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Let me begin by thanking Chairman Quinn, Ranking Member Filner, and Congressman Evans for today’s Hearing. I am so pleased to be with you today to speak in support of my legislation -- HR 3256, The Veterans’ Right to Know Act.

As we enter the new millennium and our veterans population is rapidly aging, I believe it is about time that we sat down and took a comprehensive look at America’s outreach to our veterans. To be quite frank, the lack of information available to veterans and their families about the benefits and services they are eligible for has reached crisis proportions!

A survey conducted by the Veterans Administration indicated that less than half of veterans contacted were aware of certain benefits they were entitled to receive, including pension benefits for disabled, low-income veterans.

In addition, a survey I conducted among veterans in my own district -- New Jersey’s Eighth -- showed that over half of those answering had "no understanding" of the benefits they are entitled to and "no confidence" that their questions could be satisfactorily answered by the Veterans Benefits Administration.

Members of the armed services have put themselves at great risk to protect America around the world, and in return our government has made a commitment to both active duty and retired military personnel to provide certain benefits.

Too often, our nation’s heroes are not adequately informed as to what benefits they are entitled to receive, or how to obtain those benefits. This is simply unacceptable.

That is why I introduced the Veterans’ Right To Know Act. The Veterans’ Right to Know Act is clear and too the point. It makes a few simple demands of the Department of Veterans Affairs. In short, it demands that they do their job.

This bill requires the VA to inform veterans about eligibility for benefits and health services whenever a veteran first applies for any benefit. It also requires the VA to inform widows and survivors of vets about what is available to them, and requires an annual outreach plan designed to help identify veterans who are not registered and devise ways to inform vets of changes to their benefits.

The Veterans’ Right-to-Know Act requires the Secretary of the VA to prepare an annual outreach plan that will include efforts to identify veterans who are not otherwise enrolled or registered with the Department for benefits or services. And it requires that the VA consult with actual veterans’ organizations in developing this plan. That way we know it will work.

My legislation has the strong support of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, the Disabled American Veterans, the Jewish War Veterans, the Vietnam Veterans of America, and the Veterans Widows’ International Network. And it is as bipartisan, as it should be – it has 69 cosponsors from both sides of the aisle.

This is common sense legislation that all of Congress should support. When our brave soldiers stormed Omaha Beach on D-Day, when they fought to push the North Koreans back to the 38th parallel, or battled the North Vietnamese Army to take Hamburger Hill, or faced down Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guards during the Gulf War -- we did not ask these selfless men and woman whether they are Democrats or Republicans. And so we must put aside our partisan differences -- for the sake of our veterans -- to make this bill into law.

Veterans throughout this country deserve this bill. They have earned these benefits through their patriotism, their courage, and their values. It is an absolute outrage that the government they fought for is not doing a good enough job informing them of what they are entitled to receive. We must change that trend with this legislation.

We are not doing veterans any favors by informing them of benefits and services they are entitled to. This is our responsibility. We are accountable to our veterans, and we are going to deliver.

Abraham Lincoln spoke of this responsibility in his second inaugural address, saying we must "care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan." Throughout our nation’s history, millions of men and women have served in our armed forces – during times of peace and in times of war. They have defended the very freedoms our country was founded upon.

This bill honors that commitment – and I’m going to fight to make it the law of the land. Thank you.

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