I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today about whether another extension is warranted and necessary.

This change reflects our belief that veterans should not be denied disability compensation or access to VA health care because their symptoms may vary.

I am concerned that veterans who may have been improperly denied compensation and health care by the VA will not have a chance to submit a claim after this point.

Speed is life. If you're static, that's when you're most likely to be a target.

I think it may be something that we can look into in a bi-partisan way of whatever needs to be done to keep this research moving forward.

I am concerned about this decision of IOM to recommend not researching it and it sounds as though the panel might have been skewed toward, this is all in your head, which is not where we are coming from.

I guess it seems to me the short-term solution is--and we have been talking up here about a bipartisan letter urgency the secretary to move toward this single DBQ.

I am very concerned about a fixed date of December 31st, 2016.

Well, it appears to me that this is deja vu all over again. We are revisiting where we were with the Vietnam veterans.

And I do want to acknowledge the improvement that is being made, and, you know, we want to work with you to make sure that we are serving our veterans.

I want to protect future troops. I want to know what is happening.

in the 25 years since the end of the Gulf War, many veterans have suffered from symptoms that are not readily identifiable or well understood, and still struggle to receive compensation for their illness.

Thank you very much, Chairman Coffman, and Chairman Abraham, and Ranking Member Titus, for holding this hearing on Gulf War veterans.

I do want to say how pleased I was that this year's budget request includes two MILCON projects in New Hampshire.

I think it is very appropriate that you have waived those requirements, and hopefully we can get that fixed for the long term.

One of the things that I have been very impressed by is the Navy's diversifying its energy resources and the ability to use efficiencies both on base and in terms of the fleet.

I think sometimes that gets lost in the debate around energy that it is really not just about saving money and being more efficient. It is also about the national security imperative.

It helps us be good stewards of the taxpayers' money.