▶ 0:00:00this is the SEC my second term as chairman and it's an honor to serve you the mission of the VA committee has always been personal to me many of you have heard my story of how I grew up around veterans how um my father Army veteran and his brothers my grandfather uh one Navy one Marine Ur yeah um an uncle uh Marine in Vietnam that was victim of
▶ 0:00:30the ultimate oxymoron Friendly Fire uh but was very successful in life and still alive and doing well and that has a lot whole lot to do to the VA and his Services he receives there myself as a marine my son as a marine my grandson is a marine so you know how personalist it is to me and every time I sit at this Das reminded of how important this is and the debating whe whether it's debating with
▶ 0:01:00the agency or the other side of the aisle it's always my focus is on the veteran many of you have watched me and and and known me around here and you see this dirty bracelet cord right here I've wore that ever since coming to Congress and then I'm going to tell you the story on that because about a year and a half ago the guy who gave me that uh we lost him we just knew him as Lieutenant Dan and uh he's
▶ 0:01:30a Vietnam veteran and he made these chords and he came to me just after I was elected to congress and he said I'm going to give you a couple of these and I want you to wear them on a regular basis he says because every time you look down I want you to remember who serve and that helps tremendously now for me it's always been about the veterans it's not about protecting government bureaucracy I know the sacrifices each of you have made especially our
▶ 0:02:00disabled community each of you has fought to protect our constitutional rights I'm particularly proud of the work DAV has done to help disabled veterans and their spouses find employment you know in the testimony that is given uh by you today that the the that uh recovery from an injury is not complete until the veterans are able to Find meaning
▶ 0:02:31and purpose I look forward to hearing more about the da what the daab is doing to help disabled veterans and spouses reach their professional goals and how Congress can help da DAV plays a vitally important role in making sure we advance Common Sense proposals and conduct oversight to meet the needs of the entire veteran community no matter where they live
▶ 0:03:01or where they want to work veterans should have the freedom to use the benefits of VA and VA that VA offers in exchange for their service to meet their individual needs and they shouldn't spend hours driving in a car to get them or combing through wonky paperwork for months on end or needless
▶ 0:03:31waiting for a phone call to get a simple answer you know where VA is falling short and you know where we need to push the agency to bring it out of the Stone Age and into the new age you have my commitment that as long as I'm in charge we will continue to fight for you the hundreds and thousands of veterans outside the DCA Beltway who just want their Health Care
▶ 0:04:01on time and their benefits when they need them you know this old Corporal takes this Mission seriously and I know our new VA secretary and my friend Doug Collins does too under PR president Trump's leadership I know we're going to put you veteran in the VA service back at the center of va Mission and when The Bu bureaucracy tries to get in
▶ 0:04:31the way I will continue to be the first to hold them accountable and get the answers for you we made great progress with through the Dole act last Congress and I appreciate the av's support for this legislation by working together we can accomplish some tremendous wins because of the do act we have a law that will help streamline the dis disability claims process reduce veterans homelessness strengthen
▶ 0:05:02mental health care and improve access to atome care and much more the Dole Act was create was a great victory for our veterans but there's much more that we can do and will do with your help now my door has always and will continue to be open to you we must deliver for our veterans to protect their health care choice expand economic and educational
▶ 0:05:32opportunities streamline benefits and get it done I promise to keep up the fight we all are in together now is not the time to take our foot off the gas I look forward to completing our mission alongside of you thank you again for being here today and with that I now recognize chairman Moran for his opening comments chairman boss thank you thank you for hosting this joint hearing
▶ 0:06:02and we look forward to this continuing the Senate will host in a few weeks and we'll see you on our side of the building but it's good to be here with you it's good to be here with your members good to be here with my ranking member Senator Blumenthal and the ranking member of the House Senator or Tano and uh I welcome our vsos uh our Witnesses and there those here present and those at home watching I too say a special hello to all vsso members that are here or tuning
▶ 0:06:32in today from Kansas I'm grateful to the vso leadership test fine today I've met we've discussed and being here in person to now to share their great passion and expertise for having for supporting veterans their families and their survivors policies and programs that we will discuss today depend upon a strong and effective Workforce at the VA to deliver the care and benefits veterans deserve I'm committed to working with vsos and my colleagues to make certain that the necessary VA
▶ 0:07:02Workforce is preserved as VA implements new federal Workforce guidance this committee has asked the senate committee has asked for lists of those who are impacted by actions uh broken down by location and occupation the VA has said none of these employees were in Mission critical positions including no vcl responders the VA has said there's a process in place that allows ows for the first senior executive in an impacted employees chain of
▶ 0:07:33command to request an exemption I have asked for and expect to receive but I'm continuing to wait for further details about this process the VA must be forthcoming and transparent to Congress to vsos to the public to its Workforce regarding Workforce strategy we're all engaged in attempts to root out any waste fraud or abuse that is prevalent or or is present and we're all interested in putting the veteran first we await additional
▶ 0:08:03answers to our questions I thank you and I look forward to today's hearing you uh thank you chairman Ren I now recognize uh ranking member Tano for his opening comment thank you Mr chairman uh today we continue our annual tradition of jointly welcoming veterans service organizations to testify before Congress about their legislative priorities and I'm pleased to welcome our first panel of the national commander and representatives of the disabled
▶ 0:08:33American veterans and our second panel representatives from ambet Vietnam Veterans of America the military order of the Purple Heart the blinded veterans association veterans education success the gold star wives of America and the reserve organization of America and I'd like to extend a special welcome to dav's National Commander Dan cones who hails from Sherman Oaks California where practically neighbors and it's great to see you again sir and speaking of Californians
▶ 0:09:04are there any Californians in the room this morning I see one very special one at the very center of the table I know he's there to to introduce uh introduce you Mr contras he's my neighbor uh we're hearing these hearings are important because they're a great opportunity for us to hear from the vsos about issues impacting veterans in their daily lives and it was at these hearings in 22 when the vsos stood in solidarity calling on Congress to
▶ 0:09:34pass the honoring ourpact act that finally convinced the holdouts to get on board without you we would have never have passed the largest expansion of veterans health care and benefits since the Vietnam War Without You millions of veterans would still be struggling to access health care for the toxic exposure they experienced in their service to our country I will always be grateful to the vsos for helping us get it done as I've said since it passed the PCT Act
▶ 0:10:05was never meant to be a oneandone there's still so much more work to be done because the PCT was not only about toxic exposure it's also about our promise to ensure that veterans have access to their care and benefits and that we do everything we can to end veteran homelessness and Veteran suicide address the new categories of illness and injury associated with military service for example blast injury and Military traumatic brain
▶ 0:10:35injury finally achieve guard and Reserve parity ensure that VA is welcoming to All Veterans who have earned the right to be there ensure that va's infrastructure can support its Mission and so much more but unfortunately given today's political climate I'm not optimistic about our chances I'm afraid these hearings are occurring in a very different atmosphere year now I have grave concerns about how president Trump's
▶ 0:11:05executive orders are being carried out across the federal government most especially at the Department of Veterans Affairs and yes uh yes chairman Moran I tooo have questions and I too think that veterans deserve those answers to the questions we have I question how purging the workforce firing the Watchdogs and making VA hostile to certain veterans is helping VA serve veterans better I think serving veterans is why we are all here it is
▶ 0:11:35certainly why I am here and why I serve on this committee because I think there is no higher calling or honor than to serve those who have served since he was sworn in I've requested information from secretary secretary Collins about his implementation of the executive orders and his employment actions against VA employees none of which he has responded this is very troubling we deserve answers it is my hope that I can count
▶ 0:12:06on the vso community to help us hold VA accountable to All Veterans and that you will also hold Congress accountable by making sure action is behind our words that we are being held accountable for carrying out our constitutional oversight responsibilities by asking tough questions demanding answers and taking legis ative action when it is needed we cannot waver on this because we know that veterans are dependent
▶ 0:12:36on us thank you Mr chairman I yield back thank you Mr conell I now recognize ranking member Blumenthal for his opening comment thank you Mr chairman uh I want to thank you and the ranking member on the house side and my chairman on the Senate side for your leadership uh these issues have been by partisan and I think the record ought to reflect Mr chairman that we have a full room standing room only thank you all for being here today and showing your solidarity with the Veterans
▶ 0:13:06of America and we may have a couple of people from Connecticut I'm not sure but welcome to all of you a few uh as the chairman indicated we're here today in support of veterans and it's very much a family affair less than 1% of all Americans these days have anything to do with service in our military
▶ 0:13:36but they are among the most deserving the most patriotic the most dedicated Among Us two of my sons have served one as a combat infantry officer in Afghanistan in the Marine Corps and and the other as a Navy SEAL and uh they they are both proud veterans and they keep me on the straight and narrow uh we are here today at a pretty momentous and important time
▶ 0:14:07and I'm just going to be very blunt our VA is under assault the Veterans of America are assault just last night another 1,400 members of the veterans family were fired from their VA jobs many of the those who were fired are themselves veterans who have dedicated their life to serving veterans that brings the number to
▶ 0:14:38now 2400 who have been fired with no credible explanation and I recommend to you the statement that was issued by the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Commander Al lipart just last night I'm not going to read it all but I ask Mr chairman that it be entered into the record if there's no it says and I'm quoting we're losing
▶ 0:15:08people who are genuinely committed to the mission and find a continued sense of purpose in what they do that describes just about all of our VA employees who have dedicated their lives many of them to serving our veterans this past month assault in my view on the VA Workforce and on the federal Workforce generally will do significant and irreparable harm to the delivery
▶ 0:15:38of your care and benefits as I mentioned just last night secretary Collins fired another 1,400 more employees without notice and cause and all in the name of cost savings even though we all know that the cost will be higher in the long run if you don't care for a veteran when he or she needs it now it will only be more
▶ 0:16:10later as veterans you deserve a VA comprised of the very best medical providers claims processors Cemetery directors and other critical staff regardless of cost but in this instance the cost will be higher from these Savings in the name of eliminating waste Elon Musk and Doge are laying waste to the
▶ 0:16:40VA and the VA National Commander put it well when he said that Elon Musk is bulldogging the VA and other agencies the attacks on the VA staff since January 20th are already having real life impacts in the field and all of you are hearing from our fellow veterans all of you are hearing their stories their individual life
▶ 0:17:12impacts my office spoke to one employee last night moments after she found out that she'd been terminated from her job with the Veterans Crisis Line which of course saves people when they are thinking about taking their own lives he's a 100% service connected disabled veterans and an active duty military spouse with outstanding performance reviews her job is to ensure training
▶ 0:17:42is provided to other Veterans Crisis Line responders empowering to them to do their jobs better another 100% disabled veteran who served his country for 14 years did four combat tours and has 10 years years of service fired a veteran who was the lead coordinator on dozens of contract for va8 and had a five out of five performance rating on her last review
▶ 0:18:13fired a disabled Army veteran who successfully transitioned out of homelessness and now has a bachelor's and two master's degrees and who chose to serve his fellow veterans on the veterans Health Administration fired I could spend the rest of the morning with a list real life impacts these men and women weren't fired because of poor performance they were arbitrarily fired because someone looked at an algorithm or
▶ 0:18:43at a status and saw probationary even though they might have been promoted and are in a probationary status in that new job and decided fired if you believe that the VA is a system worth saving and I think everybody in this does we're going to need your help we're going to need you to be the voice and face of
▶ 0:19:14millions and I mean millions of veterans across the country whose care and benefits is at stake as we begin the first of six panels over the next two weeks my fellow lawmakers in both the house and the Senate need you to be candid and strong the VFW national Commander noted
▶ 0:19:44that next week on March 4th he's going to be here before this committee and he said quote I want to see hats in the hallways of our Capital as our legislative committee members in engage with lawmakers in demanding that they quote honor the contract end quote the government has made with those who have already served and sacrificed so much for America it's
▶ 0:20:14time to apply pressure and stop the bleeding end quote I hope we see hats in the hallways I hope we see heads in the hallways from all of you and others and I really want to thank you for being here today this picture is worth a thousand words let's keep fighting thank you I back thanks Senator
▶ 0:20:44I have said this once I'll say it again I trust secretary Collins in doing the right thing for veterans taxpayers to effectively right size and reorganize VA to work work better for men and women it serves one because I he is himself a veteran and two because he knows the mission in serving Veterans as chairman and as veteran
▶ 0:21:14myself my mission is the veterans the people sitting in front of us right now are my number one priority not protecting bureaucracy let me say that again veterans who are sitting in front of me right now are who I'm fighting for bureaucracy that should be and will continue to be the priority of Republicans
▶ 0:21:44on this committee we would be lying to each other and all of you if we said that everything at the VA is perfect and there aren't any improvements that need to be made to make the agency work better now that includes the workforce I take secretary Collins at his word when he says there will be no impact to the delivery of care benefits services for
▶ 0:22:15our veterans in this plan my colleagues on the other side of the aisle continue to spread false information about what's happened and to scare and use Veterans as Pawns VA has reduced its Workforce by less than 1% let me say that again by less than 1% you do understand that there's over 400,000 employees in the VA
