. thank you for joining us. both those here in the ballroom and those viewing online, our headliner event is with secretary of veteran affairs dennis mcdonough. as we commemorate veterans day this week, along with the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the tomb of the unknown soldier, at arlington national cemetery, for those planning a visit to washington, the public can visit and pay respects at the tomb in a flower ceremony being held today and tomorrow. for those of you watching our headliner today, we are happy to accept your questions, and i will ask as many as time permits. to submit a question, these email headliners@press.org. for our online audience

the v.a. secretary would brief congress within a year after passage of the bill and then prepare a report that includes recommendations to address identified disparities. the companion legislation i sponsored, h.r. 3856, was approved by the house veterans' affairs committee and i'm pleased to support senator warnock's legislation today. i urge my colleagues to support this important legislation. mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california reserves. the gentleman from illinois is recognized. mr. bost: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman virginia tech. mr. bost: mr. speaker, i rise today in support of s.1031 sponsored by senator warnock. i would also like to recognize chairman takano for leading this effort in the house. as you all know when the men and women of our military sign up to serve, we make a promise to care for them upon their separation regardless of age, et

the v.a. since february 8. any veterans -- many veterans are struggling with covid-19, lasting physical and invisible combat wounds, adapting to civilian wife -- life. a report made public indicated that vets comprise 14% of all adult suicides in 2019. access to care is among the top issues for the v.a.. veterans appear to have difficulty accessing care specifically in rural areas of the country. according to the national center for veterans analysis and statistics, and the u.s. departments of veteran affairs office of rural health, of the nearly 20 million veterans in the united states, 4.7 million live in rural america. 2.7 million or 58% of these vets are enrolled in the veterans affairs health care system, with more than half affected by a service related condition. the task of ending homelessness among the nation's veterans is immense. according to the department of housing and urban development, more than 37,000 veterans are homeless. if that was not enough, tackling claims is front and

the v.a.. has things changed under the biden administration? guest: it's hard to tell. the president came in during the pandemic. that has dominated most of the operations and decisions at the department of veterans affairs. we had a chance to sit down with the department head earlier in the week and he has pointed to their transparency, their message of inclusion, trying to broaden benefit and find ways to cater to more women veterans, more minority veterans, lgbtq veterans. but really, the covid issues have dominated everything. they have dominated the reopening of hospitals, full operations. they have created a backlog of benefits that's probably going to take at least a year, probably a little more to draw back down. if you give the report cards, i would give them an incomplete, because it's hard to see what the real issue is going to be until covid is taken care of. host: and what is the administration doing to try and address the backlog created by this pandemic? yes. -- guest: yes. the

the v.a. is addressing including mental health care, homelessness and care for female and lgbtq veterans. this is an hour. an hour. >> good afternoon. welcome to the national press club, the pla >> welcome to the national press club. i am the assignment manager at the associated press. thank you for joining us. both those here in the ballroom and those viewing online for a headliner event, the secretary of veterans affairs dennis mcdonough. as we commemorate veterans day this week, along with the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the tomb of the unknown soldier at arlington national cemetery, for those planning a visit to washington, the public can actually visit and pay respects at the tomb in a flower ceremony held today and tomorrow. for those of you watching our headliner today, we are happy to accept your questions and i will ask as many as time permits. .org and put veterans in the subject line. for those in the room, we have circulated cards. forever online audience, please be a

v.a.'s maintaining detailed records of i.t. and physical infrastructure expenditures. we owe that to the veterans who get their care from v.a. and to the american taxpayer. i urge my colleagues to support h.r. 4591 as amended which was unanimously supported in committee. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from illinois. mr. bost: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized mr. chairman bost: thank you, mr. speaker. i -- is niced. -- is recognized. mr. bost: thank you, mr. speaker. since the beginning of the electronic health record modernization, ehrm, program, this committee has been requesting accurate and up-to-date life cycle cost estimates from v.a. despite our requests, v.a. has never provided a credible life cycle cost estimate. v.a.'s cost estimates could not withstand even the most basic scrutiny this bill would require quarterly reports on the cost of ehrm program and

