[Joint House and Senate Hearing, 118 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                    S. Hrg. 118-141

                  LEGISLATIVE PRESENTATION OF VETERANS OF 
                   FOREIGN WARS OF THE UNITED STATES AND 
                   MULTI VSOs: JWV, WWP, TAPS, MOAA, 
                   AMVETS, GSW, MOPH, BVA, NACVSO
=======================================================================

                              JOINT HEARING

                                 OF THE

                     COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS

                               BEFORE THE

                     U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                                AND THE

                              U.S. SENATE

                    ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION

                               __________

                             MARCH 8, 2023

                               __________

      Formatted for the use of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
      
 [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]     


        Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov
        
                               __________

                                
                    U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE                    
53-730 PDF                 WASHINGTON : 2023                    
          
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               SENATE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS

                     Jon Tester, Montana, Chairman

Patty Murray, Washington             Jerry Moran, Kansas, Ranking 
Bernard Sanders, Vermont                 Member
Sherrod Brown, Ohio                  John Boozman, Arkansas
Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut      Bill Cassidy, Louisiana
Mazie K. Hirono, Hawaii              Mike Rounds, South Dakota
Joe Manchin III, West Virginia       Thom Tillis, North Carolina
Kyrsten Sinema, Arizona              Dan Sullivan, Alaska
Margaret Wood Hassan, New Hampshire  Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee
Angus S. King, Jr., Maine            Kevin Cramer, North Dakota
                                     Tommy Tuberville, Alabama

                      Tony McClain, Staff Director
                 Jon Towers, Republican Staff Director

                              ----------                              

        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS

                     Mike Bost, Illinois, Chairman

Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen,       Mark Takano, California, Ranking 
    American Samoa                       Member
Jack Bergman, Michigan               Julia Brownley, California
Nancy Mace, South Carolina           Mike Levin, California
Matthew M. Rosendale, Sr., Montana   Chris Pappas, New Hampshire
Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Iowa       Frank J. Mrvan, Indiana
Gregory F. Murphy, North Carolina    Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, 
C. Scott Franklin, Florida               Florida
Derrick Van Orden, Wisconsin         Delia C. Ramirez, Illinois
Morgan Luttrell, Texas               Christopher R. Deluzio, 
Juan Ciscomani, Arizona                  Pennsylvania
Elijah Crane, Arizona                Morgan McGarvey, Kentucky
Keith Self, Texas                    Greg Landsman, Ohio
Jennifer A. Kiggans, Virginia        Nikki Budzinski, Illinois

                       Jon Clark, Staff Director
                  Matt Reel, Democratic Staff Director
                           
                           C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              

                             March 8, 2023

                                                                   Page

                            REPRESENTATIVES

Bost, Hon. Mike, Chairman, U.S. Representative from Illinois.....     1
Brownley, Hon. Julia, U.S. Representative from California........     4
Van Orden, Hon. Derrick, U.S. Representative from Wisconsin......    14
Pappas, Hon. Chris, U.S. Representative from New Hampshire.......    15
Crane, Hon. Elijah, U.S. Representative from Arizona.............    17
Ramirez, Hon. Delia, U.S. Representative from Illinois...........    18
Miller-Meeks, Hon. Mariannette, U.S. Representative from Iowa....    19
Deluzio, Hon. Christopher, U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania.    20
Murphy, Hon. Gregory, U.S. Representative from North Carolina....    21
Coleman Radewagen, Hon. Aumua Amata, U.S. Representative from 
  American Samoa.................................................    22
Rosendale, Hon. Matthew, U.S. Representative from Montana........    22
Levin, Hon. Mike, U.S. Representative from California............    47
Luttrell, Hon. Morgan, U.S. Representative from Texas............    48
Budzinski, Hon. Nikki, U.S. Representative from Illinois.........    50

                                SENATORS

Tester, Hon. Jon, Chairman, U.S. Senator from Montana............     3
Moran, Hon. Jerry, Ranking Member, U.S. Senator from Kansas......    41

                       INTRODUCTION OF WITNESSES

Ryan Gallucci, Executive Director of the VFW Washington Office...     6
The Honorable Mark Kelly, U.S. Senator from the State of Arizona.     7

                               WITNESSES
                                Panel I

Timothy Borland, Commander in Chief, Veterans of Foreign Wars of 
  the United States..............................................     7

  accompanied by

  Ryan Gallucci, Executive Director of the VFW Washington Office

  Patrick Murray, National Legislative Director

  Michael Figlioli, National Service Director

  Deborah Johnson, Legislative Committee Chair

                                Panel II

Col. Nelson Mellitz, USAF, Ret., National Commander, Jewish War 
  Veterans of the USA............................................    24
Lt. Gen. Michael S. Linnington, USA, Ret., Chief Executive 
  Officer, Wounded Warrior Project...............................    27
Bonnie Carroll, President and Founder, Tragedy Assistance Program 
  for Survivors (TAPS)...........................................    29

                           Panel II (cont'd)

Cory Titus, Director of Veterans Benefits and Guard/Reserve 
  Affairs, Government Relations, Military Officers Association of 
  America........................................................    31
Donald McLean, National Commander, American Veterans (AMVETS)....    32
Tamra Sipes, President, Gold Star Wives of America, Inc..........    34
Christopher Vedvick, National Commander, Military Order of the 
  Purple Heart...................................................    35
Joseph D. McNeil, Sr., National President, Blinded Veterans 
  Association....................................................    37
Michael McLaughlin, Legislative Director, National Association of 
  County Veterans Service Officers...............................    39

                                APPENDIX
                          Prepared Statements

Timothy Borland, Commander in Chief, Veterans of Foreign Wars of 
  the United States..............................................    57
Col. Nelson Mellitz, USAF, Ret., National Commander, Jewish War 
  Veterans of the USA............................................    84
Lt. Gen. Michael S. Linnington, USA, Ret., Chief Executive 
  Officer, Wounded Warrior Project...............................    98
Bonnie Carroll, President and Founder, Tragedy Assistance Program 
  for Survivors (TAPS)...........................................   130
Cory Titus, Director of Veterans Benefits and Guard/Reserve 
  Affairs, Government Relations, Military Officers Association of 
  America........................................................   151
Donald McLean, National Commander, American Veterans (AMVETS)....   176
Tamra Sipes, President, Gold Star Wives of America, Inc..........   189
Christopher Vedvick, National Commander, Military Order of the 
  Purple Heart...................................................   198
Joseph D. McNeil, Sr., National President, Blinded Veterans 
  Association....................................................   208
Michael McLaughlin, Legislative Director, National Association of 
  County Veterans Service Officers...............................   221

  Attachment--NACVSO Priorities for the 118th Congress...........   224

                       Statements for the Record

American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor Memorial Society.....   229
Military-Veterans Advocacy.......................................   233

 
  LEGISLATIVE PRESENTATION OF VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS OF THE UNITED 
 STATES AND MULTI VSOs: JWV, WWP, TAPS, MOAA, AMVETS, GSW, MOPH, BVA, 
                                 NACVSO

                              ----------                              


                        WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 2023

             U.S. House of Representatives,
                                   and U.S. Senate,
                            Committee on Veterans' Affairs,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The Committees met, pursuant to notice, at 10:01 a.m., in 
Room 390, Cannon House Office Building, Hon. Mike Bost, 
Chairman of the Committee, presiding.

    Present:

    Representatives Bost, Radewagen, Bergman, Rosendale, 
Miller-Meeks, Murphy, Van Orden, Luttrell, Crane, Takano, 
Brownley, Levin, Pappas, Ramirez, Deluzio, McGarvey, and 
Budzinski.

    Senators Tester, Brown, Blumenthal, Hassan, and Moran.

    Also Present: Senator Mark Kelly.

         OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MIKE BOST, CHAIRMAN,
               U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM ILLINOIS

    Chairman Bost. Good morning, everyone. Hey, thank you all 
for being here today.
    I first would like to welcome our friends from the Senate. 
Chairman Tester and Ranking Member Moran will be along later. 
We thank them for joining us here. We were at their house last 
week, and they are in our house today, and we are glad to have 
them here. You know, I also want to welcome Mr. Timothy 
Borland, Commander in Chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of 
the United States. And I would be remiss if I did not take this 
opportunity to congratulate former VFW Executive Director Bob 
Wallace on his decades of service to our veterans, and I wish 
him well in his retirement. I would also like to congratulate 
Mr. Ryan Gallucci. Okay. People mispronounce Bost all the time 
too, so, you know. On the beginning, being here the first post-
9/11 veteran named as the Executive Director of the VFW's 
Washington Office. Congratulations.
    I would also like, if I could--now I understand that the 
people that might be watching us and their looking out across 
this crowd, understand we have this room full and two overflow 
rooms full. So we have a great amount of our veterans in 
attendance. And we appreciate you for being here, and we thank 
you for your service. But there is a certain group of you that 
I would like to recognize, and that is from my home state of 
Illinois. And if you are from Illinois, if you would stand up 
and say hi and wave. And there they are in the back. There they 
are.
    Okay. It is a great honor for me to be here today, serving 
as the House Committee on Veterans Affairs Chairman. You know, 
alongside with Ranking Member Takano, we share the same mission 
of delivering the best care and support to our veterans. You 
know, I am proud of everything that we accomplished in last 
Congress, but we all know that the work is far from over.
    Now, this hearing is an excellent opportunity to learn more 
about what we can do to improve the lives of our veterans 
nationwide. Now, the VFW has vitally important information and 
insight into what the veterans actually experience when they go 
to the VA. Our Committees need your help to ensure that 
veterans receive the services they deserve.
    As chairman, one of my main priorities is ensuring that the 
VA properly implement the PACT Act. This law was long overdue 
and is a long overdue win for veterans and their families. It 
is now our responsibility to hold VA accountable to ensure that 
toxic exposed veterans have access to the care they need. You 
all know better than anyone what does and does not work. We 
need you all to be vocal so we can address any problems when 
they arise.
    Another one of my priorities as Chairman is ensuring 
veterans Second Amendment rights are not taken away just 
because they need help managing their benefits. I am proud of 
the legislation, H.R. 705, the Veteran Second Amendment 
Protection Act, and grateful for the 58 Members of Congress who 
have joined me in this effort. I appreciate the VFW's support 
on this issue. We will end this discrimination practice, this 
Congress, guaranteed. This effort and many more made by my 
colleagues in the House and in the Senate are a good start, but 
we need to keep up the fight.
    Veterans are still fighting a VA bureaucracy to access the 
healthcare they need, when they need it, where they need it. 
They are enduring long wait times for their earned benefits or 
getting a simple question answered, dealing with 
underperforming VA employees who don't have the veteran's best 
interest in mind, and dealing with the impacts of flawed 
electronic health record system. And I am making my commitment 
to you now that I will work tirelessly in my role as chairman 
to ensure that we will not stop until every veteran no longer 
has to fight for benefits that they have already earned for 
their time and service.
    You know, this work has always been personal to me, both as 
a veteran myself and a father and a grandfather of Marines. 
Generations of veterans have earned a system that works for 
them. This is my number one priority.
    And before I finish, I would like to recognize the service 
of one of our staffers who will be departing at the end of this 
month. Mr. John Tower has been serving veterans and their 
families for a number of different chairmen and ranking members 
on both sides of the Rotunda. For over 25 years, John has 
worked. And that is no small feat if you know all the things 
that he has done. And if you have been around here, and I am 
telling you, whether it is House Republicans, House Democrats, 
Senate Republicans, Senate Democrats, all know the work that 
John has done. So, John, thank you for your commitment to the 
men and women who have served and congratulations on a job well 
done. Your experience, sense of humor, and friendship will be 
missed around this place.
    Now, just so you know, it is too bad that Senator Moran 
isn't here where I can harass him about the fact that he took 
you away from us just before I took this job, so--but we will 
have to deal with that at a later date. But we do wish you 
well.
    But now I would like to yield to Chairman Tester for his in 
his opening remarks.

        OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JON TESTER, CHAIRMAN,
                   U.S. SENATOR FROM MONTANA

    Chairman Tester. Thank you, Chairman Bost.
    Before I get into my remarks, not that this is John Tower's 
appreciation day, but just want to say John, you are a good 
man. It has been great to work with you and thank you, thank 
you very much for the work you have done.
    Good morning, everybody. I want to welcome the national 
leadership from the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the members here 
today and those watching from Montana and around the country. I 
especially want to welcome the Montana delegation, including 
Tim Peters and Joe Fletcher, Jack Hawley, Fred Hamilton, Jeff 
Schepp. Stand up, folks. Thank you very much. I had a chance to 
visit you guys yesterday. And I just want to thank you for what 
you do every day for the folks back home in Montana.
    Commander Boland, thank you for what you are here today to 
do and for your continued VFW advocacy for our nation's 
veterans. The VFW played a critical role in helping get the 
PACT Act signed into law. And I just want to tell you that 
isn't just a statement, that is a fact. The lady sitting behind 
Senator Kelly to his right did an amazing job in a hearing we 
had because she held folks like me accountable. And we want to 
thank you for the work that you have done.
    Now I am looking to you again to help us understand how 
implementation is going. We don't often talk about it enough, 
but the PACT Act delivered more than expansion of healthcare 
and benefits. It also strengthened the VA's ability to 
establish new facilities to serve our veterans. We took 
historic steps that invested in VA's infrastructure through new 
recruitment and retention incentives, funding for 31 new health 
clinics and research facilities, and additional tools to build 
clinics and cut government red tape. We also gave VA expanded 
authority to re-purpose and lease out unused or vacant 
buildings, benefiting veterans and saving taxpayers funds in 
the process. To continue to improve infrastructure for 
veterans, we need to make VA construction planning more 
efficient. We need to increase oversight and provide more 
stable funding. And that is why I am proud to work with the VFW 
for several years to draft legislation, the Bill for Veterans 
Act. I hope we continue to work together and get this one over 
the finish line.
    We also need to protect new PACT Act benefits. I would like 
to hear from you about what you are seeing and what you are 
hearing from veterans on the ground when it comes to frauds and 
scams. We have heard about issues with attorney fees from the 
Camp Lejeune Justice Act and we know that VSOs have endorsed 
multiple bills to establish caps, including the VFW. We thank 
you for that. And we also don't want to lose sight of claim 
sharks. VA has been asking us for years to reinstate their 
ability to go after the people taking a veteran's benefit for 
their own profit. And I believe we should work together to make 
that happen.
    For the veterans here today, thank you for your service. 
Thank you for your work that you do on behalf of veterans in 
your states. We look forward to hearing from each of you. With 
that, I will turn it back to you, Chairman Bost.
    Chairman Bost. Thank you, Chairman.
    At this time, we would want to recognize Ranking Member 
Takano. He had been called away and to deliver his opening 
remarks we recognize Representative Brownley.

           OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JULIA BROWNLEY,
              U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM CALIFORNIA

    Ms. Brownley. Thank you, Chairman Bost.
    And I am not Mark Takano, but I am here on his behalf, and 
it is truly an honor to be here with all of you today. It is 
great to see all of the VSO members in the room.
    First and most important question, are there any 
Californians in the room this morning All right, a very special 
welcome to you.
    So, it is an honor to join all of the members of the House 
and Senate Committees of Veteran Affairs to hear directly from 
the commander in chief and representatives of the Veterans of 
Foreign Wars. I would also like to welcome the diverse group of 
organizations we will hear from on the second panel. It is 
great to see all of you here as well, and I look forward to 
hearing about the priorities of Jewish War Veterans, Wounded 
Warrior Project, TAPS, MOAA, AMVETS, Gold Star Wives, Military 
Order of the Purple Heart, BVA, and the National Association of 
County Veteran Service Officers. I look forward to hearing your 
testimony today, and I thank you for your continued advocacy 
and support for the veteran community.
    The opportunity to hear from our VSO partners is critical 
to do our work. You all provide much needed resources and 
representation for veterans and their families and survivors at 
all stages of life and service. In addition, your organizations 
give us much better insight into issues our veterans face and 
how we can best address them.
    For example, it was VFW's statement for the record in 2019 
that led staff to write the Veterans Access Act, which later 
became part of the Veterans Compact Act. The new benefit, which 
went live earlier this year, removes costs from the equation 
when veterans are at imminent risk of self-harm and allows them 
to access life-saving care when they need it most, regardless 
of whether the veteran has ever enrolled or used VA healthcare 
benefits. Any veteran experiencing a mental health crisis 
should call 9-8-8 and press 1 to speak with a trained 
professional from the Veterans Crisis line.
    I hope you and other VSOs will continue raising concerns 
with our staff. This is how life changing legislation comes to 
fruition. I would like to continue that track record. I was 
encouraged to see the overwhelming support the VFW and other 
VSOs provided last Congress to pass Mr. Takano's bill, the 
Honoring Our PACT Act, and get it signed into law. Thank you 
for the tremendous support you provided throughout the process. 
Getting the PACT Act to President Biden's desk is a testament 
to the strong advocacy and support from passionate groups like 
yours.
    I would also like to express my thanks to Chairman Tester, 
Ranking Member Moran, and Chairman Bost for their efforts to 
work with Mr. Takano on passing this law.
    Our bipartisan bill expands VA health care to over three 
and a half million veterans living with the effects of toxic 
exposure. Our bill removes the burden of proof which for too 
long has prevented toxic-exposed veterans from accessing the 
care and benefits they need to treat their rare conditions. In 
total, the PACT Act establishes a presumption of service-
connection for 23 respiratory illnesses and cancer. Blue Water 
Navy veterans waited more than 40 years for benefits related to 
Agent Orange exposure because of Congress' piecemeal solutions. 
We were not going to let this happen again. Thanks to our 
efforts last Congress, we kept our promise.
    Now the hard work begins, and I look forward to continuing 
to work with my colleagues to make sure this transformational 
law is implemented effectively.
    In the last Congress, together we secured several important 
wins for veterans, including, as already mentioned, passing the 
landmark PACT Act, and in addition, passing the Veteran Auto 
and Education Improvement Act, the Military Sexual Trauma 
Claims Coordination Act, the Remote Act, the Thrive Act, and 
the Sergeant Ketchum Rural Veterans Mental Health Act. We were 
also able to wrap up the 117th Congress with packages of 
veterans legislation, including the STRONG Veterans Act and the 
Cleland Dole Memorial Veterans Benefits and Healthcare 
Improvement Act. I am very proud of these accomplishments, but 
we need to build on these achievements and continue our fight 
for better health care and benefits in this Congress and 
beyond.
    Mr. Takano's priorities and my priorities for this Congress 
include opposing efforts to cut over $31 billion in VA funding, 
including funding for the 3.5 million newly eligible toxic-
exposed veterans, preserving women veterans freedom, delivering 
a VA for all Veterans, modernizing VA care for the next 
generation of veterans, ensuring that no veteran is forgotten, 
working to end veteran homelessness and food and security, 
ensuring benefits parity for Americans veterans, rejecting 
efforts to privatize the VA, conducting critical oversight and 
implementation of suicide prevention and toxic exposure bills, 
and empowering VA to fulfill its fourth mission capabilities. 
These are big goals, but I know that with your support and 
insight here today, along with the support of the Biden-Harris 
administration, we will be able to achieve these goals and 
fulfill the sacred promises we made to our nation's veterans.
    However, I am deeply concerned by the budget proposals from 
the new Republican House Majority and what it will mean for all 
of the accomplishments I just mentioned. VFW represents the 
largest number of combat veterans in the country, and the VSOs 
on our second panel represent hundreds of thousands of veterans 
and survivors as well, many of whom are eligible for new care 
and benefits due to the passage of the PACT Act. What 
Republicans are proposing would hollow out veteran programs and 
pit veterans funding against other domestic priorities. What 
programs would you cut that serve your fellow veterans and 
fellow Americans? Do they propose restricting which toxic-
exposed veteran can receive healthcare and benefits? Should 
disabled veterans see fewer benefits? I have asked my 
Republican colleagues what they think should be on the chopping 
block in order to return VA to fiscal year 2022 budget levels 
and effectively cut $31 billion from VA's budget, but they 
don't seem too keen to answer. Maybe you can ask them. I think 
millions of Americans will be interested in hearing their 
response.
    I thank you, and I yield back.
    Chairman Bost. Thank you, Ms. Brownley.
    At this time, I would like to recognize Mr. Gallucci to 
introduce the individuals on the panel.

                 INTRODUCTION BY RYAN GALLUCCI

    Mr. Gallucci. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Members of the Senate and House of Veterans Affairs 
Committees I am honored to have the privilege of introducing 
the national officers of the VFW and our Auxiliary.
    Mr. Chairman, please allow me to ask those to be introduced 
to stand and remain standing. And I wish to request our 
comrades from the VFW and the audience to hold its applause 
until all have been introduced.
    From the VFW auxiliary. The national president of our VFW 
auxiliary, Jane Reape from New York, senior vice president of 
our auxiliary, Carla Martinez of Utah, junior vice president 
Brenda Bryant from Missouri, and the National Auxiliary 
secretary treasurer Anne Panteleakos from Connecticut, as well 
as the junior vice commander in chief's wife, Carol Lipphardt 
from Georgia. And the National Officers of the Veterans of 
Foreign Wars, senior vice commander in chief Duane Sarmiento 
from New Jersey, junior vice commander in chief, Al Lipphardt 
from Georgia, junior vice commander in chief designee Carol 
Whitmore from Iowa, Adjutant General Dan West from Texas, 
Quartermaster General Marc Garduno from Delaware, Assistant 
Adjutant General Brian Walker from Tennessee, Chaplain Deborah 
Halter from Missouri, Judge Advocate General Thomas C. Rollins 
from Mississippi, chief of staff Cynthia Archuleta from 
Arizona, inspector general Sean Watson from Guam, surgeon 
general Daniel Kell from New York, supreme commander of the 
Military Order of the Cootie, Dwight Hora from South Carolina, 
chairman of our legislative committee, Deborah Johnson from 
California, director, VFW National Legislative Service, Patrick 
M. Murray from Rhode Island, and director of VFW National 
Veterans Service, Michael Figlioli from Massachusetts. I would 
further also like to recognize the 9th class of VFW SVA 
legislative fellows, the VFW Women Veterans Committee, and our 
past commanders in chief who are with us today.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Chairman Bost. Thank you, Mr. Gallucci. And thank you all 
for being here today.
    Now, at this time, I would like to turn this over to 
Senator Mark Kelly, who is a fellow Arizona VFW member, to 
introduce Commander Borland to the committees.

                INTRODUCTION BY HON. MARK KELLY

    Senator Kelly. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    It is a great honor for me to introduce a distinguished 
guest and great Arizonan, Commander in Chief of the Veterans of 
Foreign Wars, Mr. Tim Borland.
    Tim is an Army guy. I am not going to hold that against 
him. Enlisting in 1979, Tim served in the Army's Military 
Intelligence Branch and was stationed all around the world. And 
his last assignment was with the 101st Airborne Division. My 
dad was in the 82nd.
    Mr. Borland. Still good.
    Senator Kelly. Still good. And he served in Iraq from 2005 
to 2006. And then Tim returned home to Arizona and retired at 
the rank of First Sergeant in June 2007. And in recognition of 
his exemplary service, he received numerous decorations, 
including four Meritorious Service Medals, four Army 
Commendation Medals, the Iraq Campaign Medal, and four Overseas 
Service Ribbons. Like a lot of Arizona veterans, myself 
included, service runs in his blood. Tim is fourth generation, 
retired Army. That is significant--retired Army, fourth 
generation. His great grandfather served in World War I, his 
grandfather served in World War II, and both his mom and dad 
served in the Army for 20 years. Now Tim's own kids, Levi, 
Jonathan, and Lee, they are all serving as well.
    Tim became a VFW member at Post 9972 in Arizona, where he 
lives with his wife, Shannon. He was an all-American post 
district and department commander, and he served on the 
National Council of Administration. In July, Tim was elected as 
the VFW's 114th Commander in Chief, becoming the first Iraq War 
vet to lead our nation's most established combat veterans 
organization. And Tim has urged the VFW to embrace new 
generations of veterans while ensuring that veterans of past 
conflicts are not left behind, ensuring that every veteran 
counts.
    To my colleagues in both the Senate and the House Veterans 
Affairs Committees, it is my honor to introduce the VFW's 
Commander in Chief, Mr. Tim Borland.
    Chairman Bost. Thank you, Senator. And if you would like to 
stay, we would be more than happy to have you here. But if not, 
we understand how this place is, and you are free to leave if 
you need to.
    Now, I would like to recognize Commander Borland for 5 
minutes for your opening statement.

                            PANEL I

                              ----------                              


  STATEMENT OF TIMOTHY BORLAND ACCOMPANIED BY RYAN GALLUCCI, 
     PATRICK MURRAY, MICHAEL FIGLIOLI; AND DEBORAH JOHNSON

    Mr. Borland. First of all, thank you, Senator Kelly, for 
that warm welcome.
    Chairman Tester and Bost, Ranking Members Moran and Takano, 
members of the Senate and House Committees on Veterans Affairs, 
it is my honor to be with you today on behalf of more than 1.5 
million veterans of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and its 
Auxiliary of the United States to fulfill our obligations to 
Congress and to provide consistent reports to Congress.
    I would like to begin by thanking the members of the 
committees for your hard work in the 117th Congress, working 
across the aisle and across chambers to pass legislation that 
truly shows that every veteran counts. With reforms like the 
PACT Act, your committees continue to be examples of how work 
should be done on Capitol Hill. The VFW's full written 
submission covers much more, such as working to help our 
caregivers, addressing veteran homelessness, VA's flawed 
efforts to update its health record, and the full accounting of 
our nation's POW MIA. And with this, this is why we fully 
support the mission to bring all our Mission service members 
home.
    At this joint hearing last year, the VFW called upon 
Congress to pass the PACT Act, the most comprehensive toxic 
exposure legislation in American history. It was the honor of a 
lifetime to be able to represent the VFW when this historic 
legislation was signed into law. All across the country, VFW 
service officers are assisting veterans with their PACT Act 
claims and have already seen conditions approved and rated. VA 
has moved aggressively to process PACT Act claims, with more 
than 100,000 of these claims already rated, one of which is my 
own.
    VA has also worked with VSOs, like the VFW, to clearly 
communicate what veterans should expect from the process. 
Veterans can visit pactactinfo.org to learn more about their 
benefits and to link up with VA accredited service officers to 
help them apply. This service has already helped thousands of 
veterans free of charge.
    While the PACT Act is a big win for veterans facing 
exposures, we must do more for the surviving families who are 
left behind when loved ones die in the line of duty and from 
service-connected injuries or illnesses. The PACT Act finally 
fulfills a critical promise to many survivors who now qualify 
for benefits. But DIC is still not equal to other Federal 
survival programs.
    The VFW urges Congress to pass legislation that would fully 
increase DIC payments to survivors from 43 percent to 55 
percent to get with parity of the other Federal agencies.
    With this passage of the PACT Act, the VFW has seen an 
increase in online ads from predatory claim consultants that we 
call ``claim sharks''. They target veterans earned VA benefits, 
promised them increase of VA disability ratings. They argue 
that the higher fees they charge make them more effective in 
assisting veterans than the free services our properly trained 
VA accredited service organizations, county VSOs, and 
accredited agents or attorneys. Several of these predatory 
companies have made statements that there is no path for them 
to seek VA accreditation, but this is completely untrue. There 
are no restrictions for these consultants to become VA 
accredited, but they refuse to do so because they will no 
longer be able to charge such outrageous fees. They would also 
be subject to oversight by the VA's General Counsel. Currently, 
these companies have no accountability, no oversight, and no 
penalties. In fact, one company during the House Veterans 
Affairs hearing provided inaccurate testimony when asked about 
receiving a cease and desist letter from the VA. Companies that 
prey upon veterans and blatantly disregard congressional 
oversight authority should be held accountable. Period. This is 
why we strongly urge the passage of the Guard VA Benefits Act.
    If VA representatives charge for claims help, they would 
lose their accreditation and be subject to both fines and jail 
time. Claim sharks should be treated the same way. The VFW 
believes VA benefits are a critical tool to not only help 
veterans succeed after service, but also protect against 
suicide. Suicide prevention is not simply a clinical priority 
that should not be viewed as such. Suicide prevention should 
encompass benefit usage and delivery alongside mental health 
care. For far too long, suicide prevention has been viewed as 
simply a mental health issue, when that is only half the 
battle. VA economic benefits can prevent veterans from ending 
their lives.
    An example of this key link to suicide prevention is 
addressed by one of this year's VFW SBA student veteran 
fellows, Chet Bennetts, who is here with us today. His proposal 
highlights financial stress increases many of the risk factors 
associated with mental health crisis. Studies have shown that 
veterans with PTSD who are also experiencing financial stress 
exhibited an increase in many risky behaviors, including 
suicidal thoughts. This is why VFW believes VA's Office of 
Suicide Prevention needs to be moved out of the Veteran Health 
Administration over to the VA so it can report on and utilize 
information across the agency to combat suicide. Keeping this 
critical office in VHA prevents it from reaching its full 
potential.
    Each time a veteran uses a benefit, we have an opportunity 
to provide resources for suicide intervention. Access to 
economic opportunity benefits from the point of transition is 
critical. We owe it to our veterans to understand every access 
point to VA and how it affects their well-being. This is how we 
show every veteran counts.
    The VFW also believes there is significant value when 
accredited representatives are part of the Military Transition 
Assistance Program, TAP. We would like to see these 
representatives offered the chance to facilitate course 
materials that cover VA benefits and services. Service members 
have a very slim window, usually 3 to 6 months before 
separation, in which they are eligible to file VA disability 
benefits through the Benefits Delivery at Discharge, also 
called our BDD. Accredited representatives would not only be 
able to highlight the program, but also help service members 
file claims as soon as possible, which is something that VA 
employees and contract briefers just can't do. VFW's BDD 
program currently supports transition service members at 20 
military installations, and we need more overseas. They need 
them. Service members who use resources like BDD 
representatives face fewer hurdles during transition. Senior 
military leaders understand this. For example, general officers 
and senior noncommissioned officers frequently reach out to the 
VFW for more in-depth knowledge on VA benefits process. If our 
military leaders see this as a priority, then VA should make it 
a priority for everyone leaving the military.
    The VFW insists accredited representatives are incorporated 
into the Transition Assistance Program at every base possible 
to ensure separating service members have the ability to access 
their care and benefits as soon as they take off their uniform 
for the last time. And some of those veterans who finally 
depart the service do so involuntarily through medical 
discharges due to wounds received on the battlefield. For 
nearly 2 decades, these veterans and many other retirees have 
waited for Congress to end the long-standing, unjust practice 
of offsetting DoD retirement and VA disability pay. Scores of 
veterans are required to forfeit all or part of one benefit, 
even though they are earned for entirely two different reasons.
    Though I recently called on the White House and Congress to 
push for full concurrent receipt for all military retirees, the 
VFW's first priority is to serve this injustice for medical 
retirees through the Major Richard Star Act. Major Richard Star 
was forced to medically retire after he was diagnosed with 
cancer in 2018. He and his wife Tanya became strong advocates 
for concurrent receipt for the medical retirees, and the VFW 
was proud to work alongside him. Unfortunately, in 2021, he 
died before he could see Congress fix this injustice. We will 
not wait any longer.
    We thank Chairman Tester and Senator Crapol for 
reintroducing this critical legislation. We need to get this 
passed because every veteran counts.
    Before I close, I need to speak to a problem I just saw 
firsthand, visiting American soldiers serving on the front 
lines of NATO in Poland. Ryan Gallucci and myself had the honor 
to go there and met with key leaders. It was clear to me that 
many Americans do not fully understand what we are asking our 
service members to do today, which makes it hard for the 
commanders on the ground to inspire those they lead. 
Thankfully, one simple solution can help. When Russia invaded 
Ukraine last February, we quickly sent our service members to 
nine countries in defense of NATO, most of them National Guard 
soldiers. The VFW calls on the DoD and Congress to properly 
recognize the immense contributions of those who have served 
and are serving on the eastern flank of NATO by awarding them 
the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for deterring Russian 
aggression.
    Chairmen Tester and Bost, Ranking Members Moran and Takano, 
and other distinguished members of these committees, speaking 
for all members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and its 
Auxiliary, and on behalf of the millions of service members, 
veterans, and their families around the world, I would like to 
thank you for your time and attention to these critical issues.
    I will conclude with my call to action and remind everybody 
that we must meet the challenge to take care of these critical 
issues for those we represent, because every veteran counts.
    Thank you. This concludes my remarks, and I am prepared to 
answer any questions you may have.

    [The prepared statement of Mr. Borland appears on page 57 
of the Appendix.]

