I thank the gentleman from Texas for hosting this Special Order on rural America. I am a proud resident of a rural district in southern Illinois. If you are from Illinois, you understand that the ``S'' is capitalized on the word…

I believe everybody in this room wants to do that, whether it is the VSOs, or the agency.

Okay. Because I am down to one minute here on my own self, would someone from the VA please try to explain to me how you verify these medical experts and spending all this time trying to figure out how to check boxes and not actually…

Unfortunately from what I read in today's written testimony, it looks like VA still has to work on better quality control.

I would appreciate receiving your answers to the hearing questions below by 5:00 P.M. on September 5, 2017.

In an effort to reduce printing costs, the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, in cooperation with the Joint Committee on Printing, would appreciate your answer provided consecutively and single-spaced.

Thank you for the testimony provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs for the July 25, 2017, Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs hearing entitled 'PTSD Claims: Assessing Whether VBA is Effectively Serving…

But at the same time, we want to ensure that only veterans who are disabled as a result of their service are receiving compensation payments for PTSD.

I understand the purpose of the tool is to improve consistency. But each veteran is an individual and particularly with PTSD claims a one-size-fits-all approach will not work.

I am hoping that the department can shed light on this aspect. We should encourage our veterans to get treatment and resume a normal life.

I am also concerned about some allegations that examiners are not sufficiently trained or may not be spending enough time with each patient to do a proper assessment.

Let me tell you, it was no holiday.

The locals would love to see the levee back. That is no problem. And I understand their frustration of watching the family farms be destroyed by 7 feet of sand being piled up along 10,000 acres of farmland.

But here is the problem. We had the language. We sent it to the Senate. I don't know who, but someone said, OK, we don't think this is a good idea, and you pulled it out.

During that time, a levee called the Len Small levee, which was a non-Federal levee that was created by Governor Len Small years ago, became part of the system.

When a problem is this big--it is one thing if I am fighting for my district, but I am fighting for keeping a major transportation thoroughfare open for the economy and for just everything that is in this Nation.

We actually put in the WRDA bill language that we discussed with the St. Louis Corps on how it would actually allow them the opportunity to come back and do the repairs necessary.

If it ever makes the cut through--we are going to have a navigational problem and all traffic will be stopped from New Orleans to the Great Lakes.

Program funds that are being requested by the St. Louis Corps to do repair on East St. Louis levee projects, the district is making that request real soon.

Do we have some kind of mechanism in there that allows leeway for the implementation of this?

Let me ask you this, then, because what I really want to know is...

I believe that safety is vitally important.

I want to thank you for your advocacy and I don't think we would be here today if it were not for your efforts.

I am looking forward to an honest discussion about the VA's need to do so and how to ensure that they do.

If VA doesn't use its authority on its own initiative, Congress will begin to take steps.