trump's privatizing at the v.a.. i have been to the v.a. hospital twice in the emergency room and operated on. now, we no longer have an emergency room. if i have skin cancer on my face or ear, now i have to drive 120 miles one way. why don't y'all start investigating how the v.a. is collapsing because of this outsourcing money to private doctors? you cannot go to any doctor you want, only certain doctors will take you. we have been told we have to wait six months to get any appointment to see these people because the v.a. no longer hardly has any doctors in central louisiana. my doctor announced that he is no longer going to be there. nobody is talking about it. everyone is saying how great the v.a. is. i used to praise the v.a. now it is a mess. host: malcolm in louisiana, a veteran. good morning to you. caller: good morning. i am a vietnam era navy corpsman . and it is corpsman, not like co rpse man like barack obama said. i did not go to vietnam. but i was a corpse and -- but i was a corpsman. both of our sons were in the military and n

jackie: i want to get to the v.a. and the issue of veterans health care, a large percentage of veterans were concerned about getting the vaccine, especially because their spouses or their caregiver wasn't eligible at the same time. you and senator john tesser offered legislation to improve access for vets to get the vaccine. what is the status of that bill? senator boozman: we talk a lot about democrats and republicans having a relationship it's not a good one. this is a great example. working for our veterans. making sure they get the care they need. what we found was when we were going home visiting with people during the pandemic who had a situation where the veteran was able to get a shot but the caregiver wasn't or the spouse wasn't. so we asked the v.a. about that. and they said that's right. so senator it'ser and i -- tesser -- tester and i got that situation together and fixed it. you would think they would have the administrate yf power to do that -- administrative power to do that. but it's such they didn't.

the v.a.here is so much more where that came from. the bottom line is every part of this administration is focused on fighting for veterans. we will move heaven and earth to get veterans timely access to their resources. a major part is making sure veterans have the best experience wherever they access v.a. benefits. at home, in the community, or at the v.a. expanding telehealth and supporting caregivers. let me say this clearly on caregivers, car givers -- caregivers are not an afterthought. they are a top priority. that's why i appointed the senior advisor for caregivers. it is why the program of comprehensive assistance has enrolled more than 30,000 unique caregivers and veterans in the last year alone. it is why this tober -- this october we will cover all generations of caregivers. for vets getting care in the community, we built networks that have the right providers in the right location to meet their needs no matter where they live. we are finally paying our bills on time. host: the ve

i have been calling and calling about v.a. extending its health insurance, and crickets from the doctor. and i call the district office for my congressman here. he has got a great job with good benefits now. i am so proud of him and he is so happy. he is so happy. but the nightmares never go away. the things i saw never go away. i appreciated the one who called and was talking about the patients and stuff. it is your fellow servicemembers. i just want people to be aware of that. it did no good back then to speak out. ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, may i have your attention please? the ceremony you are about to witness is a wreath ceremony. it will be placed by the president of the united states of america. the host is the commanding general, military district of washington. the 21 gun salute will signal the beginning of today's set ceremony. it is requested everyone stay standing and silent during the ceremony. military personnel in uniform will render the salute. all people not in uniform, will remove their headgear, hold it in t

this day reminds us it is not just the job of v.a.rve the veterans, survivors, and caregivers, it is the job of every american. whenever someone signs up to honor our country, our nation makes them simple promise. if you take care of us, we will take care of you. if you fight for us, we will fight for you. if you serve us, we will serve you when you come home. our nation makes that promise. it is on all of us, every one of us to keep that promise. there are many ways to do that. from reaching out to the veterans in your life to lending a hand when a veteran needs help to doing your small part to uphold the principles of democracy for which veterans have fought and bled to defend. whatever the method. serve veterans and serve them well. remember there serve -- sacrifice. recognize their service and recommit and renew your pledge to them because that is our most sacred responsibility as americans on this veterans day and every day. i know of no one who keeps that promise better than president biden. as a senator, vice president, and now

the v.a.ntinues to grow, the lack of purposeful space [indiscernible] the bill will provide $2.3 billion. this will allow the v.a. to upgrade its aging facilities. this will provide services to veterans. [indiscernible] this will allow the department to lease property that serve other veteran needs. third, we are providing $1.8 billion with fast access to care. [indiscernible] fourth, we need the staff and clinicians to provide the world-class care we have promised, and human capital is one of my top priorities. we will conduct an education and trading program for health festivals. we are authorizing residency positions, adding medical facilities over seven years. this will help not only veterans but the nation as a whole to address the shortage of workers. we are providing the v.a. with money to assist the national archives and records, digitizing records that are needed to process veterans claims. it is the v.a.'s and intention to have available on day one a received claim at the v.a.. we ha

