Transcripts For CSPAN2 Veteran Education Programs 20171227

Afternoon, everyone. This subcommittee will come to order. I want to apologize in advance. Im going to have to step out and i will return shortly and have asked congressman bilirakis to preside in my absence comest a thank you for that. I want to thank iran for joining us for todays hearing at the subcommittee on Economic Opportunity. The House Committee on veteran affairs over are began first oversight hearing on the implementation of h. R. 3218 the veterans Education Assistance act of 2017 also known as the forever g. I. Bill. This bill was designed or rather sign into law by President Trump on august 16, 2017 and is a great example of what congress can do when we put the American People and in this case our Veterans First and foremost. In addition to the efforts of chairman roe and other members of committee, the forever g. I. Bill would result in the efforts of many of our vs does come in two of whom are joined here with us today on the panel student veterans of america and the Tragedy Assistance Program for survivors. This is the first major improvement to the g. I. Bill since tony levin and encompassed over 30 provisions brought forth by many members of the house who share all of our commitments to the men and women who serve in uniform or alongside activeduty spouse or parent. We can all be proud of this collect of achievement to pass the forever g. I. Bill paid the subcommittee work has just begun and it is critical we were content with the va, veterans groups and other stakeholders at the department begins the implementation of this newly expanded and revised bill so we can ensure that its rolled out seamlessly. Many of you can remember the significant delays beneficiaries experienced in 2009. I actually wasnt here then but im told there were delays in 2009 and we dont want that in this round of implementation. This has been after the passage of post9 11 g. I. Bill and im sure again we can all agree such delays can happen again and its our job to identify any problems and solve them and have a smooth implementation Cost Effective for all stakeholders involved. I would be remiss if i didnt acknowledge the Va Education Service effort to schedule regular calls with the Committee Staff on both sides of the hill to update them on the implementation. However, it is important we have these hearings so we discussed as Committee Members and we as Committee Members can lend our support and help to you, general worley when others in the department to implement the reform package. I do have concern about focus the process is getting from the Senior Leadership come a scene that seems for me as we found Education Programs are often overlooked within the department as a whole. I understand the secretary of the Leadership Team have many priorities, but i hope they understand will be no small feat to execute a reform initiatives such as the bill, and which will result in over 3 billion worth of changes to the g. I. Bill for generations of veterans and families to come. Our investments and tax or investment for veterans education benefits and the impact the forever g. I. Bill will have on future success of student veterans as im sure you will agree an extremely important endeavor and weve got to get it right. The secretary of the administration do whatever they have to do to get the resources come especially the i. T. Resources in this case that they need to row the package out effectively without major hiccups again like we saw or experienced in 2009. Before i yield to Ranking Member orourke come i focus on these i. T. Resources. Im anxious to hear some of the testimony and i certainly have some questions about this. Since joining this committee, and its always been clear the upgrades are so convoluted when congress is reformed to be updated the patchwork. The subcommittee was told in the past that the plans for the systems would ensure so they can quickly address changes made in the law as we have seen however especially i want to yield to my friend for any opening remarks he might have. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Theres not too much i can add to your excellent opening comments, but thank you in the majority staff and minority staff for ensuring we have a successful hearing today for those about to testify for our colleagues in their questions. All of us want to make sure the forever g. I. Bill is implemented successfully and we anticipate any concerns ahead of time and work constructively together between congress and the administration d. C. How we can ensure those are resolved and likely chairman and see the biggest challenge being one with i. T. And appreciate the fact that general worley is hearing he can answer those questions and suggest how we Work Together to ensure that this goes smoothly and seamlessly for transitioning Service Members for veterans are now so the Service Organization to testify what they had to say. I yield back. Nor first and only panel to the table. Robert worley of the Education Service accompanied by mrs. Mrs. Chairman, Education Service and mr. Lloyd thrower information and technology. Mr. William hubbard, student veterans of america operations and policy analyst at Tragedy Assistance Program for survivors. Thank you again for being here today. Before we begin with your testimonies, and i asked the witnesses if you would please stand and raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear under penalty of perjury that the testimony youre about to provide us the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth . Thank you, please be seated. Reflect all witnesses in the affirmative your complete written statement will be made part of the hearing record and all of you will be recognized for five minutes for your oral statements. Lets begin with you. General worley come youre not recognize her five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Chairman arrington, Ranking Member orourke come implementing the assistance act of 2017, also referred to as the forever g. I. Bill. A company meet todays mr. Lloyd thrower, account manager for the benefits portfolio and machining cell, Deputy Director for operations in Education Service and vas project lead for primary act implementation. August 16, 2017 the president signed into law the act which makes sweeping changes which expands benefits in truly changes the way we view. Its the most comprehense set of changes to benefit since the enactment of post9 11 g. I. Bill in 2009. The act has become the forever g. I. Bill because of its most recognized to use their post9 11 benefits. It restores benefits to those impacted by School Closures since 2015 expands opportunities for stem and i. T. Training provides increases in funding for improving agent even enhances benefits for surviving benefits of purple heart recipients. The importance and complexity led the eight to establish a cross functional