Earlier this year our subcommittee worked on a package of bills that are forward looking and would help the VA provide better services to veterans.

I wonder if that is really effective. Is that not oversimplifying?

You could create a law that essentially orders the secretary to establish a complete set of repercussions and an oversight agency...

We do not want to see anybody else have to go through what you have.

the VA share a common goal and that is ensuring that our veterans receive the best benefits in a timely fashion.

I would like to applaud the VA for reducing the benefits backlog by 34 percent since March 2013.

Specifically, my bill, the Pay As You Rate Act, would require the VA to pay veterans as each of their individual medical conditions is completed.

I also want to thank the witnesses for their attendance this morning.

I want to applaud the VA for reducing the benefits backlog by 34 percent since March of 2013.

Recently the Republican leadership handed out a blank piece of paper labeled ``Agenda 2014.'' Blank means no goals, no plan, no immigration reform, no jobs, no nothing. Well, I have a list of proposals that I would like to write on that…

I am proud to say that while some of my colleagues are amazed at this new technology and titillated by its possibilities, the State of Nevada is on top of this.

I thank Chairman Miller and thank Ranking Member Michaud for yielding me this time. As the ranking member of the Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs Subcommittee, I rise today in strong support of S. 893 to provide a COLA increase…

Well, I think that the states built some of these cemeteries on their own in the west because they did not have a national cemetery.

Have you surveyed the veterans in southern Nevada to see if they think they are adequately served?

I appreciate that. Because the veterans who are located in the West should not be a victim of geography.

It is my belief like yours, Mr. Chairman, that option of a burial in a VA national cemetery in one's home state is a solemn obligation that our government should fulfill.

If the NCA hopes to offer options that serve all veterans and their families, the self-selecting survey is going to fail to provide any honest feedback for those determinations.

The annual Battle for Nevada between the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the University of Nevada, Reno, is not just a football game played once a year; it is a time-honored tradition that reflects the best of Nevada's sports…

Now, while I applaud the VA's efforts to reach under-served populations, I am also concerned that the NCA is not working closely enough with local veterans' communities as they determine new locations for the so-called rural initiative.

It is my belief that the option of a burial in a VA national cemetery, in the state you call home, is a solemn obligation our government should fulfill.

I think that it is fine to have a state cemetery, but I think you also--veterans--you want me to go back and tell Nevada veterans, well, you can have a state cemetery or you can have a rural initiative if you can get your family up to…

Thank you, Mr. Hallinan, for all the improvements you are making at Arlington and for staying open during the shutdown so that people could come and visit the cemetery even if they could not go to other places.

So I would like to focus on that, your so-called rural initiatives, how you choose where you put those rural initiatives, what input you get from local veterans.

Let's remember all these veterans and servicemembers served our Nation not just those kind of east of the Mississippi.

I think it is time that we look very seriously about opening one that is going to be available to the 1.8 million, 1.8 million veterans who do not have this option.