i do not want to go back out of the v.a.ecause it has saved me quite a bit in my medical and it is a lot easier and simpler. i would like to know if i'm able to use the advantage program with my medicare program and my v.a. at the same time. guest: frank, i believe that you are but i would like to recommend that you contact the state health insurance program, which is set up to provide one on one canceling -- counseling for people who are dealing with conflict issues related to their medicare choices. they are available in each state and i think you should call them and get information from them directly because you are hearing different things from different companies. i believe that you can use the v.a. services and also be on medicare advantage plan. situations may vary. that would be my best advice. host: we are hearing a lot of debate on our social media channel on whether you call medicare an earned benefit or welfare. which category would you put medicare under? guest: no question, i call it an earned benefit. host: w

the v.a. it's lower than what we're paying in medicare. when like at what we're paying in medicaid, it's lower than what we're paying in medicare. we're getting ripped off from the statistics i have seen, $35 billion or $40 billion a yeary corporations engaging in corporate socialism and dictating prices to us without the government getting to negotiate for the people. i don't get that. >> mr. raskin. the reference that the gentleman from south carolina made about the average manufacturing price, that is the same ceiling, floor, whatever that's used for the v.a. and for medicaid. >> i want to get quickly to a couple of other things. mr. smith accused me of fighting hard for my constituents and to this charge i plead guilty. i am a very strong supporter of not double taxing people on their state and local income taxes and you know which radical president was the one who first championed this policy of not double taxing people on their state and local income tax, the founder of the republican pa

i am on medicare advantage, and i am also a veteran, and also use the v.a.. the v.a. has been negotiating for years, but one of the things i have noticed and i am not complaining about their service, it is pretty good. it is that not all medications are available through the v.a., which also means that once medicare begins to negotiate for these prices that there will be medications not available for medicare as well. i am also a little concerned about the fact that the money has to come from somewhere for these companies because, whether we like it or not, they have to make a profit in order to continue to conduct research, and if you do not pay for one end of the population, than the other end of the population will have to pay. i was wondering if perhaps you could address that a little bit more, and thank you kindly for taking my call. guest: thank you so much for your service. i think the first aspect that you brought up about the v.a. is a good point to touch on. the v.a. negotiates drugs and they have a little bit more leverage because they have what is called a

the v.a. denying her the recognition that it was the burn pits that caused her pancreatic cancer, she didn't give up. despite the v.a. denying her the benefits that she needed for her family, she didn't give up. and her dying wish was to ensure two things. one was that other veterans didn't have to struggle through a system that denied and delayed and did not recognize her illness so that she said, let's help other veterans. and the second was, please, help my husband, benn, get the -- ben, get the benefits to care for my children. and her last dying days, she was thinking of others with that heart of a servant and the fierce determination of a warrior. and i remember -- i remember getting the call when i was in my district office. that she was dying. and she would potentially die within a few hours. and i fell to my knees and i cried. i composed myself and i thought, as a physician, there's only certain things i can do in the art and science of medicine. but i know that there's a greater heal

i created the vet center program in 1980 when i was head of the v.a. the fascinating turn of events is he helped save my life on the battlefield april 8, 1968. our last -- our lives crossed for two or three dramatic moments. i become head of the veterans administration. form the vet center program. this young man gets out of the marine corps, joins the army but still suffers from turmoil, becomes maybe 52 bomber pilot and passes a vet center in california and realizes he better go in for counseling. he goes in for counseling and credits that with saving his life. the people in the air force realize he was a b 52 bomber pilot with stress. they said you can't carry nuclear weapons and be a fighter pilot with stress. he was medically retired after 16 years in the service and he now is a counselor himself with other veterans. there is no way you can play that out in a novel. april 8, 1968 he saves my life and someday in the 1980's, he walks into the vet center and i helped save his life. that is the rest of the story. that is the introduction. the forward

