(U.S. Senate) – U.S. Senator Jon Tester, Ranking Member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, today oversaw a hearing of the Committee on a number of pending bills.

The following is Tester’s opening statement, as prepared for delivery:

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

There are a number of bills on today’s agenda that I am excited about, and bills I think that will do great things for veterans.

These bills are also representative of the bipartisan work of this Committee.  And they reflect the fact that we are taking our cues directly from veterans, and the organizations who represent them here today.

With that said, I’d also like to recognize a couple key members of our committee who could not be with us today – Thom Tillis and Maize Hirono. 

Both are tough as nails and both are tremendous advocates for their states, and for veterans.

They’re in our thoughts today, and we look forward to welcoming them back very soon. 

In terms of accountability legislation – I’m glad that the Chairman and I could work together, with Senator Rubio, to make changes to the House bill.

The end result is a compromise in which none of us got all that we wanted, but that better allows VA to hold bad actors accountable while ensuring employee protections and rights to appeal are protected.

I appreciate the VA and the VSOs for their constructive input, and for their strong support of this bipartisan legislation.

I’m also pleased the Deborah Sampson Act, which I introduced with Senator Boozman is on today’s agenda. 

Allison Jaslow with IAVA -- it’s good to see you again.  Thank you for your tremendous advocacy on this legislation.

It’s critical that the members of this committee hear from you and other women veterans about how and why we need to move forward on this legislation.

Women are courageously signing up to serve our country at a higher rate than ever before and we need to make sure the VA is fully capable of addressing their needs.

We also need to take steps to increase accountability in VA contracting, to establish more medical residencies at the VA, to expand the caregiver program and to reform an outdated appeals process that has left veterans waiting months or even years for their claims to be resolved.   

Many of the bills we’ll discuss today will do just that.

So thank you again Mr. Chairman.  I look forward to our discussion.