Mr. President, as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, I introduce legislation that would provide VA with the means to better protect those VA beneficiaries who have fidicuiaries appointed to look after their affairs…

I remain concerned about how effectively we are reaching veterans in rural areas.

This law will now provide important incentives that the Department can use to recruit and retain high-quality health care providers in rural areas.

I have worked to ensure that the neighbor islands in Hawaii have telemedicine capabilities, regular visits from medical personnel, and viable outpatient clinics.

Mr. President, I rise to congratulate our senior Senator, my good friend and longtime colleague, Senator Dan Inouye, on his impressive milestone. On Friday, Senator Inouye became the second-longest-serving Senator in the history of this…

We must utilize all the tools at our disposal in order to provide access to care and services for veterans in rural and remote locations.

This is upsetting for me and, I am sure, for other Members, as well, as it does not allow us and our staff sufficient time to review the testimony in order to have a productive hearing.

I look forward to working with DOD and OPM in the coming months on these very important matters.

I want to take this time to say thank you very much to Senator Voinovich's staff and my staff, and the hard work that they have put into these hearings.

As the largest Federal agency, the Department of Defense should serve as a model for the other agencies.

As he always says, the right person for the right job at the right time, and this is an opportunity for us to do that.