Freeze Frame 4 Vets

But as the VFW well knows, for so many veterans the war rages on -- the flashbacks that won't go away, the loved ones who now seem like strangers, the heavy darkness of depression that has led to too many of our troops taking their own lives. Post-Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury are the defining injuries of today's wars. So caring for those affected by them is a defining purpose of my budget -- billions of dollars more for treatment and mental health screenings to reach our troops on the frontier -- on the frontlines and more mobile and rural clinics to reach veterans back home. We are not going to abandon these American heroes. We are going to do right by them. (Applause.)

We will fulfill our responsibility to our veterans as they return to civilian life. I was proud to co-sponsor the Post-9/11 GI Bill as a senator. And thanks to VFW members across the country -- and leaders like Arizona's Harry Mitchell in Congress -- it is now the law of the land. (Applause.) And as President, I'm committed to seeing that it is successfully implemented.

For so many of you, like my grandfather, the original GI Bill changed your life -- helping you to realize your dreams. But it also transformed America, helping to build the largest middle class in history. We're saying the same thing to today's post-9/11 veterans: You pick the school, we'll help pick up the bill. (Applause.)

And as these veterans show -- start showing up on campuses, I'm proud that we're making this opportunity available to all those who have sacrificed, including Reservists and National Guard members and spouses and children, including kids who've lost their mom or dad. (Applause.) In an era when so many people and institutions have acted irresponsibly, we choose to reward the responsibility and service of our forces and their families.

Whether you've left the service in 2009 or 1949, we will fulfill our responsibility to deliver the benefits and care that you earned. And that's why I've pledged to build nothing less than a 21st-century VA. And I picked a lifelong soldier and wounded warrior from Vietnam to lead this fight, General Ric Shinseki. (Applause.)

We're dramatically increasing funding for veterans health care. This includes hundreds of millions of dollars to serve veterans in rural areas, as well as the unique needs of our growing number of women veterans. We're restoring access to VA health care for a half-million veterans who lost their eligibility in recent years -- our Priority 8 veterans.

And since there's been so much misinformation out there about health insurance reform, let me say this: One thing that reform won't change is veterans' health care. No one is going to take away your benefits -- that is the plain and simple truth. (Applause.) We're expanding access to your health care, not reducing it. (Applause.)

We're also keeping our promise on concurrent receipt. My budget ensures that our severely disabled veterans will receive both their military retired pay and their VA disability benefits. (Applause.) And I look forward to signing legislation on advanced appropriations for the VA so the medical care you need is never held up by budget delays. (Applause.)

I've also directed Secretary Shinseki to focus on a top priority -- reducing homelessness among veterans. (Applause.) After serving their country, no veteran should be sleeping on the streets. (Applause.) No veteran. We should have zero tolerance for that.

And we're keeping our promise to fulfill another top priority at the VA -- cutting the red tape and inefficiencies that cause backlogs and delays in the claims process. (Applause.) This spring, I directed the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs to create one unified lifetime electronic health record for the members of the armed forces -- a single electronic record, with privacy guaranteed, that will stay with them forever. Because after fighting for America, you should not have to fight over paperwork to receive the benefits that you've earned. (Applause.)

Today, I can announce that we're taking another step. I've directed my Chief Performance Officer, my Chief Technology Officer and my Chief Information Officer to join with Secretary Shinseki in a new reform effort. We're launching a new competition to capture the very best ideas of our VA employees who work with you every day.

We're going to challenge each of our 57 regional VA offices to come up with the best ways of doing business, of harnessing the best information technologies, of cutting red tape and breaking through the bureaucracy. And then we're going to fund the best ideas and put them into action, all with a simple mission: cut those backlogs, slash those wait times, deliver your benefits sooner. (Applause.) I know you've heard this for years, but the leadership and resources we're providing this time means that we're going to be able to do it. That is our mission, and we are going to make it happen. (Applause.)

Now, taken together, these investments represent a historic increase in our commitment to America's veterans -- a 15 percent increase over last year's funding levels and the largest increase in the VA budget in more than 30 years. And over the next five years we'll invest another $25 billion to make sure that our veterans are getting what they need.

For a full transcript of the speech, please click the following link: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-at-the-veterans-of-foreign-wars-convention/