Dina Titus

I think you told me the construction wouldn't be finished this summer, but it won't be activated until next spring.

Let's work on some of those reforms that we talked about to go hand in hand with this increased funding.

Now that timeline has slipped, and it is not going to be fully activated until next spring.

I hope these other facilities that are part of this complex aren't also too small.

Now, we are going to be spending an extra billion dollars while that population is declining and we can't even get a bigger emergency room while the population is growing?

I would never support having either Social Security or veterans benefits being tied to a chained CPI because that cuts out a lot of needed assistance that veterans have.

This would ensure that all veterans and their families receive the benefits they have earned through the military service more expeditiously.

I hope that we could work together to see that this gets passed so that all our veterans can receive the benefits that they are entitled to.

As you work to improve the letters sent to veterans, be sure that there is an element of standardization.

I think those are good recommendations, and I want to work with you on them because I think they fit right in with the proposal I made at the very beginning.

We have made a commitment to caring for our veterans, and we owe them an answer on appeals for that care in a timely and accurate fashion.

I am proud to represent the eastern portion of the Riverside County which has the ninth largest veteran population in the country.

Is there any system that makes sense as a way to prioritize?

I would ask Ms. Eskenazi to kind of address that issue of the 72 percent of the claims who are already receiving some kind of benefits.

This simple improvement will increase flexibility to relieve the physical and financial burdens on veterans.

That is why I am reintroducing the Veterans Access to Speedy Review Act.

I think we need to take action so we don't get too far behind and we are not having this exact same hearing 2 years from now.

I am concerned that as we address this problem, we haven't been provided with a detailed plan of how we are going to address it in an overall fashion.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to congratulate you on your recent election to represent Louisiana's Fifth Congressional District, and also on your appointment to the chair this very important committee.

I plan to reintroduce that same legislation and I would welcome members of this committee to join me as cosponsors.

In Congress here, we need to work collaboratively with the VA and with the VSOs to come up with that plan and create a system that will deal with these appeals in a timely fashion.

That is just not acceptable.

I would just ask Ms. McCoy, you said you were hiring 300 new people.

It seems to me that we need to take one step back.

I represent Las Vegas, Mr. Chairman, and I have appreciated working with you and I thank you for being here.