Mark Warner: “If I might again say how much the two of us--Chairman Levin and I--appreciate the strong support of Senator Reid…”

“If I might again say how much the two of us--Chairman Levin and I--appreciate the strong support of Senator Reid throughout particularly this year, building on what he did last year, to see that this issue was kept at the very forefront of our legislative objectives with the annual authorization bill. I say to my good friend that when the group of us gathered with the President's Chief of Staff at the White House, we were there with Mr. Principi, the chief of the Veterans Administration, the rough calculation was that there are about 33,000 who will be embraced with the formulation we have included in this bill. I think, as you say, and as I have said, it is a beachhead.”