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Source: Congress.gov
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Good morning. Committee come to order. First off, I want to welcome both the new members and the returning members to the committee for the Veterans Affairs for the 119th Congress Organizational Meeting. And before we get started, I want to extend the entire committee's support to the Ranking Member Takano, Ms. Brownlee, when she gets here, that their constituents in Southern California for what they're suffering through. When a tragedy like this happens, something that we've never seen, know our prayers are with you and anything we can do, we're there for you. And we wanna thank, and we're all thinking of all the California delegation I have a grandson that has an apartment there. He has left that and coming to the events there this week. And his dad told him to get all of his belongings out of the house that were valuable. But he just got out of the Marine Corps and he said, I don't know if you know this or not, I just got out of the Marine Corps and I don't have anything valuable. But he's right there in the middle of it as well. So you are in our prayers. For those of you that don't know, my name is Mike Vost, and it is an honor to serve as chairman of this committee. And I am an enlisted non-combat Marine veteran from deep southern Illinois. This is my sixth term in Congress, and I've been honored to serve on the Veterans Affairs Committee the entire time that I've been here. I come from a military family with a long history of service. My son is continuing that tradition through his service in the Marine Corps. My grandson, as I just said, recently got out of the Corps after four years. After leaving military service, I returned home to run a family small business. I was also involved and was a full-time firefighter for a while and served many years in the Illinois General Assembly.
But I do want to welcome each and every one of you to the committee. This is a very special place to serve. Very few Americans will have the opportunity in their lifetime to create change for the men and women who have served this nation. Here we get to do that every day. I'm committed to continuing to maintain the bipartisan nature of this committee as we serve our nation's veterans. I've enjoyed meeting with many of you already, and I look forward to a chance to meet with all of you at some time shortly. Each of you bring a very unique perspective to the table. And I'm sure that each of you will take the role on this committee as seriously as you should and as you can, as we fulfill the commitment we have made to our veterans and their families. And I don't take this responsibility that we have in this committee lightly. And I refuse to let the veterans down. Which is why I'm excited to get organized and move forward with our agenda for veterans this Congress. As such, this morning we will begin the adoption of the committee rules, approval of vice chairs and subcommittee chairs and ranking members and approval of subcommittee assignments and approval of committee staff and approval of oversight plan. Finally, I also want to congratulate my friend Mark Takano on his election and to continue being the ranking member of this committee. Mark and I have served together for many years, and I know that he shares my commitment to working hard and getting real things done in a bipartisan way for the men and women that we serve here. And I want to now recognize the ranking member, Mark Takano, for his opening comments.
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Unknown
Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank you for your kind opening words and your prayers. We need your prayers now and we'll need your prayers going into the future. My own father, who lives about 10 minutes from me, had his power cut off. I'm not sure if he's been able to move back yet. Riversiders are not in imminent danger. approximate danger. We did have a fire breakout that took two or three hours to put out, but our firefighters from our area are supporting the effort.
And all of Southern California is subject to these very dangerous winds, and we're on edge. But let me just bring something up that really shouldn't be partisan or political, and it's not. I have voted for every disaster relief aid and supplemental, never have put conditions on this, When I see a disaster happen in Louisiana, I don't see Louisianans, I see Americans. When a hurricane barrels through North Carolina, I don't see North Carolinians, I see Americans. When I see a hurricane moving through Florida, same thing.
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