Margaret Wood Hassan

The bipartisan and bicameral push to enact the Solid Start Program directs the VA to contact every veteran at least three times by phone.

I was really glad to see that the VA has chosen a week next month, October 16th to 20th, to designate as the first official Buddy Check Week in which veterans conduct peer-to-peer wellness checks.

Many Granite State veterans have contacted my office because they have concerns about how far they have had to travel to get a medical exam for their VA disability claim.

If we do not need a veteran to travel to an exam, we should not do that because that is time the veteran has to take off of work.

This is really an important--I am using the term 'customer service' but I do not think it really conveys how important it is, especially if you are somebody with a medical issue or disability, long travel can be really difficult.

I was really proud to work with everyone here on a bipartisan basis to develop and pass the PACT Act into law.

It has already helped over 1,000 New Hampshire veterans enroll in VA health care and file more than 2,000 disability claims.

I would look forward to talking with you more about that, but in my experience sometimes until we pass legislation we do not get the full scale of services that we are looking for.

I hope you will treat it with some urgency, and I would look forward to working with you on it.

We know how useful service dogs can be for our veterans, and something like this barrier that prevented requisite insurance for the dog made it hard for this particular veteran to get that kind of service.

I want to again thank all of our witnesses not only for being here but for your work and for the teams that you lead on behalf of our country's veterans.

I look forward to finding ways we can all work together.

I am going to continue, Mr. Chair, to push for telehealth resources when it comes to treating opioid abuse disorder.

I hope veterans will take advantage of this.

We passed into law the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment Act, which I led with Senator Murkowski.

The thing that gives me hope and the thing that has made some progress possible... is that people like you have spoken up about their experience.

We also have to go after the unbelievably insidious cartels that are trying to drive up demand for this drug.

What I hear from especially servicewomen and women veterans in New Hampshire is how difficult this period is and how alone people, veterans feel.

I continue to believe that the VA can do more to connect veterans to their VA benefits and their local community support networks during this critical period of such enormous change.

I think it would be great to facilitate this conversation in this meeting. But this is where I think having women in leadership is so critically important for the mission of the VA.

Last year, my bipartisan Solid Start Act was passed into law, which makes sure that the VA's Solid Start Program will continue to be a resource for service members when they are leaving active duty.

I really appreciate your service.

I am glad we were able to pass it last summer.

I also just think it is really important for people to understand not only the timeline but with the overall renovations, what you all are trying to do is make sure that you are repairing this facility to a point where we will not see…

I just want to reaffirm that it is my understanding that you agree that all Americans should be equal before the law.