Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you.

Veterans Affairs committee  We approach it in several ways. One of the major ones is that there is a standing committee appointed by our secretary, in this case made up of a retired lieutenant-general and a myriad of individuals with different expertise. It's called the Advisory Committee On Disability Com

Veterans Affairs committee  Again, we don't have them directly for things. We can't call it snow removal and home cleaning, but there is a level of attendance that is provided to a spouse based on a service-connected death.

Veterans Affairs committee  Compensation and benefit levels change based on service-connected and non-service-connected, but there is what we call a DIC, and there's also a widow's pension. If a veteran who served in the military in World War II dies—not service-connected in any way, shape, or form—and the

Veterans Affairs committee  I would love that.

Veterans Affairs committee  I'm not aware of that.

Veterans Affairs committee  I do not.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's everyday business for us. The idea is, how do I reduce the administrative burden I'm putting on individuals, number one. Number two, how do I take off the obstacles to having to fill out this form, and then fill out that form, and then fill out another form? It's partly se

Veterans Affairs committee  We do. If an attorney comes in and represents the individual and they advance the claim, if it changes the compensation the veteran is owing in any way, we'll step in and pay what we call EAJA fees. We pay the legal fees, too, through the attorney. Depending on the circumstance

Veterans Affairs committee  There are a couple of things that have happened that have drastically changed our world, starting with the introduction of the IDES program. It's no longer a case of your leaving the military and then someday you come to the VA. It's now a warm hand-off. If you're leaving the mil

Veterans Affairs committee  I'll give you two examples from running my regional office. We sent one gentleman through a construction trade school and we sent another one to law school. It was based on that individual's needs and desires. The gentleman who went to law school was paralyzed from the neck down,

Veterans Affairs committee  It has to suit the individual.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, there are three levels of appeal before it enters into other parts of the federal court. They can first appeal to us at the local level, by filing an appeal saying they don't agree with the decision, and we'll have a hearing and do the review at the regional office level.

Veterans Affairs committee  We have a different program that is called VR&E, or Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment. This program is focused on getting an individual back to work again. If you lose a limb and you were a lineman and you can't climb anymore, we'll retrain you. Maybe you want to be a

Veterans Affairs committee  We don't do the loan itself directly, so you still have to qualify under the lender's qualification criteria. What we do is provide the guarantee to the lender. If they take additional risks with that veteran, we'll guarantee that they're not going to lose money. This covers up t