Thank you Mr. Chairman for yielding.

I am pleased to have this opportunity for a collective discussion on the Department of Veterans Affairs’, outreach efforts.

I believe VA is doing a much better job of reaching OIF/OEF veterans now than it was at the beginning of the War on Terror.

This is a commendable development, and I hope that a comparable improvement can be achieved in VA’s efforts to reach older veterans.

Veterans cannot obtain the benefits they have earned if they don’t know they are eligible to receive them. 

I am concerned that despite millions of dollars spent on outreach every year, we have not effectively reached many veterans of earlier conflicts.

It is for this reason, I was proud to join with my colleagues in supporting H.R. 3681, the Veterans’ Benefits Awareness Act of 2007, which passed the full House this week.

This measure, introduced by my good friend and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity John Boozman, authorizes VA to conduct national advertising campaigns for benefits outreach. 

I believe that with the enactment of this bill and help from groups like the AD Council, VA will be able to create public service announcements that will provide effective outreach for all veterans. 

The Department of Defense spends billions each year on recruitment ads, and I believe that if VA spent just a fraction of this amount it would be very effective for outreach purposes.

Mr. Chairman, I would also like to recognize and thank veterans’ service organizations for their outreach efforts to veterans and I encourage them to continue their excellent work.

I look forward to our witnesses’ testimony and a productive discussion on ways to improve VA outreach. I yield back.