David Roe

I want to thank you both again for including my bill in the Harry Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017.

This is not just a benefit-parity issue. It is a question of fairness.

We believe that Congress and the American people must do all they can to ensure Purple Heart recipients have access to the best educational opportunities possible.

We honor those who serve by clearing up this inconsistency and providing some small measure of relief.

Losing a child is the worst thing I can imagine.

I promised the Hills that I would seek a legislative remedy. The result is H.R. 1112.

We express our support for draft legislation entitled the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017.

The passage of this bill will represent the start of a new era for education for veterans.

And it is a privilege to have him join us here tonight.

For the first time in the history of the G.I. Bill future beneficiaries will be able to carry these benefits with them throughout their lives.

This bill ensures veterans receive an adequate and fair housing allowance while eliminating a source of abuse in the program.

The Veterans Education Equality Act fixes this discrepancy by calculating the basic allowance for housing payments based on where the student attends classes, not where the institution of higher learning is headquartered.

It is our duty and honor to provide for them as best we can.

H.R. 3218 has been aptly named after Mr. Harry W. Colmery, who is credited with actually writing by hand the first draft of the World War II era G.I. Bill.

This bill is the result of the tireless work of many of the VSOs here tonight and the bipartisan efforts of this Committee.

I am proud and excited that we are all here to discuss H.R. 3218, the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017.

I cannot imagine a topic more worthy of our attention than ensuring that veterans have the education benefits they have earned and deserve.

I will tell you, in all of the studies I have read--and I have read several of them--in urology, general surgery, and others, where they have to see a lot of patients in a day, it has made their practice more enjoyable, and it has made it…

I believe I am right. And that is what he has tried to get out about how much does it cost you to actually see a patient at the VA?

I think Dr. Wenstrup and others, and Dr. Dunn, those who have practiced medicine for a long time have seen a lot of the joy leave medicine, and most it is checking boxes.

We seem to be blind to the fact that so many thousands and thousands of our veteran brothers and sisters have become disenfranchised with the system.

We can no longer continue to allow VA's outdated, inflexible, and ill-suited capital asset program to compromise the department's core mission.

VHA's principal mission is to provide healthcare to veterans, yet over time has acquire an ancillary mission, caretaker of an extensive portfolio of vacant buildings.

ROA appreciates that Chairman Roe has provided oversight of the Department of Veterans Affairs Senior Executive Service since 2007.

Just very briefly, just to put that in context. Like I said a moment ago, I was here for the BCA. We had a number in the discretionary part of the budget that we funded. We have taken money away from other departments and almost doubled…