Program Executive office within existing resources responsible for leading and coordinating all forever g. I. Bill implementation at two goodies. Also in record time ba awarded a 12 Month Program Management Contract to provide further support to the peo through the addition of expertise and i. T. Training and communications. The law requires a significant i. T. Effort with 22 of the 34 provisions requiring i. T. Modifications and an estimated 70 million. Oit has committed to providing solution for the most pressing provisions section 107501 with monthly housing benefits. They will assure timely processing of additional claims and will stand up new initiatives such as the edith north rogers stem scholarship by establishing specialized teams using processors and by hiring 202 additional temporary employees in the field. They have taken focusing on the 13 provisions affect that i date of enactment and executing expensive and Multifaceted Campaign to highlight and promote the improvements to affect beneficiaries and other stakeholders. Specifically va has promoted extensively for a new webpage social media, outreach activities as well as frequently asked questions. The va has posted multiple updates on his g. I. Bill face but page and holidays forever g. I. Bill and participated in a Satellite Media tour conduct being interviews with radio reaching 4 Million Viewers and listeners and then out through mass emails to 1. 2 million stakeholders a net connected multiple briefings to School Officials and Veterans Service organizations. Many of the provisions target beneficiaries of va is also connecting more targeted notification where and when needed. For example, we have identified and notified in education beneficiaries that may be available under the School Closure provision. In just under one month come of va has already received over 400 applications and has restored 1800 months of entitlement to over 200 beneficiaries. Just under four months va has moved up quickly and is working hard and successfully implementing all of the provisions of the colmery act on time. Theres a great deal of work remaining with 13 of 34 provisions affected on august 1st 2018 pba has 30 started revising regulations, training, preparing communications and more as we move forward. We look forward to continuing to work with all of our partners and stakeholders on these efforts. Thank you for the opportunity to testify, mr. Chairman and i look forward to responding to any questions you may have. Now will recognize mr. Hubbard. Youre recognized for five minutes. Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member all work and members of the Committee Committee macro writing veterans to testify in the implementation of the forever g. I. Bill 1500 chapters representing over one by 1 million student veterans and schools across the country we are pleased to share the perspective of those directly impacted by subjects before this committee. Signed into law this august h. R. 3218 commonly known as the forever g. I. Bill made history. One of the most significant pieces of Higher Education legislation to occur this century, millions of service affiliated to call greater access to education and training thanks to the efforts of this committee in the 115th congress. Would like to share some brief history from our perspective on the legislation which is a case study in partnership and bipartisan discussion. The posture we launched a special focus on the importance of sustainability and programs driven by outcomes and filled with datadriven decisionmaking the forever g. I. Bill includes dozens of solution oriented provisions such as the workstudy authorization Science Technology engineer math scholarships, removal of the time limit on the g. I. Bill and many other provisions. Which increase access to education. The new law will also address inequities of this earned benefit and looks forward to the future will be under a generation. Leading advocates for the bill we are committed to the complete and timely implementation of this law. With that interest them i would think the committee for the opportunity to highlight several key areas of success as well as some which have room for improvement. We applaud the department of Veterans Affairs to the dedicated staff were demonstrating Great Initiative in implementing the great g. I. Bill especially the Public Communications effort to make those effective aware of upcoming opportunities. Until the forever g. I. Bill, student veterans attending schools the closures were the only students in Higher Education with no recourse to recoup their benefits. The most prolific examples include the closures of corinthian colleges. Unfortunately, thousands of student veterans were adversely affected due to the poor performance of the schools we applaud va for restoration of benefits. We are concerned so few students have applied under the School Closure provision since they went out to the students. Like our concerns with reaching eligible purple heart recipients, the integrity may nobe reliable. We encourage you to partner with external organizations such as veterans of america to reach out to the widest audience possible. Turning to the edith north rogers scholarship, this provision originated from h. R. 5784 for 113 congress g. I. Bill extension act, a bipartisan bill cosponsored by david mckinley. We were a proud partner in the formulation advocacy of the effort and we are pleased to see it as law. Student veterans consistently cite this as a component of the forever g. I. Bill with which they have the greatest interest. It was being developed and became increasingly clear the implementation costs particularly of a significant driver of costs. We have Major Concerns than whether or not the office is implementing this law are receiving adequate resources to execute the overhaul. It represents a shift in education for veterans in Higher Education. That is more apparent today than ever. It has demonstrated results. Thomas jefferson in 1808 the same prudence which in private life paying their own money will unexplained projectso visit the dispensation of public money. Implementation relates question who should be allowed with the president of the va home loan programs and events do not qualify due to the rigorous and strict standards into outcomes by standards and perhaps the same should be thought about for the g. I. Bill. We think the chairman and the Ranking Member for inviting us to testify in the forward to any questions you may have. You make thank you so much. Now we recognize this is moakler for five minutes. Ranking member, mr. Orourke, the Tragedy Assistance Program for survivors thanks you for the opportunity to talk about issues important to the family served, families of the fallen. While they are to offer support for surviving families they are committed for families of the fallen and those who die for the illness or disease. We appreciate the