Congress should prioritize streamlining and improving the DIC and burial application process to reduce stress on survivors.

It is in that fog of grief that the survivors need to know that VA has their back.

We must ensure that our survivor community has access to the support benefits, healthcare that their servicemember or veteran has earned, period.

I am taking personal responsibility to make sure that we get this going. Okay? If you have any issues at all, I want you to reach out directly to my office because these benefits are earned, and they are earned in the most horrific way of…

Thank you for the opportunity to share my testimony today. I look forward to any questions you may have.

The VFW has long advocated for an increase in benefits and services for family members who sacrificed alongside of their loved ones...

It is a debt that Phil Roe up here used to say could never be fully repaid.

Chairman Bost, Ranking Member Takano, and distinguished members of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs...

I am proud to co-sponsor Representatives Ciscomani's bill, the Prioritizing Veteran Survivors Act.

This is unacceptable, unacceptable to me, and it should be unacceptable to all of us.

I strongly urge this committee to find pathways necessary to make sure that survivor benefits are taken seriously and not pushed off again for the next Congress.

Even the suggestion that that could be the case is unsettling.

I look forward to hearing from Mr. Jacobs' response to my questions on it today.

This is why Congress should not delay in passing H.R. 1083, the Caring for Our Survivors Act of 2023.

Chairman Bost, Ranking Member Takano, and members of the committee, on behalf of the men and women of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW)...

I am a rural veteran, as many members on this committee are.

Thank you for the opportunity to discuss VA's efforts to best serve Veterans living in rural communities.

I appreciate Ranking Member Takano and the members of the Committee for standing shoulder to shoulder with me in a bipartisan manner to do that.

The Mission Act and the Community Care Provider Network have transformed VA's delivery of health care and services.

I go home and my veterans are still saying the same thing. I cannot get health care and I cannot get my benefits.

I have worked hard to address barriers to access to care for our veterans, specifically disability exams for our rural veterans.

The Federal Government has a solemn duty to ensure our duties have the care and respect they were promised.

Veterans of all walks of life deserve a safe place to call home.

When we started talking about telehealth everybody thought how great it is. It is true for the rural area.

I staunchly oppose the inclusion of any language in WRDA which would operationally or physically breach the Lower Snake River Dams.