    Chairman Bost. Thank you, Mr. Borland, for your testimony.
    And I will recognize myself, if I can, for 5 minutes to 
start the questioning.
    Commander, you know, currently a veteran loses their Second 
Amendment rights when they are appointed a fiduciary to manage 
their VA benefits. My bill, H.R. 705, would ensure that these 
veterans receive due process before they are deprived of their 
right to bear arms. Do I have the VFW's support for my bill?
    Mr. Borland. Absolutely.
    Chairman Bost. Thank you.
    Mr. Borland. I forgot the----
    Chairman Bost. Commander, some individuals are helping 
veterans with their claims without being accredited by VA. You 
brought that up in your testimony. What is the VFW's position 
on these individuals and their fees that they are being 
charged?
    Mr. Borland. Well, first of all, we believe that accredited 
service officers should be doing our claims with veterans that 
have served our country and defense. They are properly 
accredited to do the claims for free. The claim sharks that we 
are dealing with right now took advantage during the COVID 
crisis, unfortunately, the last 2.5, 3 years. The VA's were 
closed down, veterans were unable to go see their health 
providers. So these claim sharks were out there, out of 
control, contacting veterans through any means possible and 
promising them VA disability claims at outrageous percentages. 
But these veterans had to get something done because VA was 
unable to do it at the time because we couldn't go there.
    For more of this, I would like to pass it to Pat Murray, 
our national legislative director.
    Mr. Murray. Thank you, Commander in Chief.
    Chairman Bost, the bottom line is, if accredited 
representatives charge fees the way they do, they would be 
fined or possibly imprisoned. We want that same standard met 
for everybody helping prepare, present, and prosecute claims 
before Department of Veteran Affairs.
    Chairman Bost. Thank you.
    Commander, your testimony highlights the importance of the 
Transition Assistance Program for service members. However, 
spouses are often left behind by DoD during the transition 
period. What steps should DoD take to ensure that spouses are 
also included in the TAP program? And what is the importance of 
this?
    Mr. Borland. That is a great question.
    Back when I retired about 18 years ago, we had in the Army 
what was called ACAP. We were only allowed one year to 
transition out of the Army. At least the Transition Assistance 
Program allows these service members 2 years to process out of 
the Army. And all we need to do is get with DoD and other 
military major commands and allow the spouses to attend these 
briefings with their service members so they, too, can benefit 
with the transition of them leaving the service.
    Chairman Bost. Yes, I agree with you on that.
    And I am running short on time, but I am just glad we have 
the TAP program. Many in this room have heard me say before 
whenever I got out whether it was a TAP program, the TAP 
Program was commanding officer tapping you on the shoulder and 
said see you later. That was it. But I am glad with the TAP 
program that is available.
    With that, I will yield back and recognize Chairman Tester 
for his 5 minutes.
    Chairman Tester. Thank you, Chairman Bost.
    And thank you for your testimony. Appreciate it very, very 
much.
    To improve infrastructure for veterans, we need to fix 
several areas, including infrastructure, staffing levels, 
cutting VA red tape, more oversight, and stable funding.
    Commander Borland, can you or a member of your team, tell 
me how you think the BUILD for Veterans Act would push the VA 
to increase their capacity and actually deliver more projects 
for the VA each year?
    Mr. Borland. Yes, sir.
    First of all, the BUILD Act is providing $60 to $80 
billion. We think that the management of the infrastructure and 
the contractors need to be oversighted. We need them to be more 
involved in the development of infrastructure. This includes 
computers, air conditioners, water pipes, buildings. The better 
we make the VA facilities for our veterans, the more we will 
get nurses and doctors to step up and possibly work for the VA.
    Pat Murray, if you would like to add some more to that, 
this is his expertise.
    Mr. Murray. Thank you, Commander in Chief.
    Mr. Borland. You are welcome.
    Mr. Murray. So, Senator Tester, we support the BUILD Act. 
We have worked very well with your office to craft that. What 
we need to do is begin by building internal capacity at VA, 
hiring more people to actually oversee these projects, because 
as the chief mentioned there is $60 to $80 billion worth of 
backlog. And if we want to knock that down in 10 years, that 
means $6 to $8 billion at least to start to begin to drop that. 
They have only been for the past few administrations pushing 
anywhere from $3 to $5 billion annually for that. We need to 
increase that and end the infrastructure problem.
    Chairman Tester. I appreciate your guys' views and support 
on that.
    Infrastructure is really important for a number of reasons, 
not the least of which is recruiting more doctors and nurses in 
the VA, which is another issue which I will probably let 
somebody else deal with.
    I do want to talk about VA medical cannabis and the VA 
Medical Cannabis Research Act of 2023, which requires further 
research by the VA to understand cannabis efficacy and treating 
ailments facing our veterans.
    Effective treatment options must be based on comprehensive 
research science. And VA research should empower veterans to 
make informed decisions about their health. So I would love to 
know your guys' view, if you feel VA has been proactive in 
conducting research on veterans cannabis use and what can be 
done about it if the answer is no.
    Mr. Borland. First of all, Mr. Chairman, we support this.
    Chairman Tester. Okay.
    Mr. Borland. We have mixed emotions with veterans, either 
in favor or against because it is cannabis. But there are 
military personnel out there that have TBI and mental health 
PTSD issues that find cannabis as another solution to solve 
their issues. And it also reduces medication that is provided 
by the VA. There are a lot of veterans out there that get so 
much medication, they don't know what to take half the time 
they have it. Some of them have poor eyesight and they take the 
wrong medication. This will prevent overdose. This will prevent 
a lot of other issues. Medical cannabis is a possible solution 
to help with TBI and mental health issues. On more of this, if 
Pat Murray would like to add. I would be more than happy to 
hear his suggestions.
    Mr. Murray. Thank you, Chief.
    Just to put a final stamp on that. Yes, sir, we are in 
favor of researching that. We want to be smart about as many 
alternative therapies we can provide for our veterans around 
the country as possible. We don't think VA is doing enough of a 
good job on that. They have been dragging their feet. They have 
been saying they have been doing studies and research for 
years. We are waiting to see the results, as everybody is. We 
want to see that actually get done, done appropriately.
    Chairman Tester. Thank you.
    And, Mr. Borland, I have the same reservations about this 
as you do, and I think that if we can get good research, it 
could help clear up a lot of problems.
    One last thing. The Guard Act is being introduced today, 
and it is probably because of your testimony why it is being 
introduced. So thank you.
    Chairman Bost. Ms. Brownley, you are recognized for some 
questions.
    Ms. Brownley. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Commander Borland, in your testimony, you discussed how 
critical it is that we do more to serve our veteran caregivers. 
In addition to the caregiver program, there are several 
programs across VA that can serve elderly and disabled 
veterans, allowing them to stay in their homes and out of 
institutionalized care.
    My Elizabeth Dole Home and Community Based Services for 
Veterans and Caregivers Act will expand these programs and 
coordinate hand-offs from the Caregiver Program. For example, 
the Veterans Directed Care Program would serve the same 
veterans and caregivers trying to access the Caregiver Program 
today. Can you explain a bit more why it is important that we 
expand these home and community based programs and services
    Mr. Borland. First of all, I would like to tell you the VFW 
does support your bill.
    Ms. Brownley. Thank you.
    Mr. Borland. We are definitely looking out for the care 
providers that take care of our veterans. And we do understand 
that we need more care providers at home. It is easier for the 
veterans, especially if they are handicapped. It is just better 
to be home than to be out of home, in a hospital, with 
strangers or in vet centers that are overflowing. Some vet 
centers are not just overflowing, but their shortage on nurses 
and doctors, because since ever COVID has happened, there is a 
shortage. We don't----
    For more of this. I would love to pass this off to Mike 
Figlioli. He is our members veterans director. Mike, can you 
share a little bit more about the caregiver program?
    Mr. Figlioli. Thank you, Commander in Chief.
    Yes, sir, we certainly support that Act. We are aware of, 
as the commander in chief said, that there are a number of 
facilities that are backlogged that have access issues to allow 
veterans in. The capacity is high. We also understand that 
there is a shortage of doctors and nurses that are available at 
this moment because others have moved on to the private sector 
for more lucrative employment.
    So we are eager to see that we have more facilities. Years 
ago, VA used to run domiciliaries, which was a popular issue. 
Now it has been outsourced a bit to other facilities because 
of, again, capacity issues. The veteran deserves the care where 
they are at. The veteran deserves first class quality care at 
all times. And if that means providing that care in their home, 
then we owe it to that veteran to do so.
    Ms. Brownley. Well, thank you very much for that.
    And I would just add that I think our biggest challenge in 
terms of moving this bill forward, there is broad based support 
for the bill, the problem is how CBO was scoring the bill. So I 
think what we have to kind of get across is this is really sort 
of win-win. We know that health outcomes are better when a 
veteran or anyone is cared for at home versus institutionalized 
care. And we also know that it costs less than 
institutionalized care. So we have got to get those points 
across because it really is what we do want. We would love to 
save some money to reinvest in other programs, but most 
importantly, we want the best health outcomes for our veterans. 
And this is the way to achieve that.
    So I will look forward to working with you on this bill to 
see it through this Congress.
    Thank you very much, and I yield back.
    Chairman Bost. Thank you, Representative Brownley.
    Representative Van Orden.

                    HON. DERRICK VAN ORDEN,
               U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM WISCONSIN

    Mr. Van Orden. Thank you all for coming. I appreciate it 
greatly.
    I am a lifetime member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and 
I go to Post 1530 in the La Crosse, Wisconsin. I am telling 
you, I am very proud of you. I know it takes a while to get out 
here and it can be a hassle, but I am very proud of you for 
coming out here.
    Now, Commander, unfortunately, several of my fellow 
veterans from Wisconsin came to my office yesterday, so I need 
an address to submit an invoice for the beer they drank. I will 
be sending that to you. It is Borland, right? Got that.
    Hey, listen, I am honored to be given the privilege of 
chairing a subcommittee that is responsible for the transition 
from being an active duty service member to a veteran, 
veteran's homelessness, and also education. And so, Commander, 
I just want to ask you something about the VET TEC program, the 
pilot program. Are you familiar with this? It is a program that 
was established in 2019, and it provides veterans with the 
opportunity to use GI Bill style benefits to participate in 
short term training for IT jobs. The program has been very 
successful with a graduation rate of 84 percent and an average 
salary of over $65,000. So, Commander, have you received any 
feedback concerning this program?
    Mr. Borland. I am sure Pat Murray has, our national 
legislative director. I would like to pass that to him since I 
don't know much about that act.
    Mr. Van Orden. Very well.
    Mr. Murray. Thank you.
    Congressman, the VET TEC program is a fantastic program. 
Some additional resources were provided to it last Congress to 
make sure that additional students were able to utilize the 
program. It gets them back to high paying, in demand jobs, and 
it allows them to get those jobs, start paying more money back 
into our system through taxes. So veterans employed paying back 
into the system with in demand jobs is a critically important 
thing. We would love to expand that program as large as 
possible.
    Mr. Van Orden. Roger that.
    I will tell you what, just for your knowledge--thank you 
very much for that, Mr. Murray. My number one legislative 
priority on the subcommittee is the transition from active duty 
to veterans. And the reason being is that people don't 
understand, man, you are a veteran or you are an active duty 
service member Monday and Tuesday you are a vet. And in that 24 
hour period of time, you lose your mission, you lose your 
focus, you use your uniform, you lose your identity. I told 
this to the guys the other day. It is twice the husband, half 
the paycheck. And it is very stressful. And that is why men and 
women, unfortunately, choose often to end their lives.
    So I want you to know that the members of this committee, 
and on my subcommittee in particular, are working diligently 
every day because you have built this nation and we are free 
because of your service. So God bless you all.
    Thank you so much for coming.
    Chairman Bost. Representative Pappas, you are recognized 
for your question.

                       HON. CHRIS PAPPAS,
             U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE

    Mr. Pappas. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I want to 
thank the leadership and membership of VFW for joining us here 
for this hearing with a special shout-out to my good friends 
from the Live Free or Die State of New Hampshire who are here. 
I will see you later in my office. Unfortunately, we have no 
beer in my office, but it will be great to see you nonetheless.
    I always learn a lot from those conversations. And it was 
from conversations with veterans in New Hampshire and with VFW 
that I heard about this issue of claim sharks. And I think you 
appropriately talked about what these people do, taking 
advantage of veterans, these unaccredited actors. It is 
probably a too polite way to refer to what these folks do out 
there, but we are going to hold them accountable and pass some 
legislation on it. So I am proud that we were able to 
reintroduce this bill in the House. I want to commend 
Representative Radewagen for working me with me on this issue. 
And again, this would reinstate criminal penalties for these 
unaccredited claim representatives who are charging exorbitant 
fees in some cases while assisting veterans with filing a claim 
for disability compensation benefits.
    We know that VFW, like other VSOs, helps veterans filing 
these claims through their VA accredited representatives. These 
accredited representatives are the only individuals who are 
authorized to prepare, present, and prosecute VA claims, as has 
been said, on a veteran's behalf.
    So I was going to ask you about what concerns you have. I 
think you stated that very clearly and we look forward to 
working with you to pass this legislation. And I just want to 
say these Hill visits do have an impact on the number of co-
sponsors we get and the momentum that we get behind important 
common sense ideas like the Guard VA Benefits Act.
    Maybe I could just ask you this question. As we work to 
pass this legislative solution, do you think there are other 
things that VA could be doing to raise awareness and education 
around the problem of unaccredited representatives who are 
charging fees for our veterans?
    Mr. Borland. First of all, sir, I want to thank you for 
sponsoring that bill. It is a critical bill for our veterans. 
We need to let our veterans know that our service officers are 
out there to do it for free. We need to also hold these claim 
sharks accountable for what they are doing. They need to be VA 
accredited. They need to reduce--we need to put a cap on it, 
for God's sake. The way they go after our veterans out there, 
it is just unheard of.
    The veteran serves our country, we stand and fight for the 
country, we give the ultimate sacrifice. The veteran should be 
taken care of by properly trained, accredited service officers 
and we got that right here on the Hill with the Veteran 
Military National Service, Veteran Services, Mike Figlioli, who 
can add more to this.
    Mr. Figlioli. Thank you, Commander in Chief, thank you, Mr. 
Representative.
    We have worked very diligently to educate not only our 
membership about claim sharks, but the public. We have also 
reached out to other government agencies. We have worked with 
the association of Attorneys General, the Consumer Ordinance 
Protection Bureau. Something has got to be done to rein these 
people in, because, as the commander in chief said, they are 
out of control. They have not one modicum of the amount of 
training or knowledge that our professionally trained, 
accredited representatives that serve not only here in the 
United States, but across the world, provide that service for 
free. Last year, the VFW Accredited Service Program recovered 
$11.2 billion for our veterans, and not one dime went to our 
organization. That needs to be first. As the executive director 
said back in April, I agree, the Capitol Police should have 
stopped them at the door. They deserve to be in jail. And with 
that, I yield back.
    Mr. Pappas. Thank you for your work.
    I yield back my time.
    Chairman Bost. Thank you
    Representative Crane.

                       HON. ELIJAH CRANE,
                U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM ARIZONA

    Mr. Crane. Thank you guys for coming today. I got to admit, 
I feel a little out of suit and a little exposed because you 
guys all have these really cool hats and I have got none. And I 
am losing my hair, so that is why I wear hats all the time. I 
think we could all admit that my colleague, Congressman Van 
Orden from Wisconsin really needs a hat. Do you guys agree with 
that?
    I do want to say something real quick. One of my colleagues 
on the other side talked about, you know, Republicans and 
budget cuts, right? I know you guys heard that and I am hoping 
you guys know why. We are $31 trillion in debt in this country. 
I go from meeting to meeting to meeting with this group, small 
business group, veterans affairs group, everybody, and 
everyone. Do you know how many times I go into a meeting where 
somebody tells me, hey, you guys are doing such a great job 
funding us, we don't need more money? Never happens. I am 
looking at brothers and sisters in this room.
    Many of you guys don't know my bio. I dropped out of 
college in my senior year in Arizona, and I joined the Navy the 
week after 9/11, went to the Seal teams, okay. Then when I got 
done with that, me and my wife started a small business, a 
veteran owned small business where we made our products in the 
USA. And we hired as many veterans as we could, and we worked 
with as many veteran nonprofits as we could as well, because I 
needed a mission, like many of you do when you got out, okay. 
So when you hear that Republicans are looking to make budget 
cuts, it is not because we don't love you. My God, I love each 
and every one of you because I know what you have been through, 
okay. But I want you guys to understand that--how many of you 
guys agree that our service to this country doesn't end when we 
take off the uniform, right.
    Guys, I never wanted to be a Congressman. I certainly never 
wanted to get into politics. You guys know why I am here 
Because I am scared to death that my daughters aren't going to 
be able to enjoy what we have enjoyed because of the fraud, 
waste, abuse, and corruption up in this town. So, yes, we are 
looking at how can we do things better, how can we do things 
more efficiently
    And I know you guys all saw it in the military, because I 
saw it. Some of the just nonsense that we would do, some of the 
nonsense that we would spend money on. And this is the same 
government, okay. So, yes, we are looking at how to reduce the 
budget and the reckless out of control spending. And guess what 
We are still going to try and take care of our brothers and 
sisters out here because we love you guys and we care about 
you, and many of us come from the same units that you do. Does 
that make sense
    So I just wanted to make sure that that was said, because 
it is a real issue up here and it is a real a problem that 
needs to be addressed.
    Thank you guys so much for showing up today. And I hope 
that we can continue to work with this group and others to 
offer veterans amazing care. Thank you.
    Chairman Bost. Representative Ramirez, you are recognized.

