-9999

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, just briefly, again, I appreciate Senator Durbin as the chairman of the Judiciary Committee. We have had many opportunities to work together.

First off, I would just like to point out--and I will because I do intend to do unanimous consent for this--there is a burning platform issue here between now and August. These ads are going on and on. Veterans are making a phone call. I am looking at ways to get to these veterans, and I am told that this will make a connection. So that is something separate from some of the substance that Chairman Durbin talked about.

We have processed about 12,000 cases since I have been here, since 2015. We referred a number to veterans service organizations. Veterans service organizations are approved by the VA and do have attorneys. They can triage cases. And one thing that they do very well is say: This is an easy case; we can help you with this one. This is not an easy case; you need to seek legal representation.

As a matter of fact, we do that as standard operating procedure in my office. I am not saying that many of these cases may need them, but I know a lot of them don't, and I suspect many of them don't. And every dime that you pay an attorney is a dime that is not going to the veteran.

So what I am trying to do here is just to make sure they understand that they have these resources available. It is amazing to me how surprised people are that I have 25 people in the State dedicated to casework, full-time people dedicated to veterans work, a great relationship with VSOs. All of those are free, highly skilled options for veterans that these ads on TV are not making clear to veterans.

We have to do right by veterans. Like I said, I am disappointed with the objection today, but we will have plenty of time to talk about this every week that we are in session between now and August.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source