 Good afternoon everybody I have a couple of housekeeping items first first I want to thank all the members and supporters for making the trip out here to midwinter conference This is the final session of the 114th Congress and for those of you that like sports or familiar with sports I would probably say that this is fourth and ten right now At the ten yard line and we need to punch it home. We need this touchdown There's a lot of bills out there both in the house and in the Senate That we really need to get across the goal line and it would be great To be here next year to talk about some of those bills that have been enacted into law But I'm going to tell you that we not only need your support We need to support from the people that support us in your hometowns. Okay One of the interesting things about these conferences and DAV Conventions our members and supporters and I've been coming to these Probably about 13 years now is our members are very honest If they like something they're gonna tell you and if they don't like something they're gonna let you know as well So I have a couple of takeaways from my last briefing last year and these were some of the comments that I received They said Paul your budget presentation. There's too many numbers to keep track of come on tone that down a little bit So I'm gonna give you a synthesized version of our budget proposal But for those sticklers that like numbers we're gonna have those posted on the website as well So you're gonna get two things to see the second He said Paul during your budget presentation you focus on one side of the room It's usually the side of the room with the projector. So I'm gonna spread the love this time round I'm gonna move my way around like a like a sprinkler head. All right The third the third they said Paul You've been doing this for two years now and you've been giving out $10 Starbucks gift cards, you're not keeping up with inflation and what I would say to that if you receive DAV's alert that we weren't getting a cola this year now, you know why it's 10% again this year so For our quiz for our quiz this year. I will have again $10 Starbucks gift cards and we'll lay out some ground rules Regarding the quiz as we get closer to the end What we have right here is the cover page of my report And what I would like you to see here is how the budget breaks down for the federal government You have the largest portion of the federal government, which is our military. That's where most of our funding goes But interestingly, you'll see who is second Veterans benefits 75.4 billion dollars in discretionary spending for the VA which equates to about 7% So we are getting a bigger piece of the pie as time goes on and That's outstanding. I mean we've been in in war for so long and we've been fighting these issues for so long It only makes sense that the budget needs to increase to keep pace with demand Interestingly, the military's budget is eight times higher than the VA's budget Let's talk about what the budget is it is a constant moving breathing Fluctuating animal with people throwing out numbers here and this is how much we're gonna spend I want to talk to you about the independent budget With which DAV and VFW and paralyzed versions of America we compose Basically, it's independent. We say that based on what we're seeing Based on some of the gaps that are out there. This is how much money these programs need to function effectively You have the president's budget requests as I like to refer to as the PBR Last year some people called on that it also stands for paps blue ribbon So I was told this year. I need to spell out that it's president's budget requests and not the paps blue ribbon Then you have the house appropriations committee the Senate appropriations committee And then that will break down into the subcommittee that deals with mil con VA in both the house and the Senate And so you have all of these groups us You have the president and the administration you have the house and the Senate that say no, this is how much we need to spend No, this is how much we need to spend no This is how much we need to spend and at the end of the day coming close to October 1st all of these recommendations we hope line up and nothing is is is too unbalanced We're trying to arrive at an agreement between everybody I'm gonna talk to you a little bit about some key individuals in the house and in the Senate on the full house Appropriations committee with the leadership within that committee We have chairman Harold how Rogers. Do we have anybody here from Kentucky? No, that would have been good to have somebody to speak to their staff On the minority side in the house We have the ranking member need a low lead. Do we have anybody here from New York? Anybody meeting with her office Yes outstanding And on the Milcon VA, which is the subcommittee from the full committee We have the chairman on the Milcon VA subcommittee in the majority Charlie Dent from Pennsylvania anybody here from Pennsylvania Excellent, and in the minority. I know we have some people here from Georgia And in the minority we have the ranking member Sanford Bishop Outstanding I'm gonna come back to why this is all important I'm gonna move into the Senate and In the Senate we have in the full Senate Appropriations Committee We have in the majority the chairman that Cochran from Mississippi anybody here from Mississippi Excellent and the minority. I know we have some people here from Maryland. We have the minority vice-chairwoman Robert Mikulski. Yes Outstanding and then the Senate Milcon VA subcommittee chairman Mark Kirk and Ranking member John Testa from Montana. Please forgive me. I left mr. Kirk's state out off there Apologize Let me just give you some insight into why this is important that we're meeting with these key individuals Not only are they responsible for legislation, but that it comes down to how those dollars in VA will be appropriated Right, so if we have their ear and we tell them listen We know that this is the president's budget request But this is our independent assessment and this is what is going on out there This is how much the VA needs if we can snag their ear so they can hear what they're what we're telling them That gives us a great opportunity to get what we're trying to advocate for okay, and It's important that once you meet with these folks that you communicate back to us who you met with How those meetings went because then you can establish a contact between them and Our office, which will give us a leg up. Okay a lot of times when I have the opportunity to visit at Different conferences or different department conventions, and we talk about legislation that is moving and the grassroots Advocacy one of the things that I will say is that our staff could only take it so far at the end of the day What it really comes down to is our grassroots and our supporters because you're the ones in those states in Those districts that make sure that they hear our message. It is vital to our our efforts The independent budget for fiscal year 2017 2018, but we released that on February 9th 2016 the president's budget request PBR is due to Congress between the first Monday in January and the first Monday in February of each new year and It was received by Congress February 9th 2016 and this will be President Obama's Final budget presentation, and you can get information about VA's budget there the a.gov budget the federal government's