Mr. President, I come to the floor, along with my colleagues, Senators McCain and Ayotte, to talk about the significant uncertainty surrounding sequestration and its threat to our national security. The triggered reduction in spending is…

I would say to my colleague, the Senator from New Hampshire--because she mentioned that she and I both serve on the Budget Committee--that this perhaps could have been avoided had we passed a budget that dealt with title reform. The reason…

The VFW applauds Chairman Murray, Senator Webb and Senator Lautenberg for each taking the issue of student-veteran success very seriously.

I know you have not been there the entire 5 years, but I will tell you this, we've been told for 5 years that DOD and VA are sitting down on a regular basis addressing this.

You can't image what it sounds like to hear that.

We still today have not gotten this right after this war in making sure that they transition back home.

Enrollment is continuing to climb.

The Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) are losing the battle on mental and behavioral health.

We need some recommendations. We need to move forward. We need this to be a top priority at the Pentagon.

A lot of our servicemembers' trust and confidence in the disability evaluation system has been seriously shaken.

That is a horrendous offense.

I, too, am very alarmed by the suicide rate among our servicemembers and our veterans.

We've got to get this right, and we got to get it right now, and we need every effort at it.

That's just unacceptable.

Servicemembers Rights Enforcement Act of 2012

GI Bill Consumer Awareness Act of 2012

I think it really is important that our veterans get the best information possible so they can make the best choice for themselves.

Knowledge is power and in this case we feel that Congress should side with veterans.