Thank you Mr. Chairman.  I would agree with the remarks made by the Ranking Member.  This is certainly a generous budget considering the economic crisis facing the nation.

Mr. Secretary, I have one major budget concern and that is how VA proposes to allocate the over 4,000 new VBA employees among the various business lines.  I believe that adding 3,919 FTE to C&P while cutting 9 employees from the Voc Rehab Service needs to be rethought.

The budget documents show a ten percent increase in the total VR&E caseload so cutting counseling staffs when more resources are needed to bring the average caseload down does not reflect a focus on rehabilitating disabled veterans.

I hope you will revisit this staffing issue and consider shifting some of the new staffing resources to increase the VR&E staffing to reduce the average caseload to not more than 100.

I yield back.