Welcome to Capitol Hill Commander Reynolds.  As you know, the Committee went for a period of time when we did not hold joint legislative hearings for VSOs.  Reinstituting this very important hearing was one of the first things Chairman Akaka and I did last year.  We are certainly looking forward to hearing your organization’s legislative agenda for 2008.

Before we start, I would like to extend my complements to your DAV Washington staff and to tell you, Commander, how rewarding it is to work with them on the very important issues that affect our nation’s veterans.

Commander Reynolds as you know, on Monday, February 4, 2008, the Administration submitted the VA budget for fiscal year 2009.  This Committee believes that this request for veterans’ funding is simply not adequate.  The Administration’s budget slashes funding for building new health care facilities and reduces investment in medical and prosthetic research.  The request includes a 5.5 percent increase for health care; that barely covers the cost of medical inflation and does not keep up with the increasing demand for health care. 

We are seriously concerned because the budget proposal contains only modest increases for veterans’ health care while paying for this increase with cuts in other veterans’ programs well below the historic levels we provided for this year.

Commander Reynolds, in your statement you said - “…funding for veterans benefits and healthcare services should be a top priority for Congress and the Administration as a continuing cost of our national defense.”  Commander!  I agree with you!  I have often said – “…as we fund the war, we must also fund the warrior.”  We’ve got to provide the necessary funding to pay for the health care services and benefits for our brave men and women who have answered the call of their country.

As you noted in your statement – “Not since Vietnam has our nation had to deal with such a significant number of wartime casualties.”  Ensuring veterans are provided promised benefits and services are issues that we as a Congress must continue to take seriously.  We have to give the VA the resources needed to care for returning OEF/OIF veterans, and we must ensure resources are available for veterans from previous conflicts. 

This won’t be cheap, but the service and sacrifice of our veterans are real, and the VA’s budget must provide realistic funding to meet their needs.

Just last week I testified before the House Budget Committee as we prepared to submit the Committee’s Views and Estimates on the VA’s 2009 Budget…and while I won’t go through specific numbers and line items here…I do want to touch on the focus of the Committee’s recommendation:

• The Democratic Committee’s Views and Estimates builds upon the Administration’s request, restores proposed cuts, and provides higher recommended levels for VA medical care and overall discretionary accounts than the Independent Budget.
• The Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB), implemented over 20 years ago, was a landmark piece of legislation.  The time has come to update, modernize, and provide greater flexibility to meet the needs of today’s veterans.  The Committee is exploring a number of options to improve and modernize the GI Bill and bring equity to our veterans that serve in the Guard and Reserves.
• On February 16, 2008, the inventory of compensation and pension claims pending at the VA was 663,319.  The Committee believes that the VA must embrace non-traditional ideas to solve the claims backlog issue, and recommended $50 million to explore various pilot programs and initiatives that could revolutionize the process.  The Committee also believes that the VA may need to employ a more radical adjudication process of backlogged claims which may still require additional funding.
• The Committee is aware, there are many veterans' groups who advocate providing VA health care funding from the mandatory side of the ledger, as compared to the current system of providing discretionary funding.  There are also many on the Veterans' Affairs Committee who believe the solution to the budget problems faced by the VA is mandatory funding.  I have asked the Budget Committee to work together to fully explore this option and additional ways to provide VA health care funding in a sufficient and timely manner.

Commander, I would like to hear your thoughts not only on the VA budget for fiscal year 2009, but the other legislative priorities of the Disabled American Veterans.