Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, once they are on the cemetery grounds they're covered, but we don't cover the funeral expenses and what not.

Veterans Affairs committee  We don't cover the funeral home and taking care of the body. But once they are on our grounds, from that point forward there is no expense. So the placing of the casket in the ground, the covering of the grave, the maintaining of the grave, the headstone, the marker--all of those things are at no expense.

Veterans Affairs committee  It's the same thing.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's correct.

Veterans Affairs committee  Right now the percentage of veterans who elect to be buried in one of our cemeteries is running at about 14% or 15% of the entire veteran population. It doesn't sound like a lot, but it is by the numbers. When you add to that the government headstone and marker program that provides a headstone or marker for placement in a private cemetery, we are actually serving about 40% of the veteran population with either a burial option or a headstone or marker in a private cemetery.

Veterans Affairs committee  We identify areas where cemeteries are needed based on the population. It's 170,000 veterans within a 75-mile radius. So we look at those population areas, we have a model, and that's where we identified the need. We identified the need for that many cemeteries with those population areas.

Veterans Affairs committee  We look at the veteran population. If you have an active duty military installation, they are considered part of the veteran population. So yes, again it's 170,000 or more, of course, within a 75-mile area. That's the model.

Veterans Affairs committee  It's the same in almost all instances. Some of the states may vary slightly, and I couldn't tell you from state to state what those variances might be, but for the most part it's going to be exactly the same.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, they do, absolutely. An eligible veteran can be buried in any national cemetery as long as they're eligible. If they live in California they can be buried in a national cemetery in New York. Some of the states are a little stricter about whether veterans from outside of their state can be buried there, but there may only be a few who fall into that category now, because we're trying to encourage them to allow veterans from across the state lines to be buried there.

Veterans Affairs committee  If it's a state cemetery they provide it; if it's a national cemetery we buy it.

Veterans Affairs committee  You can ask me that, and I'm going to have to get back to you on that. I apologize, I don't have that number for you. Mr. Muro would have it if he were here, and I do apologize for his not being here. He was called to a very important meeting. But I will get that answer for you.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's correct.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I really appreciate being here. I always enjoy talking about the National Cemetery Administration. I'll give you just a little bit about my background. I am the director for the memorial programs service. The programs I administer are the government headstone and markers program, which I'll talk a little more about here, and the presidential memorial certificate program, which I'll also talk some more about.

Veterans Affairs committee  Okay. First I'm going to tell you about our responsibilities and then I'll go into a little more depth on them. Our first and most visible responsibility is to provide burial space for veterans and to maintain our cemeteries as national shrines. We also administer the grants program, in which we provide funding to states to build veterans cemeteries within the states.