                      HON. DELIA RAMIREZ,
               U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM ILLINOIS

    Ms. Ramirez. Thank you, Chairman.
    Good morning. I first want to say thank you to Commander 
Borland and to the Veterans of Foreign--Foreign Wars, the 
hardworking men and women who are here today, and you represent 
thousands of thousands across the country.
    I said last week in hearing that I have had the honor and 
opportunity for about 13 years before I went into policy work 
to run a social service agency, working with people 
experiencing homelessness. And it was at that really young age 
when I started as a mail lady, before I became the director 
there many years later, that I was shocked to see the number of 
veterans that walked into that shelter needing housing, needing 
access to mental health services, needing jobs, and certainly 
looking to be able to identify ways to be able to live in 
society, supported and loved. And yet this is a reality for so 
many of them. So I just want to deeply express my gratitude to 
everything that you do. We should recognize that we have a 
moral obligation to support and care for those who have served 
our country, and we have to continue to empower veterans to 
live high quality, dignified lives. Am I right?
    So as the VA continues to become a provider of choice for 
women veterans, the VA must ensure that women veterans have 
access to healthcare settings that support appropriate care, 
especially for those recovering from military sexual trauma or 
interpersonal violence. The VA must promote its stop harassment 
and White Ribbon campaigns to eliminate sexual assault and 
harassment at all VA facilities and promote strategies for 
recovery. Systems for processing MST related claims need to be 
reformed. That includes knowledgeable and sensitive staff for 
resolving discrepancies in the approval of claims for residual 
effects and MST compared with other assault or PTSD claims.
    Commander Borland, national data revealed that about 1 in 3 
women and 1 in 50 men have responded yes when asked if they 
have experienced military sexual trauma, or MST. What do you 
think are some steps that Congress can take to ensure that 
service members with MST claims are handled respectfully by the 
VA?
    Mr. Borland. Well, first of all, thank you for your 
concerns about women's health and women's concerns. My mom 
served 20 years in the United States Army. I used to get picked 
on all the time in high school about my mom hearing combat 
boots. I go, that is right, she wears combat boots. And I love 
my mom very much for what she did with her service.
    I have seen as a leader in the United States Army after 28 
years of sexual harassment, especially deployed soldiers 
overseas. There is a perfect person on this panel right now 
that is near and dear to her heart. I picked Deborah Johnson 
out of California to be my legislative chairman because she 
runs a homeless home in California, Bakersfield, California. I 
would like Deborah to respond to this question. Deborah?
    Ms. Johnson. Thank you.
    So kind of like we are talking about two issues that we are 
paralleling side by side. One of them is military sexual trauma 
with women veterans and homelessness, which often goes hand in 
hand. How we can approach that with women is we have to 
increase awareness and education. We know with the passage of 
the Deborah Sampson Act that there have been a lot of changes 
that have been made, including the formation of the Women 
Veterans Call Center. But if you ask any female in this room 
how many of them knew that there was a Women Veterans Call 
Center, not one person during this conference knew about it 
until I talked to them about it. So we have got to do a better 
way to let women veterans be aware that the VA is taking our 
concerns seriously, whether it is our healthcare, whether it is 
issues with military sexual trauma, and mental health, if we do 
not do a better job getting out and reaching out to the women 
who are both enrolled in VA health care and those not enrolled 
in VA health care, we are going to see this issue perpetuate.
    So we want Congress to be held accountable, the VA to be 
held accountable, to teach us, to educate us, to get to 
community based veteran service organizations in the places 
that we frequent every single day, to give us the information 
that we need, the security that is needed, and the compassion 
that is needed to care for us.
    Thank you.
    Chairman Bost. Thank you.
    Representative Miller-Meeks, you are recognized for 3 
minutes.

                 HON. MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS,
                 U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM IOWA

    Mrs. Miller-Meeks. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I thank all of 
our organizations, witnesses that are here today.
    And then as a 24 year Army veteran, I just want to say 
thank you to our Iowa people are here. I see the Whitmores in 
the audience. My husband served in the same reserve unit with 
Patty Whitmore. And I also want to specifically thank Patty for 
all of her unrelenting advocacy and advancement for women 
veterans. So thank you very much.
    I have concerns about the PACT Act, not from the standpoint 
of how we treat our veterans, but from things that veterans in 
my district and veterans across the nation are concerned about. 
And so I would just ask our panel briefly, do you all consider 
a telehealth visit the same or synonymous with an in person 
visit? If you could just say yes or no throughout.
    Mr. Borland. Yes.
    Mrs. Miller-Meeks. Okay, thank you. That is what I conveyed 
to Secretary McDonough this morning. And to separate out that 
data so we have that data on wait times, whether the visit is a 
telehealth visit or an in person visit. And part of that is an 
age related thing as well. But as a doctor, I can tell you that 
people have different and mixed feelings about it.
    Can you describe to me, you know, what your thoughts are as 
we implement the PACT Act? So this--are going to be a lot of 
people now newly eligible for care at the VA. And we have, as I 
think Chairman Bost mentioned in his opening statement, we 
still have ongoing issues after a decade with the 
implementation of electronic health records. So your thoughts 
on your experience, your members' experience with electronic 
health records, and are we doing enough, should we do more?
    Mr. Borland. Thank you.
    First of all, the PACT Act is being implemented in the VA 
and they are doing an outstanding job. As you heard in my 
testimony, over 100,000 claims have already been rated. One of 
them were mine.
    Now, as far as the health records go, it is an old system. 
They need to get on board, like the military. We need to get an 
updated system on these health records. And to add more value 
to this, I am going to call upon our brand new, as of March 1, 
executive director of the DC Office, Ryan Gallucci.
    Mr. Gallucci. Thank you, comrade, Commander in Chief.
    And really, with the electronic health record, our 
recommendation is that VA needs to take its governance of this 
program seriously. If you look at why this program has failed 
and you look at the parallels with Department of Defense, 
Department of Defense is 75 percent deployed across the Force. 
The commander in chief and I recently sat down with clinicians 
both at Landstuhl and in Vincenza, Italy, who have been through 
the MHS Genesis transition stateside and are about to go 
through it when they deploy it overseas. They know what to 
anticipate. There is strong governance over DoD's process. And 
frankly, I am tired of the excuses that are saying, well, the 
VA care system is so different from DoD. I am sorry, DoD is 
about military readiness. And----
    Mrs. Miller-Meeks. I need to reclaim my time. But thank 
you.
    And if the witnesses could submit in writing if they are 
experiencing difficulties with people trying to apply and to 
apply for benefits. And with that, I yield back.
    Chairman Bost. Representative Deluzio, you are recognized 
for 3 minutes.

                   HON. CHRISTOPHER DELUZIO,
             U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM PENNSYLVANIA

    Mr. Deluzio. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This VFW member is 
proud to see you guys here today. Thank you. I know you do a 
heck of a lot for my fellow veterans, day in and day out at 
home, certainly here in Washington. So thank you. I see you. We 
are here for you.
    I want to respond to my colleague, a fellow Navy veteran, 
about cuts. You know, this country has a sacred obligation to 
all of you, to all of us to care for you. That is a bond that I 
will not have any part in breaking, and certainly not when we 
have a government that has billionaires and huge corporations 
who don't pay their fair share in taxes. So whatever is going 
to happen in our budget, over my dead body does it come out of 
your care and our VA. I want that to be clear.
    Commander, a question for you. In your testimony you talked 
about some struggles our fellow veterans have around community 
care, getting billed from outside providers, difficulties with 
scheduling. Can you talk a bit about those issues you have 
heard about? I certainly hear about them from our fellow 
veterans as well.
    Mr. Borland. Thank you for that question.
    Actually, some issues that we are having is overseas, the 
Philippines, Korea, Europe. These veterans, when seeking 
healthcare, have to take it out of their own pocket and wait on 
a check to come to them, usually 3 to 6 months, and sometimes 
still waiting on this check. It is something that we are 
definitely looking into. We have got to fix the problem because 
our veterans count. We have got to help them out.
    Mr. Deluzio. Thank you.
    Chairman, I yield back.
    Chairman Bost. Dr. Murphy, you are recognized.

                      HON. GREGORY MURPHY,
            U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM NORTH CAROLINA

    Mr. Murphy. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming today. And most 
of all, really thank you for your service.
    I am very blessed to serve the eastern coast of North 
Carolina. One in seven of my constituents is a veteran. So it 
is a big deal for eastern North Carolina. Also have plenty of 
active duty in Camp Lejeune, Cherry Point, New River Air 
Station, and a lot of individuals care about you guys.
    I have been a physician for 30 years and taken care of a 
lot of veterans. And actually, I continue to take care of a lot 
of veterans. I will tell you, I thought the passage of the PACT 
Act, and specifically the Camp Lejeune Justice Act was a great 
triumph for all veterans. I will say I am very, very 
disappointed in the amount of fees that attorneys are going to 
get because of that. You know, I have had people say they were 
in South Carolina, you know, Oregon, Manilla, and they were 
seeing ads for attorneys for these things. We are going to try 
to have to do something about that because it shouldn't be 
taken out of your pockets and you paying your medical bills to 
pay attorneys fees. I am sorry. I just feel very strongly about 
that.
    I just would like to say something. Just put this in your 
hat and think about it. The VA in 2021 spent $233,000,000,000 
in healthcare for 9 million enrollees. Compare that to Britain, 
to the English healthcare system that spent $308,000,000,000 
for 67 million enrollees. So the VA spends five times as much 
per person as the British healthcare system. And think about 
the problems that you have with the VA system. You know, I have 
heard some comments about we want to privatize the VA system. I 
have worked in private practice medicine for 30 years. There is 
a hell of a lot that VA can learn from private practice. And 
the fact that you guys have problems getting in, getting 
referrals, is an absolute slap in the face. It is more 
government bureaucracy. This is the problem where some of our 
colleagues feel that just throwing more money, more money at 
something, does something better. No, the system and the 
processes need to change. You don't deserve that. When you need 
to be seen, you need to be seen.
    And lastly, I will end up on this. Since my days in the 
State Legislature, PTSD and TBI and its subsequent link to 
suicide has been a great, great concern of mine. I know that we 
reach the end of our rope some days with medications and 
behavioral therapies. I am a big fan of hyperbaric oxygen. I 
know in the medical field it is slightly controversial, but I 
will say this, the VA needs to take that and make sure it is 
available to veterans when you literally have no other hope.
    So. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I don't have a specific 
question, just statements.
    Thank you. I will yield back.
    Chairman Bost. Representative Radewagen, you are recognized 
for 3 minutes.

              HON. AUMUA AMATA COLEMAN RADEWAGEN,
            U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM AMERICAN SAMOA

    Ms. Radewagen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Acting Ranking 
Member Brownley. It is an honor and a privilege to be here 
today, and I want to thank the VSOs for making this trip here 
to DC every year. A special Aloha to the Hawaii delegation.
    My question is for Commander in Chief Borland.
    The VFW has expressed support for the Guard Act, of which I 
am an original sponsor, co-sponsor. Some of the benefits prep 
companies that would be affected by the bill, have stated that 
they provide veterans a choice and fill a need that isn't being 
met. They claim that they only have the best of intentions when 
it comes to helping vets to receive their benefits. Old adages 
about good intentions aside, could you please describe what 
sort of safeguards VFW and other VSOs have in place for 
representing vets with their benefits claims? And why is it so 
important to have a formal accreditation process? In your 
opinion, is there anything Congress can do to ensure that there 
are enough accredited reps to meet the population's needs?
    Mr. Borland. Great question.
    And, by the way, thank you for co-sponsoring the Guard Act. 
The Guard Act is near and dear to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. 
We do not support predatory sharks, claim sharks out there 
taking money from our veterans. We believe that the accredited 
service officer that provides free medical care for our 
veterans is critical. What we would like Congress to do is push 
this act forward and get it passed.
    Ms. Radewagen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    I yield back the balance of my time.
    Chairman Bost. Thank you.
    Representative Rosendale, you are recognized for 3 minutes.

                    HON. MATTHEW ROSENDALE,
                U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM MONTANA

    Mr. Rosendale. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Appreciate it.
    Thank you, Commander Borland and the rest of the VFW for 
being here with us today. We really do appreciate the meetings 
that we have had over the last couple of weeks. And I would 
certainly appreciate the attendance here of my delegation from 
Montana especially.
    Well, over the last 2 weeks we have been talking about 
these issues that Congress can and should do to help our 
veterans. One of the most important things that we can do as 
policymakers is to help our veterans is not to send them into 
conflicts unless it is essential for the national defense. 
Unfortunately, over the past 25 years, Congress has failed in 
this regard. It is our obligation to secure our nation and to 
put the American people first, not to send our sons and 
daughters overseas to participate in a conflict that does not 
serve our national interest.
    In your testimony, you point out that suicide prevention is 
not simply a clinical priority and should not be viewed as 
such, Commander Borland, and I appreciate that. I served for 
several years on a board for a private, nonprofit mental health 
agency and saw a full spectrum of mental health conditions. 
Okay. Can you please elaborate on your comments?
    Mr. Borland. Sir, suicide prevention in the VA right now is 
more linked to mental health than it should be. It shouldn't 
just be in mental health. It needs to be abroad. It needs to be 
out in the whole entire VA system. We need more data, we need 
to know what these individuals are going through, we need to 
know what they are dealing with. We don't want to get into 
their private lives, we don't want to get into their private 
business. Mental health is a very private and individual 
concern that doesn't need to be spread worldwide. What we are 
concerned about is trying to prevent suicide. And the more that 
we know, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the VA as a whole, 
knows about suicide prevention, the better. We need to take 
care of our veterans. Period.
    Mr. Rosendale. So I agree with that. It has always been my 
belief, and we are now starting to get the Veterans 
Administration to recognize this, to treat the individual 
holistically, to look at their diet, to look at other elements 
that they may be suffering from so that we can drill down and 
find out what is causing these other problems. And so we are on 
the same page.
    I also appreciate the different organizations that have 
been trying to meet the veteran where they are and treat that. 
I personally have participated in the Warriors and Quiet Waters 
program, Fly Fishing for Veterans. I participated in the 
Wounded Warriors program because each individual addresses 
their needs in a different way. Are there any suggestions that 
you could recommend to this committee?
    Mr. Borland. I think what you just used as examples is an 
outstanding thing. We have a lot of things. We have camping for 
soldiers, fishing for soldiers, anything that can take a 
soldier--so I am saying soldiers because I was Army, so 
apologize--for service members. Anything for service members 
leaving the Armed Forces today, especially with mental health 
issues, to get their minds off of combat, to get their minds 
off of suicide, to get their minds off of being guilty, 
survivor's guilt, for God's sakes. Some military service 
members leaving the service today have survived situations 
where they have lost partners, they have lost their own men and 
women, and significant things have happened. These programs 
that we offer outside the VA system is needed for these. It is 
like a peer-to-peer kind of thing. Get them out with other 
individuals that are dealing with the same thing and get them 
out doing some things that will keep their minds clear and 
free.
    Mr. Rosendale. Thank you. Thank you very much.
    Mr. Borland. You are welcome.
    Mr. Rosendale. Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Chairman Bost. Thank you.
    And, Commander, thank you. And I want to thank the VFW for 
being here today and to share your views. And I want to thank 
the audience members for coming in from all corners of the U.S. 
today.
    And as I said off the start, you know, this room is full 
and two overflow rooms are full. And we thank you for being 
here. Now, just so you know, I am going to ask a special favor 
before I dismiss this panel. We have our next group that is 
coming in and many of them are disabled veterans, including our 
blind veterans. If you would, if everybody could while leaving, 
use the back door back here. That will step up the flow this 
way and be respectful of our other veterans and make sure 
that--we have a big crowd and it is great to have you here. And 
let me tell you, from the years of COVID, it is so good to 
actually have you here in person. And so, Commander, the first 
panel is excused and we will now recess briefly to bring in the 
witnesses for the second panel.
    So thank you very much.
    [Recess.]
    Chairman Bost. We want to welcome to our second panel and 
thank you for being here. And thanks to everyone for switching 
out so quickly. Much like the NCAA basketball tournaments, you 
know, people in, people out. Newman's, hit the court.
    I know we have a lot to hear from this panel, so I want to 
get right to it. Today, we will be joined by Colonel Nelson 
Mellitz of Jewish Veterans of the U.S.A., Lieutenant General 
Mitchell Linnington of the Wounded Warriors Project, Ms. Bonnie 
Carroll of Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, Mr. Cory 
Titus of the Military Officers Association of America, 
Commander Donald McLean of the American Veterans, and Ms. Tamra 
Sipes of the Gold Star Wives of America, Commander Christopher 
Vedvick of Military Order of the Purple Heart, and Mr. Joseph 
McNeil of the Blind Veterans Association, and Mr. Michael 
McLaughlin of the National Association of County Veterans 
Service Officers.
    Again, welcome to all of you and all of your members in the 
audience for being here today. Thank you for what you do every 
day in support of our veterans and their families. Colonel 
Mellitz, you are now recognized for 5 minutes for your opening 
statement.

