As a doctor and as a veteran I feel strongly that we cannot continue to allow a practice as toxic and damaging as smoking to continue taking place on VA medical facility campuses.

I appreciate you all taking time out of your morning to be here with us and for sponsoring legislation to help our veterans.

I want to thank you all very much for your testimonies here today. It is greatly appreciated.

And I agree, Mr. Celli, competition drives excellence.

I think that highlights to me the importance of bringing people in from outside the VA.

I hope our colleagues in our upper chamber will take note of the testimony discussed during today's hearing and act swiftly to get this much needed bipartisan legislation to the President's desk.

I am proud of last week's effort and convinced that if enacted H.R. 1367 will lead to improvements nationwide.

Military itself is not the answer, and diplomacy is key.

We need to really define, I believe, what our strategy is and what our principles are and then work in the right direction.

I appear before you today in strong support of a robust defense budget for fiscal year 2018.

President Trump has repeatedly expressed his support for rebuilding our military.