John Bel Edwards: “I want to thank Mr. Hall for his strong leadership; first, on trying to see that this Congress, which we are going to do…”

“I want to thank Mr. Hall for his strong leadership; first, on trying to see that this Congress, which we are going to do in this bill, provides the funding to reduce the terrible backlog of veterans cases pending. As he mentioned, there are over 400,000-plus veterans waiting for their cases to be considered. And, secondly, for bringing to the attention of the Congress the problems raised by the bonuses given to a number of VA employees at a time when so many veterans are waiting for their benefits. I thank the gentleman for agreeing to withdraw the amendment. We have every intention of working with him and the Veterans' Affairs Committee on which he serves as a subcommittee chairman to address the inequities of this situation.”