the VA has reduced the claims inventory by nearly 150,000 veterans in pretty short order.

The Fully Developed Claims initiative provides a method for veterans, with the help of their advocates and DoD, to provide all the necessary evidence to process a claim.

I am proud to work on behalf of the more than 100,000 veterans in Southern Nevada.

I encourage all Members on our Committee to reach out to their local VSO leadership to promote this effort.

there is still a lot that needs to be done to address the backlog.

If it goes wrong, they are going to blame us.

they just want Congress to stop playing games and to figure out ways to make the law work better.

I think it is a very important topic.

I would just like to look a little more closely at the numbers, because sometimes when you give us national numbers, that mask problems that may exist at regional offices.

I hope that all of us as Members of Congress and citizens of the most powerful country on Earth will listen and act as Americans; not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans.

Mr. President, tomorrow the President is going to brief the Democratic caucus and the Republican caucus separately. He is going to address the Nation tomorrow night. As we all know, there are international discussions relevant to the…

Mr. President, there is an order outstanding. I ask unanimous consent that the order until 5 o'clock today be modified on the motion to proceed, with the other aspects of the order remaining in place. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore…

Mr. President, this evening the Senate will proceed to executive session to consider a couple of would-be judges, Caproni and Broderick, both from the Southern District of New York, at 5:30 p.m., and then there will be two rollcall votes…

Mr. President, I now move to consider S.J. Res. 21. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will report the joint resolution by title. The legislative clerk read as follows: Motion to proceed to S.J. Res. 21 to authorize limited and…

Mr. President, I just had a brief conversation with the Chaplain, who came down to wish me well on my return. He indicated he was going to do a special prayer this afternoon for the Senate in this time of crisis. I am always aware of how…

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate adjourn until 2 p.m. Monday, September 9, 2013. There being no objection, the Senate, at 12:04 p.m., adjourned until Monday, September 9, 2013, at 2 p.m.

Mr. President, we convened the Senate today in order to enable the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to put a joint resolution in the Record which authorizes the use of military force, limited in nature against Syria, in response to the…

Mr. President, first of all, I appreciate very much the presiding officer's willingness to come in today. I was all prepared this coming Monday to tell everybody ``welcome back''. But I do that a few days early. So welcome back everyone. I…