BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

REVIEW OF THE REPORT ON THE NATIONAL CEMETERY SYSTEM, FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS, AS REQUIRED BY SECTION 613 OF THE VETERANS MILLENNIUM HEALTH CARE AND BENEFITS ACT, PUBLIC LAW 106?117

HEARING

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

OCTOBER 16, 2002

Printed for the use of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

Serial No. 107?44

(

84?757ps

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON : 2003

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore. Phone: toll free (866) 512?1800; DC area (202) 512?1800

Fax: (202) 512?2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402?0001

COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey, Chairman

BOB STUMP, Arizona MICHAEL BILIRAKIS, Florida TERRY EVERETT, Alabama STEPHEN E. BUYER, Indiana JACK QUINN, New York CLIFF STEARNS, Florida JERRY MORAN, Kansas HOWARD P. (BUCK) MCKEON, California JIM GIBBONS, Nevada MICHAEL K. SIMPSON, Idaho RICHARD H. BAKER, Louisiana ROB SIMMONS, Connecticut ANDER CRENSHAW, Florida HENRY E. BROWN, JR., South Carolina JEFF MILLER, Florida JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas

LANE EVANS, Illinois BOB FILNER, California LUIS V. GUTIERREZ, Illinois CORRINE BROWN, Florida JULIA CARSON, Indiana SILVESTRE REYES, Texas VIC SNYDER, Arkansas CIRO D. RODRIGUEZ, Texas RONNIE SHOWS, Mississippi STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada BARON P. HILL, Indiana TOM UDALL, New Mexico SUSAN A. DAVIS, California

PATRICK E. RYAN, Chief Counsel and Staff Director

(II)

C O N T E N T S

October 16, 2002

Page

Review of the Report on the National Cemetery System, from the Department of Veterans Affairs, as Required by Section 613 of the Veterans Millennium Health Care and Benefits Act, Public Law 106?117 ......................................... 1

OPENING STATEMENTS

Chairman Smith ...................................................................................................... 1 Prepared statement of Chairman Smith ........................................................ 27

Silvestre Reyes ......................................................................................................... 3 Prepared statement of Congressman Reyes ................................................... 29

Hon. Michael K. Simpson ........................................................................................ 4 Hon. Lane Evans ..................................................................................................... 4

Prepared statement of Congressman Evans .................................................. 30 Hon. Susan A. Davis ................................................................................................ 4

Prepared statement of Congresswoman Davis ............................................... 31 Hon. Tom Udall ....................................................................................................... 5

Prepared statement of Congressman Udall ................................................... 37 Hon. Jeff Miller ........................................................................................................ 5 Hon. Vic Snyder ....................................................................................................... 13 Hon. Ciro D. Rodriguez ........................................................................................... 18 Hon. Bob Filner, prepared statement of ................................................................ 32 Hon. Shelley Berkley, prepared statement of ........................................................ 36 Hon. Ander Crenshaw, prepared statement of ...................................................... 41

WITNESSES

Barile, Vincent L., Deputy Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs, Department of Veterans Affairs, accompanied by Daniel Tucker, Director, Office of Finance and Planning, National Cemetery Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs ................................................................................................... 13 Prepared statement of Mr. Barile ................................................................... 87

Jones, Richard, National Legislative Director, AMVETS .................................... 22 Prepared statement of Mr. Jones .................................................................... 94

Moore, William B., Pd.D., Vice President for Infrastructure Management, Logistics Management Institute, accompanied by Ronald W. Lind, Program Director, Organizational Improvement, Logistics Management Institute; and Donald C. Prettol, Research Fellow, Logistics Management Institute .... 5 Prepared statement of Mr. Moore, with attachment ..................................... 42

Lind, Ronald W., Program Director, Organizational Improvement, Logistics Management Institute ......................................................................................... 7 Prepared statement of Mr. Lind, with attachment ........................................ 65

Prettol, Donald C., Research Fellow, Logistics Management Institute .............. 8 Prepared statement of Mr. Prettol, with attachment .................................... 74

MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD

Statement: The American Legion ....................................................................................... 100

Written committee questions and their responses: Chairman Smith to Department of Veterans Affairs .................................... 103 Congressman Evans to Department of Veterans Affairs .............................. 106 Congressman Udall to Department of Veterans Affairs ............................... 109 Congressman Simpson to Department of Veterans Affairs .......................... 111

(III)

IV

Page

Written committee questions and their responses--Continued Chairman Smith to AMVETS .......................................................................... 121

REVIEW OF THE REPORT ON THE NATIONAL

CEMETERY SYSTEM, FROM THE DEPART-

MENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS, AS RE-

QUIRED BY SECTION 613 OF THE VETERANS

MILLENNIUM HEALTH CARE AND BENEFITS

ACT, PUBLIC LAW 106?117

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2002 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS, Washington, DC

The committee met, pursuant to call, at 1:05 p.m., in room 334, Cannon House Office Building, Hon. Christopher H. Smith (chairman of the committee) presiding.

Present: Representatives Smith, Simpson, Miller, Boozman, Evans, Reyes, Snyder, Rodriguez, Udall and Davis.

OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN SMITH

The CHAIRMAN. The hearing will come to order, and I want to apologize for being a little bit late. I was down the hall actually meeting with some of the widows from 9/11 who have an ongoing end of game problem of getting that 9/11 inspection or blue ribbon panel together. So we have been working on that issue. Again, I apologize for being late. This hearing, as you know, is on veterans' cemeteries, and I want to thank everyone for coming here today.

I want to welcome our distinguished witnesses, Dr. William Moore, Mr. Ronald Lind, Mr. Donald Prettol from Logistics Management Institute, and VA Under Secretary Vincent Barile, and Mr. Richard Jones, who will be testifying today.

In July of 1862, Congress enacted legislation authorizing the President to purchase, quote, ``cemetery grounds to be used as national cemeteries for soldiers who shall have died in the service of their country.'' That year, 14 cemeteries were established. To understand the importance of this action, we can recall the words spoken so eloquently by Abraham Lincoln at the dedication of the national cemetery at Gettysburg, when he said, ``We cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated far above our poor power to add or detract.''

Today there are 120 national cemeteries in 39 States, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Thirty-three of these cemeteries are closed to new interments; 26 can accommodate only cremated remains and family members of those already interred, and 61, or roughly half, are open to all interments. In all, VA maintains 2.4

(1)

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download