Thank you Mr. Chairman,

Good morning.  I’d like to welcome everyone to our first hearing of the 111th Congress. 

It is my pleasure to welcome the Honorable Eric K. Shinseki, Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs.  Secretary Shinseki is a retired General in the United States Army, a twice-wounded combat veteran of Vietnam, and former Chief of Staff of the Army.   I know from my tenure on the Armed Services Committee that Secretary Shinseki is a man of principle who adheres to Army Values, and I am encouraged that our perspectives are similarly aligned with regard to serving America’s veterans.

Mr. Secretary, when I read your written statement, I was pleased that the performance-goals you outlined resemble the enduring themes which I believe are essential as we navigate one of the most critical moments in the history of the Department.  As you are aware, VA faces a number of critical challenges, many of which have confronted the Department for the past several years.

Existing challenges, such as the disability claims backlog, will become even more imposing as thousands of combat veterans return from Iraq and Afghanistan, and further challenges will arise with the implementation of the new GI Bill.  Clearly, significant difficulties lie ahead, but at the same time, meaningful steps have been taken over the past decade to help improve the timeliness and quality of care and services for our veterans.

It will take time for these measures to take affect; for instance, the two thousand additional employees that VA hired in 2008 will require a considerable amount of training before they can make a positive impact on the claims backlog.  Training for complex adjudication takes time.

But the increased workforce along with technological improvements and other changes will hopefully begin turning the tide on the claims backlog.  I want to emphasize my interest in seeing VA make better use of information technology to help eliminate the backlog problem.

We must also make sure that servicemembers who leave the military are quickly and effectively provided with benefits and services to ensure that they experience a seamless transition to civilian life.  This will require fundamental changes in the way VA and DoD compensate and assist veterans, and their survivors, for disabilities and deaths attributable to military service.

It is urgent that Congress, the VA, and DoD work together in a decisive manner to implement such reform while the will to do so exists, otherwise we will merely be passing the targeted problems off to future generations.  Successful reform would make great strides toward our mutually held goal of ensuring that veterans returning from military service are able to make a smooth and easy transition back to civilian life.  

Mr. Secretary, as you can see, you take office at a daunting time, and I again commend you for accepting this challenge, and I thank you for appearing here today.

I look forward to your testimony.

Thank you Mr. Chairman, I yield back.