attention paid to making sure veterans and surviving family members have benefit to give them access to quality education. They provide specialist support through the web education portal regarding the benefits available for the children and spouses of america fallen heroes. They work with each individual to the Financial Support from both government and private agencies. This also allows us to hear from survivors where they encounter problems and stumbling blocks in the process. Were most grateful for provisions included in the harry w. Colmery assistance act of 27 team that supports survivors and most appreciative of the opportunity to comment on the implementation of this legislation. We have heard from many of the top surviving spouses concerning implementation of the g. I. Bill while they are most appreciative government many have concerns. We have worked at the va to solve many of them. First of these is the date down on the va certificate of eligibility that informed the individual of the date they are no longer eligible for education benefits. As of early december, students are still receiving letters of the 15 year date. While they are aware of the date come and they are reluctant to actualize their Education Plan until they have the correct information on their certificate of eligibility. The office of Economic Opportunity about this discrepancy. The office offered are in process, the system does not currently allow the latter to go out without they do in a day. Enhanced training of first amount with eligible recipient that indeed there is no disseminating day, sending letters informing spouses with previously applied that there is no disseminating day a new certificate of eligibility until they find a permanent solution. Ive said before, success of the implementation is entirely dependent on changes to the i. T. System. We hope there will be appropriate funding to expedite the process. While mandatory training for school certified officials is included in a forever g. I. Bill, we are concerned about the schools being fully aware of the changes coming august 2018. Information beingushed out by e va. We hope there will be ordinati within the schools of the person talking to the student is where the changes. Tops biggest concern with changes implemented in august as they will be delayed payments for veterans and survivors enrolled in the fall 2018 disaster. Even with a few changes that went into effect this fall, there were issues of schools demanding payment for the students because the delayed va payments. Students receiving va payments were not allowed to attend classes, register for spring 2018 for use campus facilities because the payment was delayed. In some cases, students are put on payment plans they could not afford were forced to take out Student Loans with egregious origination fees in order to continue the education program. Tops would recommend students receiving va payments have the same protection as those who was he title for funding such as pell grants and federal Student Loans who are not penalized for late payments. Tops strongly believes the best way to do this is through a legislative change. Weve been in discussion with staff to assist the students. The proposed legislation would give the va the ability to disprove any education unless the Educational Institution providing the Court Permits individuals to attend or participate in courses pending payment by the da and certificate of village ability as a promise of payment. Continued cooperation between the va, the committee and interested dsl, msl survivor advocates is essential to make the implementation of the forever g. I. Bill a success. Tops will continue to provide feedback to both the va and the committee on the experience of survivors. Thank you and i look forward to your questions. Youre welcome. I think the panel further testimony today. I recognize myself for five minutes for questions. First question for general worley. Thank you for your service to our country. On a Conference Call last week, subCommittee Staff windfarm due to a problem with the vas i. T. System the department will still have letters, certificates of eligibility that will be sent out to the chapter 33 benefiarie to show the g. I. Benefits expire. Despite the change made in section 112 of the forever g. I. Bill, the proposed workaround wasnt to fix the system, but to send the beneficiary a separate letter telling them to basically ignore the first letter. What are the Department Plans to address the situation, this particular situation which is not addressed will certainly cause mass confusion for all Program Participants . I cant believe this is happening. Our soldiers, veterans deserve better. They deserve certainty. If you could please answer that question id appreciate it very much. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Couldnt agree more. We want to put up consistent and Accurate Information to her beneficiaries. We appreciate the concern the committee has on this. I will start with part i of the answer and ill turn it over to mr. Someone to talk about part d. Part a hassett temple at the initial certificate of eligibility that was mentioned by our colleague here at the table. That is the initial original claim that comes in after weve done what we need to do to check eligibility requirements. Those are manually generated and we will start this month manually updating those letters so it is clear because there will be coming up for the certificates of eligibility starting now, but we have to check to make sure it is after january 23rd team in those letters will be updated accurately to reflect whether there is or as night eliminating date. How much time will that take to manually update letters . These letters are partially manually produced anyway. The initial certificate of eligibility. A little bit of added time to the claims examiners work to do that. It is not a big impact. The bigger impact were concerned about has to do with the enrollment letters, the award letters. Every time someone goes to school to get an award letters that update them on the amount of benefit they left in what theyre being paid in housing and so forth. The reason the letters are difficult to change quickly is because they are integrated and tied into the code of the longterm solution. I will turn it over to mr. Thrower to talk about what were doing with respect to the award letters. Thank you. Since our discussion with staffers on friday, ive been working with my Engineering Team and we will be delivering workaround. We will be delivering a workaround. The key thing here is making changes to the logic that generates the letters. We are doing this at the same time while we are in we are in a massive buffer which i discussed back in june trying to commission ddn, which is another system of the patchwork discussed though we are trying to clear up in so we are in the process of eliminating the patchwork and