Veterans Affairs committee  I think the climate currently is on enhancing benefits and ensuring that service members who are transitioning out are fully aware of their benefits. We're focusing a lot more on outreach and on ensuring that every veteran who is entitled to a benefit has access to that benefit.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'm not sure I understand the question. Is your question whether our budget is being impacted, or whether our budget can sustain the benefits that we administer?

Veterans Affairs committee  I'll address that. We do have different types of budgets. We have discretionary budgets and we have mandatory budgets. The mandatory budget is where the actual benefit payments to veterans are paid out. As far as my knowledge from the big-picture perspective, there is no plan to change the budgetary limitations of the mandatory expenditures, or again the benefit payments to veterans and on veterans' behalf for their services.

Veterans Affairs committee  If the veteran has severe disabilities and is hospitalized, if we do the transition briefing at their bedside, the family members would be present. One of the issues we have found is that because the transition assistance program has not been mandatory for every transitioning service member, some elect not to participate in the entire process.

Veterans Affairs committee  That is determined by the disability evaluation in the compensation service department of the Veterans Benefits Administration, which Cheryl Flohr was speaking about.

Veterans Affairs committee  If I may add something as well about the service-connected disability rating, when a service member is in the process of transitioning out or has transitioned out recently, they do not have to wait for the entire process to take place for their disability rating. If there is medical documentation that the VA can use to determine if the disability will be rated at 20% or higher, that decision can be expedited in as much as three days.

Veterans Affairs committee  Another way in which we perform outreach occurs when veterans are notified they have been awarded a service-connected disability rating by the VA. That notification is accompanied by an application for a vocational rehabilitation program, so veterans are immediately made aware of their eligibility for the program.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, I am. Thank you. Good afternoon. I'll be talking to you more about the vocational rehabilitation and employment program. The mission of our program is to provide the services needed to help service members and veterans with service-connected disabilities return to the workforce, or, if unable to return to the workforce, to help them become as independent as possible in their daily activities.