the v.a. making benefits that much harder for veterans to attain. brain cancer we should note is not among them. today's action only expanded the list to include some respiratory cancers and constrictive bronchialitis. let's discuss with isaiah james an army veteran, served twice in iraq once in afghanistan and is now a senior policy adviser for the black veterans project and talked quite a bit about burn pits. thank you so much for joining us. according to the iraq and afghanistan veterans of america 86% of post 9/11 veterans who served there say they were exposed to burn pits. you were one of those service members and worked on a burn pit. explain to our audience what that was like and what you are experiencing now. >> what it is like is you don't really understand what it's like. you're just doing what you're told following orders and burning everything. it's hot, dusty, disgusting. my first deployment we had to burn human feces and my third deployment in afghanistan we lived in the mountai

the american rescue plan included $17 billion to support the v.a.'s covered response and to fund programs that provide rapid retraining for veterans who may have lost their jobs in the pandemic, housing assistance, debt forgiveness, and to impress that invest in improving living conditions. we are also working to support military families so they can have what they need to thrive. as secretary mcdonough noted, this veterans day also marks the centennial of the tomb of the unknown. 100 years ago today, an american soldier of the first world war known but to god completed the voyage from an unidentified battlefield in france over the rough atlantic sees, here to arlington national cemetery. he lay under the capitol rotunda for two days on the same plank that held the body of lincoln as 90,000 americans paid respects. he was then escorted from the capital that capitol by the president, the chief justice of the supreme court, and medal of honor recipients all walking without parallel to give honor to the american servicemen or. the generations of america

the v.a. says there's no scientific proof that those illnesses created-- were created by toxic exposure during service and determined that link, the v.a. kealize on data from the national academy of sciences. now, in august, the v.a. eliminated that threshold for that link for less deadly conditions, like asthma. and today the white house is taltalking about cancers that veterans groups say are linked to toxic exposure during service. for cancers, from now on, the v.a. will look at not only national al qaeda of sciences data, but their own real-world data to lower the evidentiary burden to connect cancers with exposure to that toxic smoke during service. the v.a. has 90 days to look into this and report back. >> woodruff: so this is a development. nick, what has been the reaction to what the administration is saying. >> schifrin: the reactions we have heard from rosy torrez, of burn pit 360, who called this today b.s., because of the time it will take, not only the 90-day review, but also anot

i think the v.a. and the dod need to do a better job of improving policies that help folks making the transition. one of the things that i mentioned in my testimony was for the program needing to be a better bridge to federal for programs like snap. from my understanding, the program is -- could be more effective with information about those resources. a lot of the folks who go through the program, it is a firehose of information that is hard to retain. inking about different -- thinking about different ways to link people during the transition is important. the other is looking at providing a six-month transitional snap, temporary, targeted traditional snap program for exiting service members at a certain rank level so they don't have to worry about insecurity during the six months while they are establishing themselves. while there finding a home and finding a job, in the civilian world. something like that would be very helpful for service members during that critical time. rep. lawson: does anyone

he led the v.a. for four years. ultimately in 1996 he was elected united states senator from the state of georgia. i knew senator max cleland just a little bit. i interviewed him a number of times, if you -- honestly, though, like, i'm not bragging, if you spend enough time with him to interview him even once, it was almost impossible not to make friends with him. he was just infectious, like he just -- you ended up becoming friends. i interviewed him a bunch, spent some time with him. i spent a little bit of time with him in his home state of georgia. i'll tell you the thing that you could not escape in the presence of max cleland was the height, the sort of hurricane scale size of his personality. i remember once going into a restaurant with him in buckhead, and it was like the lights went off on every other person in the whole place. the only thing you needed to know about that restaurant for the next two hours was that max cleland was in it because nothing else mattered. the sheer force of him just filled every

it is not just dhs, it is hhs, it is the v.a.. -- it is the v.a. based upon us looking at afghanistan, you take that whole of government problem and apply it to the rest of the united states. everybody has to sit back and think about how to better be prepared to handle these, big wickedly difficult issues. afghanistan is just one of them. >> phil? was that you? >> no, this is kyle. >> let's go with kyle. >> hi, kyle with army times. i had a question. i came in a little late. have you faced any pressure to end the mission of cigar or are you expressing any -- expecting any pressure if you could duplicate cigar's mission and focus it on any effort in the world right now, where would you place that focus? john: there are a lot of folks in this town who do not like us. there are a lot who would like to cs go out of business. -that is ok- see -- see us go out of business. that is ok. ag's should not make friends. we should be mean as junkyard dogs. there is no one in town -- i do not think there is anybody in town who picks up the phone and says "gee, t