▶ 0:22:45I also want to say the VA had a record of hiring and a surge over this last year the last Administration acknowledged many times that they were over hiring and were hoping to manage this problem through employment employee turnover we've heard this song before and I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will stop using veterans and their families as political posturing I trust that secretary Collins president Trump are doing
▶ 0:23:15the right thing for the millions of veterans VA servs as long as I'm chairman I will continue to focus on the results for those men and women who have served and our veterans who we are serving not the bureaucracies and let me also say this not only are veterans veterans they're taxpayers they're also concerned that they want to make sure that when they go to the VA they receive the services
▶ 0:23:45that they need to and that the bureaucracy hasn't grown so big that they're focusing on other areas than the physical treatments that they need to receive at the VA or the mental health they need to receive at the VA there's nothing wrong with making sure that our VA is operating best for you and understand that's where we're at and I look forward to making sure we move forward in a way
▶ 0:24:16that the services are provided at the rate and the place and the time that the veteran needs them not having to jump through the Hoops that I talked about earlier in my opening statement but with that let's get back to the business at hand improving the delivery care and services and benefits VA for you with that I will now want to yield to representative agular to introduce uh the disabled American veterans Commander representative agalar
▶ 0:24:46you are now recognized thank you chairman BOS uh chairman Moran ranking members Tano and Blumenthal our colleagues in the Senate and in the house I'm privileged to address your committee today to introduce Commander Daniel contras as you know the disabled American veterans organization was established after World War I and is played a vital role after every military conflict in promoting the welfare of our nation's Veterans as they were returned home to reintegrate into civilian life
▶ 0:25:17a comback medic and comback medic and nurse from 1980 to 1996 Commander contrerus Rose to the rank of Sergeant First Class he spent his entire civilian in life working to help other veterans injured during their service he's a role model and a pillar of our community back home in Southern California he's a fixture in San berardino or in Riverside and throughout California up and down the state and now across this nation it is an incredible
▶ 0:25:47honor for our community to watch someone who has given so much be recognized as a champion for Veterans as your committee looks to the role of the vsos I know that Commander trus will be an invaluable resource for your committee and a fierce advocate for the veterans that he represents this is a difficult time for our nation's Veterans as you've all mentioned in your opening statements disabled veterans already face significant hardship in employment housing and accessing
▶ 0:26:17health care we should not be taking steps to add to this burden I trust that the voices of America's disabled veterans will continue to inform the work that you undertake to uphold hold our nation's sacred obligation to those who have worn the uniform thank you so much Mr chairman and I yield back thank you uh thank you for being here as well uh and Commander you are now recognized for 10 minutes for to deliver your opening statement and thank you again for being here thank you for that
▶ 0:26:48thank you for that kind introduction representative agular I very much appreciate the work we were able to accomplish together and proide providing our veterans access to their records through the wound Wounded Warrior access act chairman Moran and boss ranking members Blumenthal and Tano and members of the Committees on Veterans Affairs thank you for the opportunity to present the 2025 legislative priorities of DAV Disabled American Veterans an organization representing nearly 1 million members all of whom return
▶ 0:27:18from wartime service changed my written testimony details D's key legislative goals for the 119th Congress and summarizes our many programs and accomplishments throughout the last year so I'll use my limited time today to highlight some of our most pressing critical policy goals but first let me introduce my dve colleagues joining me today National agitant Bar josi Washington headquarters executive director Randy ree national
▶ 0:27:48service director Jim marel National legislative director Joy Elum National voluntary service director John Klein National caregiver support program director Ron Mentor National Employment director Lamar caler and auxiliary National Commander Christopher Easley I'd also like to recognize the many DAV members and leaders sitting behind me today not every member could make the trip to Washington but their contributions have been critical
▶ 0:28:19to dav's success as a nation's Premier veteran service organization others have supported dav's vital Mission over the past year they include our senior and Junior Vice commanders who step up to serve once again and leaders of the DAV auxiliary I wish to express my gratitude to our national executive committee and members of the national legislative inter committee the Department of California as well as my chief of staff en Ricky Ramos for all
▶ 0:28:49of their support and finally I want to thank my beautiful wife Teresa who has remained a steadfast partner and supporter of my myself and everywhere Mr chairman I sit before you as a service disabled veteran who served as a combat medic and nurse for 16 years my path to joining the military was well was laid well before me as I saw my brothers and sisters raise their hands swearing to defend our
▶ 0:29:19nation and the Constitution I decided it was my turn I intended to enlist as a Navy Corman but I found the Army to be the best bet for me the Army offered me an immense opportunity that continues to pay dividends today as a medic it opened up the world of caring once I saw the healing side of service I knew I was hooked while my time in uniform ended my career
▶ 0:29:49helping veterans was taken flight early in my civilian transition I reconnected with an army buddy who introduced me to DAV and the services we provide What drew me to this organization more than anything was a chance to secure Justice for my fellow veterans and make sure that a sacred promise was kept it was a new kind of caring one that doesn't go away as we older Mr chairman veterans need access to a full Continuum of
▶ 0:30:19long-term care and caregiver support that necessity has grown substantially and will continue to do so as veterans who served in America am's longest war continue to age the Department of Veterans Affairs projects that in 10 years the number of veterans aged 85 and older will increase by a third and women veterans in this age group could more than double to meet aging veteran needs the VA offered several caregiver support programs
▶ 0:30:49however gaps still exist veteran caregivers have proved to be lifesaving they provide some of the most essential support to Veterans putting in countless hours often sacrificing their own well-being to care for another and many do so by foregoing a traditional career and at a great cost to their personal health the caregiving isn't without its own costs taxpayers benefit because of the services caregivers
▶ 0:31:20provide which keep veterans from requiring government funded assistance but Studies have shown that over 60% of caregivers experience burnout we see that in the community we serve and sadly most don't know where to turn for help when it comes to caregiving for me it's personal I know it's an area that needs more Focus because I live it as a veteran and a caregiver to my wife who is battling stage four
▶ 0:31:51cancer having this experience that no one asked for provides Insight I've stood by her side through multiple surgeries during chemotherapy radiation infusion and a medical trial like every caregiver I know I do it all in a heartbeat and I know with every fiber of my being that if the you were on the other foot she'd be there me this is such a crucial area and we need to help veteran caregivers
▶ 0:32:21by providing comprehensive resources including training and financial assistance and requiring the VA to offer more Assisted Living care options at DAV we operate our own caregiver support initiative to help these unsung heroes since its Inception in October of 2023 daav caregiver support has connected over 1,400 caregivers to a host of public and
▶ 0:32:51resources while we are exceptionally proud of the success of our program the responsibility to provide such support ultimately rests with the VA and we urge Congress to increase resources for expanding homebased services and create Assisted Living options for service disabled veterans this will help us ensure that veterans can live in their own homes with respect and dignity Mr chairman another crucial and critical
▶ 0:33:22issue for DAV is ensuring that no toxic exposed veteran is Left Behind American Service members have been harmed by toxic exposures since dav's Founders returned From The Trenches of World War I with the help and Leadership of these committees the PCT Act created more than 20 presumptive conditions for burn pits and other toxic exposures and we thank you for that
▶ 0:33:56recognition in addition to expanding Health Care access and benefits to millions of veterans they are no longer burdened to prove their exposures cause these cancers and illnesses and while the PCT act has been transformational the law does not cover every toxic exposed veteran those who served at Fort mlen and other areas still face an uphill battle to prove their illnesses is a result of exposure but doing so can be
▶ 0:34:26impossible especially years years or later and it also did not include adequate accountability and transparency that's why DV and the Military Officers Association of America researched the history of presumptive conditions for toxic exposures and produc a groundbreaking report and we found that veterans had been forced to wait on average more than 34 years after exposure before VA established presumptives for benefits and Healthcare
▶ 0:34:56saying that that is too long is an understatement of massive proportions veterans have died waiting for justice that eludes their survivors but if we continue teaming up as we did to get the pack act to the president's desk we can make such injustices a thing of the past we shared our findings and recommendations last September in our report ending the wait for toxic
▶ 0:35:27exposed and based on our findings we call on Congress to pass legislation that would expand research on toxic exposures launch an independent scientific review process and establish a veterans commission together we can help and the wait for toxic exposed veterans Mr chairman a fully funded VA is absolutely vital
▶ 0:35:57to ensuring ill and injured veterans receive the care and benefits they have earned underfunding or delayed funding can have dire consequences for veterans who rely on VA disability compensation or health care it's not an exaggeration to say in many cases this is life or death but efforts have been hampered from a law Congress passed in 2010 limiting its ability to increase federal spending the underlying principle that is any new laws must
▶ 0:36:27not increase any deficits in practice Congress must now offset new benefits by cutting existing ones this arbitrary and black and white rule known as pay as you go or payo is dangerous and it doesn't consider the needs of veterans when determining where and how tax dollars are spent but unlike every other government program veterans benefits and Healthcare have already been paid for through the sacrifices of those who serve
▶ 0:37:08period And there are other drastic proposals that seek to balance the federal budget on the backs of those who guaranteed a free and prosperous Nation this is wrong even under the pretext of responsibility proposals include taxing VA disability compensations or phasing out certain unemployability benefits when veterans reach a retirement age there's also suggestions to reduce VA disability compensation levels across the board for future and current
▶ 0:37:38veterans there's even talk of ending lower disability payments altogether as if to say your service and sacrifice doesn't matter if it doesn't rise to more serious levels this is idea is perilous cruel and deeply flawed we hope that you will summarily dismiss this we appreciate that Mr
▶ 0:38:08chairman we must ensure that the new administration's promise of a golden age for America strengthens how we care for our veterans but we're seeing organized efforts to Cil what veterans have earned and deserve a VA that is laer focus on providing the best possible care and timely benefits to Veterans there families caregivers and survivors to follow through on this promise veterans need Congress in their Corners as
▶ 0:38:38they have been in ours in this guilded era we must ensure that veterans benefits are reinforced not clawed back the Department of Veterans Affairs needs to be fully funded and have predictable budgets veterans Health Care should be enhanced and streamlined all while ensuring VA provides the right options to to meet their evolving needs together we have the chance to follow through on the social contract disabled veterans have earned and we hope you will join us in this
▶ 0:39:09fight America is counting on it may God continue to bless daav the men and women who serve our great nation and the United States of America thank you
▶ 0:39:39thank you can commander canteras and uh for your testimony and um members be advised that we rather than our normal five minutes we'll have three minutes for the sheer number that and we have a second panel to get to but we do want to get the qu to the questions and I'll recognize myself for 3 minutes um that Commander um dab supports my bill HR 740 that's the veterans
▶ 0:40:09access Act of 2025 which expands community care options can you explain what this bill would do in support of our veterans thank you chairman boss that's a very very important question and I'd like to ask our legislative director joy elim to answer that question thank you Commander we appreciate the access act and um I know
▶ 0:40:39that for a long time with long ter uh with um uh Community Care there have been a number of issues that have been uh needed fixing and we appreciate the timeliness of that um bill that's been introduced we appreciate working with your staff on that um while we have a few Provisions that we'd like to see uh changed we think overall it's a good bill it's we appreciate it we want to make sure that veterans when they have uh to use Community Care they have
▶ 0:41:09timely access to that care and services and especially um specialized services like residential rehab treatment programs thank you thank you for that answer um Commander uh next question is you know I'm grateful first off for the DAV that uh it's past support of my legislation that the second amendment protection act which would ensure that the veterans with fiduciary that need fiduciary receive the same due process rights as every other American
▶ 0:41:40before their constitutional rights are taken away is this legislation something that dab will continue to support thank you once again uh chairman boss that's a very important question I think uh you'll find it Dave's position is we're not going to take or support any anything that takes away constitutional rights from our veterans I think our national executive director Randy ree could even go further into dav's position
▶ 0:42:10Randy thank you chairman Bost uh last year we definitely supported legislation to make sure that veterans rights uh are not Abridged and that their constitutional due process is also protected we appreciate your legislation you have on board I appreciate that very much with that I will now yield to uh Senator Moran uh chairman Moran for his questions chairman boss thank you very much Commander great to see you in this setting and
▶ 0:42:40thank you for the conversations that we've had um the packed act has been a topic of conversation in your testimony um the packed act part of the PCT act uh the secretary is required to hold quarterly engagements with vsos to collaborate with with partner with and give weight to the advice of veteran service organizations and other such stakeholders what has been the experience uh your experience thus far with the provisions this provision of the PCT act could you describe
▶ 0:43:10whether these engagements are taking place and what value they provide to Veterans what type of insight and feedback are you able to provide the secretary on behalf of your members during these engagements thank you recomend ran that that's a very insightful question and I know that our national service director Jim marle could provide great insight into that marel thank you Commander uh yes so the the quarterly updates aren't occurring
▶ 0:43:41right we do provide they the VA does meet with us frequently so we are collaborating a lot but we're not getting information we really need and as you know our our ending the weight report that we published 34.1 years on average from a time a veterans exposed to a time of presumption is actually established that's very concerning it's way too long so we got to do better and part of the pack act required to study to begin on Fort MCL and and those exposures and what residual disabilities can be attributed to those
