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Source: Congress.gov
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hello good morning everyone can i get everyone's attention please thank you for those of you unfortunately we don't have enough seats that is due to anyone in wheelchairs that due to a fire hazard however that said the chairman has designated uh the committee room 360 which is down the hallway as an overflow room we will have the hearing on the tv so if you want to sit and don't have a seat right now, but care to go to the overflow room, we have staff, Aiden, one of my colleagues, he's raising his hand, please follow him to 360. We have seats, more than welcome to sit there. If not, and you care to stand, of course, that is your choice, but nevertheless, the chairman has designated 360 as the overflow room. Thank you very much.
And good morning to everyone. Thank you all for being here, and I would like to welcome my Senate colleagues, Chairman Moran, Ranking Member Blumenthal. Before we get started, I would like to acknowledge our visitors present from the greatest state, the state of Illinois. Anyone out there? Yeah? All right. Well, just so you know, when I said this yesterday, I am from Southern Illinois, which is a little different as far as Illinois is concerned. If you're really from Southern Illinois, you capitalize the S, and it's not a separate state, but sometimes we feel that way. But I want to thank you all for traveling here from Illinois. I know that's not an easy travel. I do that on a regular basis. But if you would, could you just please stand, those of you that can? Thank you for being here. And it is an honor to be here with all of you, my fellow Legionnaires. I'm a Marine veteran. Notice we Marines say that, ooh-rah, right? The Army people, they say that different. But I'm a proud member of Murfreesboro Post 127. And though we're busy, I want to tell you the little neat things about Murfreesboro Post 127. It is the Paul Stout Post. And Paul Stout was actually fought as a Marine, I know this, he fought in Belleau Wood, then he fought in the Battle of Belleau, and then he was killed in the next, he was a private. But on his 100th anniversary of his death, We actually, at the Paul Stout Post, because we have a local craft brewery, we actually, they made a Paul Stout.
And so it was wonderful to do that, so I am very happy to talk to you about my post. Now, before you check, I want you to know I've got my dues paid up. So, just a matter of, no, my dues are paid, all right. The American Legion has a dutiful work on behalf of those who have served our country for more than 100 years, and it is a privilege to be part of that organization. With that being said, I also want to welcome Mr. James LeCourcier, the National Commander of the American Legion, and his spouse, Lisa. Thank you for being here. I'm looking forward to continuing our partnership to better serve veterans across the U.S. The American Legion does an outstanding job of sharing their perspective and concerns of their members with our committee. Our work here on the committee is greatly assisted by their dedication to the mission. It's our honor, it's an honor for me to be here today serving as the House Committee Veterans Affairs Uh, in the, in the chair, it's my second term as chair. And I never thought this corporal would ever have an opportunity to do that. This mission of the VA committee has always been personal to me. Um, if you were around yesterday when we had, uh, the other, other panels before us, you know, that, um, so my father and his brothers were all army Korean war had a grandfather who was a Navy second world war. I had a grandfather who was a Marine, Korean War. I had an uncle that was a Marine, Vietnam, victim of the ultimate oxymoron, friendly fire.
He did survive, and he's doing very well today thanks to a lot of help from the VA. So then me, non-combat Marine, and my son, who's a Lieutenant Colonel today, is actually a reservist but was active for many years. He is a JAG in the Corps. My grandson, who just got out of the Corps, who was an F-18 mechanic.
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