Joint House and Senate VSO Hearing

Committee on Veterans' Affairs

2025-02-25

Loading video...

Source: Congress.gov

Summary

No summary available.

Participants

Transcript

This is my second term as chairman, and it's an honor to serve you.  The mission of the VA committee has always been personal to me.  Many of you have heard my story of how I grew up around veterans, how my father, Army veteran and his brothers, my grandfather, one Navy, one Marine,   An uncle, a Marine in Vietnam that was victim of the ultimate oxymoron, friendly fire, but was very successful in life and still alive and doing well, and that has a whole lot to do to the VA and his services he received there.  Myself as a Marine, my son as a Marine, my grandson as a Marine.  Good job.  So you know how personal this is to me, and every time I sit at this dais, I'm reminded   of how important this is.  And the debating, whether it's debating with the agency or the other side of the aisle, it's always my focus is on the veteran.  Many of you have watched me and known me around here, and you see this dirty bracelet cord right here?  I've wore that ever since coming to Congress, and I'm gonna tell you the story on that because about a year and a half ago, the guy who gave me that, we lost him.   We just knew him as Lieutenant Dan.  And he's a Vietnam veteran, and he made these cords, and he came to me just after I was elected to Congress, and he said, I'm gonna give you a couple of these, and I want you to wear them on a regular basis.  He says, because every time you look down, I want you to remember who you serve.  And that helps tremendously.  Now for me, it's always been about the veterans.  It's not about protecting government bureaucracy.   I know the sacrifices each of you have made, especially our disabled veterans community.
You know, this old corporal takes this mission seriously.  And I know our new VA secretary and my friend Doug Collins does too.   Under President Trump's leadership, I know we're going to put you, the veteran, and the VA service back at the center of VA mission.  And when the bureaucracy tries to get in the way, I will continue to be the first to hold them accountable and get the answers for you.  We made great progress through the Dole Act last Congress.   And I appreciate DAV's support for this legislation.  By working together, we can accomplish some tremendous wins.  Because of the Dole Act, we have a law that will help streamline the disability claims process, reduce veterans' homelessness, strengthen mental health care, and improve access to at-home care and much more.  The Dole Act was a great victory for our veterans.   But there's much more that we can do and will do with your help.  Now, my door has always and will continue to be open to you.  We must deliver for our veterans to protect their health care choice, expand economic and educational opportunities, streamline benefits, and get it done.  I promise to keep up the fight.  We all are in together.   Now is not the time to take our foot off the gas.  I look forward to completing our mission alongside of you.  Thank you again for being here today.  And with that, I now recognize Chairman Moran for his opening comments.  Chairman Boss, thank you.  Thank you for hosting this joint hearing, and we look forward to this continuing.  The Senate will host in a few weeks, and we'll see you on our side of the building.

Sign up for free to see the full transcript

Accounts help us prevent bots from abusing our site. Accounts are free and will allow you to access the full transcript.