▶ 0:44:11exposures uh that study started 30 months ago and we still don't have any updates to what's occurring so VA does got to provide more regular updates with more information and be more inclusive in these studies when we're talking about establishing in addition to providing information the goal of that provision is for you to provide information to them how they can better implement the act and care for more veterans true absolutely sir I appreciate although I'm disappointed by your answer I appreciate your frankness uh and we'll work to see that the VA is doing what the law requires me a this thing of
▶ 0:44:41passing legislation is hugely important but if it's not implemented uh to its fullest extent we're really missing out on the benefits that we provide um Commander contras uh what specific strategies can be implemented to close the gaps in mental health care for veterans well I thank you again for your question Frankie member Moran I believe dav's position is that there should
▶ 0:45:11be a comprehensive review on on how we can do things not just one way and I would say that our legislative director Joy elim could definitely give you more thank you uh chairman Moran uh VA does a great job of Mental Health Services providing Mental Health Services to Veterans but there's always room for improvement one program that we think is excellent program and initiative is their uh firearm safety counseling
▶ 0:45:42uh we know that so many veterans who do take their lives unfortunately do so using a firearm it's like 72 73% we have to make sure that those veterans feel comfortable being able to talk to their provider and get the access to the counseling that they need to put that time and distance between them and that firearm during a period of Crisis and I think that's one initiative that we can um really via can continue to build on thank you for highlighting that program Mr chairman thank you Senator the uh ranking
▶ 0:46:12member Tano you're now recognized for three minut yeah thank you Mr chairman you were a bit distracted when Senator Blumenthal asked for uh the VFW calls on Administration Congress to stop indiscriminate firing a veterans statement uh can we unanimous consent to have it entered without objection don't approve thank you uh Commander contrerus did you see the VFW statement last night related to the Trump administration's indiscriminate firing of veterans have you seen this statement thank you ranking member Tano we
▶ 0:46:42have seen that thank you do you agree that the indiscriminate firing of thousands of veterans from the federal Workforce is troubling Dave is highly concerned with with what's going on with with VA because we know that that's going to take away the expedition of being able to accomplish so many things not only in health care but on claims processing I would like to ask our executive director Randy ree to respond further well if you mind I just want to get
▶ 0:47:12through the some of these questions um absolutely do you agree that the termination of thousands of federal employees including thousands of veterans who are continuing to serve our great nation after taking off the uniform means that American taxpayers are losing technical expertise training and security clearances that we're that are that we already brought bought and paid for um that maybe that maybe uh Mr ree elaborate most definitely thank you rank member Tano um
▶ 0:47:42we view the series of actions from return to work hiring frees delayed resignation probationary employee terminations all is just unprofessional acts that's not how you treat people you don't treat your own staff that way way um these are not widgets these are human beings and that's got to that's got to end well thank you uh Mr contras do you command uh uh do you does DAV intend to issue its own statement related to this destruction of the federal
▶ 0:48:13Workforce can you repeat that question do you do you all intend to issue your own statement um regarding the the to the destruction of the federal Workforce through these firings we are actively working on our own statement thank you um this you know uh to my knowledge uh two over two million claims under the PCT act alone not including regular claims have been processed um and that's because there was a surge in hiring at the VBA
▶ 0:48:43made possible by The Pact act I can't name the thousands of of claims process that were hired um but you are aware that uh that VA told Congress that at the VHA that we are short on underst staff by 40,000 employees does that seem right to you that number Joy yes that's what we hear um and you know just in terms of providing the demand is higher um for for
▶ 0:49:13services um we've had the expansion with the packed Act of veterans coming in so absolutely there's still we have a staffing shortages that have been noted by the Inspector General so the PAC made 3.5 million veterans theoretically eligible for uh for benefits uh in Just 2 years 2 million claims have been processed made possible by The Surge in hiring at VA now that they're cutting um VA still tells us that more veterans have
▶ 0:49:43made been been made eligible but uh but that we are still short 40,000 highe uh 40,000 employees at the VHA to serve those veterans Healthcare um I fail to see uh any Rhyme or Reason to these firings um and um you know I want to work with the VA to make sure that we hold want to work with the the uh the DAV to make sure that we hold uh VA accountable and Congress
▶ 0:50:13accountable to make sure veterans are served I yield back thank you ranking member uh Senator King you're recognized three minutes thank you Mr chairman I would um call to the mention of of the DAV a very troubling paragraph in something called project 2025 which I suspect you have heard of which uh seems to be the template for this administration's approach here's the sentence that I hope
▶ 0:50:44you will attend to the next Administration should explore how veterans reviews should be accelerated with clearance from om to Target significant significant cost saing savings from revising disability rating awards for future claimants and listen to this while preserving them fully or partially for existing claimants Mr leader how do you feel about that idea
▶ 0:51:14well anything that is going to take U Senator King apologize anything that's going to take away from veterans benefits we do not support that we're aware of project 202's initiatives not to reduce category seven and8 also to tax veterans benefits or to look at unemployment benefits as far as at self security age so I
▶ 0:51:44would say that we would not be in in favor of that and there is uh one of our critical policy goals and and it outlines that that we need to protect those benefits and there is um there'll be a great opposition to that and we had the secretary visit our midyear conference recently and he stated and we're going to hold him to it that he's putting veterans first that would not be putting veterans
▶ 0:52:14first I appreciate that we've been talking a lot about the layoffs in fact combining the hiring frees and normal attrition with the recent layoffs we're really down about 5,000 people at the VA in the last month now the secretary when he released his statement last night said in fact veterans are going to notice a change for the better my question to you and to the veterans is tell us if that's what you notice the power
▶ 0:52:44is with the veterans and you need to use your voice it's hard for me to believe that these cuts which have been made in the last 20 days as near as I can tell pretty indiscriminately are going to change things for the better for the veteran so uh and by the way talking about bureaucracy in my view the person that answers the phone can be as important as the person that delivers the care if a
▶ 0:53:19calls if a veteran calls for a health care appointment and there's no one there to answer the phone that's a Deni of benefits just as sure as if they can't see the doctor so I hope that the people in this room will hold us accountable and thereby the agency the department the new secretary to truly putting veterans first that's an easy phrase to say but I look at what's actually being done
▶ 0:53:49thank you Mr chairman for the work you've done thank you senator representative rwagon you're recognized for three minutes thank you I want to thank the uh panel for appearing today thank the chairman and ranking members and uh thank you for your sacrifice and service to our nation Commander Contreras what are some of the challenges veterans face when accessing metal
▶ 0:54:20Mental Health Care at VA and what role do vsos play in connecting veterans with Mental Health Resources representative thank you very much for that question it is something that of course mental health is is uh critical issue not only from suicide prevention and other aspects and Alternatives but I would like
▶ 0:54:50to ask our legislative director joy elim to elaborate further I would just add to that that timeliness is of this is essential in terms of Mental Health Services EA provides great Services wrap around uh all types of options of mental health services from the crisis line to the vet centers to impatient care but those specialized services are really critical to those who are struggling with PTSD and chronic conditions like a substance use disorder and veterans
▶ 0:55:20are telling us they want to get those Services um the demand for them is increasing we need to make sure that we break away those um barriers to accessing those Services thank you thank you Mr chairman I yield back the balance of my time thank you representative Senator Tillis you are now recognized for three minutes thank you Mr chairman thank you all for being here I have to ask the obligatory question how many people are either from North Carolina or spent some time
▶ 0:55:50at one of our bases well thank you all come back and visit um I uh a quick question I know I think it's on page begins on page 17 some of the things that you all would like to consider as enhancements to the pack act to make it work U I think uh many of you probably know I voted against the pack act but it wasn't for a lack of being a material contributor to it the team Act and the camp leure uh toxic language uh
▶ 0:56:20alone but I was worried about the implementation now so when you answer if you can answer and use the balance of my time one I still see headwinds on funding we saw the $3 billion shortfall before and I see more I see also headwinds on weit times these are all things that I anticipated that hopefully we were going to fix before we got p uh didn't happen um so if you could answer that and I'd also like to know I I get the uh the narrative
▶ 0:56:51about the job elimination so I I I particularly have a problem with somebody who's not in the VA suggesting job Cuts but now we have uh we have secretary Collins there and I have a lot of respect for him he's an even kill person he got bipartisan support I think he's going to be a good leader but if y'all can people are talking about gross numbers in an organization that has tens of thousands of employees so if you can point to any eliminations that you're aware of today that you think are mission critical to
▶ 0:57:21to Veterans I'd like to know that I don't have that information I don't know if you do yet but I have request of that so tell me a little bit about the eliminations whether or not you believe they're admission you have evidence of their admission critical operations and give me some suggestions on homework for how we get the PCT act to where I hoped it was when we passed it when we when we when we should have pass it I should say and I'm assuming that's Mr ree thank you Senator thank you Senator it a long winning question
▶ 0:57:52well in the big picture uh there are lots of of uh our members bringing to our attention that they are leaving the workforce from all the different methodologies that's been put out there uh from return to work they leave hiring frees they leave delayed they leave and now with this period probably the most concerning to us is we would rather have disabled veterans and their spouses unemployed than working at
▶ 0:58:22the US Department of Veterans Affairs I mean that's a sad thing to say I agree I I agree with that but I want to I'm a very boring Management Consultant fact-based sort of guy so if you all could provide me with specific instances of mission critical jobs or that situation that you gave me clearly there's no Republican that's going to be any more comfortable with that than a Democrat but if we can get that information on exactly how some of these terminations have affected service levels
▶ 0:58:52or a threat to uh wait times that's very important for the secretary to have because I'll guarantee you he wants those service levels to be the best they ever were thank you all for your service God bless you come back to North Carolina soon thank you Senator Congressman papis you are recognized for three minutes thank you very much Mr chairman I want to welcome all the veterans here today I thank you Commander for your testimony I had a great meeting with New Hampshire DAV folks last night in my office so I want to thank
▶ 0:59:22all the veterans from the Live Free or Die State who are joining us here today those conversations are so important because we can't just simply count on VA or Congress to get it right um we need the veteran input and feedback along the way so we look forward to Future conversations and uh continuing to shape an agenda that's going to make things better for America's veterans I wanted to bring up a piece of legislation that I think is critically important it's a bill that I'm going to reintroduce this Congress called the guard VA benefits act which would reinstate criminal
▶ 0:59:52penalties for unaccredited claims Representatives or claim sharks who charge unauthorized fees for assisting so you've heard of these guys they charge unauthorized fees for assisting veterans with VA claims so I want to applaud dav's VA accredited Representatives the only individuals who are authorized to prepare present or prosecute VA claims under strict
▶ 1:00:23Regulatory and ethical standards in contrast these unaccredited Representatives operate without such oversight often engaging in predatory practices and prey on Veterans it's disgraceful so VA and its limited ability um can't enforce the law because of the explicit criminal penalties were stripped from the law decades ago uh we've come across a lot of dubious arguments about my legislation but I'd love to hear from the veteran perspective about the guard VA benefits Act and the need to take on these claim
▶ 1:00:54Commander thank you representative that is certainly a critical issue with us especially when not only daav provides at a national level free services we have our department service officers our chapter service officers I came from the world to being a service officer and I know daab is prepared to help in that claims process in any way possible so we are looking
▶ 1:01:25at these predatory actors is really one not being competent but also you're hearing where for a 10% claim veterans are paying $30,000 that's ridiculous so we're asking that there becomes more of of a process of being able to be accredited with VA and not being able to have access to our veterans their claims or information and also list
▶ 1:01:55who's available we're available and we we can handle it I know there's been talk that there are so many claims that are going on but we don't rest on our Laurels we help that one veteran and move on to the next one and that's what we believe we can do and get rid of these predatory actors well thank you Commander for that commitment for the work that DAV does each and every day it makes a difference we want to continue to hear from you as we do our work here in Congress I yield back thank you uh General
▶ 1:02:26man you're recognized for three minutes thank you uh thanks for all of our Witnesses for being here any michiganders in the crowd all right any yers okay oh there's got to be one everywhere we required to have one all right well very good uh you know um I'm looking forward to working with all of you continuing as a as a fellow veteran and served all over the world U I've seen The Good the Bad and the Ugly of human behavior but U we are a free country
▶ 1:02:56because our veterans step up and and do what we need to do to guarantee that we have freedom so let's uh let's get to the the business here uh uh Commander contras last Congress DAV endorsed legislation that I introduced along with Congress woman brownley the veterans spinal trauma access to new devices or veteran stand act as you might remember the bill would codify the va's obligation to offer annual examinations for spinal Court injured
▶ 1:03:26and disabled or SD veterans take steps to improve the Outreach for those who are eligible and sure Paralyzed Veterans are are able to be assessed and provided for the with these assistant advices uh could you please describe the the benefits if you will of preventative health screenings so preventative health screenings like those provided by the the seci for the SD veterans thank you General we appreciate that important question
▶ 1:03:56to fully address the specifics I'm going to ask our legislative director joy elim to respond great bill and we appreciate that and we support uh making sure that veterans especially those who have uh catastrophic injuries spinal cord injuries um have the access to um all of the services that they need and new in and uh Innovative uh technologies that are coming forward and those preventative um uh you know know appointments