at the same time making changes and while we are doing that is a problematic in risky thing we are ting to manage. That said theres things we are committed to dngnd make it happen while we are doing the decommissioning work. One of those will be a changes to letters. Well have this done within the march release of all bs. Is there a possibility you can contact obviously the heroes may be verbally over the telephone what have you, have you considered that as well . Or if we can get the information if they call in. Absolutely. This is relatively late breaking news. They spoke what have you come associate media. We cannot halt. I dont have much time left. When oneal to the Ranking Member. I have a number of questions but i dont know that i understand the answer yet to mr. Bilirakis question on this 15 year time limit. Our letters going out today still erroneously saying that you have used this within 15 years . Yes. Not a programmer, but ive got to think and dont go into detail. That is not a threemonth fix. Beset by march thisll be fixed. Can somebody as they are printed out with a sharpie probably included away we can do this now instead of three months . I dont think so. Congressmen orourke. I understand the incredulity if you cant change a letter quickly, the letters that go out are integrated in part of essentially be automated code and they need to be sending personalized information to each beneficiary related to benefit and how much they are getting in those kinds of things. Not just going into a word document. Its much more complicated than that. We would love to do it more quickly but i yammer lien on our i. T. Colleagues to tell us how quickl can do it. Maybe there is someone in the private sector or the volunteer community who would be willing to take a look at this code and offer their expertise if we are so taxed in being able to change this, not to in any way undermine the success youve shown in being able to implement this following the august 19, but this is something that sticks out for everyone. Another issue that is moakler brought up is the delayed va payments and she suggested using the pell grants model. Any suggestion on not mr. Worley. I dont have any particular view on that. We havent really addressed that issue in my office. Certainly would love to talk more about that. I suspect that would clearly take legislative change to do it that way. But have to work with the committee. So you will give us your feedback on not that i understand the majority staff may be working on this. The wood from the majority country Minority Side would want to work on this and make sure we are successful. Mr. Hubbard, loved your point about the outcomes were important in the inputs and weve had this conversation about several programs that come through this committee. What to make sure we are fully measuring outcomes here as well can you suggested we should have greater scrutiny and Higher Expectations for the Educational Institutions participating. Any specific recommendations as we continue to perfect the law or administratively anything general worley could run with . Ask him a thank you question. I appreciate that. I think it is a relevant and critical point. Today my colleagues from the va can correct me but somewhere in the realm of 14,000 programs are approved for g. I. Bill dollars. 14,000. That is crazy. All of those they suspect are veterans. Ring good outcomesor i know that firsthand. I cod point out a couple we all know was in ultimately the focus on outcomes versus what is going in and coming out is absolutely critical. Student veterans are winners and given the right tools to succeed they do every single time. But suddenly a special special focus on as it pertains to things that can be changed. Internal tools i know of taking a look at to increase standards and have some rigorous methodology applied to whos available to get g. I. Bill dollars. Something perhaps the committee will be interested in taking a look at. Certainly ive said many partners in the nonprofit space to implement as well. I would go back to the chairman. If we are able to follow this good recommendation, i think it has to be tied to some measure of outcomes so we understand outcomes, not just at the student complete the course of study, but in the following 10 years but will they find a career or function and purpose. From the great ste of florida for five minutes. I would like to ask, can you tell me how aware of the made the senior Political Leadership and va where challenges and implementation this challenge is created for you . I personally briefed the secretary just a matter of a few we after the colmery act became law with those challenges, both the i. T. Assessment of about 70 million in our initial assessment of what would be required in terms of people with i. T. Solutions. I am very confident the secretary is aware of those challenges. Weve come a long way since that particular briefing in terms of the office of Information Technology, stepping up to addressing the two most critical and initial provisions dealing with housing allowance, which d the biggest people impact. Those are underway along with the massive effort. Some of that has been absorbed in terms of the funding. We need more funding later, but at this point weve come a long way. The Senior Leadership is aware of these challenges and we getting the support. And to drill down on i. T. A little bit, mr. Thrower, 22 of 34 elements are going to require i. T. As i heard earlier. Can you talk about has there been anticipation of what the 20 night team budget in to look like to you the capabilities you need within i. T. To fully implement colmery . Yes, but id implementation and what it would take to do this at the secretarys request but in looking at alternative approaches as well. One of for instance, one of the most significant things we will have accomplished in eliminating consolidating Education Services around the lds plot firm and a lot of the plot patchwork under the hood will be given and have the opportunity to potentially look at this as a managed service. We are going to be looking well have a decision date this spring where we are with the decommissioning a third, what our options are on the external market, what our options are if we go to inhouse development. Because of the work we are doing and the work under the hood, we actually have a lot more options from an i. T. Event different ways we can solve the problem. I want to ask mr. Hubbard and mrs. Moakler about the fact Educational Services, the oversight falls within va benefits and theres been discussion about unique problems and mr. Thrower, before they comment, do you see that as an issue for i see that the oversight is under benefits as opposed to Education Services . I mean, you work across the different chains of command anyway. Its a really good fit within benefits. In fact, because at least from an i. T. Perspective, ive looked at