Mark Warner

I look forward to continuing our efforts to make sure that the men and women who have bravely served our country are buried with honor and dignity.

I think all of us as Americans were shocked to hear about some of the mismanagement and ineptitude that was taking place at the cemetery.

I appreciate the opportunity to testify, and I want to, though I am not on the Committee, lend my support to Senator Snowe and her leadership on this piece of legislation.

This common sense legislation seeks to ensure that our veterans who have sustained Traumatic Brain Injuries are guaranteed the highest quality of care and ensure the highest quality of life for them and their families--a goal that I think…

If a veteran gathers up any necessary evidence before sending the claim to the VA, the bill would allow benefits to be paid for up to 1 year before that claim was submitted.

I would also like to thank the VFW, the DAV, and The American Legion for their support of my legislation, S. 957.

Families like Jerry's have already waited too long for answers they deserve and the help they need.

These problems must be addressed by both agencies.

The VA has taken some very strong steps toward the goal of building a 21st century support system, but gaps in the system remain.

I appreciate your comments regarding the Veterans' Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitative Services' Improvements Act of 2011 and hope that we can work together to make this legislation serve our veterans in the best way possible.

We can do better and we must do more.

I think this country needs to move ahead, and that the heart of our progress should be an innovation agenda.

Third, immigration reform: looking at the H-1B Visas; realizing that we are basically having to contract with people in other countries because we've made it so hard for them to come over here.

The second thing, which has been mentioned by my colleagues and certainly applies in the life sciences, is this idea of making sure the R&D tax credit is good, and stable, and that we are not playing a game of red light/green light with…

Clearly, anything would have to----

I don't think I, in all my time in public service, had more of a frightening session kind of getting Air Traffic Control 101 in terms of the potential wave of retirees, the challenges of attracting new folks, the ability to get through…

We need to constantly be vigilant.

I hope you will actively participate, because, at some point, we're going to have to weigh the policy implications----

I think we all were surprised by these incidents, but I'm glad to see you've been working further together.

This is the strategy Senator Warner has been advancing in a stand-alone legislative proposal.

As Secretary LaHood has mentioned several times, there is no point in using Federal dollars to buy brand spanking new buses for transit systems if they cannot afford to pay the drivers to put those buses into service.

This is not acceptable to the Obama administration.

The bottom line is we need credible, enforceable minimum safety standards for our rail transit systems.

Any effort to try to retract that would be, I think, potentially devastating to international implementation.

Hopefully those in the audience who were visiting my office when they were saying please do not, Congress, legislate specifics, that you will recall that this is some of what you asked for.