▶ 1:04:27uh to make sure that they have access to know what might be an option best for them are critical and so we're we appreciate those Provisions being included in the Bill thank you and uh you know we all know that there are challenges for the disabled veterans to when they're seeking the to get um if you will um qualified for and and assessed for so uh we have to re understand that new technology appears every day and we have to be realistic about how
▶ 1:04:57we advance new technologies to better provide those uh you know assisted um services for the veterans another quick I see we got about a half a minute left but uh Commander contras I I see that DAV supports legislation directing the VA to research and make available effective psychedelic compounds for treating mental health conditions and traumatic brain injury for those of you uh who may not be aware I'm the co-chair of the path caucus psychedelic assisted therapy along with
▶ 1:05:27my my dear friend and colleague L kah from California any thoughts or comments on what do you think the the VA role should play in advancing the promising field in that area of medicine through research whatever thank you once again general for that question I I can say that uh dav's position is certainly that we should look at Alternatives uh as I addressed earlier that my wife AA is going through
▶ 1:05:58her challenges and so obviously there needs to be some alternative choices so Sila iban is one of them that that is being introduced with her but I will let our legislative director I see him over my time so make it quick no that's okay whoever you going to just but the answer let's let's do more research at the VA we want to make sure the research is available and that uh VA can expedite that um to the field as soon as you know as long as it's efficacious and
▶ 1:06:28it can benefit veterans yeah we should not discount anything just because we don't understand it that's how we get better seek to understand before trying to be understood I think as stepen cubby said with that I you back thank you General representative Chef McCormack you are now recognized for three minutes thank you Mr chairman and thank you also to all our Witnesses and Dav and thank you to all of our Florida veterans who are here I see you in the SC in the
▶ 1:06:58cloud in the crowd yes um I I have real concerns I feel like we keep focusing on some of the cuts that are being made in the firing but we have to look at the cumulative effect and I profer that any of the cuts that are being suggested that can actually harm our veterans should be completely off the table right now we have a contract to our veterans and we cannot compromise them by one of our veterans being heard one of the the areas that I also want to look at as I have a short amount of time
▶ 1:07:28is focusing on our veterans access to long long care term longterm care long-term care has allowed our veterans to stay in their homes and in their communities with respect and dignity and with their families we have a real responsibility to protect our veterans and so I wanted to talk about the homaker and Home Health a Aid Care Program administered by the VA and how it helps our veterans sustain um themselves and their families how however the program is limited to the number of veterans who have the service
▶ 1:07:59which doesn't allow all of our veterans to live with dignity in their homes when they get six Mr Helm how have your members benefited from the Homemakers and healthc Care home healthare act program thank you representative that is a question that touches on one of our critical policy goals I'm going to ask our legislative director joy elim to that long-term care options for veterans um a wide variety are absolutely essential from um that Home Health uh Aid and home maker Services
▶ 1:08:29all the way through um uh Community Living centers but we have also in our critical policy goal asked for more Assisted Living options to again um that might uh you know benefit younger veterans who want to be able to live independently but still need some help so those home Home Health Services are absolutely essential all the way through um you know to meet the unique needs of each veteran one of the largest payers for long-term
▶ 1:09:00care services is actually Medicaid in fact 9.4 veterans rely on Medicaid and there's a proposed budget to actually start cutting Medicaid these are the compounded event effects that we're talking about and so I also wanted to know how could cuts to Medicaid affect DAV members certainly services that are outside um that where you know a a program goes away can certainly put U more stress on the
▶ 1:09:30VA veterans more veterans May um need to utilize their VA Services um so we're always looking at you know the impact of I know there's some talk again about Medicare subvention issues vet veterans that are Medicare age and also um those that perhaps are on Medicaid so all of those um if a program goes away um veterans still need care so they're going to probably turn to VA in many cases for that Care
▶ 1:10:00thank you so much I just wanted to stress before my time is over that any cuts that will affect one of our veterans should be off of the table we have a project a promise to each and every one of our veterans and we must stand by that and we must look at the cumulative effect when we look at the cumulative effect right now we're looking at tens and thousands of people who have been fired who are being denied of Medicaid who who will now be sitting there by themselves trying to provide for themselves and that is not what our country is made
▶ 1:10:30for thank you I leave back Congressman Latrell thank you Mr chairman and since everybody else is throwing a shout out to their state where are my Texans at in the room all right there you go you know you're luckily for you guys there's not that many of us because we have a tendency to tear things up so if you guys go out drink tonight and get in trouble call me I won't join you but maybe I can call somebody
▶ 1:11:00and U do I have any my Army Rangers or any army rangers in the in audience it's tragic I mean I it's just in my bones that I just cannot I mean me and Army Rangers just don't do not get along at all I mean y'all's existence bothers me I say that and I and I the reason I do say is cuz Army I have an identical twin brother who is rescued by Army Rangers um so I'm indebted to you guys for the rest of my life but so this is me saying thank you just don't repeat this on social media and I'm sure nobody in here is paying attention to what I'm saying
▶ 1:11:31anyway uh Mr contarus I don't have anything for you sir so you're not going to be able to pass the football on me I'm going to go straight to Mr Marcela here um to your statements earlier today and you're you're engaging with the VA and it seems to be uh as if you're kind of hitting a brick wall and there's no responsiveness from the VA this is the tricky part so the VA is this big machine it's this big glorious machine we that we lean on as veterans quite a bit um and it's it's kind of and man I love to wire brush the VA more than anybody I do it's it's like and I hate doing it but
▶ 1:12:01it's absolutely necessary and I'm I'm going to provide you some guidance to help out the member of Congress and the Senate so when you come to us with this problem set the first thing that when you walk into my office is I'm going to say who are you talking to like I need a name I need a time frame and a window that you're engaging with the VA so I can personally or we can personally with the chairman and the committee staff's subcommittee can engage with that particular individual directly so it didn't get tossed into the abyss and no and nobody is responsive cuz right now you're just you're just
▶ 1:12:32you're fighting you're pushing a wet noodle up a hill I mean I hate to say it but it's just the absolute truth so when the organization is engaging with do that for us so we can stand alongside you shoulder toh shoulder you know one team one dream right that kind of all that kind of stuff um and I I just wanted you to hear me say that to you so moving forward as we come out of this we're moving into the next phase of va leadership with Mr Collins in the direction that he is going to take vaa um we can provide guidance to him at our level and then you come up up and into the
▶ 1:13:02organization and we're sitting on this up top and coming down in we meet in the middle and the veterans are the ones that that you know glory be to God we increase our quality of life yeah sound is that that a good enough deal for you absolutely okay don't take that person to Mr contas I just that's who I want to go to Mr Easley do you have anything you want to add you're not got to come all the way up to Washington DC sit in front of a couple hundred people not saying anything so I'm going to throw you thank you Congressman yeah you're buddy you look lonely down
▶ 1:13:32look I'm down here on the in too they can't I'm just so no I just want to say as the uh National commander of the disabled American veterans auxiliary the family side of the organization we support our veterans I support my best friend here Dan contras and uh you know I just I hold my uh auxiliary members accountable to educate members like yourself at their state level and at their local level and the need of our injured ill disabled veterans and their families sure we need that too make no mistake about it catch us on the road catch the street in a restaurant at a red light
▶ 1:14:02um you're the knowledge base that provides the information that gives Congress the ability to do our job and that is legislate okay thank you Mr chairman I back um representative McGarvey thank you Mr chairman that's a tough act to um appreciate that Morgan I'm the other Morgan on the committee uh so but I guess if you guys do go out tonight Morgan and Morgan will come get you um
▶ 1:14:32I am from Kentucky though so if if I just recommend bourbon be your beverage of choice um appreciate everybody being here today uh thank you thank each and every one of you for your service each and every one of you put on a uniform uh we're willing to sacrifice everything to serve us that is a debt for which we can never adequately repay you what we certainly can't do is take away the services you have earned
▶ 1:15:03that we already not doing a good enough job providing and last night when the administration announces the indiscriminate firing of 1,400 workers at the VA I was glad to see that the VFW stood up and spoke against it you all have always answered the call for and so I hate to ask you to stand up again but we must do everything we can to protect our veterans
▶ 1:15:33that includes making sure that the people are in place so that you get again not the services we are giving you the services you have earned and that we're doing that in the right manner um I do want to talk briefly about uh Mr contas a bill I put forward called the innovate act I think that one thing the VA can do is do a better job of incentivizing innovation we have so many uh great people come through the VA but we don't have that right incentive to innovate when they do innovate
▶ 1:16:03they can do cool things there was a a pilot last year the technology enabled rest bit Home Care model pilot it allowed um to have a find a home caregiver temporarily and the caregiver to pay a substitute at a higher wage than the average home care providers 96% veteran satisfaction score and a lower cost to the VA uh Mr contus just briefly the time we have left would you talk about the areas of healthcare your members are most concerned about where they have expressed the needs uh that they have
▶ 1:16:33and where Innovation could require an interesting approach well since you have limited time I'll representative I'll go ahead and pass that on to Joy you uh Innovation is key uh one of the things VA does very well is is in best practices and looking at how the delivery of care and benefits can be improved to Veterans and that is essential to keep looking at that mental health is one of the key areas suicide prevention is on everyone's mind in the veteran community
▶ 1:17:03and I know Congress so there are opportunities again to look at that uh through that Innovative uh office um office of innovation to WR make sure that they can utilize all of the resources they have and the best Minds that are out there with new ideas to prevent suicide thank you so much no we've got your back we'll stand up 42 and I yield back thank you uh representative um ham thank you Mr chairman and
▶ 1:17:34thank you uh for focusing this committee on putting the veterans first and not protecting the bureaucracy and I want to thank every single one of you as a veteran myself I am so proud to see so many veterans supporting each other it's a really good sense of community we all put that uniform on with the American flag on our shoulder sleeve didn't it matter what race religion or what your social status in life was we all put put on that uniform and for that I thank you and our entire country owes a debt to all of
▶ 1:18:04you now Commander president Trump's Mission Act was you know really put the veterans in charge of their own healthc care decisions yet today we're still seeing bureaucratic roadblocks that are getting in the way to prevent timely access to Mental Health Services what specific changes would ensure veterans can immediately access mental health care in their communities with without the va's red representative certainly DAV is focused on making sure
▶ 1:18:34every part of the mission Act is implemented our legislative director Joy Elum will give you greater insight to dav's position I think there's a number of Provisions that are in the access act that are positive and can try to bureaucratic uh delays and definitely within the community care program we've heard from members uh our members you know when you do have to access care in the community um one of the biggest delays is trying to get first connected
▶ 1:19:04with the office of community care and so um you know that will be essential to try to do that and to have the providers on um available that can help uh forward these referrals make sure that veterans get the care when and where they need it yeah we heard tragically in some other committee hearings about loss of life and it's uh we need to get better at this because it doesn't matter where you're getting health help at the VA or Community Care it's all about putting the veterans first and ensuring their needs
▶ 1:19:35are being met but would permanently codifying access standards help prevent the VA administrators from making arbitrary denials that put veterans Health at risk I would just note um the access standards are reasonable however they can always be better you know we want VA to improve access to services and I think those um some of those details and trying to look at where the hold up is is really where we need to target
▶ 1:20:05targeted solutions to you know overcome those issues thank you chairman i y back thank you representative binsky you're represent you're recognized for three minutes thank you chairman uh thank you to the ranking member ranking member Tano it's also great to be with chairman Moran and ranking member lenthal uh for hosting this hearing today it's wonderful to be in a room with so many veterans and I too want to extend my deepest gratitude for your service to our country
▶ 1:20:35uh thank you very much um it is crucial that we always listen to what our vsos have to say and I think that is especially important today in light of the extreme uncertainty and actions we have witnessed in these last two months there is a lot to touch on but I only have a few minutes and with would like to focus specifically on our women veterans
▶ 1:21:05thank you um the VA as you know is a national leader in academic research health research providing groundbreaking work on advancements in Medical Treatments technology and training our health work our health Workforce and just as important have been the breakthroughs in the unique care required for our women veterans one of the actions that we have seen taken by the Trump Administration including within NIH and the VA is the targeting
▶ 1:21:36of research grants that includes certain so-called trigger words one of these words is the word women as DAV and many of us here know research on women is already considered underfunded and now this Administration is taking actions to curtail the little yet incredibly important research being conducted specifically for Women's Health Care I'm very concerned about how these sweeping attacks on This
▶ 1:22:06research will impact women veterans I recently spoke with members of my own women veterans council at home including a council member working at the St Louis VA who expressed serious concerns that women veterans might lose access to essential gender specific care one of the things we can all agree on is that women veterans face distinct challenges both during their military service and afterwards if you don't mind it's wonderful to have you here National Commander Contreras if you don't mind I will
▶ 1:22:36go to uh Miss Elum um it's great to see you again um I know the DAV has a focus on women veterans and has been a leader in advancing the work being done to improve care for them I've enjoyed partnering with the DAV on these issues and am looking forward to continuing that fight but miss Elum how could Banning or restricting the use of terminology such as the word women in VA sponsored research affect our understanding of
