Thank you all for being here. It is good to see you and I want to thank you again for your continued investment and time with my office.

Much of the swamp was there before you all came in to start draining it, but we have got to make sure that we just keep on working on positive messaging and do the best we can for the veterans.

I want to strongly encourage my colleagues on this committee to focus on the vital importance of service to our Nation.

One thing I am really counting on you all to help us with is identify good ideas, it is a matter of timing; not so good ideas, it is a matter of evolving maybe the original aims of the bill.

there has never been an attempt to privatize the VA for the reasons that I have said before. It does not make sense.

there are a lot of things that are working well now when we use contemporary models for building facilities.

I also want to thank the Committee staff and the staff of all of our offices who we all know do a lot of the work to get these bills moving.

We want to make sure that we deal with all the competing priorities, funding and otherwise, so that we can get this right, mainly for the sake of the veterans.

Service is the rent that we pay for living on this Earth and it is also the foundation of our democracy, and its value to our society cannot be overstated.

the benefit of the doubt always has to go to the veterans, particularly with the situation that happened down at Camp Lejeune.

I strongly believe that CNCS is taking this responsibility serious.

the Select Panel on the Planned Parenthood has been nothing more in my opinion than a political theater.

But I just wanted to just comment that I think that we wasted a lot of time with baseless attacks.

This bill actually has already passed the House back in February without any controversy.

We need to get the VSOs to communicate that to veterans and use us as a facilitator for helping you navigate these challenges.

Mr. Speaker, May is National Foster Care Month when we recognize the individuals who help America's children and youth who are in foster care find permanent homes and connections. In North Carolina, it is hard to match the dedication of…

I very much disagree that this is only a hearing about women's reproductive rights.

Regardless of your position on the issue of abortion, the law is the law and it must be followed.