The VA deserves credit for trying something different. None of us know whether it will work.

The signature wounds in our wars today are about PTSD and TBI. The stigma has never been taken off PTSD.

It is particularly troubling in light of the fact that the VA could potentially face a cut of 2 percent under sequestration.

These are disturbing trends that I see from the information as we analyze the prior year.

I think we are all committed not just in the veterans population but in the active-duty force to make sure that wherever these pressure points are that we find a way to relieve them long before we reach a suicidal end.

I hear you loud and clear; and as a guy that is trying to get the same thing done for Camp Lejeune Marines for three decades, I hear your warning and the frustration.

It is alarming to me. I am hopeful that the IT thing will be the solution.

When I made the comment earlier to the Secretary which will be in the form of a question that the VA took in 430,000 more claims than were decided, it is not to give the VA a black eye. It is to say let us make sure that our expectations…

At what point on a calendar would you make a determination as to whether those quality initiatives are going to work and what indicators would you look at to make that decision?

So, a year from now when we get together for the 2014 budget, if the quality has not improved or the timeliness down, it will have failed?

March 31 in North Carolina we will have the first in the country Welcome Home Vietnam Vets Day, an all-day event.

I continue to believe that it is important that we provide adequate funding so that veterans of all generations will be able to receive the benefits and services they have earned and deserved without hassles or delays.

Mr. President, I am pleased to join this colloquy and to hear the Senator from Tennessee and the senior Senator from Arkansas work together on this issue. I think it is something of prime importance. Just as Senator Isakson went across…

So, the answer is no?

On behalf of the more than two million men and women of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States and our Auxiliaries, we thank you for introducing H.R. 3483, the Veterans Education Equity Act of 2011.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to stand with the President and working Americans today by supporting this measure, which will add an average of $1,000 to the paychecks of working North Carolinians this year, extend unemployment benefits for…

We are at a crossroad in America where we must decide if we're going to continue building economic recovery on the backs of middle- and low-income families, or whether we're going to ask wealthy Americans to join in the sacrifice by paying…

Today, family and friends will gather to celebrate the 100th birthday of Lottie Harris Rollins Dunston, a wonderful human being who has lived in Wake County, North Carolina, her entire life. ``Grandlottie,'' as she is affectionately…