fiscal year begins on October 1st of every year and DAV's successful advance appropriation campaign protects mandatory spending and VHA medical care So when we're up here talking about why it's important to get a budget on time if We were successful with our advance appropriations initiatives There are still some funding that has to be appropriated on October 1st some discretionary funding So for those of us that receive disability compensation payments those survivors that receive DIC payments Education payments the money that is turned on that you received every month. That's protected But when we get into the bodies that's needed the IT infrastructure that's needed That is where the wrangling takes place. Are we going to go up? Are we going to go down? Or are we going to keep it flat for fiscal year 16? What did we recommend in the independent budget? We recommended 74 point four billion dollars in discretionary spending The president's budget request 73 point five billion dollars in discretionary spending So what did Congress appropriate and what am I talking about for the current year? Remember the current year the fiscal year for 16 began on October 1st, right? But V8 in receive its funding until December. So what we got finally was 71.4 billion dollars in discretionary spending 91.3 billion dollars in mandatory spending that came out to a hundred and sixty two point seven billion dollars in total spending And the advance appropriation we got sixty three point three billion and 103 billion for mandatory spending our total spending right now for fiscal year 17 and again This is what we're debating now. This is what we're talking about now What is VA going to get for fiscal year 2017 right now? It's projected to be a hundred and sixty six point three billion dollars What did we recommend for fiscal year 17? We said the VA needs about eighty four point four billion Dollars in total discretionary spending, which was about ten billion dollars over the previous fiscal year over fiscal year 16 seventy three billion dollars is for VHA alone The president's budget request for 17 eighty four point two billion dollars into total discretionary spending with seventy four point two billion for VHA and Three billion dollars in medical care collections And where are we at with the house and the Senate? Well right now? They need to determine. What is the budget going to be for the federal government? So we still need to get to that point Then we'll get into what do they recommend in the house? What do they recommend in the Senate for VA spending and then we have to come to an Agreement we have to work that out between both chambers What did we recommend some highlights from the fiscal year 17 IB budget? Staffing for compensation and pension services. I would be paying attention to some of this stuff because you know We'd like to have a little quiz at the end. So hopefully you're writing some of this information down not all of it We recommended 1700 employees for VBA alone That would address non-rating activities. Excuse me non-disability rating activity activities call centers and fiduciary programs The president's budget request only requested 300. So we got a difference of about 1400 personnel We recommended 158 voc rehab 158 for vocational rehabilitation services zero in the president's budget request And they've been flatlined over the past few fiscal years We recommended eighty four point four billion dollars in discretionary spending an increase of four billion dollars over sixteen or five percent And for VHA we said seventy three point five billion for VHA health care an increase of two point six billion over fiscal year Sixteen or a three point six percent increase for construction We recommended two point two billion dollars last year. They enacted a hundred excuse me one billion Excuse me a billion one billion six hundred million dollars and for this year only nine hundred million dollars has been requested For construction projects and this is important to note here off to the side in fiscal year 15 VA projected It will take between 18 to 22 billion dollars To close all current and projected gaps in access utilization and safety VA is managing 30 major construction projects that are partially funded Some of which were originally authorized by Congress in fiscal year 2004 These projects need to be put on a clear path to completion For medical and prosthetic research the IB is recommending seven hundred and forty million dollars Please forgive that the typo right there. It should be seven forty. We'll get that corrected and the president's budget request 663 million dollars For VBA and the Board of Veterans Appeals. We've been hearing a lot about appeals We've been hearing a lot about the Board of Veterans Appeals. So what did the IB say they needed? Together to need about three point one billion dollars For fiscal year 2017 and fiscal year 16 They got three point one billion and for fiscal year 17 the president's budget requests only requested 2.9 billion dollars. So we're off there. We need to bring those numbers up Okay I'm gonna move into some of the quizzes some of the questions we have for our quizzes just a couple of ground rules Number one if you shout out the answer you have to buy Starbucks gift cards Okay, or you have to do Ten eight count bodybuilders. So for those of you that were in the military You should be familiar with what the eight count bodybuilder looks like we're gonna go ahead and rotate across the room So that we do spread the love this year And I will begin please raise your hand. I will begin with the first question. Here we go The first question is who is the chairman for the Full House Appropriations Committee back there We have Hal Rogers Survey says how Roger's from Kentucky. Good job, sir. Here is your gift card $10 to Starbucks come up and get it at your leisure. Joy. Would you give that to him, please? Thank you Good job Next question When does VA's or the federal government's fiscal year begin Warren October 1st? Good job, sir. Come on up grab your gift card All right, so I was on that side of the room now on this side of the room. I'm tracking Next in the house, what is the name of the committee responsible for approval of appropriations? Sir ma'am we have appropriations committee very good house appropriations committee. Come on up There you go Next question. I know some of these may seem quite simple, but I want you to remember these I want them to be etched into your mind. So when you're dealing with people on the hill, some of this stuff is going to resonate Next question in The Senate, what is the name of the subcommittee responsible for VA's appropriation? We need some answers in this section All right, don't say it in look over there ma'am close sir Say the whole thing Very good. Come on up It is the Senate Milcon VA appropriations committee Next question. How many full-time employees did the IB recommend for VBA sir in the middle? 1700 survey says 1700 come on up grab your card. Here you go To and I believe we're up to our last question Where does the IB recommend placing? 1000 of these new FTEs ma'am Processing appeals that is correct. Come on up grab your gift card. Very good. Just one lot final piece You can find this and more this and more information here at DAV org events It'll be posted here and I thank everybody for their participation. If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer Thank you everybody