                            PANEL II

                              ----------                              


    STATEMENTS OF COL. NELSON MELLITZ, USAF, RET., NATIONAL 
           COMMANDER, JEWISH WAR VETERANS OF THE USA

    Mr. Mellitz. Thank you, sir. Chairman Tester and Bost, 
Ranking Members Moran and Takano, veterans in the audience, 
veterans sitting in Congress, veterans at this table, it is my 
honor to serve. And sir, I heard you say that before, and I one 
hundred percent agree, we serve not only in the military, but 
we serve as veterans.
    I have served 32 years in the United States Air Force, 
enlisted and as an officer. I enlisted in 1970, served Vietnam 
through Iraq, 2005, 2006 in Iraq. That was my last assignment. 
The reason I say this is not to make myself sound good, but 
when I left the military originally after the Vietnam War, I 
went to the VA, and I didn't go back a second time for a lot of 
years. The VA has improved, has substantially improved. They 
are wonderful now in many areas. It is because of what the VSOs 
have done, what you have done in Congress. Thank you for that.
    I have the privilege and the honor to represent the Jewish 
War Veterans as the 91st National Commander. The Jewish War 
Veterans is the oldest national veterans organization in the 
United States. We were formed in 1896 by a few veterans from 
the Civil War. The reason we were formed is because of 
antisemitism. Again, we are the longest serving Veterans 
Service Organization.
    We advocate for all veterans, not just Jewish veterans, but 
for all veterans for benefits and services. And we have been 
doing that for at least 127 years. In fact, we will be 
celebrating our 127th anniversary next week on March 15. Our 
mission is strong and clear, fighting for military and veterans 
benefits and services, advocating on behalf of Jewish veterans, 
catholic, women, African Americans, Asians, all veterans.
    I want to emphasize that you can hear in our name Jewish 
War Veterans. Antisemitism is one of our prime areas because 
antisemitism has raised its ugly head worse than it has ever 
been in my lifetime in the United States. We oppose all forms 
of discrimination, but we concentrate especially, and we are 
outspoken on antisemitism. Jewish War Veterans officials 
participate in roundtables, events stating our position. And at 
those events and roundtables, we often hear people say negative 
things about African Americans, about Asians. We will defend 
the right of everybody in this United States, and we will 
continue to do so.
    We want to point out that recently, because of 
antisemitism, we were able to obtain Medal of Honor, processing 
it through the difficult army process, for William Sherman and 
Tibor Rubin. We also helped with African Americans being 
processed for their Medal of Honors.
    As antisemitism continues to grow in the United States, JWV 
asks you, Congress members, to specifically help defend our 
country's freedoms and go forward and fight antisemitism and 
all forms of hate and bigotry wherever it exist. Key to that, 
in our opinion at JWV, is educating the U.S. citizens.
    We have priorities for the 118th Congress, and I have sat 
through the VFW presentations. I am not going to repeat what 
they say. I have gone through the CSPAN for the American Legion 
and many others. I thank you for sitting there and listening to 
a lot of things repeatedly, but, you know, they are important 
to you, they are important to us. But I will emphasize a few 
things that I think are important not only to JWV, but to you. 
And we haven't really mentioned them to the extent I think is 
necessary.
    We know the PACT Act was instrumental when you passed it. 
It took a lot of pressure. It didn't just take one year for the 
VSOs to put the pressure on Congress members. It took many 
years. Please keep that in mind for future efforts. But with 
the PACT Act, we also know that VA started working on hiring 
people, organizing to address the 3.5 million new claims that 
they estimate will be filed. But yet it is not enough. I know 
there are some bills going through Congress right now that say 
give more money to doctors, nurses, administrators at VA. We 
need to push those bills through the system, because if we 
don't have those people in place, the claims will increase and 
then the appeals will increase continuously.
    Yes, we address toxic exposure by the PACT Act. Do all the 
veterans out there know about their benefits? The VSOs and 
Congress have to standout, make sure they know those benefits, 
know that they could apply for the benefits, put claims in. You 
addressed in a previous meeting the predator lawyers. Yes, JWV 
agrees with Veterans of Foreign Wars. Penalties should be 
applied to those people, but there should also be incentives 
for additional veteran services officers to come out to be 
employed by the organizations like the Jewish War Veterans. 
Yes, we are increasing our program and trying to recruit as 
many VSOs as possible to process those claims. And we will do 
that. Suicide prevention and mental health, we obviously know 
more must be done. We know that one veteran, one military 
member taking their life is too much.
    But everything I have heard over all these many panels, all 
these many hearings, didn't address what happens in the 
military before you get to the veteran side. I think from day 
one that you join the military, you should be addressing in the 
military, mental health. When you go through basic training, 
that is extremely important to address it, I think, maybe even 
before that. And we work with an organization called Our 
Community Salutes who actually works with the families of the 
veterans of the military members rather than are going into the 
military directly out of high school. Fantastic organization. 
And if you have any questions about that during that period of 
time, I would be happy to answer it.
    Supporting women veterans, the fastest growing group of 
veterans, as you know, is women. It is haphazard. I have 
visited many veterans locations, many Veterans Affairs medical 
centers, and some are great. The one that I go to in 
Philadelphia is fantastic addressing women's needs, but that 
might be because the director is a woman. I don't know. I have 
gone to others, and that is not the case. It needs to be looked 
at not as a total VA package, but individual centers. Expanding 
services to veterans and caregivers, again, we know this is 
important.
    The one area we want to stress is JWV urges Congress to 
remove the regulatory requirement for the 70 percent disability 
rating to be eligible for this program. That is ridiculous, and 
that is my words. Take it out. It wasn't there before. Take it 
out.
    Major Richard Star Act, Committee Chairman Tester, thank 
you for heading up that effort, and there are others. In New 
Jersey where I come from, we have gone to all our Senators, all 
our Congress people, and they have signed on. We have 
encouraged all the JWV members to go to the 50 states and 
territories and get their Senators and Congress people to also 
sign on. It impacts over 50,000 combat injured veterans.
    Ending veterans homelessness, we have made progress. 
Between 2020 and 2022, 11 percent of the veterans that were on 
the street are no longer homeless. Best we have done in 5 
years. The problem is that is not good enough. JWV has 
submitted to many of you members just last week, steps that we 
should take that you haven't really discussed before. I don't 
have time in my short period of time here to go over them, but 
I encourage you to look at that. And I would be happy during 
the questions and answers to answer some questions.
    Fixing the electronic system, and I will be very quick with 
this, and only one other item after this. I worked for the IRS 
for 11 years, during the period of time they put their new tax 
base data base in place. We did a better job than VA is doing. 
What is going on here? Less money, yes, we made some mistakes 
at first. But we now have tax returns coming in from more than 
65 million taxpayers. What is VA talking about? Maximum 12 
million with the new PACT Act. Please do oversight on this. I 
don't know what the problem is. We don't need any more 
research. We need implementation and go back to DoD, like was 
said by VFW. You need to start the process with DoD and not 
just be isolated. And I know there are committees that talk to 
each other between VA and DoD, but they are not doing what we 
need.
    Conclusion, we started out in the military. Most of us 
volunteered. We served our country. Now, we are veterans, and 
we are still volunteering. Everybody on this table is a 
volunteer. Many of you are volunteers in veteran services 
organizations. We continue to serve. Call on us. We could help 
you, and we love this nation. God bless the United States of 
America. Thank you.

    [The prepared statement of Mr. Mellitz appears on page 84 
of the Appendix.]

    Chairman Bost. Thank you, Colonel. Thank you, Colonel. I 
would ask that all the panelists understand we have a lot of 
panelists. I want to have as much respect as I can for our 
veterans, but that is why we are here is to hear you. But 
please, we will try to keep it to 5 minutes, each one of us. 
With that, we recognize General Linnington for 5 minutes.

           LT. GEN. MICHAEL S. LINNINGTON, USA, RET.,
        CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT

    Mr. Linnington. Thank you, Chairman. Chairman, ranking 
members, distinguished committee members, thank you for today's 
hearing. And for the warriors sitting behind me in the black 
shirts, thank you for taking the time and making the effort to 
be with us today. My remarks today will be brief, capturing the 
highlights of our extensive written testimony submitted last 
week and in support of our 2023 legislative priorities.
    To provide some broader context behind three of our highest 
priorities, I will start by saying that this year will mark the 
20th anniversary of Wounded Warrior Project as an organization 
committed to our mission to honor and empower wounded warriors, 
their families, and those that support them. Our priorities 
this year are very much a reflection of how we serve today and 
how we have grown over the last 20 years. As the first wounded, 
ill, and injured returned home from the battlefields of Iraq 
and Afghanistan, Wounded Warrior Project was present at 
military hospitals with backpacks filled with simple comfort 
items like socks, shirts, CD players, and other comfort items. 
With those backpacks came a promise to be with our warriors 
throughout their recovery, no matter how long it took.
    Today, we support wounded, ill, and injured veterans by 
connecting them with innovative programs and services in a 
variety of areas, including mental and brain healthcare, 
tackling the signature wounds of the past 20 years of war as 
TBI, PTSD, depression, and anxiety remain the most prevalent 
self-reported challenges our alumni face. It is why last year, 
Wounded Warrior Project provided warriors and family members 
with nearly 55,000 hours of treatment for these and other 
mental health conditions. And part of why we hosted more than 
6,400 events across the country to help keep warriors and 
families connected and help ensure they never have to face 
these challenges alone.
    When warriors reach out to us, two of the biggest 
impediments to care is that it can take too long to make a 
mental healthcare appointment, or that once you found a 
provider and begin to develop trust, the provider leaves, and 
it is time to start over. To address these problems, we call on 
Congress to pass the VA Careers Act and the Mental Health 
Professionals Workforce Shortage Loan Repayment Act. The first 
would help VA recruit and retain more mental health providers, 
while the latter would address the fact that mental health 
isn't just a veteran concern, it is a national concern, and we 
simply need to get more providers into the field.
    Of course, veterans' needs go beyond mental health. To 
better understand how we serve or how to serve, we needed to 
talk to those whom we serve. Our annual Warriors Survey, 
initiated in 2010, is today in its 13th year and is the 
largest, most comprehensive survey of post-911 wounded veterans 
in the nation. Across a decade of survey administration, we 
have come to realize the results of these surveys can go beyond 
the direct services and programs we provide by shaping public 
policy to better the lives of all American veterans. It is why 
we shaped our survey to learn more about the impact of military 
toxic exposures.
    In 2019, when we first found out that only 9 percent of 
warriors who reported exposure to burn pits in service had been 
treated for their exposure, at the Department of Veterans 
Affairs, we made addressing toxic wounds a legislative 
priority. It is why we were one of many champions of the 
Honoring Our PACT Act and why we are so grateful to stand 
before you today and thank you for the largest expansion of 
veteran healthcare and benefits in decades. Now that Congress 
has delivered, we call upon Congress to ensure the VA has the 
resources, the training, and the staff they need to help the 
PACT Act make the generational impact we all intended.
    As a final point, I will say that Wounded Warrior Project 
began in 2003, serving dozens of recently injured service 
members, most of them combat wounded and very young, and 
surviving catastrophic battlefield wounds. Many would have a 
whole life ahead of them, and Wounded Warrior Project was there 
to help navigate through the earliest days of healing, while 
promising we would be there to help them with whatever they 
needed in the months and years to come. Today, among more than 
185,000 registered warriors, the average age is now 41 years 
old, 17 percent of our alumni are women, four in 10 have 
obtained a bachelor's degree, and 60 percent still have at 
least one child remaining in the household.
    Our alumni are closely reflective of the larger U.S. 
population. And like many Americans, many have been struggling 
financially over the last year. Two of the more striking 
findings in the 2022 Annual Warrior Survey, where 64 percent of 
warriors reported not having the financial means to make ends 
meet at least once the past calendar year, and two in five are 
food insecure. As well, 50 percent of our Warrior alumni have 
at least 20,000 in non-mortgage debt.
    For these reasons, Congress should join us in prioritizing 
financial well-being among our veterans. And the most 
significant request in this context is to pass the Major 
Richard Star Act, which would end the offset of military 
retirement pay against VA disability compensation for veterans 
who are medically retired for combat related injuries before 
they reach 20 years of retirement. We believe these are 
distinct earned benefits. One should not be offset by the 
other.
    In closing, I want to thank the committee for this 
invitation to testify, and I welcome your questions.

    [The prepared statement of Mr. Linnington appears on page 
98 of the Appendix.]

    Chairman Bost. I would like to now--Ms. Carroll, you are 
now recognized for 5 minutes.

             BONNIE CARROLL, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER,
            TRAGEDY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM FOR SURVIVORS

    Ms. Carroll. Thank you, Chairman Tester and Bost, Ranking 
Members Moran and Takano, and distinguished members of the 
Senate and House Committees on Veterans Affairs, and the 
surviving family members gathered here today. The Tragedy 
Assistance Program for Survivors is grateful for the 
opportunity to share issues of importance to the 100,000-plus 
surviving veteran family members of all ages, representing all 
services, and with losses from all causes of death who TAPS is 
honored to serve.
    A top legislative priority for TAPS in the survivor 
community is ensuring surviving spouses are allowed to retain 
their benefits upon remarriage at any age. Current law 
penalizes surviving spouses if they remarry before age 55. 
Given that most post-911 surviving spouses are widowed in their 
20s and 30s, we are asking these widows or widowers to wait 
over 20 years to remarry should they be so fortunate to find 
love again.
    Surviving spouses should not have to choose between 
remarrying and financial security. They will always be the 
widow or widower of a fallen hero, regardless of their future 
marital status. TAPS is proud to have worked with Ranking 
Member Moran, Senator Warnock, Representative Phillips and 
Hudson on the Love Lives On Act of 2023, and we urge its swift 
passage.
    TAPS and the survivor community have also supported 
strengthening dependency and indemnity compensation for many 
years. Stringent limitations on DAC payments to survivors 
impact their ability to pay for their housing, transportation, 
childcare, food, and medical care. TAP strongly supports the 
Caring for Our Survivors Act of 2023. And thanks, Chairman 
Tester, Senator Boozman, Representatives Hayes, and Fitzpatrick 
for reintroducing this important legislation.
    Raising DIC from 43 to 55 percent of the compensation rate 
paid to a 100 percent disabled veteran will provide parity with 
other Federal survivor benefits. The sacrifice of our nation's 
surviving families should not be considered less than their 
civilian counterparts receiving Federal benefits, and we urge 
passage of this critical legislation to finally address this 
injustice.
    TAPS is proud of the leadership role we played along with 
fellow veteran and military service organizations to ensure 
passage of the bipartisan Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson 
Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 
2022. As a leading voice for the families of those who have 
died as a result of illnesses connected to their exposure to 
toxins while serving, and a founding member of the Toxic 
Exposure in the American Military Coalition, TAPS thanks 
Chairman Tester and Bost, and Ranking Members Moran and Takano 
of this committee and their professional staffs for your 
leadership in passing this historic bill.
    We are committed to working with Congress and the VA to 
ensure proper implementation of the PACT Act. The VA has been 
working hard to encourage veterans and survivors to file PACT 
Act related claims. To date, more than 300,000 veterans and 
survivor claims have been filed. The VA estimates there are 
382,000 potential survivors who may be eligible for PACT Act 
related benefits. TAPS is committed to partnering with the VA 
to increase outreach and education, especially to those 
impacted survivors, encouraging them to submit claims so that 
they may receive the benefits they deserve.
    TAPS thanks Congress for passing the Expanding the Families 
of Veterans Access to Mental Health Services Act. TAPS strongly 
believes that expanding vet center eligibility to include 
survivors of a veteran loved one who has died by suicide will 
save lives by helping decrease these survivors' risks for post-
traumatic stress, depression, anxiety, and other mental health 
conditions.
    TAPS has become increasingly alarmed by the growing rate of 
opioid dependence and opioid related deaths among veterans, 
service members, and their families. According to a study 
funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, opioid 
overdoses among veterans has increased by 93 percent. The 
Department of Defense recently released data confirming that 
fentanyl was involved in 52 percent of overdose cases in the 
military between 2017 and 2021. Fatal fentanyl overdoses more 
than doubled during that time. TAPS will continue to work with 
Congress, the VA, and the DoD to raise awareness of this 
growing epidemic and the need to include family members and 
opioid and fentanyl addiction treatment plans to facilitate 
whole family recovery.
    On behalf of our veteran survivor community, the families 
of America's fallen heroes, and on behalf of my family, I thank 
you for the opportunity to testify and look forward to our 
questions.

    [The prepared statement of Ms. Carroll appears on page 130 
of the Appendix.]

    Chairman Bost. Thank you. Mr. Titus, you are now recognized 
for 5 minutes.

  CORY TITUS, DIRECTOR OF VETERANS BENEFITS AND GUARD/RESERVE 
AFFAIRS, GOVERNMENT RELATIONS, MILITARY OFFICERS ASSOCIATION OF 
                            AMERICA

    Mr. Titus. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Chairman Bost and 
Tester, Ranking Members Takano and Moran. On behalf of the 
Military Officers Association of America, thank you for the 
opportunity to present our major veterans' legislative 
priorities. Our 350,000 members work to advocate for all 
veterans, service members, their families, and survivors. We 
offer our heartfelt appreciation for the leadership and arduous 
work of the committee members and all of their teams. Over the 
past decade, the Veterans Affairs committees have championed 
major legislation like the MISSION Act, laws supporting women 
veterans, mental health, suicide prevention, and many other 
bills, all of which need to be fully implemented. On top of 
this, the 117th Congress accomplished something historic with 
the passage of the Honoring Our PACT Act. The PACT Act means 
healthcare and benefits for 3.5 million more veterans and more 
stress on VA's workforce and infrastructure.
    Continuing resolutions impede the Department's ability to 
fulfill our promises. The VA needs timely and predictable 
funding to implement this historic legislation and other 
congressionally mandated bills. If the VA is going to meet the 
needs of veterans in the coming years and decades, we must 
modernize its physical and workforce infrastructure. Aging 
infrastructure and workforce vacancies prevent VA from 
modernizing its healthcare and benefits systems. For these 
reasons and others, implementing the PACT Act will be harder 
than passing it. We applaud VA's outreach to the effort--
outreach efforts to help veterans become aware of the expansion 
of healthcare and benefits. The initial workload increases 
reported by VA show that veterans have filed over 300,000 
claims.
    And while we make strides in some areas, we find gap in 
others. One example, the core purpose of a presumptive 
condition is to help fill evidentiary gaps in a veteran's 
record that they cannot fill on their own. But a month after 
the PACT Act was signed into law, a GAO report found that VA 
granted only 8 percent of Agent Orange claims for nerve damage, 
skin cysts, and blistering. We need Congress to ensure a grant 
rate better than 8 percent. MOAA recommends Congress add strict 
reporting requirements to ensure effective oversight of grant 
rates for these conditions. If Congress or the VA create a 
presumption, we must ensure it works as intended.
    In 2020, to increase our understanding of presumptions 
related toxic exposures, MOAA and the Disabled American 
Veterans started a bottom-up review of toxic exposure 
presumptions. The progress and then ultimate success of the 
PACT Act led us to refocus our work. Our upcoming report will 
offer findings and recommendations to build on the PACT Act so 
we never have to pass a bill of this magnitude again.
    While the PACT Act was comprehensive, it was not complete. 
One of the striking insights from our work was that it takes VA 
an average of 3 decades to acknowledge toxic exposures. This is 
not a formal concession, mind you, which could help veterans 
with their claims, this is simply saying an exposure may have 
happened. Delaying acknowledgment slows every other aspect of 
toxic exposure presumptions to the detriment of harmed veterans 
and their families. Our work with DAV will offer 
recommendations on how DoD and VA can get upstream of future 
toxic exposure problems. MOAA and DAV look forward to briefing 
you and your staff on this report after it is released.
    In addition to addressing toxic exposure concerns, MOAA 
would like to stress the need to support our reserve component. 
During the peak of the pandemic, the National Guard saw 
activation levels not seen since World War II, and the strain 
is showing. Recruiting numbers for 5 of the past 6 years for 
reserve component branches, or excuse me, for 5 of the 6 
reserve component branches, they missed the recruiting goals in 
2022. This is a continuation of a long trend.
    Two essential areas under the Veterans Affairs Committee's 
jurisdiction where you can help are service member consumer 
protections and education benefits. When it comes to consumer 
protections, SCRA and USERRA are vital for our national 
security. First, we ask Congress to end the practice of pre-
dispute forced arbitration for these protections.
    Next, a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report found 
very few eligible Guard and Reserve service members received 
their SCRA interest rate reductions. Only 10 percent of 
eligible auto loans and 6 percent of personal loans received 
lower rates, costing service members an estimated $100 million 
between 2007 and 2018. When less than 10 percent of eligible 
troops are receiving a benefit, we must reexamine how we 
implement that benefit.
    Finally, MOAA supports the principle that every day of 
service should count toward earned benefits. Unfortunately, 
that is not the case for all service members. MOAA supports GI 
Bill parity for the reserve component to ensure recognition for 
their hard work.
    Thank you for the opportunity to present MOAA's priorities. 
We look forward to working with you, the VA, to better the 
lives of those who serve this country faithfully. I look 
forward to your questions.