▶ 1:23:06Health impacts and conditions unique to our women veterans thank you for that great question and um certainly that would be uh extremely disappointing because VA really has been a leader in women's health research no one else in the world is doing the research that VA has done over the last uh you know especially the last 10 years looking at wartime related service um and all of the impact of military service on our women veterans uh our reports our three reports
▶ 1:23:36that we've done the latest one um our journey to mental Wellness was all focused on ba research efforts and we hope that there will be reasonableness and meaning you mindfulness uh when looking at that because that would be a real detriment to our women veterans and the step in the progress that's been made in in providing VA Services which every veteran should have access to including our women veterans but they do remain a minority a statistical
▶ 1:24:07minority within the VA um we can't let that slip so thank you for your attention to that and we we stand ready to work with you thank you I look forward to working with the DAV on this and encourage again all of our veterans to speak out on these very important issues so thank you very much I yield back represent pres of King hun your repr recognize for three minutes haay good morning I'm from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands 8,000 miles away from here I want to first of all start by saying thank you very much for
▶ 1:24:37your service and to the vso thank you for your Fierce advocacy for our veterans sui um I wanted to go back to um the previous conversation with regards to long care um support for our veterans right so what I'm seeing in my district that families are basically having to choose between taking care of their veterans or or having a job so
▶ 1:25:07folks are literally quitting their jobs to be able to provide that long-term care and I know that this is a challenge that's very different in rural communities as it or in comparison to you know more urban centers and so I wanted to kind of hear what your thoughts were with regards to PO policy specific to remote communities thank you representative for question uh looking at tele medicine as as
▶ 1:25:37certainly an option but as far as community care as long as it provides the same quality care that it would in an in-house facility I'm going to have joy our legislative director further elaborate on that thank you great question I I think uh long-term care is on all of our minds we have a a really significantly aging veteran population of 65 75 and 85 years and older all of us will need long-term care especially service disabled veterans um
▶ 1:26:07earlier than usually the general population those veterans living in rural and remote areas such as yourself um really struggle with that access to care and we're really asking the committee to work on uh long-term care services and options for veterans to start now to really make this a focus um as well as the VA for um the near future because it's right around the corner where um everybody is going to be you know really really needing these Services uh to a greater extent
▶ 1:26:38thank you looking forward to having this conversation I you back my time thank you uh representative Morrison you're recognized for three minutes thank you chair uh I'd have to begin uh by echoing my colleagues great Ave concerns with the recent Mass firing of va employees after laying off a thousand employees 2 weeks ago we found out last night that another 1400 more Public Service were servants were inexplicably let go I I am very
▶ 1:27:08fearful that these actions threaten the well-being of our veterans in Minnesota and I would urge secretary Collins and the Trump Administration to reconsider and to and to carefully consider the impact these decisions will have on Veterans access to care and benefits Mr contas I want to thank you and your colleagues for your service and for being here today to testify I had the pleasure of meeting with a group of women veterans from daav Minnesota yesterday many if not all of whom are here today
▶ 1:27:38I want to thank them again for traveling here to Washington and for taking the time to share their stories with me according to the VA women are the fastest growing group in the veteran population and as an OBGYN a women's health provider myself it's a top priority of mine to make sure the VA is equipped to care for women after their service to our country so Mr contras or or mum uh I'd like to begin by asking you to expand a little bit on your testimony um how do you think VA can rethink its suicide risk model
▶ 1:28:09and mental healthare services to account for risk factors that disproportionately affect women like intimate partner violence and military sexual trauma thank you um obviously you've been reading our report we really appreciate that um that was one of the things that we um identified early on um and we really wanted to highlight we know that one in three women experien military sexual trauma not that it's just it's also uh affects our male veterans but we know
▶ 1:28:39for a higher percentage with within our women veteran population uh women veterans deserve to be able to um get the care the specialized services and care that they need in VA and VA has worked hard to really increase the providers that serve our women veterans to make sure Specialists like yourself um they have access to them because Mo um much of the care for you know women especially maternity care is all uh throughout in the community um and so their care can easily
▶ 1:29:10be fragmented so we want to make sure that um we're really paying attention to those issues and really work on them and we look forward our staff does to working with you in the future thank you if I may just briefly follow up um you know as the population of women veterans continues to grow I think we need to be thinking about how we can expand VA provider Workforce for Women's healthc Care so we can cut down on weight times for necessary procedures like mammograms and hysterectomies how would you assess va's
▶ 1:29:40current capability to provide these types of procedures and what should VA be doing to improve in area VA has really um tried to increase their Workforce but we always need Congress to provide oversight and attention on that issue um especially Liv women living in rural communities VA is doing some very specific programming to bring um uh women provider train you know training providers in those uh rural areas um
▶ 1:30:10but we know we don't have enough providers for women um throughout the country and at all locations that are needed and that population is really growing the last I heard was about 900,000 enrolled which is another big yes a leap so more and more women are getting the word that VA is the place to come for care you're going to get the specialized services that you need uh now we need to make sure those providers are there and they can get timely quality care wherever they um live in the Comm wherever they live thank you so much my
▶ 1:30:40time has expired but before I yield my time I just as the wife of an army combat veteran and a proud American I want to thank every single veteran in this room for your service to our thank thank you Dr Miller Mak sure recognized for three minutes thank you very much uh chair Bost and I don't think uh Brad Whitmore from Iowa is in the audience today but uh I do want to shout out to uh the over 41,000 veterans we
▶ 1:31:11have uh in my congressional district and I say that um being having a maternal uh uh grandfather who was in the Army my maternal uncle was in the Navy my my father was air force six of the eight kids in our family served in the military one in the Marine One In The Air Force the rest of the army the only branches of service my family has not served in is the Coast Guard and the space force but I'll sign up for the space force as well as the Army um I think the
▶ 1:31:41challenges that you all have presented to us as a member of the um house uh committee on Veterans Affairs for the past four years that I've been a member uh in regards to teleah Health in regards to modernization uh getting our ehrs I mean active duty military has a functioning EHR system uh that is still driving cost uh in our VA system and it's making it difficult for you all to engage in care engage in care in diff difficult facilities and engage in care in the community
▶ 1:32:11uh what we have done and promoted in Community Care is especially important uh I live in a rural area of Iowa uh I've lived in you know very big areas such as San Antonio Texas which has a lot of military bases and VA facilities work at the VA facility adjacent to Bar County but what we've done in community care to provide access to Veterans who either cannot get into the VA at a in a timely manner or the distance where they live uh is too cumbersome we have done good work on PTSD
▶ 1:32:42and suicide prevention but we know we need to do more um and then let me also say that what we've done and trying to get employment opportunities and this is both on the active duty side as you transition out and for veterans who have already transitioned out of the military and their spouses I think it is extremely important work that we do that may be non-traditional VA work but it's extremely important for us in making um our veterans whole uh taxes and GI Bill uh need I mention those uh but then I'm going to just
▶ 1:33:12uh ask a question so we can get that done since my time's limited Commander contras the work your organization does and the Adaptive sports program has done wonders for veterans over the years Years and we're glad to see participating uh you know increase uh over postco what changes do you think Congress uh could make to make the program to ensure that the benefit could be utilized by more veterans thank you representative for that question uh dav's programs
▶ 1:33:43with our winter sports clinic as well as our disabl veterans golf Clinic it's it's an amazing event and I'd like to last our voluntary service director John kleens to address your question uh thank you Commander uh adaptive Sports is absolutely a life-changing event uh there are many in this room many watching today whose lives have changed for the better as a result of DAV and va's involvement with the Adaptive Sports more specifically the winter sports clinic and the golf
▶ 1:34:13Clinic I think awareness for the the types of programs and activities uh in in the Adaptive Sports Arena could be highlighted and uh uh leaders like yourselves executive leaders at VA and their attendance and and awareness and education about what we're doing at this event uh are truly rehabilitative uh they're they're they're not athletes they're coming to a rehabilitative event to get um reintroduced into an activity that did pre-injury so I just think awareness and education
▶ 1:34:44and uh allowing the funding for these types of events to take place is of the utmost importance I thank you for that we have a Quad City veterans outreach program in Scott County which is all voluntary which recently public purchased a school system from the city which now has a program for adaptive Sports and I think it's going to it has done worlds uh of benefit for our veterans I could not be a member of Congress if it were not for you all so thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you do and defending our freedoms our
▶ 1:35:14liberties and our constitutional I back thank you Dr Miller mix Senator hyon you're recognized for three minutes oh thank you very much uh Mr chair and ranking member um I want to start by just acknowledging all the veterans who made the trip here today and especially give a shout out to uh the granite state veterans who are in the room um I am also here as the proud daughter of an infantry
▶ 1:35:45Sergeant uh from World War II and uh am particularly grateful to all of the army veterans here in the room yeah uh I'd also like to join others who've expressed concern about the recent firings at the VA a, a couple of weeks ago 1,400 just last night and I think what I'd like to say to Mr musk is this isn't Twitter it's the VA um to Commander Contreras I want to see if we
▶ 1:36:15can get through two questions here um I want to start off by thanking DAV for its advocacy on behalf of veterans and espe toxic exposed veterans I was happy to work with my colleagues to develop and pass the pact act but I know just as the D AV does as well that more needs to be done to help toxic exposed veterans get the benefits that they have earned and deserve unfortunately as DAV has noted it takes the VA too long to formally acknowledge toxic exposures
▶ 1:36:45Commander can you please discuss the importance of ensuring that processes are in place to quickly and fairly process veterans claims for toxic exposures thank you representative that's a very important issue and it's one of our critical policy goals and you can see that we worked with MOA to establish the ending the weight report which indicates that there's a lot that Congress can do in order to avoid this long delay it takes too long to establish presumptives
▶ 1:37:16and if you can see in our critical policy goals that's a key issue that we believe by preempting and studying in these things in advance we could provide our veterans in presumptive conditions more expedient Services thank you very much for that and I now want to follow up on one of the areas that representative Morrison was talking about um and it may be to you Commander contrerus or maybe um missum um in your written testimony you discussed
▶ 1:37:46the fact that suicide rates among women veterans have been steadily rising and a dav's report on women's veterans Mental Health DAV identified that women veterans have several unique risk factors for suicide Commander can you describe the importance of tailoring Outreach and services to women's veterans and how that can help address the mental health needs that these veterans may have thank you again for that question as you alluded to this is our third report the this one being the Journey of mental Wellness
▶ 1:38:16let's definitely have our legislative director Joy elim address that great thank you just very quickly um we appreciate your attention to that report and our real concern over uh women veterans and mental health um and some unique risk factors especially military sexual trauma making sure that that's in va's predictive model we know that veterans are at higher risk who have experienced MST right and so therefore we want to make sure that's part of that predictive model so there can be Outreach to them and
▶ 1:38:46prevent and S uh you know with a focus on prevention thank you very much and Mr chair with just a moment of uh privilege I'll follow up on what my colleague on the other side of the aisle said um my dad the World War II veteran used to ask us uh at The Breakfast Table what are you doing for Freedom today which when you're in fourth grade is kind of a hard question to answer um but it it it just always reminds me he had the right to ask it thank you for everything you have all done for our freedom thank
▶ 1:39:18you thank you Senator Commander thank you for being here um I to express this to you but I'm also going to express it to Mr Reese and Mr Miss elim as we see these changes and the conversation as they go on if you see a reduction in any service that is due to the change into this Administration is made or if you see or hear of someone specifically that has been
▶ 1:39:48relieved and or um let go of their duties that you think is something that we should hear my office you know is always open the job of this committee is to make sure that the veterans are provided for as I said before not that the bureaucrats are protected but making sure that the services that is provided through the VA are for our veterans to make sure that they're taking care of and I want to thank all of you the disabled American veterans for being here today for
▶ 1:40:19what you've done and what you continue to do and I want want to thank uh the audience members for coming in uh from every corner of this United States and with that we're going to move to the second panel but here's some instructions that I need to give to you please because after 11 years of being around here I understand how this room Works um if you would your exit please this way so that the next panel can
▶ 1:40:49come in this way for the flow of traffic thank you again for being here God bless you all thank you Mr chairman thank you ranking member Tano so you need a mountain de or anything I need I don't want a Mountain
▶ 1:48:51e e
▶ 1:49:31be red the bike is
▶ 1:51:21e e
▶ 1:52:01committee will come back to order we would like now to welcome our second panel I want to thank you all for being here now we have a lot of important organizations to hear from on this panel so let's get right to it today we're joined by the national Commander uh horren Johnson of amb vets we're also joined with M by Mr Jack uh MC M mcis of the veterans uh
▶ 1:52:31Vietnam Veterans of America Mr Robert uh olivar do I say it right well no with with boast you know it's not boast it's Bost so we I I want your yours to be right how is not close enough but did it right it's olivarez and now I'm still going to say it wrong but that's all right that way you you put it down the he is um of our military order of the Purple Heart Mr Paul Mims of