many capabilities at the last two years have been able to create Certain Services across the department. The fact we now have an electronic key folder that consolidates things like our certificates, marriage certificate documents that can be used by education benefits, this has been a great benefit to us creating a lot of flexibility we otherwise didnt have. Mr. Hubbard, ms. Moakler, is that a problem for you . Ms. Moakler, i think you mentioned a legislative issue that can help with some of this oversight. Is that correct . Tohe delay of payments of the va benefit to the colleges they werent allowing the students to take advantage by reregistering for next semester. Okay. Mr. Hubbard. I think its an excellent question. Thank you for addressing it because im going to disagree with it for my colleagues on this one. Ive seen longterm the focus on outcomes is lost when Economic Opportunity is buried within benefits. Theres an opportunity to perhaps elevate that is an issue area and provide some potentially preventative medicine. Individuals who have a bachelors degree or higher oftentimes have Great Success they would like to see more of that and unfortunately the i. T. Debate highlights the fact there is some disinterest within the Larger Organization not out of any particular site but a huge organization, more than 360,000 employees talking about a small subset of doc comments difficult to get the right intention and believe that this definitely opportunity to elevate out. And i agree to focus on outcomes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield back. I recognize mr. Correa for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to thank the panel for being here. Very difficult issues, but i appreciate you being forthright and honest about the challenges in front of us. Not going to get mad and angry about the fact we have these letters going out with these mistakes causing confusion out there. 14,000 approved institutions were veterans can get their Education Services. Mr. Hubbard said we are not focused. Just a couple days ago talking to a gentleman that said you know, lou, youve got a lot of these openings in california for this huge construction project weve got coming on line. We dont have the skill to train individuals, lecture shins, specialists. The president talking about a trillion dollars Infrastructure Projects coming online in early january, february 2 initially discussed these projects and weve got 14,000 institutions and wondering how many of those are veterans for good education. Where do we go from here . It looks like we have challenges with this very complex Agency Department quickly to address these issues on a timely basis. Question to all of you. We thought about employing social media to let veterans know the real information out there is, what the facts really are. Thankthank you, congressman. Brief leverage social media in a huge way the priest back to getting the word out. We have a website as i mentioned in my testimony. We are but pages designated to provisions with links to the application if you are a School Closure impacted by School Closure. We put things on facebook daily emphasizing. What is the outcome . I have a daughter 17 coming kids in their early 20s and facebook is where they live. None of webpages, the facebook. Have you gotten a good response . As you try to put out the good information on facebook, Accurate Information, you send out letters that are inaccurate. Creation will be of confusion out there. Someone receives an official letter from the neighbor we have to stop sending out those inaccurate letters and focus on social media getting out the right information. And that is what we are doing. The facebook dialogue is continuing us. If you would like some of the feedback about that, some of it is disgruntlement with the fact that the forever part only start january 2013. People became eligible prior to battery discharge prior to that in some cases have concerned about that. Theres an ongoing dialogue with various concerns to push out the information correctly finishing the initial letters fix this month in a base within couple months well have a fix for the award letters. Im running out of time. Just wanted to ask the rest of the panel to engage at my office and the others here to figure out how to focus because this is not a new problem. Weve heard this over and over again in the state legislature in california. Youre not training our students for the right job openings in so how can we getohe point where we are trading veterans for 50, 60, 70, 80,000 a year jobs when we come back stateside. Its not rocket science. Is essentially putting one opportunity for him is veterans in making sure that ready to seize the opportunity. Whatever suggestions you have were here to listen. Thank you for that, mr. Correa. We find student veterans are making good decisions as it pertains to their career path when they have the right information. They are informed consumers and they know what theyre looking for and see the longterm solution to it, its an easy decision. In a lot of cases they are not getting the right information and thats why we make such a strong push. My question in the next six seconds is where they getting the right information and how can we get the right information . Another good point to the fact that transition Assistance Program and the dod site is perhaps worth taking a look at as well. Mr. Chairman, i yield. I agree with that. Mr. Banks. Great to have you back to the committee once again. Back in march with the hope of the subcommittee introduced the veteran success of 2017 which would make a Permanent Program rolled into the forever g. I. Bill package which we are very proud of. Could you give us an update in elaborate on the progress the va has made with the program now that its permanent. At the scene were veterans using it . Its only been a short period of time, but have you started expanding the number of campuses . An update on how thats going. Thank you. As you know, congressman, that is a separate office for me, that i can tell you from what i understand now, the colmery act codified as you pointed out Better Success on campus. I believe it is serving over 90 campuses. By understanding at this point is we dont have plans for expanding the program this year. Beyond that i would have to take further status. Can you elaborate on the lack of planning for expansion as it was clearly a priority. We understand that, sir. I have to take that for the record. We would appreciate in the future. Could you also provide us more information on theerce of the Va Education Call Center in oklahoma and what type of training they are receiving on the legislative changes are not good in the forever g. I. Bill . They have received training on this from the beginning, fact sheets and so forth to be able to respond appropriately. As you know its a big list with 31 education provisions. Some of them