Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and members of the subcommittee, for the opportunity to testify today on issues related to veterans.

Millions of veterans nationwide receive treatment in the VA health care system.  A significant number of these veterans have returned from war—including the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq—with serious injuries, including traumatic brain injury.  Quite understandably, a large number of troops are also suffering from psychiatric disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

It is our duty to ensure that our veterans, who have so courageously served our country, receive the medical support they deserve.  The VA system must be able to successfully compete for the best health care providers in the United States.  Today, I speak in support of the Veterans’ Medical Personnel Recruitment Act of 2008, because it gives the VA the tools to recruit and retain the very best medical and professional employees.

This legislation will raise salaries for nurses, physicians, dentists, senior executives and pharmacist executives. It will streamline pay systems, making them easier to understand and to implement.  It will provide incentives to retired employees to return to the VA system by removing annuity and salary offsets, thereby encouraging the qualified workers most familiar with the VA system to return to work.  The legislation will also increase education benefits for new VA hires and current staff.

I worked as a medical and psychiatric nurse at the Dallas VA Medical Center for 15 years, and I can attest to the unparalleled role nurses play in all medical facilities.  Nurses are often the medical professionals with whom patients have the most contact, and they are repeatedly cited by patients as the medical professionals they trust the most.  There is a nursing shortage in our country, and if we want the VA to attract the very best nurses, we must provide the proper incentives.

Standardizing the definition of “emergency” will facilitate more consistent and equitable use of emergency mandatory overtime. By clarifying VA regulations regarding work schedules, overtime and emergency duty the Veterans’ Medical Personnel Recruitment and Retention Act will offer nurses more schedule flexibility and provide for the VA to become a more employee-friendly place to work. The legislation will also make it easier for the VA to hire and retain part-time nurses and to allow full-time nurses to transition to part-time work schedules.

The Veterans’ Medical Personnel Recruitment and Retention Act will strengthen the VA system, helping to make the VA the health care employer of choice.  Our veterans, who have so courageously served our country, deserve its passage and implementation.

Mr. Chairman, this concludes my testimony I will be happy to answer any questions that you may have.