    [The prepared statement of Mr. Titus appears on page 151 of 
the Appendix.]

    Chairman Bost. Thank you. Mr. McLean, you are recognized 
for 5 minutes.

               DONALD MCLEAN, NATIONAL COMMANDER,
                       AMERICAN VETERANS

    Mr. McLean. Thank you, sir. Good afternoon, Chairman 
Tester, Chairman Bost, and members of your committees. My name 
is Don McLean. I am a 32-year Coast Guard veteran from the 
great state of Massachusetts. I am honored to be here today on 
behalf of the largest veteran service organization representing 
all of America's veterans. AMVETS is honored to provide our 
legislative priorities for the 118th Congress.
    This past Congress, legislators and veteran service 
organizations came together to enact significant change for 
veterans and their families. The PACT Act was no small feat and 
will result in ensuring that veterans of numerous generations 
receive the healthcare and benefits that they earned with their 
blood, sweat and tears. We are grateful to the committees for 
your efforts in getting this legislation across the finish 
line.
    AMVETS was honored to host our VSO brothers and sisters as 
well as Jon Stewart at our second annual Rolling to Remember 
pro-veterans demonstration ride here in Washington, DC. This is 
the nation's largest veterans event, which brings together tens 
of thousands of veterans and supporters from across the United 
States riding their motorcycles on Memorial Day weekend to 
highlight critical issues. First, to demand continued and 
increased action for the more than 82,000 service members still 
missing in action, as well as raise awareness of the many 
veterans who die by suicide each day. And lastly, of course, to 
highlight our collective efforts to support the PACT Act. This 
year's event will take place May 28, 2023.
    We will never forget our POWs and MIAs, and we won't stop 
fighting for real solutions to the suicide crisis. We will 
continue this incredible platform until they all come home and 
all who make it home are well. The lasting impact of the 
disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan continues to plague our 
veterans and the many Afghani refugees who were fortunate 
enough to get out of the country, as well as those we 
abandoned. We owe it to these repatriated men and women to help 
them get on their feet and we ask that Congress prioritize for 
their sake and for our men and women in uniform struggling with 
our unconscionable exit.
    The 117th Congress can be summed up as providing 
significant investments in veterans' healthcare and benefits 
who were exposed to toxic exposures. Senator Gillibrand going 
on a personal and heroic crusade to ensure substantial and 
overdue changes were made to ensure sexual predators are held 
accountable in military service. Congress coming up short for 
our Afghani brothers and sisters and Congress altogether 
dropping the ball again as it relates to veterans' and service 
members' wellness and a significant reduction in suicide. The 
rate of suicide has only gotten worse, and we need our Congress 
to focus on this issue until we get effective programs and 
outcomes.
    AMVET's primary legislative goals for the 118th Congress 
are as follows: Encourage hearings, roundtables, and funding 
focused on new and novel programs to increase veterans' and 
service members' mental health and wellness as a form of 
suicide reduction. To pass legislation allowing all 
congressionally chartered 501(c)(19) nonprofit organizations to 
receive tax deductible donations. Increase women's voices in 
policy and government to address issues disproportionately 
affecting them. Support immediate passage of the Major Richard 
Star Act. Bolster recruitment and retention at the VA by 
passing the Careers Act. Support the completion of a successful 
and seamless electronic healthcare record. Pass legislation 
that provides a meaningful increase in DIC for survivors while 
striking arcane and unethical remarriage penalties. Create a 
national veteran strategy to align care and benefits to focus 
on outcomes and success.
    AMVETS is honored to have the opportunity to present our 
views and opinions to Congress. We understand that we are 
proposing some significant changes in moving toward a VA of the 
future. We look forward to continuing our work in this Congress 
and stand at the ready to continue pressing on the many issues 
facing our veterans. We will always continue our work to create 
better policies for the veterans that we serve.

    [The prepared statement of Mr. McLean appears on page 176 
of the Appendix.]

    Chairman Bost. Thank you. Ms. Sipes, you are recognized for 
5 minutes.

                    TAMRA SIPES, PRESIDENT,
                GOLD STAR WIVES OF AMERICA, INC.

    Ms. Sipes. Thank you, distinguished chairman and members of 
the Joint Senate and House Committee on Veterans Affairs. I am 
honored to be here today to testify on behalf of Gold Star 
Wives of America as the National President to share a few 
stories and challenges facing our surviving spouses in this 
great nation.
    My husband, PO1 Robert Sipes, was killed while stationed at 
Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in Washington State on October 
8, 1995. He was 34 and I was 28. As a Search and Rescue 
Corpsman, my husband flew over 55 missions saving lives and was 
awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for Heroism. But most 
importantly, he was my loving husband and father of three when 
he was killed.
    Gold Star Wives was founded in 1945 and works to ensure 
surviving spouses of our fallen heroes receive the benefits 
they are entitled to and are treated with dignity and respect. 
It is with this mission that we present highlights of our 
legislative goals.
    The most critical issue for surviving spouses is increasing 
VA dependency and indemnity compensation, DIC, which is the 
benefits surviving spouses receive when a service member or 
veteran dies due to their service. Currently, surviving spouses 
receive 43 percent of the compensation a veteran rated 100 
percent disabled receives. So, if someone works for a Federal 
agency and dies because of their job, their surviving spouse is 
eligible for up to 55 percent of their compensation. This is a 
significant disparity. DIC on its own is not enough to support 
the totality of expenses facing surviving spouses. Those living 
on a fixed income are extremely vulnerable to poverty, 
especially considering the current rate of inflation.
    An increase in DIC is the right thing to do. Member Sharri 
Briley of Arkansas with us today lost her husband, CW3 Donovan 
Briley, a Black Hawk helicopter pilot who died October 3, 1993, 
in Mogadishu, Somalia. Donovan called home prior to the 
mission, and she missed his call. Sharri and their daughter 
never got to say goodbye. This is the kind of sacrifice our men 
and women in uniform and their families make every day.
    We are so grateful for the work of Chairman Tester, Senator 
Boozman, and Representatives Hayes and Fitzpatrick for 
introducing the Caring for Survivors Act of 2023. This bill 
will ensure that military surviving spouses are able to live 
with dignity and respect, knowing their sacrifice is not viewed 
as less than by our country.
    Shortly after my husband died, I remember walking the halls 
of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in a fog with an infant, 
toddler, and child in tow, trying to navigate benefits. At a 
TRICARE window, the receptionist looked at my ID, which showed 
an unremarried widow, then looked at my kids and me and said, 
don't ever remarry. If you do, you will lose your benefits and 
you will never get them back. Today, under the current law, if 
a surviving spouse remarries before the age of 55, we forfeit 
life-saving benefits. Less than 8 percent of the total DIC 
recipients are under the age of 55. A remarriage doesn't void 
the loss. The burden and trauma continue forever.
    In addition, the definition of a surviving spouse for VA 
purposes was last updated in 1962. Quoting one phrase from that 
law ``has not held himself or herself out openly to the public 
to be the spouse of such other person.'' This phrase causes 
great conflict for surviving spouses. An anonymous member from 
Charleston, South Carolina said no surviving spouse should be 
afraid of retribution for continuing their lives when they have 
sacrificed so much.
    It has been 18 years, and I have been hesitant to be 
involved in any meaningful relationship for fear it would be 
construed as holding myself out to be married. This has deeply 
negatively impacted my children and me. The law should not be 
ambiguous. We believe the definition should be updated to 
follow Federal and State laws.
    In closing, we were inspired to see the passage of the PACT 
Act at the end of the last Congress. We are grateful the VA 
will be reviewing previously denied DIC claims for many 
surviving spouses who had been informed their spouse's death 
was not related to their service or their DIC claim had been 
denied. We appreciate the VA's efforts to provide regular 
updates and educational events regarding the PACT Act rollout. 
Gold Star Wives wholeheartedly thanks the Senate and House 
Veterans Affairs Committee for your time and attention to these 
issues of vital importance. We look forward to working with the 
committees in any way we can to move these priorities forward. 
I welcome any questions. Thank you.

    [The prepared statement of Ms. Sipes appears on page 189 of 
the Appendix.]

    Chairman Bost. Thank you. And I would like to now recognize 
Mr. Vedvick for 5 minutes for your opening statement.

            CHRISTOPHER VEDVICK, NATIONAL COMMANDER,
               MILITARY ORDER OF THE PURPLE HEART

    Mr. Vedvick. Chairman Bost and Tester, Ranking Members 
Moran and Takano, esteemed members of the committees, on behalf 
of the approximately 50,000 members of the Military Order of 
the Purple Heart, it is my honor and privilege to be before you 
today.
    As I am sure you are aware, the MOPH is a unique 
organization and that our membership is comprised entirely of 
veterans who are wounded in combat. First organized in 1932 and 
chartered by Congress in 1958, the MOPH stands today as the 
preeminent veteran service organization for combat wounded 
veterans.
    Before I touch on a few a few of our legislative 
priorities, I would like to express our appreciation to 
Congress for its invaluable assistance with the National 
Defense Authorization Act of 2023, Section 584, Enhanced 
Information Related to the Awarding of the Purple Heart.
    As you are aware, the Purple Heart is earned with blood and 
never won. It is a medal of high esteem that is presented to 
our brave service members who have been wounded or killed in 
combat, spilling their blood in the name of freedom. For over 
two centuries, this distinguished award has been the symbol of 
courage and sacrifice. However, the process of awarding and 
tracking the Purple Heart has not always been perfect. There 
have been cases where service members who deserved the medal 
did not receive it through administrative oversight or errors. 
Or in cases where the medal was awarded, but the recipient or 
the families were not made aware.
    Thanks to the efforts of Congress, these issues have been 
addressed in Section 584 of the NDAA. This section requires DoD 
to maintain an accurate database of all service members who 
have been wounded or killed in combat, ensuring that the 
process of tracking the Purple Heart is transparent. The MOPH 
recognizes the hard work and dedication that went into drafting 
and passing this legislation. Thank you all for your steadfast 
support in honoring Purple Heart recipients. We would also like 
to thank the families of our fallen heroes whose sacrifices 
will forever be honored by this important legislation.
    It was great to see significant legislation like the PACT 
Act and others that helped our country's veterans in this past 
year help bring together various VSOs. Not one organization can 
do it alone. We are thankful for the opportunities to continue 
to partner with you and other organizations, increasing the 
collective strength and effect all VSOS are having on the 
veteran population.
    A piece of legislation that could have a tremendous impact 
on the lives of wounded veterans is the Major Richard Star Act. 
It is one that numerous VSOs have spoken to you about, and we 
are proud to join that course. It aims to address the major 
injustice in our military retirement system. Currently, 
veterans who are retired and have combat related injuries 
receive only a portion of their earned retirement pay. The 
Major Richard Star Act seeks to rectify the situation by 
changing the way retirement pay is calculated for these 
veterans. If passed, this bill would ensure that veterans who 
are medically retired due to combat related injuries are given 
the retirement pay they have earned.
    As an organization that represents the interests of wounded 
veterans, we believe that this bill is essential to ensuring 
that our nation's heroes receive the pay they dutifully earned 
in support of our country. We urge Congress to pass this bill 
and honor the sacrifices of those who served our country by 
providing them the retirement pay they gave so much for.
    On this International Women's Day, I think it is 
appropriate to talk about something that affects a lot of 
female veterans, military sexual trauma. Military sexual trauma 
has been an ongoing problem in the United States military for 
far too long. The women who serve our country have been 
subjected to unthinkable acts of sexual assault and harassment, 
and the trauma they face can last a lifetime. These women have 
sacrificed for our country. It is our duty to provide them with 
the care and benefits they deserve.
    Unfortunately, many female veterans who experienced MSD 
have had difficulty accessing the care they need. They have 
reported difficulty getting mental health services, seeking 
help from the VA, and even experiencing homelessness. The MST 
Survivors Act and Deborah Sampson Act were significant steps 
forward into ensuring that the VA must address this issue of 
women's health and improve the VA's ability to care for these 
women.
    The VA has made strides in recent years to improve the care 
for female veterans, but there is so much more work to be done. 
We must invest in programs that reduce the stigma of reporting 
MST. As reporting increases, there will be an increased need 
for specialized care for female veterans who have experienced 
MST, especially in rural areas. Lastly, we must do more to 
prevent MST from occurring in the first place. We need to 
continue to strengthen the reporting and investigation 
processes and ensure that those who commit acts of sexual 
assault and harassment are held accountable for their actions. 
Chairman Tester and Bost, Ranking Members Moran and Takano, 
this concludes my statement. I thank you for the opportunity to 
testify today on behalf of the Military Order of the Purple 
Heart. I look forward to answering any questions you may have.

    [The prepared statement of Mr. Vedvick appears on page 198 
of the Appendix.]

    Chairman Bost. Thank you. At this time, I would like to 
recognize Mr. McNeil for 5 minutes.

           JOSEPH D. MCNEIL, SR., NATIONAL PRESIDENT,
                  BLINDED VETERANS ASSOCIATION

    Mr. McNeil. Good morning.
    Chairman Bost. Good morning.
    Mr. McNeil. Chairman Tester, Bost, Ranking Members Moran, 
Takano, and other distinguished members of the Veteran Service 
Organization, I would like to point out that March 28 is 
Blinded Veterans Day. We, at the BVA, are the only veterans 
service organization that represent blind, low vision veterans, 
their caregivers, and their family members. We hope that our 
legislative priorities for the 118th Congress will be looked 
upon favorably. And I have three things I would like to talk 
about in our testimony. I won't go over all of them, but ocular 
care, caregiver, and transportation.
    Under ocular care, September 2022, VA removed a specific 
line from Standardized Episode of Care and specifically in the 
eye guidelines that stated evasive procedures that should be 
performed only by ophthalmologists has been removed. Our 
concern with that is for decades, VA has been giving quality 
eye care, and now you have opened Pandora's Box. There are 
seven states that authorize other doctors that can do a 
procedure on your eye that is so invasive that you do not want 
injections, lasers, or eye surgeries.
    We would like the oversight that you have VA return that 
language back to the Standardized Episode of Care, SEOC, so 
that we won't have these episodes. Because in the past, 
programs like this have cost the VA millions in dollars. I 
wouldn't want somebody telling me they learned how to do 
something on YouTube and they think they can do it. The eye is 
a very unforgiving organ. I mean, we are talking about an 
injection or removing a cataract. We don't want that. We would 
love to have that language returned to it.
    Secondly, when we talk about caregiver, the program that 
was instituted and we brought to light last year, a lot has 
been done but the problem is we are using sighted guidelines 
against blind people. Our activities of daily living are 
totally different than what a sighted person has to do. The 
questions that the adjudicators are asking are flat out asinine 
and insulting to a blind person.
    We propose a standard of 5/200 in the worse eye and a field 
degree of 5 degrees, which is pretty much looking through a 
straw. If you have these standards for blind people then there 
will be no questions when we have the adjudicators looking at 
us that we don't have these crazy questions that are being 
asked, can he put food in his mouth? The question should be, 
can he properly prepare the meal, or she prepare the meal?
    When we look at transportation, the problem with 
transportation is either unavailable, unreliable, or flat out 
nonexistent. Part of the problem that the verbiage that is in 
there the clerks are interpreting in their way and not the way 
it is supposed to read. It does say a blinded veteran can ride 
transportation on a special mode of transportation. They want 
to add, we have to be in a wheelchair or on a gurney. I 
personally am not getting strapped to a gurney to go an 
appointment.
    Then you are looking at who can authorize special mode of 
transportation, which is just clinicians doctors, your PAs. We 
would like to have the VIST coordinator, who is our 
professional who deals with us on a daily basis. She knows what 
our needs are to be able to authorize special mode of 
transportation.
    In addition, you are looking at the hindrance, where they 
want some of us in some locations to schedule a ride 30 days 
out, 2 weeks out. And the day prior to your appointment, they 
call and tell you it has been canceled. You are going to have 
to get there the best way you can. Now what do we have? We got 
to jump through hoops. We got to get a family member. We got to 
reschedule. We have to flat out cancel. That is a barrier to 
our healthcare, timely healthcare that we need. We need the 
oversight to stop that the verbiage in there that will put 
these clerks in their location so that the clerks and the 
managers are actually doing their job.
    Secondly, you are looking at when you go to turn your 
paperwork in to get reimbursed, it is not equitable. If we have 
to take an Uber to get there, then we need to be reimbursed for 
the full cost of the Uber. One of our members had to take a 
ride, it cost him $50. He is reimbursed $15. He needed to be 
reimbursed the entire. If the doctor authorizes it, then the VA 
needs to pay it.
    The other barrier, when you get the paperwork and you go to 
the clerk's office inside the facility, they will tell you they 
don't have time to help you fill it out. Go to the website. As 
everyone here knows, the website is not 508 compliant. So, how 
do we do it if we are stuck in this cycle of circling around 
chasing our tail when they should fix it? What we propose is 
that until they fix the website, that blinded veterans are 
allowed to receive their reimbursement at location or told 
until they fix the website.
    I thank you for listening. I stand by for any questions.

