There is nothing wrong with trying to make laws better.

If the American people lose faith in the integrity of our disability benefits system, veterans and their families will be the ones that will suffer.

In response to a question from Senator Webb with respect to the extent to which common risk factors for developing IHD may have attributed to the elevated risk observed in the studies reviewed by the IOM Update 2008...

I would say that we have the tools to do that. It would require a large effort and measurement of many factors. And in the end, I think in the case of trying to retrospectively do this we would be left with an imperfect and uncertain…

So you are basically just taking the medical condition at the time and assigning a disability rating to it?

I would like to get an understanding of your motivations moving toward your decision based on the 2008 report in this area.

I take your point. I am on a very short period of time here.

I do not think that was an accident. I think originally, especially in the years after the war, the attitude was the less we know, the better we will be.

Well, with respect to funding, as you know, if a disability is service-connected, it will be funded.

I do not know of any extensive study that actually has looked at Vietnam veterans as a whole.

What presumption is about is to say you, soldier, put your life on the line. We are going to give you the benefit of the doubt.

We sometimes have an uncomfortable duty to ask the hard questions.

I have pretty extensive experience with this issue, beginning as a Marine rifle platoon and company commander in one of the more war-torn areas of Vietnam.

We need for the long term an effort to create better data than what we are working with today.

Our history on the subject as a government has not been particularly good. There has been a lot of denial.

In response to a question from Senator Webb, Dr. Birnbaum discussed the value of the dose-response findings in the Air Force Health Study...

I am proud of the role I played during my long career of service in getting my fellow Vietnam veterans the benefits they have earned for their service and sacrifices on behalf of our Nation.

Well, Secretary Shinseki made a comment toward the end of his testimony; he had actually made a similar comment when I met with him.