 Well, thank you all very much for coming, and I especially want to thank Secretary McDonough for spending not just one day here in Vermont for two days. And he has talked to dozens and dozens of Vermont veterans. He's talked to practitioners and administrators at the VA. And I think he has learned a lot about the strengths of Vermont's VA system and some of the problems that we yet have to overcome. In a very divided Washington, D.C., my hope and belief is that every member of the United States Congress understands that we cannot turn our backs on the men and women who put their lives on the line to defend this country, that for all veterans, good quality healthcare is a right that they have earned and that we have got to deliver. So right now, some of the immediate issues that my office is working on and we've been talking to the Secretary about, and we hope to implement them in, you know, months and years to come, is, number one, my belief, and we have legislation to this effect, that dental care is healthcare and the VA should incorporate dental care as part of VA healthcare. Number two, in a more parochial sense, we have a wonderful community-based outreach clinic right here. It needs to expand because it is outgrowing its ability to serve veterans. Third point that I want to make is I hope that every veteran in Vermont understands that the quality of VA healthcare is high quality care, that if you're eligible for VA healthcare, you're entitled to excellent quality hearing aids at a very small cost. You are eligible for the lowest cost prescription drugs available in America. So I look forward to working with the Secretary to do everything that we can to enroll every eligible Vermont veteran into VA healthcare. Thank you. And now let me introduce somebody who I have a lot of respect for. I think President Biden might made the right choice when he appointed Dennis McDonough as Secretary of the VA has been doing a great job, Secretary of the VA, Dennis McDonough. Thank you very much. Senator Sanders, thank you very much. Really grateful to everybody who's turned out this afternoon. It's been a great two days here. I'm thrilled to be here representing the terrific workforce here in VA. And the two leaders of that workforce are here behind me and Ryan Lilly, the regional director of this New England region, Vision One for VA. And Dr. Brett Rush, who is the Med Center Director at White River Junction, who oversees the CBOC infrastructure that Senator Sanders just talked about. I think the visit can be encapsulated by the roundtable discussion we just had with veterans of many eras, men and women, combat veterans and veterans who did not serve in combat, who underscored in some cases that the VA system has saved an individual's life twice, he said. And in other cases, sharing with us places where we fall short. We, at the end of the day, work for them. So having their candid feedback, like the candid feedback we just got in this last session and have gotten over the course of these last couple days, is invaluable to us and is a challenge to us to make sure that we live up to the high expectations of the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and a longtime defender of the VA, Senator Sanders, and Vermonters, and indeed, all Americans who expect us to fulfill this sacred obligation to our veterans. So, look forward to your questions. Thanks very much for turning out on this rainy afternoon. Welcome on area, which is probably the most rural area of Vermont. And there's a T-Bock up there, and there's a lot of concern, because we're here in New Romans, that they talk about post-init in some time in the future, and maybe consolidate several rural VA out. T-Bock, the people are really concerned about that, because the closest one right now is 90 minutes. Another one is the VA hospital is two hours, and people are concerned about that. And again, that's 90 minutes to two hours on a good day. You want to go first? Sure, just here, and then I'll answer. Well, as a matter of fact, Chris, you know, I was just at the new court, T-Bock, a couple of days ago. We helped start that T-Bock about 10 years ago, as well as the one in Brotta Bowl. If our delegation, and I know I speak with Senator Leahy and Congresswoman Welch, if we have anything to say about it, that T-Bock will not be closed down. What the plan is, is to build a larger facility in St. John'sbury, which will have more services, which is a very, very good thing. But that should not mean that the Newport T-Bock will be closed down. So I think what we're going to do is add to services available to veterans of the Northeast Kingdom, not diminish them. Is there a possibility of adding services to what's there now? At the Newport? I don't know the answer to that. But I will say, having been up there, that Newport really does. I was telling the Secretary, it is an example of high-quality, primary health care where people know each other, and I know the veterans up there feel very strongly about the positive care they're getting. Yeah, let me just say, the recommendations, the rumors that you refer to reflect recommendations that I've submitted to the Air Commission. This is a process that's just starting, the kind of feedback that we've seen to date on those recommendations will surely be important to the Commission. And