Richard Blumenthal

I advocated that the policies be changed. Secretary of Defense Hagel agreed.

I want to thank the chairman for his work on the suicide issue. He and I worked on a bill called the Clay Hunt Veteran Suicide Prevention Bill.

I have seen news of your colleague, NY Senator Chuck Schumer, trying to address this issue.

I do see that while at one time ticket scalping was illegal in CT, as of 2007, that changed due to the incompetence of former Gov. Jodi Rell.

I'm hoping that you can help address this issue as well.

I want to thank all the members of the panel. This has really been an excellent panel, and there are a lot more questions that I would have.

Post-traumatic stress.

Anecdotally, what we are finding is that veterans are telling us that they are basically being given the stiff arm by human resource managers.

I am very proud to have him here. Thank you so much for making the trip.

I am going to be advocating a measure, as I did last session, that forbids such discrimination.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Dr. Kelly, as I mentioned, I think that there needs to be a particularly energetic focus on our women veterans.

I commend the efforts of all of our companies that are doing more in this area.

We must ensure that women are welcome and encouraged to fully utilize VA services.

That number, that prediction is simply--beyond unacceptable. It is simply an outrage if it comes to pass.

The finger pointing and blame gaming I think really has to stop.

I think this Nation is failing to address the transition problems of our veterans coming out of the service.

I want to give my colleagues a chance to pursue their questions.

The subject at hand here has absolutely sweeping ramifications because we are talking not only about price spikes in some drugs...

I was absolutely astonished to learn that the prices of Narcan have gone up by 50, 100, 150 percent...

Thanks. Let me begin where Senator Cotton ended and thank you for having this hearing.

I am heartened and encouraged by the feeling that I think is generally shared among this panel that the process has been collaborative.

We urge this Committee to quickly consider and pass this important legislation to ensure severely disabled veterans are not harmed by VA's inability to enter into provider agreements.

You would advise waiting until sometime this spring or later when there is feedback from the President and Congress before the VA finalizes its Choice Program?

The care in community and generally non-VA medical services involve payments and there have been various efforts over the years to make sure that those payments are validly made.

I would ask that they react to these proposals because these ideas are very promising and important.