    [The prepared statement of Mr. McNeil appears on page 208 
of the Appendix.]

    Chairman Bost. Thank you very much. Now, I would like to 
recognize Mr. McLaughlin for 5 minutes.

MICHAEL MCLAUGHLIN, LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION 
              OF COUNTY VETERANS SERVICE OFFICERS

    Mr. McLaughlin. Thank you, Chairman Bost, Chairman Tester, 
Ranking Member Takano, and Ranking Member Moran, and members of 
the committees. My name is Michael McLaughlin and I currently 
serve as a county veteran service officer in Blue Earth County, 
Minnesota. I am also the legislative director for the National 
Association of County Veterans Service Officers, or NACVSO. On 
behalf of NACVSO and its members, it is my honor to share our 
legislative priorities for ensuring that veterans and their 
families have access to all the benefits and services they have 
earned. Governmental Veteran Service Officers, or GVSOs, work 
at the State, County, Tribal and Municipal levels and are the 
frontline workforce in their communities assisting and 
advocating veterans every day. County veteran service officers 
and their local equivalents comprise over 2/3 of all of VA's 
accredited veteran service officers and undertake a significant 
workload on behalf of the Federal Government in implementing VA 
policies on behalf of the Federal Government.
    This workload includes assisting veterans and their 
families to file disability claims, enroll in VA healthcare, 
coordinate community care programs, access educational 
benefits, death benefits, homeless services, transportation 
services, and everything in between. CVSOs are uniquely 
positioned to help policy and decision-makers within VA 
understand both issues veterans face and how well VA programs 
are working to address these issues. Although CVSOs are not 
employees of the VA, they are frequently the first and 
sometimes only in-person interaction a veteran has when dealing 
with VA.
    Despite the fact that Federal grant spending to state and 
local governments is estimated over $1 trillion, or 
approximately 4.1 percent of GDP in 2023, none of this funding 
is designated to support local service officers to carry out 
their duties on behalf of the VA. County sheriffs and local law 
enforcement agencies receive funding support from Department of 
Justice for hiring, training, and carrying out community 
policing programs. Local social service programs receive 
funding from the Department of Health and Human Services to 
provide frontline economic and social well-being programs. 
These are just a few examples of how the Federal Government 
partners every day with local governments, except for when it 
comes to helping our nation's veterans gain access to the 
benefits and services they need.
    Veteran service offices are often among the lowest funded 
in local governments across the nation, and CVSOs face 
disparities in staffing levels, technology, education, and 
outreach due to the complete reliance on local funding. These 
challenges have become even more acute in recent years with the 
passing of historic legislation like Blue Water Navy Vietnam 
Veterans Act, the MISSION Act, and the PACT Act, to name a few. 
Any CVSO is truly grateful for Congress's action to pass these 
laws and the life changing impact they have had on veterans and 
their families. However, these acts did not consider the 
additional infrastructure and support required at the local 
governmental level to meet the increased demand for veteran 
support services. The expansion of benefits under this new 
legislation has created a de facto unfunded mandate for local 
governments across the country who are scrambling to meet the 
need of influx requests for veteran support.
    A few examples of that increased demand are El Paso County, 
Colorado, where wait times for veterans seeking appointments 
with veteran service officers has increased by over 3 weeks. 
Lake County, Illinois, where there has been a 400 percent 
increase in VA benefit inquiry calls received by staff. The 
town of Wilbraham, Massachusetts, where 62 percent of all 
disability claims filed since August 10, 2022, have been PACT 
Act related claims. Medina County, Ohio, which has experienced 
a 67 percent increase in month to month claims and a 300 
percent increase in office contacts.
    These examples represent just a few of a thousand similar 
scenarios playing out in county and local government offices 
across the country today. And this is why NACVSO supports the 
bipartisan Commitment to Veteran Support and Outreach Act, the 
CVSO Act, and encourages the committees to also do so. This act 
would, for the first time, provide supportive grants from VA to 
county and local government equivalent offices to improve 
community support and outreach services for veterans and their 
families. Support to local governments is something that will 
ensure veterans have access to an accredited veteran service 
officer and ultimately access to the benefits and services they 
have earned and that they deserve.
    Chairman, ranking members, and members of the committee, 
NACVSO and its members truly appreciate the work you all are 
doing here today and throughout this session. State, County, 
Tribal and Municipal service officers are standing at the 
ready, and we are force multipliers for the Federal Government. 
If we can bolster support for local veteran advocates, we will 
be able to better support the needs of our nation's veterans 
and their families and the communities in which they live. 
Thank you.

    [The prepared statement of Mr. McLaughlin appears on page 
221 of the Appendix.]

    Chairman Bost. Thank you, Mr. McLaughlin. And thank you to 
all the entire panel throughout the testimony. And I will now 
recognize myself for 5 minutes of questioning, 3 minutes of 
questioning. I corrected that because we did that in the 
earlier panel.
    Colonel Mellitz, in your testimony, you noted that more 
action is needed to combat veteran suicide and that we should 
ensure VA and DoD release the raw data on suicide. A 
significant number of deaths labeled as unknown, yet they 
display signs of self-harm and/or overdoses. Do you agree that 
the VA should investigate more of this data and include it in 
their annual suicide reports?
    Mr. Mellitz. Sir, yes. Not only that, but they should 
format a group with DoD to specifically break down those 
different categories to determine how they are defined and then 
go forward from that standpoint. If you don't know the basis of 
the data, you can't go forward to come to a conclusion. Yes, 
sir.
    Chairman Bost. VA is the second largest agency, and whoever 
wants to try to answer or whatever, maybe I should just make it 
in a statement, okay? Let me tell you that whenever I first 
came to Congress that the VA worked very--the VA committee, 
worked very, very, very--did I say very yet--very hard not to 
be partisan, okay? Let me ask each one of you, because I want 
you to think about this in your mind. VA is the second largest 
agency in the Federal budget. We are in an area where we need 
some places that I know that there is waste, fraud, and abuse. 
And I don't think any of you sitting at the panel here can say 
that that does not occur in the second largest bureaucracy in 
the world.
    Let me tell you this, that I listened earlier to the other 
panels, and I want to get this all straightened out pretty 
quickly. There were some statements that are made in a partisan 
way that are not truthful. Of the 14 members on the Republican 
side of the aisle, nine of us are veterans. We do not want to 
cut services to our veterans, but we are in a situation that if 
we don't be smarter with how we are handling our money, China 
will own our debt, and everybody who served in the uniform will 
lose and lose because China will own us. I listened to members 
on this panel criticize and say things that are not true. No 
one on our side of the aisle, no one wants to cut services to 
our veterans. And I want to be very clear on that. No more than 
do we want to cut when you hear on the street, we want to cut 
Social Security and Medicaid. We do not. But we want to be wise 
with your tax dollars, because you are not just veterans, you 
are taxpayers. You are not just veterans, you are parents and 
you are grandparents.
    And there is a time that we have to be wise in what we are 
doing. And it is my job as chairman of this committee, and I 
know that Senator Moran is here, and Tester, and Takano, that 
we got to work together to wisely spend the money in which we 
have to provide the services for our veterans and not let abuse 
occur.
    And to watch the panels go back and forth at each other, 
some of them veterans, saying, well, I care for veterans more, 
I am not going to cut you. I am not going to cut the benefits. 
There is a term in my area that I can't use on the mike that I 
think that is, but it has something to do with when you raise 
cattle, you know what comes out. And I am going to tell you 
that I have taken long enough on the questions, but I want to 
be very, very clear that we are here to serve you. We are here 
to--but I ask you to help us when you see fraud and abuse and 
you see problems in our programs that we are investing in that 
aren't beneficial to your people that you represent, tell us 
for the sake of your children and grandchildren, for the sake 
of this nation, which you fought to defend.
    With that, I am going to recognize Senator Moran, Ranking 
Member Moran.

                       HON. JERRY MORAN,
            RANKING MEMBER, U.S. SENATOR FROM KANSAS

    Senator Moran. Mr. Chairman, Chairman Bost, thank you very 
much for recognizing me. I am pleased to be here. I would let 
you know that the Senate Committee, during a couple of votes on 
the Senate floor, just approved Joshua Jacobs as the new 
Undersecretary for Veterans Benefits. And so, we have another 
player in his profession, and we look forward to working with 
him and the VA to meet our needs of our veterans.
    And Chairman Bost, not everything is--we can't be 
everything to everybody, is the way I would sum up what you 
said. And we need to make certain that we take care of our 
veterans, but we also take care of our country who they so 
faithfully served.
    I just have a couple of questions for--and on that regard, 
today, I am a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. We 
have classified briefings going on. I am returning. But the 
threats to our country are significant and great. We care for 
those who served us in the past, and in doing so, we encourage 
those to serve today. Our country needs, we need your service. 
We need good citizens, and we want to do everything we can to 
make certain that we make the right decisions here. Ms. 
Carroll, let me begin with you. I thank you for your testimony. 
I thank you for your organization's work and your partnership 
that we had in the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring 
the PACT Act. For surviving families who may not know they are 
eligible for new benefits or care under the law, would you 
please share what TAPS is doing in this endeavor to reach those 
survivors whose loved ones have already passed on?
    Ms. Carroll. Yes, it would be my honor. We do have more 
than 100,000 surviving families who we are in direct contact 
with. We have been reaching out to all those who have told us 
that their loved one died of an illness to inform them of this, 
to encourage them, if they are not already receiving benefits, 
to apply. We have put this in our magazine that goes out to a 
very broad group extending to other organizations that work 
with survivors as well.
    We have been partnering with the Department of Veterans 
Affairs to prepare a public service announcement that will go 
out addressing not only survivors, but also veterans, but 
speaking to the whole family, so that word is getting out. We 
have also been sharing this on all of our social media 
channels, and in chat groups, at events. And we are doing 
everything that we can to reach out to the 380,000-plus 
survivors who may not otherwise know and will miss this 
opportunity. Thank you.
    Senator Moran. Thank you for those efforts. Mr. McNeil, 
thank you for your testimony and sharing the BVA's priorities. 
Let me ask you to do this. Expand on the importance of 
nationwide uniform standards for service dogs in VA facilities 
and how the VA could improve their current practices toward 
that end.
    Mr. McNeil. Thank you for the question. The problem with 
the service dog program is the dog champion that are supposed 
to be at the VA facilities. We have the champions but they have 
no job description, so they don't know what they need to do. 
Then you are looking at the reporting phase of it, where if you 
report to the VA police, their process of no foul, no blood, is 
fine. You are talking about a $50-$60,000 dog with somebody's 
19.95 pet they picked up down the street.
    They need to enforce the standards that the transportation 
has already put out, that all emotional support and all do not 
come into a Federal facility, especially the VA. We have had 
cases where members, one member in particular, coming down the 
hall and his dog was attacked by someone's pet Doberman, and 
the dog was ruined.
    If a veteran is using a service dog, he is not using his 
cane for his eyes. That dog is his eyes. Now that the dog is 
gone, they are stranded. So, what are they supposed to do? How 
are they supposed to get home? How are they going to do 
everything? When the dog has to go back for training, you are 
looking at anywhere from 6 months to a year before that veteran 
receives another dog. So, now we are back to the issue of 
transportation and travel.
    Senator Moran. Thank you for your answers. Thank you all 
for being here.
    Chairman Bost. Representative Ramirez.
    Ms. Ramirez. Thank you, Chairman. I want to thank you all 
for being here today. It is incredibly important for us and 
those of us who have not served but understand the critical 
importance of investing and supporting our veterans and their 
families. So, I am incredibly grateful for you to be here.
    I wanted to go back to the PACT Act. And we know that it is 
one of the most significant expansion of benefits and services 
for toxic-exposed veterans in more than 3 decades. And we have 
a responsibility to ensure that all veterans have meaningful 
access to comprehensive, quality healthcare. The PACT Act will 
significantly remove barriers and paperwork for veterans and 
their survivors. Any of you could answer this, but how have you 
seen implementation of the PACT Act work since it was signed 
into law August 2022? And you started talking a little bit 
about some of the supports that are still needed with it. But 
if you could elaborate a little more, what else is needed as we 
implement?
    Mr. Titus. Congresswoman, thank you for that question. And 
I think a lot of credit is due to VA with the level of 
communication and outreach that they have given to all veterans 
and VSOs. That is something they have done very well. An area 
where we are going to be watching closely in the coming years 
is how they implement the presumption process prescribed in the 
PACT Act. It is early in that process. So, it remains to be 
seen how that will be done. But that is going to be a critical 
piece to make sure that we are not ending up in a similar 
situation decades from now.
    Ms. Ramirez. Thank you. So, I know our time is limited 
today. I just want to come back to the importance of supporting 
our veterans and their families. And I just want to echo some 
of the sentiment you heard today. The reality is that we have 
more and more people experiencing homelessness. And when we 
look at those numbers, we see that nearly, in some cases, 20 
percent of them are veterans. I just heard the last gentleman 
in his testimony talk about the increased calls coming in. And 
Lake County is not far from--Lake County in Illinois is not far 
from my district in DuPage County. And we are seeing that 
increase across the board in terms of supports.
    So, I want to thank our distinguished leaders today for 
today's joint Senate and House briefing to receive the 
legislative VSOs presentation. Service members and veterans 
should be given the support they need to lead healthy, 
productive lives once their service has ended. Congress has to 
make sure that we don't make excuses around cuts here or cuts 
there. The reality is that we have to make sure that every 
essential service that you need, but also your family needs, is 
provided for you. And that means access to good quality 
housing. That means good healthcare. That means education, 
workforce, living wages, and that certainly means investing in 
mental health supports. I want to say to you that being part of 
Veteran Affairs Committee is an honor of my life. Having worked 
in social services for as long as I did, I understand that 
investing in you is investing in this country. And this is why 
I want to just reiterate the commitment we have on this side of 
the aisle to ensure that veterans are always prioritized. We 
will do that this year, and we will continue to do that as we 
move forward. Thank you. And I yield back.
    Chairman Bost. Thank you. Representative Van Orden.
    Mr. Van Orden. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to echo your 
comments that you made about us caring about veterans, and we 
do. We absolutely do. So, we are going to do the best that we 
absolutely possibly can. That is my promise to you.
    Ms. Sipes, I would like to tell you something. I was in the 
service for 26 years. I am a retired Navy SEAL, and I buried 
more of my friends than I care to remember. I was a corpsman 
like your husband. And I want you to know that we understand 
that the debt that is owed to you by this country is not a 
mortgage. It doesn't get paid off. It is something that we have 
to give to you every single day. You have my absolute, 
unwavering support, and thank you.
    Mr. Titus, I will be chairing a committee meeting, 
subcommittee meeting on USERRA tomorrow. I have read your 
written comments, and I want you to know you are welcome to 
come to that. It is a very, incredibly important issue that is 
a national security issue. When our National Guards and 
Reservists are forward deployed, they need to know that when 
they come back, they still have a job. And that hasn't been 
reviewed in a long period of time, and it is going to happen 
tomorrow.
    And then I have one question for Mr. McNeil. I get all my 
healthcare through the VA. I am a 100 percent, permanently, 
totally disabled veteran, and I am a Member of Congress. But 
what is good enough for my brothers and sisters is good enough 
for me. I recently spoke to the Veterans Administration because 
they removed our kiosks. When you fill out your travel claim 
and you know what, 50 bucks is 50 bucks, right? I get it. So, 
we are going to work on that.
    But I have a question for you, sir, because you are sight 
impaired, how is it that you guys and gals who are sight 
impaired are able to, I mean, physically, I am an enlisted 
dude, man. You know I get it, rubber's got to meet the road. 
How do you guys actually, how are you facilitated to complete 
your travel claims? Like, how do you do them? It is a real 
question. And if it is not good enough, how can we help? That 
is why I want to know.
    Mr. McNeil. Well, thank you for the question. What it comes 
down to is we were in a sighted world. We now live in an 
unsighted world. And we have to adjust and adapt to it. You 
know, even like in this room here right now, I believe there is 
a timer going. I can't see it. I don't know what time it is. 
There are no audible cues, so you have to adjust. But when you 
get to the windows at the VA facilities to cash out, the clerks 
need to be more helpful----
    Mr. Van Orden. Okay.
    Mr. McNeil [continuing]. In filling out the paperwork, not 
resisting you, or telling you there are too many people behind 
you. I cannot hand my form to him and let him fill it out 
because it is got some information that he doesn't need. And if 
it is a female, there is an issue of safety and security. Now 
they know where they live at, and they got some other 
information. So, if they were able to allow them to fill it 
out, that is fine.
    The clerks in my place, where I go, they normally help me 
fill it out regardless of what the line is. But until they can 
fix that, go ahead and pay the veteran right there at the 
facility. And if we have to use a Uber or anything like that, 
pay them at their rate. The problem that you do have is 
according to the regs 1695, or is it 1619, that when the doctor 
or clinician tells you if you can't get treatment at your 
facility, you have to be sent to another facility, you are 
supposed to be paid to the other facility. The clerk's 
interpretation is they are going to pay you to your home 
facility. That needs to be corrected. They need to quit 
interpreting and reading into the regulation.
    Mr. Van Orden. Awesome. Sir, that is what I need to hear. 
And if you remember from your time in the service, that is 
FORAC. Thank you. It is for action for the rest of your 
civilians out there. I yield back, sir.
    Chairman Bost. Mr. Crane, you are recognized for 5 minutes.
    Mr. Crane. It is great to have you all here. One of my 
questions to you guys is this is Panel II. We have heard many 
panels. One of my concerns is, as a veteran myself, who wants 
to be able to get the best care I can in a timely manner, do 
you guys feel as if we are doing a good job in making sure that 
if the VA can't get our service members and our veterans, if 
they can't get them healthcare, good healthcare in a timely 
manner, they have the capability and the ability to go out in 
town and get that healthcare there? I see some heads shaking in 
the back, but I would like to know from our panelists here what 
are your guys thoughts on that are. Thank you.
    Mr. Linnington. Congressman, if I may. MISSION Act really 
afforded a lot more opportunity for community care if you can't 
get the care inside the VA. And the access standards that are 
set in that law are important. But unfortunately, many of the 
access standards vary from VA to VA. And especially in the 
areas of rehabilitative inpatient treatment, there is no access 
standard. So that is one area that we would like to see 
adjusted.
    I think the MISSION Act implementation, although it is 
still, you know, it is a couple of years old, is still in the 
process of, you know, bringing on new providers. And one of the 
areas that I have heard is reimbursement sometimes takes some 
time. We provide mental health programs and services outside of 
what is available in the community care. I think including some 
of the other nonprofit organizations, as the VA has recently 
done with Mission Daybreak and implementation of community care 
partnerships through the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Act 
are great news. So, those grants to community-based 
organizations certainly helps in availability of community care 
for helping veterans that can't get it through the VA.
    Mr. Crane. By a show of hands real quick from all the vets 
back in the audience, how many of you guys would like to see us 
veterans have the continued capability and opportunity to be 
able to go out in town if the VA is not doing a good job. Thank 
you. I appreciate that.
    My last statement is for Ms. Sipes. I thank you, ma'am, for 
your attendance today. And I didn't know that about spouses are 
only getting about 43 percent to their other government spouse 
counterparts at 55 percent and I hope that this Congress is 
able to take care of that. Thank you, ma'am. I yield back my 
time.
    Chairman Bost. Thank you, Representative Eli Crane. Thank 
you all, all the witnesses for coming out today. I really 
appreciate all of your testimony. Each of you represent a 
segment of the veterans population that has unique needs and 
challenges that need to be addressed. So, each of those 
particular pieces of information were critically important. And 
I appreciate the willingness to take time out of your busy 
lives to come to Washington, DC and be here with us. Your 
testimony and commitment to veterans are paramount as we 
conduct our work during the 118th Congress.
    Ms. Sipes, thank you again for your testimony, your 
heartfelt testimony, and for sharing your personal story. I can 
only imagine how difficult that it must have been losing your 
husband at the age of 28 with three young children. I have 
three sons of my own, been married for 37 years. I can't 
imagine. I really appreciate your willingness to share your 
story publicly. Your bravery serves as an inspiration for other 
Gold Star spouses to know that they are not alone and that 
there is support network out there in their time of need. In 
your testimony, you pointed out that surviving spouses are 
punished for getting remarried before the age of 55. I think 
marriage is fundamentally a good thing and should not be 
disincentivized. I say many times over we cannot build a strong 
nation with weak families and the information that you shared 
seems to weaken the family. Can you please elaborate on your 
story and your agenda?
    Ms. Sipes. Yes. In regards to the remarriage, it did 
change. Law did change years later, of course, to the 55. The 
challenge is is that if we choose to remarry, we do, we lose 
all of our benefits unless we are over 55 years old. And that 
puts us in a position of not being able to move on. It puts us 
in a position of having to raise our children without a spouse, 
or a father figure, or somebody in their lives to help raise 
them. And should we choose to remarry and lose those benefits, 
then that other spouse is now responsible for our spouse's 
children. The foster care pays more in helping raise a child 
than the government does. So, it is just really, really an 
unfair advantage for spouses and they cannot continue their 
lives on in a normal manner.
    Chairman Bost. Thank you very much. And like Representative 
Crane, I did not realize either that there was this discrepancy 
in the amount of compensation that was coming from other 
government employees. We are now going to go to Representative 
Levin.

