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 headst

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 pr

Veterans Affairs committee  That's fine.

Veterans Affairs committee  We're on slide number four--the status of the national cemeteries. This picture shows two different types of cemeteries. The top one is Fort Bliss National Cemetery, which has what is called water-wise landscaping. It's in the desert's southwest. This cemetery used to have grass

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  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 populat

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 the

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

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, but they do not need to be in the same cemetery. The spouse and minor children gain eligibility based on the veteran's eligibility. As it sometimes happens, the spouse or the child may predecease the veteran. They may be buried in cemetery X, and the veteran may move across

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