Ms. Brittany Madni: They're also continuing to grow, even as the veterans' population declines. So where exactly is the money going? Well, within the budget function that covers veterans' benefits and services, there are five major categories. Income security, education, training and rehabilitation, hospital and medical care, housing and other general benefits and services. Of the total $377.22 billion going to everything in this function, more than half is spent on income security programs. The vast majority of this is for disability compensation and pension programs, which, while they are important, do also need to be reevaluated for fraud, waste, abuse and any dollars that are going toward bureaucratic overhead rather than veterans themselves. This is followed by nearly $150 billion for hospital and medical care for veterans. Knowing that money is currently being spent in this sector is important only insofar as Congress actually acts on this without worsening the national debt. The need for oversight and sustained reauthorization is absolutely key. If you are not looking at where the dollars are going now, you will not know how to better spend them in the future. There are challenges today that were not present in the 1970s or 80s. For example, perhaps housing should be getting a bigger slice of that pie or education and Perhaps we should be reevaluating mental health research and making sure that outcomes are matching up with where dollars should be going rather than following the trend of the 70s, 80s and 90s prior to the global war on terror. I'm running low on time here, so I'll just finish up by saying that GAO has consistently ranked several VA programs as high risk, that payment accuracy has noted that the VA comprises only 6% of the entire federal budget but is responsible for the fourth highest outlays to designated to susceptible programs, and improper fraud, waste and abuse, as well as improper payments, are going to continue being exacerbated without additional action by Congress. The alternative is clear. Oversight is needed. Thank you, and I look forward to your questions.
Bost, Mike: I would, I'd now like to recognize Mr. Stratton for Stratton for his five minutes opening remark.
Mr. Tim Stretton: Good morning. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member and members of the committee. Thank you for having me testify today. My name is Tim Stratton, and I'm the director of the Congressional Oversight Initiative at the Project on Government Oversight, or POGO. POGO is a nonprofit independent watchdog that investigates, exposes, and champions reforms on systematic corruption, abuse of power, and waste. Since 2006, the Congressional Oversight Initiative has trained nearly 6,000 congressional staffers from both parties and both chambers on the best practices of oversight and investigations. I'm honored to be here today to talk about the importance of congressional oversight, especially at the Department of Veterans Affairs. As the Article I branch of government, Congress has a constitutional responsibility to conduct oversight. The Supreme Court recognized this nearly 100 years ago when it stated, Congress cannot legislate...