quite complicated. And so, we are not only rolled out the scripts and those kinds of things for them to use, that continuing to evaluate and improve them as we go along. Its all about. Thank you very much. Mrs. Rice, youre recognized for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. If i could say, it is not the fault of anyone here on the panel, but this is why people have no faith in government. You pass in historic bill like this in the Agency Charged with implementing it does not have the tools to implement it. Its insane. I dont understand it. You cant change something that taking a 15 year provision. It is so disappointing and maybe this is something we have to address the secretary chopin do we have to do me. Excuse my ignorance, but how long have you been implementing this . August 16 of 2016, 2017. Four minutes into the effort. Anything appalling that it actually can apply an outcome of thinking before they couldnt . Or is it too early to calculate that . It depends which population youre talking about. So this information to get out specifically with respect no longer having a limiting date to those exit service after one january 2013. Some are targeted as i mentioned here to provisions within the School Closure piece. One is retroactive after january january 2015 so we can try to make to some degree those affected by School Closure as was mentioned earlier. We put up communications of them, the application we are receiving an processing those requests as we speak. Weve already restored 1800 or so months of entitlement to people. Several provisions, we are moving out and getting the ones that are near term taking care of. Many provisions are not effective until august 5th, 2018. So what kind of depends on their others that are purple heart recipients and the scholarship. We pushed our communication, especially in the nearterm peace is to inform people as quickly as possible that they may be dead by a provision or set of provisions. As was mentioned, we find that the call center and are putting it under social media and those kinds of things. Just one question, one part of the bill to provide Counseling Services for certain individuals out locations on institutions of Higher Learning campuses by the va. On the chivas had no action needed, you find the counseling is sufficient or maybe im not understanding now. You may be referring to the version congressman bank was referring to the veteran success on congress counselors . Again, at this point im not aware of any plans for expanding on campus but i will take that back. Is that one of the things who spoke to secretary chopin at you would need to implement this bill. Is that one of them . No, maam. The specific provisions i was briefing secretary chopin and on world the education once that fall within my office come Education Service related months. 31 of the 34 provisions of the law are being implemented by my office. Through provisions have to do and that is one of them. Is responsible . A counterpart crowley, mr. Jackhammer. So no one here can answer that . Ill have to take that back to him. Okay, thank you. I talk to the Ranking Member and he agrees we should have a second round. If you guys are okay with that, we want to proceed. I want to thank you again for being here and providing the benefit for heroes. What they earn and deserve has always been my top priority. I want to ask the general. I think its so important in all of us agree on this, for us and those watching at home, to hear how the improvements we made in the veterans assistance act of 2017 are implemented again, in the status of these reforms. My first question is related to my bill, the veteran act, incorporated into the overall act signed into law in august. My provision but provide the va necessary funding and resources to update Information Technology systems to improve timeliness and accuracy for processing claims for educational benefits. I provision to submit within 180 days after the attack and by the act implement such improvements. My question is can you discuss what efforts by far have been made in this effort . Other initial hurdles or barricades to get this implemented specifically the section . Is the va on track to submit this within the timeframe, the 180 day timeframe of the mac mini . If you can answer that would appreciate it. Mr. Chairman, thats one of the many provisions that obviously require i. T. Effort will happen in the future and ill defer to my colleague, mr. Thrower from the office of i. T. If thats okay. In terms of, you know, planning what we are doing to automate systems across the board, we have been analyzing the provisions of this act and the status of all systems within the education realm that we manage, we have been building a plan to show the transition we are looking out over the next few years and we are on track to provide to that report and i believe february. This february . 180 days. 180 days . Pretty close. I think it is within 180 days. Okay. We will hold you to that. Let me go ahead and get on to the next question. Can you explain why the vba, the Education Services needed to hire 200 plus additional temporary workers to manually process claims because the i. T. System are not able to automatically process the claims. Yes, mr. Chairman. Theres probably two or three categories. I mentioned my oral testimony specialized teams. There are certain aspects of the colmery acts that cannot the process within the crent automation without huge, huge changes and i would point out the stem scholarship is one of those provisions because it is not just buy not just nine additional months of benefits. There are parameters associated with the stem scholarship with respect to who is eligible and how much of the program youve completed. Its a program of than 128 hours and you could only go up to 30,000 per individual. There are many parameters that are what we would say outside of the system for processing those claims. When he probably around 40 to 50 people as a team as our estimate right now, just to process who we think would be eligible under the stem scholarship program. Another one has to do in the morgue near term is the School Closure act. We are trying to hire 27 people right now and were in the hiring process as we speak to work with the School Closure act. As they get the applications of value weighted by people in claims and process input into the system through those means. Two or three specialized and the rest of the 200 as augmentation to the examiners daytoday in order to provide the manual workarounds we have to do until the i. T. Comes on board. Absolutely because youre talking about automating original claims process, absolutely. Oka i wil yield to the Ranking Member, mr. rourkeor five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I have a few questions for general worley. Before i do this will be my last opportunity to do this because you are moving on to the next