Elaine Luria

Are you aware that the, you know, VA can help you with this issue and I would recommend that you would now warm handoff to the VBA to talk about whether you want to put in a claim about this?

I urge all of my colleagues to vote for the SECURE Act and, in doing that, fix this tax problem that has impacted so many of our Gold Star families across the Commonwealth of Virginia and the country.

You need to increase your childcare capacity by 24 percent.

That seems like an unacceptable amount to meet the demand.

Only 1.8 percent of those selected were women, and zero were women of color.

The selection rate for women to commander command was 3.8 percent, or 7 out of 146 who were selected.

I believe that a study is important for all the veterans that conducted the cleanup on Enewetak Atoll.

I humbly request that the National Academy of Science distinguish the difference between the Lowja veterans and the Enewetak veterans for various reasons.

Chairwoman Luria, Ranking Member Bost, and Members of the Subcommittee:

Thank you, on behalf of the Blinded Veterans Association (BVA), its national officers and members, for this opportunity to offer our views on H. R. 1199.

We made that recommendation and I think a number of our colleagues represented here made the same recommendation to the VA 2 months ago just in case.

So how will you as VSOs seek to communicate and find these other individuals who may not have yet come forward thinking that potentially they could have been eligible for this benefit?

I can imagine it would be quite a complex thing tracing back through, you know, deck logs and service records and determining dates of where ships were located at specific times.

Frankly, the biggest challenge is to make sure that those folks who have been denied benefits and were denied in the past, and even their survivors, really are made whole and in a timely basis.

It is time that we take action on this and we provide the benefits and the health care that these veterans deserve based off their service.

I am very glad to hear, Mr. Sullivan, that the VA has no objections to the COLA bill introduced by myself and Ranking Member Bost.

I now recognize Representative Steube, who will offer his testimony on behalf of his bill, H.R. 1628, the Enewetak Atoll Cleanup Act.

Another bill on the docket today sponsored by Representative Lamb, H.R. 2385.

We will also hear testimony today on H.R. 1826, Mr. Lamb's Veterans VOW Act.

This bipartisan legislation is cosponsored by my Committee colleague, Congressman Banks.

I am very proud to introduce this legislation and look forward to hearing the testimony of the VA and veteran service organizations.

VA should strive to make benefits and services accessible to all veterans, regardless of their disabilities.

This bill increases the rate of compensation for veterans with service-connected disabilities and for their survivors.

Thank you to Ranking Member Bost for welcoming me and working with me on today's agenda.

I am confident that this Subcommittee will continue the bipartisan effort to care for our veterans who have been injured in service to our nation.