i do not want to go back out of the v.a.se it has saved me quite a bit in my medical and it is a lot easier and simpler. i would like to know if i'm able to use the advantage program with my medicare program and my v.a. at the same time. guest: frank, i believe that you are but i would like to recommend that you contact the state health insurance program, which is set up to provide one on one canceling -- counseling for people who are dealing with conflict issues related to their medicare choices. they are available in each state and i think you should call them and get information from them directly because you are hearing different things from different companies. i believe that you can use the v.a. services and also be on medicare advantage plan. situations may vary. that would be my best advice. host: we are hearing a lot of debate on our social media channel on whether you call medicare an earned benefit or welfare. which category would you put medicare under? guest: no question, i call it an earned benefit. host: why?

because the v.a. said there wasn't, quote, unquote, enough evidence to establish a connection between his burn pit exposure and the cancer he developed. look, i'm an emergency medicine physician and a public health expert and in public health and in medicine, it is practice if there is a high enough suspicion based on the evidence available of a harm that causes a severe enough illness, then we need to act on that suspicion. we can't afford to wait decades like we did with agent orange for that perfect study to establish a perfect causality between burn pit exposure and cancer in pulmonary conditions that our veterans are developing and dying from right now. there's enough evidence to act and we must act for veterans like alejandro and help him get the health care and benefits he earned when we sent him to war for our country. alejandro is now cancer-free but the fight continues to give him the benefits he deserves. we're making real progress. bipartisanship progress on this front with legislation lik

i am on medicare advantage, and i am also a veteran, and also use the v.a.. the v.a.as been negotiating for years, but one of the things i have noticed and i am not complaining about their service, it is pretty good. it is that not all medications are available through the v.a., which also means that once medicare begins to negotiate for these prices that there will be medications not available for medicare as well. i am also a little concerned about the fact that the money has to come from somewhere for these companies because, whether we like it or not, they have to make a profit in order to continue to conduct research, and if you do not pay for one end of the population, than the other end of the population will have to pay. i was wondering if perhaps you could address that a little bit more, and thank you kindly for taking my call. guest: thank you so much for your service. i think the first aspect that you brought up about the v.a. is a good point to touch on. the v.a. negotiates drugs and they have a little bit more leverage because they have what is called a f

for decades, we have been trying to get the v.a. to provide us with health care, but the v.a.eeps telling us there is no scientific proof that these that should that this is what is making us sick and there are literally thousands of veterans sick and dying today from this exposure. every time we seem to get close to getting legislation passed even though it is bipartisan, republicans keep voting it down stating that it will cost too much to provide veterans with the health care not only that they erred, but that they deserved. host: thank you for calling and with that issue. we want to show you two thirds page editorial this morning in the new york times. face reality democrats. this is in the new york times. i'm just going to read one line from this very long editorial. a national democratic party that talks up progressive policies at the expense of bipartisan ideas and that dwells on donald trump at the expense of forward-looking ideas is at risk of becoming a marginal democratic party appealing only to the left. new york times. orange, texas. democrat. caller: i want to ma

bill of rights, the v.a. bill, the veterans bill and homeowner, fha homes, independent, small business that's the logical, you know, the logical urban/suburban evolution of a small farming society. 95% of the country were agrarian when we w had the constitution. now 1.5% farm. but we still have a middle class because that evolved into all of these small entrepreneurial people. and they're very essential. so when you start to lose them, and i talk about the way we're losing them, and one final thought -- i don't want to monopolize it, but when you, you can see when you lose that viability, people don't have confidence to get married, they do not have confidence to have children, and they do not have confidence to buy a home. and youuy look at the statistics on when do people get married. fifty years ago, 23 on average. 26 -- now it's about 29. and when do they have their first child? about 33. and when do they have, buy a home? it's in their late 30s. we're going down. we were up to 62% for homeowners and is n