Jon Tester

I guess the question is that I think it was this month you were going to finish looking into who was overpaid and who was underpaid.

Communication is the biggest problem we have got right now from our perspective in Montana.

Getting these benefits and processes right requires all hands on deck, and we appreciate your work.

Ultimately, that is our goal.

I think that if there's an issue in the language of the bill that could stop proper implementation, then we need language that's going to work.

Congress did not intend when they wrote the original Post-9/11 GI Bill for it ever to be implemented that way.

The Chairman's bill makes eligible for GI benefits a number of National Guardsmen who had been inadvertently left out of the original bill.

I ask all Members of this Committee to support the provision within S. 3447 that would, at last, extend Post-9/11 GI Bill transferability to the PHS Commissioned Corps and the NOAA Corps.

I think this is unacceptable because it puts the veteran in an overpayment status that I do not think is right.

Senator Tester, this legislation will address every area of concern the VFW has with improving the GI Bill.

It's important to remember that the schools are the ones who must help the veteran navigate through the red tape.

I want to thank you for your leadership, as always, and good luck at the signing.

We have got a problem. How are we going to deal with it?

We all agree that this new GI Bill is a good thing, and we all agree that it is going to have its glitches as it moves forward.

Of those 153,000, how many were overpayments?

If you were going to pick one thing that you would like to see changed in S. 3447 as an improvement, what would it be?

I am just curious what the timeframe is to reach that goal.

Eighty percent. So, 80 percent of those on that list that we are looking at right there, that says 'Chapter 33 Claims Processing Tasks,' will be automated.

I think the bottom line is this, we need to get some VA personnel on the ground listening to Montanans.

I think it is critically important. We have got a high percentage of vets that live in rural America.

The goal is to reduce it down to a reasonable amount of time.

The past is done. We need to move forward.

We can flow more of these dollars to the veterans on the ground.

You continue to have a standing invitation in August. I have a seat available for you to my left in the combine if you want to come out.

I thank my colleague for the recognition and for his leadership and his ability to see through the fog that has been created here in the Senate. You know I am a farmer. Most folks in this body know I am a farmer and I have been my entire…