▶ 1:53:01the blind veterans association thank you for being here us Mr William Hubbert of the veterans success Miss Nancy Mina of the gold star wives of America Mr Matthew uh schwarzman of Reserve organization of America again welcome to all of you and to all of your members in the audience Mr Johnson
▶ 1:53:31you are now recognized for five minutes for your opening statement well thank you sir uh chairman ranking members and members of the committee the challenges faces veterans aren't new but recent actions making them worse right now veterans working at the VA are losing their jobs vet own small businesses are losing contracts and critical services are being cut without a clear plan and without accountability
▶ 1:54:02the department of government efficiency doge is making sweeping changes in the name of Reform while real reform means fixing what's broken not breaking what works the the VA needs Improvement but not Reckless cuts are not but Reckless cuts are not the answer question should not bear the brunt of mismanagement Congress must step in before these changes do lasting
▶ 1:54:32damages at the same time while resources disappear in the name of efficiency the VA mental health budgets has grown from 600 million at the start of Iraqi and Afghanistan Wars to over 17 billion in 2025 yet veteran suicide rates remain heartbreakingly high this crisis isn't about a lack of funding it's about misplaced priorities billions are wasted on ineffective programs
▶ 1:55:03bureaucracies and contracts that overpromise and underd deliver and while that money disappears veterans are left without the care they need this has to change veterans is calling for a real solution we propose that veteran C cont of Wellness a framework designed to tackle the root causes of mental health struggles it focused on early intervention self-sufficiency and long-term
▶ 1:55:33Wellness it explains access to alternate therapies including peer Leg counseling and community-based support giving veterans more options Beyond traditional VA care and pharmaceuticals because when a veteran is struggling they don't need to be put on a waiting list another waiting list they need help when they ask for it another issue that has been overlooked for far too long is traumatic
▶ 1:56:03brain injury TBI since 2000 ear nearly a half a million service members have suffered at least one TBI each year over 100,000 veterans six VA care for TBI yet too many are giving medical issues instead of medications instead of real treatment business excuse me businesses are shut out Congress must increase competition remove barriers for
▶ 1:56:33vetan own businesses and hold contractors accountable there are other urgent issues surviving spouses and children of service members receive far less DC payments than other civilian counter Parts this must change the richest star act must must pass so the medically retired combat veterans can receive both their full retirement pay and disability benefits without penalty far too long veterans and their
▶ 1:57:03families have been told to wait while billions are wasted veterans are still Dying by Suicide veterans with TBI are still searching for Solutions veteran owned small businesses are still being shed out while corporate profits from failed projects we cannot keep on doing the same thing Congress must act now our legislative priorities will ensure every veteran has the opportunity to thrive at the same time Congress must hold
▶ 1:57:34underperforming contractors accountable support veteran owned businesses and prioritize competition and Innovation anv stands ready to help with Congress the administration and the VA to make real reform happen veterans need more don't need more bureaucracy they don't need more fail programs they need leadership they need Vision they need Real Results the time is
▶ 1:58:04now thank you thank you Mr Johnson Mr mcmanis you're recognized for five minutes for your chairperson esteemed members of The Joint House and Senate committees on Veterans Affairs and fellow veterans in room DVA remains steadfast in our mission to advocate for the rights
▶ 1:58:34health and well-being of all veterans who have served we are driven by the commitment that has guided our organization since founding never again shall one generation of veterans abandon another to divide one's veteran service based upon the distinction in time and location at the expense of another
▶ 1:59:05Veteran's equally honorable service is an injustice to both veterans could we really believe that sacrifices of the veterans lost in the bayroot barracks at the embassy in Benghazi were any less a sacrifice than those lost in pugia in Iraq or quesan in
▶ 1:59:37Vietnam we are American veterans first last and always foremost I must address an urgent that is the the need for a full accounting of us Personnel categorized as pre prisons of war or missing in action from the war in Vietnam
▶ 2:00:08the families of those service members deserve the answers and you the members of this committee multiple committees representing the American people owe it to our for former Fallen comrades to ensure every effort is made to bring them home we call on Congress to fully fund and prioritize efforts to recover and
▶ 2:00:38account for our missing service members in all Vietnam war combat areas diligent recovery efforts are and must continue at a fast pace at potential sites which have being altered by construction and by land
▶ 2:01:08reclamation America has made an oath to never abandon our fellow veterans in keeping this promise do not allow this time and opportunity to slip away the health and safety of our veterans and their descendants should be a Paramount concern for all veterans all Americans me therefore
▶ 2:01:38we ask for comprehensive studies to identify and P potentially resolve the negative effects of toxic exposures on Veterans and their in this we hope to identify best practices that will mitigate or eliminate future toxic exposures thousands of Vietnam veterans were exposed to agent
▶ 2:02:08orange in the water and on the ships outside the current 12 mile nautical limitation we call for Amendment of the Blue Water Navy Act of 2019 to extend this arbitrary man-made limit if you served in the Vietnam theater of combat operations and are entitled to receive the Vietnam service
▶ 2:02:38medal you should be exposed 1120 women volunteered to serve with the Red Cross during the Vietnam 627 of those women worked as donut dolles and three of them never made it home from Vietnam providing critical
▶ 2:03:09morale boost to our soldiers these donut do Dolly traveled by helicops to forward operating positions as well as in the rear we call for recognition of their perilous volunteer service by awarding the Congressional gold medal to the donut Alis I implore this committee to introduce this
▶ 2:03:39long overdue legislation as a personal as side it would be very important and very critical if we could get the members of committee to sponsor and introduce the legislation with a congressional gold medal for the dollies finally we
▶ 2:04:09adamant oppose any proposed delution or expansion of the criteria for which the dod gold star designated lapel button is awarded it should always be for our nation's aspiration to have fewer gold star families not more we are opposed to any efforts to diminish the noble and selfless
▶ 2:04:39sacrifice of those lives ended in conflict thank you for the opportunity to testify bva is Keen to work with Congress on behalf of our veterans more of our priorities can be found in our written testimony thank you MRIs Mr Al Barz uh you recognize for five minutes thank you thank you chairman boast and ranking member bluthal
▶ 2:05:10and distinguished members of the veterans Fair committee I am honored and humbled to represent America's Purple Heart veterans in addressing you today I would like to begin by congratulating and new members of Congress and expressing my gratitude to those who have returned to serve and enhance the quality of life for the for our Nations veterans with the collective efforts that I I am confident that the 119th Congress will make significant stride in supporting our nation's Heroes the 118th Congress
▶ 2:05:40passed pivotal legislation such as the VA accountability act pacted act and the compact act which have made substantial improvements in various aspects of the American veterans live this foundation will undoubtedly guide our progress during the 119th Congress our nation's veterans answer to call to protect us from the darkest threats the world has to offer we implore you this committee and the rest of Congress to consider passing further legislation that addresses and presents
▶ 2:06:11needs of our veterans we the military order of the Purple Heart ask for your support in the following first the military medals protection act George Washington establishes b as the badge of Merit which is the precursor of today's Purple Heart recognizing the profound significance of military honors this act grants the Department of Defense exclusive trademark authority over all military medals safeguarding them from exploitation and preserving their
▶ 2:06:41value commercializing or misusing these symbols dis diminishes their Essence the 113th Congress recognized the sacredness when they passed The Stolen Valor Act let's collaborate and expand their protection and restore the trade word marks to DOD ensuring their unimpaired Safeguard second the national green alert act HR 175-20 17 aims to create a specialized alert
▶ 2:07:11system for missing veterans the purpose of the system is to leverage a successful existing alert system like the amber alert and silver alert which have demonstrated High recovery rates the green alert system would provide critical response tools to enable specialized response to include public education components to address the unique challenges faced by veterans in crisis third the healthy Heroes act this act addresses veterans healthc care crisis including mental health substance
▶ 2:07:42abuse and homelessness this act would int introduce changes to health the VA Healthcare by embracing alternative treatments such as holistic approaches and Comprehensive Mental Health Services the military order of the Purple Heart also requests Congress to expand on VA Dental Health Care qualifications for all veterans finally the fulfilling the Legacy act seeks to rectify a systematic failure that has been affecting all veterans
▶ 2:08:12Financial Security consider the story of 92-year-old Purple Heart recipient who diligently paid survivors benefit premiums for decades only to $50,000 in premiums when his wife passed away this is not an isolated incident but a clear indication and a need for Action this act modernizes the survivors Benefit Plan ensuring that veterans investments in their families Futures are protected the
▶ 2:08:42military retirees have already met all requirements and have heard Healthcare benefits so the military order of the Purple Heart opposes any change changes to tr care for life or VA disability benefits that would increase the fees and shift cost from the Department of Defense to retirees over 65 years of age who rely on Tri care for life and those who rely on their VA disability compensation the cost of inaction extends Beyond monetary losses it involves the loss of life
▶ 2:09:12shattered families and broken promises each day 44,000 families or 44 families tragically lose a veteran to suicide for our delays every night 33,000 veterans who valiantly defended our nation find themselves sleeping on our streets on top of that countless military families face Financial insecurities due to outdated benefit systems continuing to allow companies to profit while penalizing the nation's Heroes would who earn these benefits
▶ 2:09:42diminishes the sacrifices made by America's Warriors these four acts the military order of the Purple Heart present are more than mere policy changes but they embody our sacred moral obligation to those who have served the military order of the Purple Heart these act proposes these acts for American veterans to secure their health care for their family's Futures each piece of legislation addresses critical gaps in support for veterans George Washington recognized
▶ 2:10:13the importance of honoring those veterans who served under him we must too recognize our duty to today's veterans the 119th con Congress holds the opportunity to transform how America cares for its Heroes let us set aside partisan politics and focus on the issue at hand the military order of the Purple Heart Is seeking your support and collaboration on these presented acts and also remember to honor the contract thank you Mr Mims you're recognized for five
▶ 2:10:47minutes good morning chairman Bost and chairman Moran and ranking members Blumenthal and Tano and the other esteemed members of congressional Veteran Affairs committee the Blind and Veterans Association is honored to present our legislative priorities for the coming year as we approach on March 28th the anniversary of our 80th year of existence what I want to talk to you about today is the ways in which
▶ 2:11:17America's blinded veterans are continuing to underserved and disenfranchised and I present that to you by describing myself to you presenting myself to you as a blinded veteran who served in Vietnam and was there a former employee of the Department of Veteran Affairs as a vet center counselor and later uh computer skills instructor
▶ 2:11:47and eventually a visit perit Services team coordinator and now now I am a consumer of Medical Care uh from my local VA Medical Center a day in life of just trying to get a primary care appointment I'll present to you and the first barrier we encounter is transportation the VA has inadequate transportation resources available to Blind veterans what we do have provided by the VTS
▶ 2:12:18service is that we may actually have have our appointment canceled the night before if not the day of the appointment leave enough scrambled to try to figure out how to get there once we get there we get to the waiting room and very often they're G somebody's going to walk out call my name and then walk up to me and say here fill this out and hand me a clipboard which of course I can't see then when I finally get in have my appointment they're going to give me yet another sheath of papers and say
▶ 2:12:48Here's your treatment plan and your follow-up plan and so go go over that and you know I'll see you in 6 months okay then I leave there I go to Labs or I go to Pharmacy both going to be the same thing I'm I'm required to take a number from where and so it's not obvious and if there's nobody there to help then I got to find somebody else that's sitting there and hopefully there is somebody so I can ask them where do I get my number okay now wait tell me can you tell me what it is
▶ 2:13:18so that system is is it's not for us but yet we get through that and when we go to Pharmacy after we put in our prescriptions we're sitting in the lobby with everybody else and what we're tasked with doing is waiting to see our name on the screen although we can't so we got to ask somebody else you know to find my name if Pharmacy doesn't come up with a way in order to inform us that we will notify you when your name comes up so you can come up and pick
▶ 2:13:48up your Ms after we leave to go to the uh window in order to apply for transportation reimbursement because we had to pay our own way to get there then they say well you're going to have to use the website so I tell them the website is not accessible Well we I'm sorry we can't help you yet another barrier and so that that's just the day in the life of what we go through and it's as blinded veterans and I'm not
▶ 2:14:18unique in that and so as I I want to say one more thing about me and that is that I am a guide dog handler and as such for the last three administrations we have been waiting for the VA to implement their own mandated program that would establish a person called service dog champion at every VA facility and they have yet to do that and for the few that
▶ 2:14:48are on duty there is no such thing as the training program for them there is no such thing as the guidance for them so our very our expectations expectations have to be very low in terms of them delivering the service that's supposed to come from that program another barrier so we I don't want you to think that I'm a blinded veteran and therefore I have a disability and so I want everything my way it's far from
▶ 2:15:19that we serve served like everybody else served and we served you in front of me and every other veteran in this room we served alongside them and the country we served on behalf of them and so we deserve as blind veterans the same level of dignity respect sensitivity and we need to be as much of a treated as much of a human being as everybody else who doesn't have an obvious different abilities
▶ 2:15:49my abilities are different now than they were when I was inducted as I have been discharged and those different abilities don't mean that therefore I have a different level of respect and service that I should be able to expect as I try to access VH programs so I'm advocating right now for you to continue the funding for blind rehabilitation service I can tell you there is nothing in the
