Good afternoon Madam Chair.

Thanks for moving these bills forward.  I would first request that the written testimony of the American Bar Association be included in the hearing record.  I would note for the record that they oppose passage of H.R. 4469.

Madam Chair, I greatly appreciate your including H.R. 4259, The Warriors Adapting Residences with Mortgages for Energy Renovations Act or for short, the `WARMER Act.' which I introduced with Congressman Walz as an original cosponsor.  I introduced the WARMER Act as a result of concerns expressed by a very knowledgeable developer who pointed out several shortcomings in the way VA appraised properties with regards to energy efficiency improvements.

Besides the PAYGO issues, we have a very good collection of bills to consider.  I have some concern with a couple bills.  First, H.R. 4079 which would waive the requirement that an employer increase the wages of veterans who are employed as apprentices under title 38’s apprenticeship program.  HR 4079 as written, would have some unintended consequences such as lowering the apprentice’s total wages over the period of training because of the statutory reduction in the VA payment.  But, against that concern we must balance whether some job, even one with a declining wage is better than no job these days.  I appreciate the bill’s intent and I want to work with you on the bill.

I also have some concerns about H.R. 4592.  Again, I agree with the intent to put veterans in good-paying jobs and I would like to work with Mr. Teague to do that in the most effective manner in the long term.

Finally, I am also very interested to hear the testimonies on H.R. 4469.  It sounds to me like there are some technical legal issues involved and I believe we will hear a very good discussion by our witnesses, including our colleague, Mr. Turner, the bill’s sponsor.  I would note that, in my opinion, the ultimate goal of child custody law is to protect the best interests of the child, not the rights of the servicemember.

I yield back.