stage in his career but as with many of the members of congress and i have the benefit of being able to work with the military fellow who comes to our office every year and helps us to better understand the issues on this committee, on the other committee of which i served house armed services. Captain walton has been a pleasure to work with and gives me about of faith and confidence in the quality of americans that we are recruiting and who enlist and we just wish you much luck in these next steps in your career. And as love it to the urgency we had in this job and our responsibility to make sure we are following through on our commitments and obligations, the just wanted to Public Knowledge or service. Thank you for working with us this year. General worley, when you asked about outreach on social media, you earlier had given us the stat about 8000 beneficiaries that youre trying to reach out to who have been subject to these School Closures and want to make sure reconnecting them the resources they did finish their academic studies. You said 200 or so have been help so far. What does that tell you . On this issue and on the issue about having to wait another three months to correct the 15 year statements, help me understand your urgency about these issues and whether you see this as a problem, is this what you expected . That might go some ways towards setting out expectations on the committee. It seems like a low number to me, if there are 802,200 have been helped. I would just respond to that by saying the initial notice went out on november 9. So we are what, five weeks into the process in terms of, and again the designee thats the first communication. Weve been trying to flood the pipes with communications across the board on all of these provisions especially the near term ones. I think its too early to tell whether thats a low number or a high number. We wl continue to of course take these income process as quickly as we can. If we need more communication or need to reach out to the, whoever hasnt responded yet, we will do that. I dont know its realistic to expect we would get 8000 applications because quite frankly, the hope is the information that is out there would be sufficient for people to look at it and make their own choice whether they think theyre eligible or not. We always encourage people to submit a claim if theres any question as to their eligibility. Especially with respect to the School Closures or if you have transferred credits a comparable program, then youre not eligible for restoring benefit between january 15 and the implementation. We are happy to make that decision once you have given us the information on the application and inform you of that, but may be people that understand that and just dont apply. We are god willing all going to be a year from today same positions. What will be likely talking about at that point if the chairman decides to hold a hearing on this for every g. I. Bill one year after the last hearing . Are we resolved on all these open issues . Do you have confidence that the 22 of 34 i. T. Modifications will have been completed, the 70 million that that you need to do this effectively spent, at least for that part that has been budgeted . What do you think we can anticipate a year from now . I would love in a year from now to certainly have all the letter issues squared away. I dont think, what i hope to say in a year, mr. Artwork can back me up on this, is weve done the work to get off the ideal benefits Delivery Network as a platform for paying and doing a number of other things with respect to education benefits that sections 107 and 501 are fully and purely and perfectly implemented. We wont interfere with the same all the rest of those i. T. Requirements are met. I hope to be saying in the year that we have those funded and in a timeline that oit is working through over the following year, but i will let mr. Thrower comment on that. I think thats a pretty accurate statement. As i say, were looking, we have been bouncing priorities here. We started an effort before the fact was enacted the act to eliminate a major legacy problem in our environment. And so when this act, and, in fact, Educational Services is the number one priority within oit as relates to the Veterans Benefits administration in uplifting services. Dealing with a legacy issue will provide us a great deal of agility to be able to make a kind of quick changes youre talking about longterm. We are trying to that. That will largely be done at the end of this fiscal year. In the meantime what we will have accomplished is in working together with general worley and education team, we identified those critical things that we absolutely have to do within an i. T. Solution now. In order to make this work. So we have integrated that within the same program that is doing the decommissioning work, which is a balance that we have to make to be able to do that. We are looking very hard at managed Services Solutions versus inhouse development solutions. I will say that we are hoping that october 1 of next yeae will he, well, next spring will make a decision of which direction we wish to go. He will be in the throes of implementation of all of the other provisions a year from now, down the path that we will have determined in the spring, and probably executed at the beginning of october. Thanks in it than for all the work you are going to doing that. I dont have the subject matter expertise on all this including the i. T. Fix and other parts of the i. T. Problems. I just know from past experience that gao has been so helpful to me in understanding and can providing a check any thirdparty scrutiny on the commitment and the performance. I hope we can get some help from gao not in any way to as i have a lack of confidence because i dont. You all have been very helpful and very professional in the permitting this. Given the group of veterans were talking about and the necessity of implementing this successfully i want to make sure we have the greatest oversight possible that will help us to do our job. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Absolutely. I understand the doctor doesnt have any questions, is that fight . Okay. Then well move to mr. Korea. No questions . Okay. I have one question that im going to ask the recommended if you wanted to make more comments. The question is for ms. Moakler. Iner testiny you describe situation where some students are demanding payment. The schools are to many payment of tuition and fees, and the va is delayed in the payments. What can be done to address this issue so the students are not negatively impacted by school and va delays . What were asking for is protections for those receiving va benefits that are already out there for those who are receiving title for benefits. So if a pell grant payment is late, the student is not penalized. They can still go on. They can register for another semester of classes or what have you. Because whatever certificate of eligibility picket for the pell grant is held as receipt of payment, as it were. But with the va, many schools do not look at that certificate of eligibility as payment. They want the payment in hand, and so that causes hardship. Yes, so give me an example of the hardship. Because this is unbelievable. Its unacceptable. Because speedy tell me, whats the penalty in a lot of cases . The institution of Higher Learning will start dunning the student for payment and asked them to take out a loan to cover that between when the university required the payment and when the va makes the payment. And so then the student is stuck with those, that and they had that added stress. They do. So thats the real scenario. Weve got to do something about that. So i appreciate you answering the question. Well, i want to ask the ranked member if he had any comments, otherwise mr. Chairman, i dont. Thank you for helping to hold meeting today. Thank you all for testifying and for your answers to our questions. Okay. All right, thats okay. If there are no other questions, anyone have any other questions . If there are no other questions, i what you think the witnesses for the testimony and for answering all the questions. We all understand the importance the passage of this gender will have for future generations of veterans to. We really did great work in this committee, and i thank the full Committee Chairman as well, which is why it is so vital again, again, so why do we get implementation right the first time, as ms. Rice said. We will continue to work with the va and receive regular updates on how the process is moving along. I ask you, general worley, and your staff to not hesitate to let us know if you are lacking the resources you need to get this right. We will also continue to work with the veterans, groups like sva and taps and rely on you, please, we are relying on you to keep your ears on the ground and keep us abreast with any concerns you hearing from the membership, and as you work with va in the coming months, and years. I ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend the remarks and include extraneous material. Without objection, so ordered. Finally id like to take a moment to publicly congratulate mr. Hubbard on his promotion to the rank of Staff Sergeant in the United States marine corps reserves. Congratulations, sir. Thank you, mr. Hubbard, for your continued service to our country and semper fi. This hearing is now adjourned. Hankie. I need a gavel. Here it is. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] tonight booktv is in primetime with a look at education. Cspans studentcam, the tweets say it all. Studentcam in action. Video editing and splicing for constitutional documentaries. This group showed how it is done. Interviews. He students ask some hard hitting questions about Immigration Reform and the greenback. We are asking students to choose the provision of the u. S. Constitution and create a video illustrating why its important. Our competitions open open to all middle school and High School Students grades six throh 12. 100,000 100,000 in cash prizee awarded. The grand prize of 5000 will go to the student or team with the best overall entry. The deadline is january 18. Get contest details on our website at studentcam. Org. Tonight on cspan debate on free speech on College Campuses with First Amendment scholars and authors from around the country. Are traditional liberals are divided now on this question about free speech on campus. There are those liberals who basically see themselves as most committed to issues of equality and what they see as justice and feel that should override the liberal tradition of the defense of free speech. On the edge of liberals who see the tradition of free speech as commitment to free speech as almost exessential importance given our history and the ways in which free speech has been restricted historically by people in positions of power. And do not trust anyone including themselves to have the power to decide what points of view could be a spouse and not a spouse. On the conservative side in almost every episode in American History efforts of suppression of speech have been driven largely by political observers. Whether its in the early 19 come in the academic welcome whether its an early 19th century where its about religious moralism or whether it was opposition to darwinism or whether it was the turn of the 20th century with punishing faculty members and students for criticizing wealthy donors for world war i for anyone who criticize the war or criticize the draft to be thrown out or during the mccarthy era, for example. Its always been conservatives who have been on the site of restricting free speech. Even in the Larger National committee with exception of campaign financing, commercial speech for the most part its been conservatives have been much more restrictive. I find it a bit annoying to be honest that all these republican legislators are suddenly championing free speech in a situation in which the people who are being silenced our Milo Yiannopoulos and ann coulter, and its not so much the principle of free speech as it is the particular oxygen. Its a matter ofrinciple in terms of what this is really all about. You can see this entire discussion from the National Constitution center, the Federalist Society and the American Constitution Society tonight on our companion network cspan at 8 p. M. Eastern. Ive been attacked by everybody could have been attacked by the rightwing. Ive been attacked by the russians. Ive been attacked by the trump campaign. Id been attacked by the Standards Campaign and now i can add to the list the clinton campaign. Sunday on cspans q a former democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile talks about her life in politics and her memoir. I was here in washington, d. C. Not far from here. Hillary was very excited. She had met this young state senator who is running. She has roots in illinois. She met this young state senator richard told my good friend, my friend, we are on the third floor and she said she knew barack obama. I didnt know barack obama. I do a lot of other people, i know a lot of people in chicago politics but i had not heard of barack obama. And so we met him that spring of 2003, you just say this. The rest is history. Q a sunday night at eight eastern on cspan. Navy secretary Richard Spencer spoke recently at a Global Security forum hosted by the u. S. Naval institute. This is 45 minutes. [applause] will, it is a pleasure to be here. There are some familiar faces in the items under some interfaces even a look across always be with out this weekend at the Reagan National defense forum, and for those of you in the audience might not have been there or had the chance to see the live version on television in which if youre watching it, i suggest you find a a life because it was a bif