▶ 2:16:19general community that will come anywhere near the level of service that we get from that program and we desperately need that in order to be able to take our place in society alongside our cited peers and our family members and our fellow veterans being able to serve in the community as husbands fathers brothers and taxpayers and I want to make sure that we have continued funding for vision research through appro Senate
▶ 2:16:51I want the VA to engage on a program that would just come up with training for the ways that they needed once I mentioned that VA employees don't know how to guide us so when we go to a clinic appointment they're going to grab our thumb wrist my clothes my dog's leas the cane and whatever they can think of that they're supposed to grab so they can lead us when in when in reality they just need to offer us an elbow and we can take that and it's all done
▶ 2:17:21but the VA doesn't see it makes sense to teach them that and so I I asked for that education education for the service Champions and lastly but not least we Advocate vigorously for the establishment of the federal committee on federal advisory committee on access and more so we advocate for having a seat at that table because we finally now
▶ 2:17:52the opportunity to speak up for ourselves instead of having people decide oh this is what they need so just give them this so they'll be quiet so I thank you for this opportunity to present to you and I offer the opportunity to answer any of your questions thank you very much Mr H thank you Mr hubard you're recognized for five minutes thank you chairman Moran
▶ 2:18:22and boss ranking members Blumenthal and Tano and esteemed members of the committee on Affairs thank you for the opportunity to testify today on behalf of veterans education success we thank you for your longstanding leadership especially chairman Moran Senator Cassidy and ranking member Tano for closing the 910 loophole our organization works on a bipartisan basis to advance higher education success for veterans service
▶ 2:18:52members and military families and to protect the integrity and promise of the GI Bill and other federal post-secondary education programs the stakes are high veterans and taxpayers alike deserve a return on their investment in higher education While most us colleges are honorable and good some are not but VA continues to approve them anyway for example there's roughly
▶ 2:19:23100 colleges that spent less than 20% of the tuition they charged VA on actually educating veterans and predictably these schools have abysmal outcomes one veteran told us quote there are issues such as schools replaying free web seminars as their own training and using unqualified people to lead the classes they literally go
▶ 2:19:53to YouTube find the free course by someone then they play that during the zoom meeting and call it training everything they are doing could have been done by me for free they also attempted on two occasions to place me in classes that are not part of the program and do not serve a purpose except to show me in class end quote a couple of years ago student veterans and whistleblowers reported a different school to us a school pretending
▶ 2:20:23to be a legitimate Bible College which as the students described was actually a cult we interviewed the students and teachers and provided a comprehensive memo to VA and yet the school continued to receive GI Bill funding for another years the school even continued to reive GI Bill funding a full three months after the FBI rid the school's location ations across the country transitions
▶ 2:20:53between military service and civilian life are challenging enough as it is even in the best of times I've personally made this transition multiple times between active duty service and the civilian world after several overseas deployments including my last tour in Afghanistan in 2018 and 2019 when veterans apply to use their GI bill at a training program or college they don't think gosh this is going to be such a scam no of
▶ 2:21:23course they think they're investing their time energy and valuable GI Bill benefits in something worthwhile yet we hear from veterans and their families time and time again why would VA approve this program in the first place and that really is a question for Congress to ponder our written testimony suggests some common sense standards to prevent this kind of fraud in the first place one Ure teachers are qualified to teach in their subjects two
▶ 2:21:54require colleges to prove they're financially stable and won't suddenly collapse three require colleges to spend the GI bill on the veterans education rather than sihing it off for massive budgets four stop colleges from overcharging repackaged content a hit to Veterans and taxpayers alike five no more YouTube lectures require real instructor engagement in
▶ 2:22:25classes a related and worse problem is that if a veteran was defrauded of their hard-earned GI Bill benefits that veteran will never get their GI Bill back unlike traditional students who can apply to be made whole the veteran is out last year the house voted overwhelmingly in favor of the student veteran benefit restoration act a Bill sponsored by congresswoman D Ramirez and championed by chairman Mike Bost
▶ 2:22:55both members from Illinois where I grew up we need to pass this bill this year before I close I want to briefly mention two additional priorities first on the Dole act we provide some suggestions and our written testimony for some possible technical improvements and second we call for much better inter agency data sharing by VA to answer critical questions on Veterans outcomes thank you for your time and commitment to these issues
▶ 2:23:26I look forward to your questions thank Mr hubor what what amazement is it that the two set people sitting at the Das are the ones that are SP through of your I appreciate it wa with that Miss Mina you are recognized for five minutes for your opening statement yeah chairman Bost ranking members and uh committee Comm members thank you so much for inviting us to testify this year this year marks 80 years that Goldstar wise of America has worked with
▶ 2:23:56Congress to bring attention to surviving spouses and their families in our written testimony we address our many concerns concerning toxic exposure traumatic brain and in injuries in relation to Suicide claims for suicide and their issues and the burial allowance and many other issues facing veterans and their families but today we're here to focus on the caring for survivors Act of 2025 the first part of the bill will match dependent indemnity compensation
▶ 2:24:26known as diic closer to benefits in other Federal Survivor programs and the second part will ensure surviving family members receive the financial help they deserve if their veteran dies at the five-year Mark instead of the 10-year Mark if they die of a condition not deemed part of their disability my husband Captain Philip Mina served in Vietnam with the Marine Corps where he earned the silver star the Navy Commendation Medal with Valor and the Navy and Marine Corp medal he then later joined
▶ 2:24:56the Virginia National Guard on June 9th 1984 I was eight months pregnant and our four children stood at the window 10 8 5 and three each holding a dollar bill listening for the ice cream truck my 8-year-old suddenly yelled mom mom there's a police car with two army guys as I stood waiting for that knock at the door I knew our lives had changed forever I am now one of the many survivors who rely DIC currently over 93%
▶ 2:25:27of those who receive diic are over the age of 57 and over 70% are surviving spouses of Vietnam whether an active duty death or a slow Agent Orange death years later it is this demographic who needs this increase in diic of all those who receive DIC only around 15% also receive DIC and SBP those who receive only DIC are primarily those who are married to our Vietnam
▶ 2:25:57veterans well what does this increase mean to us let's look at the numbers a married 100% disabled Vietnam veteran receives an annual amount of if that veteran dies the household income drops to a mere $1 the rent Remains the Same same the utilities remain the same and yet that spouse now has less than half of the monthly income to maintain that household
▶ 2:26:28and that's because their surviving spouse rate is only 43% of what a single 100% disabled veteran receives to bring parody with other Federal employing programs by raising that amount to 55% is really a very small price to pay for the sacrifices made for those who served in Vietnam and their families certainly the sacrifice made by our service members are at least as important and worthy as other federal employee jobs been
▶ 2:26:58a lot of talk today about federal jobs while my husband is the one who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country it is me the surviving spouse who continues to pay that price each and every day for the rest of my life I wear the Silver Star my husband earned to remind me every day of who he was what he did and how to continue his life of service our country drafted thousands and thousands of young men to serve in Vietnam and now it is
▶ 2:27:28time to show our respect for them by taking care of their families left behind it is part of the price tag for their sacrifice and it is a very small price to pay the second part of the caring for survivors Act of 2025 addresses the surviving families of 100% disabled veterans currently only the families of a veteran rated 100% for 10 years receives benefits in the situation of a death deemed not caused
▶ 2:27:58by the disability this bill reduced the 10year qualification to five years thus providing benefits to those families who have put their lives on hold caring for those veterans every day you can pass the caring for survivors Act of 2025 to provide just a little more financial ability to pay the bills to py that extra bag of grocery trees or fill a tank of gas it is no secret how our Vietnam veterans were treated when they came home you can send a message to them
▶ 2:28:29that we recognize and thank them for their sacrifice and now we'll do better to take care of the family they leave behind for 80 years we have come to remind you to follow the words of Abraham Lincoln to care for him who have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan thank you thank you Mr Sportsman you're recognized for five minutes thank you very much Mr chairman chairman Boston
▶ 2:28:59Moran ranking members Tano and Blumenthal and distinguished members of the Committees on Veterans Affairs on behalf of the reserve organization of America the only National military organization that solely and exclusively supports the reserve and National Guard thank you for the opportunity to testify on our veterans priorities for the 119th con Congress by setting aside partisanship your committees have consistently extinguished the fires of faction warned of in The Federalist Papers
▶ 2:29:29and have instead kindled a flame of constitutional cooperation seldomly seen within the federal government that flame was recently ignited with the signing of the Dole act which included several Provisions modernizing the uniform services employment and Reemployment Rights Act supported by Roa Roa is eager to work with you and your staff to build on this success and thanks you for your hard work in the previous Congress for over a century Roa
▶ 2:29:59has championed the reserve and National Guard advocating for military Readiness and National Security the Department of Veterans Affairs is essential to this Mission and must ensure the reserve components receive the support they need deserve while my written statement details over 20 actions Congress can my remarks today will focus on three reforms 80 years ago President Roosevelt signed the GI bill into law issuing
▶ 2:30:29an emphatic notice that the American people would not let down their service members yet despite ongoing improvements members of the reserve and National Guard are still left behind under current law an active duty service member and a reservice can perform the same Mission but only one earns education benefits this is simply unacceptable the garden Reserve GI Bill parody act re reintroduced in the 119th Congress
▶ 2:31:00would resolve this disparity by counting every day in uniform toward post 911 GI Bill eligibility Beyond parody this bill would boost voluntary Reserve participation strengthen the military's compensation package enhance senior enlisted and officer promotion opportunities and improve civilian career prospects for citizen Warriors Roa thanks Senators Moran and Blumenthal and representatives Levan and Kelly for sponsoring this bill and urges its Swift passage
▶ 2:31:30into law the GI Bill's core purpose transcends education and is evident in other VA programs like the transition assistance program Roa commends your committees for PR prioritizing tap in the previous Congress leading to the establishment of a reserve Focus track within the program this was a significant step forward but more work remains for example Roa proposes expanding tab's eligibility
▶ 2:32:01criteria and allowing participants to wave requirements under certain circumstances that are detailed further in our statement Roa also supports incorporating Reserve component specific issues in the tap preparation checklist and ensuring military spouses are fully integrated into the process Roa remains committed to working with your committees to refine tap and ensure citizen Warriors and their families receive the support they need
▶ 2:32:31President Roosevelt's words about the GI Bill were not just a promise they were a call to action Roa answered that call in supporting The Pact act during the 72-hour firewatch vigil which helped secure the acts passage I had the honor of spending a night with veterans and other patriotic Americans on the capital steps with roa's headquarters nearby I offered access to our facilities to sustain the vigil that night
▶ 2:33:02a veteran jokingly called me bathroom guy a title I now wear proudly as a symbol of roa's commitment to delivering toxic exposure relief thanks to the pack act almost 1 and A2 million claims have been approved with over 6 million toxic Expos Ure screenings completed despite this some veterans are still left behind consider those at the Pentagon on 9/11 forced to return to duty the very next
▶ 2:33:32day many of these Heroes were exposed to toxic substances that still affect them to this day take retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Susan Lucas for example Susan was at the Pentagon on 911 the next day she returned to duty soon after she developed debilitating symptoms including difficulty swallowing and breathing years later she was diagnosed with a rare lung condition forcing her to leave the career she
▶ 2:34:02loved today toxic exposure and PTSD continue to impact her life but you don't have to take my word for it in fact Susan is here with me today after this hearing she is ready to share her experience firsthand and disc discuss Ray's proposal to establish a presumption of service connection for her fellow battle buddies Ray again thanks the Committees on Veterans Affairs for the opportunity to testify before closing
▶ 2:34:33I'd like to recognize roa's policy fellows Jake fails Peter donlin and Hannah Miller for their contributions to this statement thank you again and I look forward to answering any questions you may have hey mrman want to thank you and and thank thank all of the entire panel uh for the thoughtful testimony and I will now recognize myself for three minutes questioning Commander Johnson your organization directly uh interacts with veterans
▶ 2:35:03from various walks of life especially as they navigate VA Healthcare what feedback do you receive from veterans regarding their experience with the VA Healthcare most of is positive but uh when it comes to making appointments and things like that takes a little longer than we would want that to have we would prefer it to be more Hands-On and more input being more felt and more
▶ 2:35:33on timely because when people are sick they're sick right then okay they don't want to wait until month by the time they get the appointments they're well already so that's the most a lot of the feedback I I get from the veterans appreciate that Mr mcmanis can you elaborate on why you believe va's practice of reporting uh veterans with uh fiduciary to the National in uh the ni
▶ 2:36:04to the next list okay uh for background check system stigmatizes them and and encour and discourages them from receiving help from VA we stand in support the military order of purple heart and a number of other uh organizations in unison u in the efforts to ensure that uh a level
▶ 2:36:35of fairness and due process is is accessed by our veterans it's a shame that the very people who defend the rights of all Americans are some of the ones it has been the easiest to strip away and we are full support of the of the uh second amendment protection act appreciate that Mr hubard uh in your testimony
▶ 2:37:05you highlighted the need to restore veterans benefits when there are cases of fraud would you be supportive to the reintroduction of the student benefit uh restoration Act and the language that passed the house 40 46 6 to6 last Congress thank you for the question Mr chairman um obviously we appreciated working with your office and congresswoman D Ramirez on that language uh I think the the fact that it was passed so overwhelmingly bipartisan demonstrates