                        HON. MIKE LEVIN,
              U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM CALIFORNIA

    Mr. Levin. I thank my friend from Montana. Great to see 
everyone. Thank you all for your testimony. Thank you for your 
service. And I wasn't here to hear the chairman's comments 
regarding the debt limit but let me just personally state that 
I really look forward to working with the majority in the 
coming months, hopefully to resolve the debt limit situation 
without using our veterans as a bargaining chip.
    In fact, I would go so far as to say that no colleague that 
I have spoken with, whether Democratic or Republican, wants to 
see a single penny of veterans benefits or programs cut. And I 
will make it one of my personal priorities this year to ensure 
that that does not happen. And that is how it will always be 
around here. I hope it will continue to be on a bipartisan 
basis, as it has been since I got to Congress a number of years 
ago.
    I wanted to turn to a couple of pieces of legislation that 
I have specifically been advocating for. And Mr. Titus, I will 
begin with you. We got a lot of people up here today. But in 
your testimony, you stated that, and I quote, ``every day of 
service should count toward earned education and other 
benefits, regardless of a service member's type of orders. 
Unfortunately, that is not the case for our Reserve and 
National Guard service members.'' I think you know that since 
the tragic attacks of 911, National Guard and Reserve members 
are increasingly serving on the frontlines. And they are there, 
you know, responding to the greatest challenges in our nation, 
whether it is climate disasters, the pandemic. We certainly saw 
so many that were here at the Nation's Capitol in the aftermath 
of January 6.
    In my opinion, and I believe yours, is we can't continue to 
ask Guard and Reserve to respond to these types of crises 
without providing them with the same GI Bill benefits as the 
active-duty service members that they serve alongside in many 
cases. So, we are going to reintroduce our Guard and Reserve 
Parity Act. That is another one we will never give up until 
that one is across the finish line. It is too important. It 
would ensure that every day spent in uniform counts toward GI 
Bill benefits. We passed the bill in the House with broad 
bipartisan support, thanks to many in this room, and I look 
forward to working with my Senate colleagues. I wish they were 
here right now so we could talk to them in person about this. 
But we really do look forward to working with them to ensure 
that we get that across the finish line this Congress.
    So, with all that as background, Mr. Titus, can you discuss 
the importance of GI Bill Parity for Guard and Reserve members 
and how would GI Bill Parity help with recruitment, 
specifically?
    Mr. Titus. Congressman, thank you for that question, and 
thank you for all your hard work on this issue. We came close 
last year. And it is our sincere hope that we can pick up and 
get this over the finish line this Congress. When deciding 
whether to either enlist or join the Guard or Reserves or 
transfer over from the active component, service members are 
asking their friends, they are asking their family. And when 
the answer they get back is you are not treated the same. You 
are not going to have your service recognized the same way as 
when you are on active duty or that your friend's on active 
duty. That is a really hard pill to swallow when, as you 
mentioned, sir, that the demand on the reserve component goes 
far beyond 1 weekend a month, 2 weeks a year.
    We need to truly embrace the total force concept, and the 
first step in this is getting the GI Bill Parity for the 
Reserve component. It is a powerful recruiting tool and we need 
to take it off the shelf and get it put into law.
    Mr. Levin. Well, I am out of time, but I just wanted to say 
thanks to you for your partnership. I wanted to thank every 
single person in this room for their service. And it is a great 
honor of mine and I believe of everyone serving on the House 
Veterans Affairs Committee with all the craziness going on in 
Washington, DC where we actually work together to try to get 
things done for you and give back just a bit after you have 
given so much to this nation. With that, I will yield back.
    Chairman Bost. Thank you very much. Representative 
Luttrell.

                     HON. MORGAN LUTTRELL,
                 U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM TEXAS

    Mr. Luttrell. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And it is great to 
be, this is arguably the safest room in the Capitol right now 
with all my brothers and sisters sitting out here. So, I mean, 
such an amazing feeling sitting in front of all you. A few 
statements, and then I will ask my question.
    Healthcare records, we all understand, and many of you 
spoke about the healthcare records, and the data transfer, and 
the challenges that we face in that. Know that this committee 
is addressing that as best we can. Our veterans' data is one of 
the most precious assets we have in this country, and we will 
not have a breach in any way. And that is where the challenge 
is because healthcare departments, they all work in silos, and 
we are systematically trying to integrate all of these 
different areas, and it is very challenging.
    I have been working on the electronic healthcare register 
since 2016, and the VA is very a closed loop when it comes to 
us and our information, okay. So, Congress is very actively 
trying to engage with that.
    Baseline assessment, sir, you are spot on. When it comes to 
mental health, the veterans' health, from the day that we enter 
into basic training, we should be assessed. Right now, we have 
to deal with injured brains and bodies. When they get out into 
the veteran space and then we do those initial assessments in 
the VAs, we are already broken. And we are working with the 
services right now to implement proper baseline assessments so 
that healthcare record can travel with that particular 
individual all the way up until the day that we put them in the 
ground. That way we know how far they are digressing or 
flourishing, okay. Just another one of those things that we are 
addressing behind the scenes, and it is something that we don't 
have the ability to, you know, get the word out as best we can. 
But I want you to hear me say that right here in front of you 
as a veteran.
    Ms. Sipes, I pray for you and everyone else religiously. My 
wife and kids and I do that. So, thank you for coming up here 
and spending this day with us.
    Mr. McNeil, the service animal guidelines, I agree with you 
wholeheartedly. I think that has really come off the rails. I 
think people have taken advantage of the situation, and the 
ones that are suffering are the ones that actually have to have 
the service animals. So, I would actually like, if it is 
possible, I would like to sit down with you and the group so 
you could outline that for us, what you want. Because those of 
us that don't have service animals, I would say we are just 
throwing jello at the wall where you are the subject matter 
expert. Are you good with that, sir?
    Mr. McNeil. Yes, sir, thank you.
    Mr. Luttrell. All right. And just so you know, and it needs 
to be said that Mr. Van Orden sitting behind me is a not 
attractive man at all.
    Mr. McNeil. Good to know.
    Mr. Luttrell. Fellow SEAL, I had to throw that out. okay, 
so let me get to my question. Sir, General Linnington, this is 
coming to you. So, telehealth, right, in our rural areas, a 
very aggressive movement in the proper direction. But, you 
know, sometimes it falls short, it seems. But here is the issue 
that I have tried to get my head around is I moved out to the 
country because I don't want anybody talking to me. I don't 
want anybody messing with me. And I can pick 20 people out in 
this room right now that are doing the same thing. But then we 
have the individuals that do live in the rural areas that need 
the VA's assistant. They want that telehealth. So, here we have 
this give and take.
    Now, for us, we are trying to get our head around that. But 
make no mistake about it, this needs to be said, veterans are 
hard to deal with. We are hard to wrangle. We can be, like, 
really aggressive. And as a veteran, but somebody who is in the 
science and research space, and now the legislators, I mean, we 
have to be better about telling our brothers and sisters, be 
calm and be generous to our caregivers, especially Marines. You 
guys just take the cake. I usually get a response from Marines 
when you are in the crowd. We don't have a Marine in here? 
Okay, thank you.
    So, sir, so, how do we address that? It gets even more 
complex when we get into the Tribes. I have a Tribe in my 
district, and they fall short as well, but they are reluctant 
to have me walk in because I am an outsider. What are your 
thoughts?
    Mr. Linnington. I would say telehealth. COVID was a big 
test. And during COVID, telehealth was amazing in veterans 
connecting with healthcare, especially mental health care, 
through telehealth. I think what we have to be careful of is 
allowing telehealth alone to meet the access standards for 
veterans that want to be seen in person. I think that is where 
abiding by the access standards that the Congress has set for 
the VA for community care, outside care outside of the VA, and 
with some of the private partners that want to help in the 
areas of mental health or other health areas need to be 
enhanced.
    So, you are exactly right. Some veterans appreciate the 
privacy and anonymity that come with telehealth, especially in 
the behavioral health areas. Some veterans want to be seen by a 
provider. And we got to be able to do both and do both well.
    Mr. Luttrell. Thank you.
    Chairman Bost. That is okay. Thank you. Thank you, 
Representative Luttrell. Representative Budzinski.

                     HON. NIKKI BUDZINSKI,
               U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM ILLINOIS

    Ms. Budzinski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to 
start out by saying a sincere thank you to all of the veterans 
that are here today and the panelists for participating. Your 
testimony really helps to inform us on, you know, the ongoing 
barriers that veterans are facing. And in particular, I have 
been very interested again in the mental health space and 
making sure that our veterans get access to care. And again, in 
rural communities, which are very similar to the district that 
I represent, I have a lot of rural communities in it.
    I was very excited and encouraged on January 17, the VA 
announced that veterans in suicidal crisis can now receive the 
free world-class emergency healthcare that they deserve, no 
matter where they need it, when they need it, or whether they 
are enrolled in VA care or not. I think it is a welcome first 
step, but we still need to continue this work. And so, my 
question is for Mr.--I am sorry for Mr. Vedvick. Can you share 
with us some of your perspectives regarding the VA's suicide 
prevention strategy and what more should we and can we be doing 
in that work?
    Mr. Vedvick. Thank you for the question. Obviously, our 
members are increasingly affected by suicidal thoughts and 
ideations, and so they are always needing more and more help. 
And I guess the assumption is that it is always younger 
veterans, which isn't the case. What I would like to see is a 
more concentrated effort on informing our older veterans who 
are isolated, ruminating at home, and giving them the tools 
that they need to be able to contact the VA and get help that 
they need.
    Ms. Budzinski. Thank you. And I guess a follow up to that 
is, you know, as the COVID public health emergency is ending 
and the VA's legal authority regarding telehealth, which we 
were just talking about are rolled back, I am concerned that 
those who can and should be reached through telehealth will no 
longer have access. So, can you talk a little bit more about 
the importance of telehealth? And I agree, not as the only 
modality that veterans can access because some will want in 
person services. But are there any barriers or any concerns 
that you have with this rollback in the May 11 date coming up?
    Mr. Vedvick. No, the--I am sorry. Right, for telehealth, I 
think that is a critical tool. Like what has been brought 
before, rural areas, it is critical for them. And even in areas 
where you have a job, you have something going on, you can't 
always get up and do what you are doing. You can't leave. I 
know individuals, veterans who are using telehealth, you know, 
on their work breaks are like trying to actually get the care 
they can when they can, because not everybody can just drop 
what they are doing. They have to take care of their families. 
So, allowing them the flexibility of telehealth, I think, is 
critical. It is not always the best way to do it, but at least 
it is a tool that can be used if they need to.
    Ms. Budzinski. Yes, but you are not concerned with any of 
the post-May 11 when the national emergency is lifted, that any 
of those services that are currently provided will end?
    Mr. Vedvick. Of course. We would love to see that, like, 
extended as well.
    Ms. Budzinski. Okay, thank you. I yield back my time.
    Chairman Bost. Thank you very much. I want to thank 
everyone for attending today. I want to thank you for your 
testimony. This does conclude our series of joint VSO hearings. 
I think it is clear that our committees and the VA have more 
work to do in service to our veterans and their families. To 
all of our VSO partners who participated in the hearings over 
the past 2 weeks and to the many organizations who dedicate 
themselves to this mission, thank you for what you do and what 
are now our frontlines.
    Our veterans deserve no less than the best in recognition 
for their service. I ask unanimous consent that all members 
shall have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend 
their remarks and include any extraneous material. Hearing no 
objection, so ordered. This hearing is now adjourned. Thank 
you.
    [Whereupon, at 1:09 p.m., the Committees were adjourned.]

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