obviously, the input from senior leaders like Senator Sanders, Senator Leahy and Mr. Welch will be closely considered by the Commission. Let me just say that the idea behind the community-based outpatient clinics is to get more care closer to veterans so that veterans can get care in their communities from people they know and from people who are trained and culturally competent in the kind of conditions that our veterans have incurred. It's entirely consistent with those recommendations that as we consolidate in a bigger facility, for example, of the type that Senator Sanders mentioned, that we'd also look for ways to forward-deploy teams so they could care for veterans in places like Newport. So the bottom line of these recommendations is more care closer to veterans so that they feel that culturally competent world-class care is available to them on a timely basis. That's the kind of investments that we're making. That's what we've just seen over the course of these last two days. And that's what we intend to continue here in Vermont. Well, the Senator is saying that you're going to invest in the Newport Seabox Open. Is there a possibility that there will be services cut there and move things out of there? It's not services cut. I mean, it's very early in the stage. Believe me, if you don't do the VA bureaucracy, things do not happen overnight. Is that fair to say? I've noticed that. All right. But, you know, we don't know what will happen. But I would not worry that the facility in Newport will be closed. I don't think that will happen. Yes, ma'am. Hi. Thank you for being here. One of the questions I want to ask is COVID, I'm sure you've heard, has done a real number among the veterans, not only people last, but staffing issues and compounded health issues from long COVID and from people who have had COVID. What are you planning to do, number one, to address the shortcomings and problems that they are facing right now? And number two, what preparation are you thinking of having in place before we have another pandemic? Yeah, so thanks very much. Let me say three things. Vermont plays a central role in each of the three. First, our clinicians, our nurses, our doctors, our MSAs, the entire VHA team, as well as the Veterans Benefit Administration team, have done amazing work for these two years in extremely difficult circumstances. I am very proud of them. However, it's been very taxing on them and on their families. They've continued to care for veterans, even when it put them and their families at risk. Not only care for veterans, but also care for non-veteran Vermonters when there was not care available for them in other parts of the system. I'm very proud of their work on that. As you suggest, it's highly understandable, even logical, that we would be wrestling with burnout and fatigue as a result. That's why it's so important that Senator Sanders and Senator Leahy recently passed new authority for us to pay our nurses, our nurse assistants, our physicians assistants, our nurse practitioners more because the health care market is tight, nurses are in high demand, and we should be much more competitive with our salaries. That's hitting the street in the coming weeks, and I hope Vermont nurses understand that at VA we invest in our people and will continue to do that, including as we increase, seek additional authority to increase support for physicians, for medical center CEOs and directors, and for network leadership. That's the first thing. Second, we also have to get ready for the next phase of this pandemic as well as other pandemics, as you suggest. Vermont is playing a central role in that as well as we look at how we can get ready for this next phase. We're looking at very important issues as it relates to COVID specifically, long COVID, where we're doing research and clinical practices for long COVID, where, again, practitioners from Vermont are playing a central role. Third and last, there's been deferred care, people not coming out for care during the pandemic. Vermont is one of three systems in the country where we are testing ways to more quickly address issues related to health complications because of deferred care. This underscores that Vermont and the VA system in Vermont is caring for Vermont veterans, Vermonters who are not veterans, and having an impact on national healthcare in a very concrete way. You've got to catch a plane for these things. Yes. But the secretary has to be on the plane for these things. One last question. Okay, thank you all very much. One related follow-up. One of the biggest support things needed with doctors and nurses, especially with the staffing issue, is housing in Vermont. And I know that's not directly related, but if you're going to want to... We've been talking about that. We've been talking about that during the course of these last two days where the high prices of real estate, the high cost of living that's been associated with the impact of the pandemic and the influx of new Vermonters is having an impact on it. And obviously our clinicians, our leadership, including Dr. Rush, Mr. Lilly, have been raising these issues. We're seized of them. We're looking closely at them, including the issue of locality pay differential here. We'll stay on top of this and work this until we get it right. Thank you very much.