▶ 2:37:35the fact that America and Congress has acknowledged the need for veterans to be made whole when they're defrauded and we look forward to working with you and your office on that very closely moving forward thank you very much my time has expired and I now recognize ranking member too thank you Mr chairman my first question is uh with for Mr Mims of bva um in your testimony you identified issues that blind and low vision veterans are experiencing when using the
▶ 2:38:06veterans transportation service Mr Mims what do you think needs to be changed in the VTS program and how do you think it could be improved first thing it needs to be improved is it needs to be an available service that covers the need and very often the reason those appointments are canceled that I mentioned is because they don't have enough drivers I don't know how to how we recruit a driver because I couldn't apply for the job but I know that
▶ 2:38:36there are ways that the VA could come up with where they could recruit drivers uh if they can pay them uh an adequate wage so that it would be something that people would want to apply for I think I'll stop there hey well have you seen any indication or are you concerned I want to ask you about section 508 compliance or uh accessib you're you're kind of laughing a bit there um section 58
▶ 2:39:06compliance or other accessibility initiatives supporting blind and low vision veterans uh are you concerned that they that that that this compliance may be impacted by President Trump's anti- diversity Equity inclusion and accessibility executive order I think it could be if they if we are lumped as blinded veterans or even just veterans with different abilities you know as participants in the program of Dei but section 508 has been around for a long time
▶ 2:39:36and it was before they even thought of Dei and before they really understood blinded veterans and so it it's it has to do with the VA engaging the purpose engaging in the purchase rather of equipment that will not meet our needs as veterans with these different abilities but they put them in place anyway and then if it works out well then they'll think about how to do that later I I guess but in the meantime once again that's another
▶ 2:40:07barrier and a case in point is the um kiosk that they were around they've been around for 12 15 years and by and large they're still not accessible to does but they keep them in place that's how we check in yes sir well thank you I'm just very concerned about the president's executive order impacting blind Veterans as part of the EI that's a concern of yours as well right yes and you know as I mentioned blind rehab there's nothing there's nothing
▶ 2:40:37adequate Beyond VA in blind rehab that that would meet the needs and therefore we get the care that we already have and so I think you know once again we served the country and so we just want you the 119th Congress to serve us back well thank you so much and I I I I'm very concerned that blind veterans are going to get caught up uh in um this unnecessary attack
▶ 2:41:08I I am concerned myself but I'm I guess I'm lacking in how to fix it thank you sir I would yield back thank you uh representative Ramirez you recognized for three minutes thank you chairman from the my beloved state of Illinois appreciate it um and and of course I appreciate a ranking member from another good State not as great as Illinois just kidding just kidding no I I I want to start by just saying thank you to all the veteran service organizations that are
▶ 2:41:38joining us today and certainly every veteran that is here today and if there's are any veterans from Illinois I want to personally thank you uh for the ways that you have shown up for every American in this nation and the way that you continue to live a life of public service and yeah I think we need a round of applause thank you to all of you the reality is that here in the veteran affairs committee we introduce and we move legislation and hopefully most
▶ 2:42:08of that legislation is to make the life of veterans better but that work couldn't be done without all of you so thank you for that I want to especially thank uh will hubard uh at the veteran education success uh for the work that you have done for your continued advocacy and partnership and advancing policies that are going to create parody for student veterans because the reality is that we don't have that parody just yet veterans who have served in uniform and have earned their GI Bill benefits should have the same exact protections
▶ 2:42:39as any other student that uses federal education funds and as you mentioned in your testimony under current law even when a court or the Secretary of Veteran Affairs determines that a school def Fred a veteran that veteran ends up losing their GI Bill benefits permanently non-veteran students or those that are studying under that are not studying under the GI Bill benefits they have mechanisms in place to protect and restore their Investments but veterans don't and when
▶ 2:43:09veterans are left out they're taking advantage at the hands of predatory schools and Bad actors these predatory schools begin targeting them even before before they've returned to civilian life because they know they can get away with it and it's why with your support and the support of so many of you I was proud to introduce and pass the student veteran benefit restor restoration act last congress with overwhelming support and it's why I'm proud to be reintroducing
▶ 2:43:39it this Congress and hopefully get it through the Senate and sign into law Mr hubard in your testimony you talked a little bit about this bill and the importance of this bill but can you explain a little bit more why does this inequity exist for those that don't understand the difference in terms of restoration and and in your explanation would you also talk about the impact it will have once we finally pass this bill into law yes thank you for
▶ 2:44:09uh not only the question congresswoman but also your steadfast support to make this happen uh we hear day in and day out from student veterans have called us to share their stories about unspeakable fraud uh as I mentioned in my my earlier statement when a student goes to when a veteran goes to school as a student they're not anticipating that the school is going to be a scam they find that out later and unfortunately their GI build benefits are wasted at that point and given the fact that existing statutory
▶ 2:44:40Authority does not afford them the chance to go back to school uh your bill we are hoping would make that happen and with that kind of legislation in place uh our advocacy on behalf of those student veterans would actually give them a second chance to get back into the economy something that we strongly support thank you Mr hobbert Mr hobbert so that means that if a veteran has been defrauded he was about to graduate the school bankrupt they weren't able to get their degree and we know so many veterans
▶ 2:45:10that are in that condition they're not able to go to school because if they could go back to school but they'd have to now pay out of pocket and we know in many cases that means it's impossible for to go to school and afford thousands and thousands of tuition our bill will be able to restore benefits and ensure that schools in the future won't be able to scam our student veterans is that correct yes and thank you again for your support on that something that we have uh actively uh tried to get through and look forward to working with your office on I look forward
▶ 2:45:40to working with you I certainly appreciate um our our chairman who was a co-lead on the bill and I know we're going to work really hard to ensure that both the house and senate pass it I want to just wrap up and saying again what I said at the beginning to all of you service organizations to the veterans that are here today may we always remember that our responsibility is not partisan politics our responsibility is to honor your service to commit to ensure that we are increasing benefits for you not cutting them and making
▶ 2:46:10sure that we do everything in our power to ensure that you're are treated with dignity you're treated with respect and that you receive the full benefits you have earned and have been promised to you it's what I'll continue to do in this committee and I certainly know that a number of my colleagues here will do so thank you and with that I yield back Dr Dexter you recognized for three minutes thank you so much um to our leadership chairman Moran ranking member Blumenthal chairman bust and ranking member Tano for
▶ 2:46:40convening this really important hearing and thank you to our Witnesses uh for being with us today and for your service to our veterans um your advocacy on behalf of our nation's veterans is deeply meaningful and it's an honor to be with you today as a physician who is cared for veterans in the Denver VA or previously cared for them for seven years it is my privilege um to be in this position advocating with you for the health care benefits that our veterans have earned
▶ 2:47:11and deserve to keep in whole in reviewing the written testimony for today's hearing I appreciated that many of you emphasized the importance of investing in care specifically tailored to women veterans this is certainly reflective of the experience I had as a VA provider and is what I it is what I hear from folks in the women's clinic at the Portland VA which is in my district or serves my district Commander Johnson do you think it would harm care for female veterans to fire
▶ 2:47:42providers cut programs and close clinics that specifically serve this population of patience absolutely I mean our veterans I mean they female veterans our veterans just like the rest of us they go to combat they do everything every other veteran does and they they are human beings and they get sick and they need help just like every other veteran does and then when you cutting uh Services when you cutting service for the female veterans you cutting service for veterans
▶ 2:48:12and I absolutely I agree with that would that would harm us immen immensely thank you I couldn't agree more and that is why I'm so concerned about the recent actions from the Trump Administration impacting our VA Workforce just last week I had a round table with um Portland VA leadership and staff and I spoke to staff in the women's health program who said to me and this is a direct quote women say they love our Clinic because we have staff that care but now we have staff that are
▶ 2:48:42scared vomiting and freaking out and that's the end of that quote and these are the people carrying for our veterans having terrified VA staff absolutely impacts the quality of care that our veterans are receiving I recently heard from a patient treated at this Clinic who canceled every single one of her forthcoming appointments because she is afraid she could be retaliated against for getting the care she needs this is a horrifying new reality so as women make up a growing share of the veteran
▶ 2:49:13population once again Commander Johnson what kind of investments in VA Workforce for women wom veterans care would the veterans you serve like to see and do you think these are possible if the attacks on the VA Workforce continue so I haven't we haven't had a full discussion on that I would like to just say that I would speak to my contiuous and be able to get back with you at a later date I'd appreciate that because you know that's got that's a very important question and it should be answered with a lot of cor consideration
▶ 2:49:44thank you Commander Johnson I yield back Mr chair thank you Dr Conway you are now recognized for minutes thank you Mr chairman uh I am uh certainly um pleased to be here and and to hear from uh our veteran Community uh we have a responsibility in this country to make sure those who have served us and not only the veteran but the veterans families are are properly cared for uh there are a lot of statements that are made from dases such as this and on hustings about how
▶ 2:50:14much we owe to our veterans in this country and that should be met uh by the appropriate allocations from a budget uh uh to have a VA that's appropriately staffed to do the job that we ask them to do and particularly as we have expanded access to the VA uh to U different uh and additional classes of veterans who will need to get service there I'm sad to say and sorry to know uh that our allocations or budget not does
▶ 2:50:44not reflect uh the uh present and growing demands that are being placed placed uh on the VA um my question to Mr Johnson uh is um can you elaborate or give Insight uh on the mental health services um the treatment the care that that veterans are currently receiving in your opinion and others can offer opinion on this as well and what you think ought to be done uh to ensure
▶ 2:51:15that um this care is well I think the funds are there it's just that the management of the system itself is not completely conducive of what's going on there especially that with the TBI traumatic brain injury that seems somehow or another to be new and it's not new I mean we have veterans uh um dealing with that on a daily basis um again I haven't we haven't
▶ 2:51:45done a complete study on the statistics on how it's work working and for me to give you an educated uh complete answer I would have to get with my constituents and get more based uh statistic based information so I can give you a better a better educated answer uh would anyone else care to comment on on my question I would miss m i I would just like to address a little bit continue about the TBI that's something we're very concerned about it's it's
▶ 2:52:15studies non-military Studies have shown that a TBI anytime in your life even the mildest concussion doubles the the chance of suicide sometimes in your life there's such a stigma about suicide and mental health and we would like to see more studies to show the physicality of the the influence of the TBI on suicide and also about you know the difficulties with the claim process thank you thank you I would U also ask uh of um
▶ 2:52:46uh anyone who cares to answer um I have a great deal of concern that's Shar broadly shared I believe about the cuts that have been occurring across the system uh that are indiscriminate uh and while there have been some who have been saved from these Cuts there are issues with respect to people who bring food to patients in facilities people who clean those facilities people who provide security at those facilities and um uh that needs to be addressed in my view as well thank you Mr
▶ 2:53:17chairman thank you you um at this time uh if I'd like to recognize uh ranking member Tano for any closing remarks he might have well I want to thank all the veteran service organizations that appeared before us today uh and thank all of the veterans who' have come to Washington to Advocate on their behalf let me just say that I am awaiting answers from the secretary uh about uh the firings of uh of Veterans
▶ 2:53:47as you know the VFW you uh has condemned uh the indiscriminate uh dismissals of of veterans veterans who have had Stellar uh performance reviews uh I fail to see how this advances the mission of VA and I and I I I have serious concerns about Mission critical employees being dismissed with that I yield back I thank the ranking member for his closing
▶ 2:54:17statement and I also want to say thank you for every one of you being here and I want to offer to you the exact same thing that I offered to the previous panel if you see at any time that your services that you specifically deal with for your veterans that you represent are being interfered with as we change because I think it was in Mr Johnson's um uh testimony that he said there are ineffective uh programs out there as we need to go wisely through
▶ 2:54:47and I'm going to I I could ask which one of the people on the panel are taxpayers and I say you probably all raise your hand and that means that we want to make sure that the dollars that we're spending on our veterans are going to provide those services that actually V benefit our veterans not necessarily benefit a bureaucracy there is a difference there is a difference and as this chairman of this committee I've said very openly time and time again and we'll continue to say so the VA
▶ 2:55:17was cre created for the benefit of the veterans not the benefit bureaucracy as we move forward you've heard a lot of things uh including the fact that veterans are being laid off some of those that are work may be veterans but most of them are are employees but as we move forward it is to make sure that the best services are provided that's why I offered what I just said if there's any reduction in service or someone that you know works at the VA that has been impr
▶ 2:55:48properly released from their employment please come to me and my office because we will argue on their behalf but to make blanket statements based on some reform that has been much needed um I think quite often runs into rhetoric that we unfortunately use our veterans and our veteran service organizations as pawns and I don't want to see that so with that being said once again I want to say thank to you to all of you and that concludes today's joint vso hearing and I think it's as clear
▶ 2:56:18that the committee is collaborating and and its collaboration with the VA have more work to do uh in service for our veterans and their families now I ask unanimous consent that all members shall have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include any extend extendus material hearing no objection so ordered and the hearing is adjourned e