Richard Burr

To suggest that there might be a compromise that delays further by a year before we start, or 6 months, or due in part and not in full is, frankly, unacceptable and is a disgrace.

We have got Marines and families that have waited over three decades to receive the health care benefits they deserve and that we owe them.

I would like to ask that you submit for the record a list of the options that VA recognizes that could be pay-for's.

S. 1707 would ensure that VA beneficiaries will not lose their rights to own firearms solely because VA finds they are unable to manage their financial affairs.

I introduced this bill because we as a nation owe it to the men and women, who serve with dignity, a guarantee that the protections that have been put in place to ease their burden will be enforced when they come home.

I would not call that an investigation. I would call it a whitewash.

So was the VA official that talked to this Marine and told this Marine that they were six to 8 weeks behind processing payments, is that bogus?

I would ask you to go ahead and think about now a delay in that June 30th date.

The VA ought to step up and assume the responsibility or the Department of Defense.

America owes it to these veterans and to their families that were affected by contaminated water.

As for the bills on the agenda, there is one I would like to briefly mention--S. 3210, which Senator Scott Brown and I introduced.

The day after they----

Is it time for us to start over again, to take a blank sheet of paper and say, How do we design this in a way for the benefits of the servicemembers?

For God's sakes, let us do it. Tell us what we can do to be partners to change this in a way that it works.

We are all in agreement that we are just south of 400 days in the cycle of an applicant being processed.

We have been very open about saying that this is a system that needs significant improvements.

I would ask, would you share with us the data that shows us that 60-day average for payment?

I thank my colleague. Madam Chairman, thank you for this hearing, and Mr. Gingrich, I share your cold. It is not fun.

But the reality is that we have got a broken system, and we are 5 years into it.

That's a long time for servicemembers to be held in limbo--not knowing whether their military careers are over.

It's still taking nearly 400 days for injured and ill servicemembers to transition to civilian life.

Due to their interrelated nature, the responses to the pre-hearing questions submitted by Senator Burr to the Department of Veterans Affairs were merged in with the responses from the Department of Defense appearing earlier in this…

The number of servicemembers going through this process who have taken their own lives, succumb to drugs, or suffered other unfortunate outcomes.

It is crucial, that as this legislation is implemented, a clear distinction be drawn between 'innocent' owners in the supply chain who in good faith trade in wood products that they believe to be legally harvested abroad, and those who…

This report shows that the average number of review cycles increased for certain PMA's, while the percentage of PMA's approved after one review cycle generally decreased.