Washington, DC - At a joint Senate Armed Services Committee and Veterans Affairs Committee hearing today, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton addressed the treatment of servicemembers and veterans following her trip to Upstate New York VA and military installations earlier this week.

Senator Clinton also highlighted legislation she has introduced to address the challenges facing our servicemembers and to help them get the care they need.

At the same hearing, Senator Clinton questioned Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England about the recent announcement by the Department of Defense to extend deployments for active duty personnel. Senator Clinton voiced concern over extending military deployments and the drastic effects it may have on an already overstretched military.

"The announcement yesterday by Secretary Gates that deployments for active duty will be extended raises serious questions both about the over stretched nature of the Army, which I think is getting to a crisis point, but also how we're going to continue to take care of those people as we put them in harms way for longer and longer periods of time. Our system, despite the best efforts of a lot of well meaning people, is not working commensurate with what we owe those who have served. And I think that looking at these problems that we are addressing today, in the context of this longer deployment, just makes the urgency even greater," said Senator Clinton.

A transcript of Senator Clinton's statement at today's hearing follows:

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Thank you very much Mr. Chairman and thank you gentleman. Before I address the issues that brought us here today, I want to associate myself with the comments of both of the senators from Virginia. Senator Warner and Senator Webb speak from a great deal of experience. And Secretary England, the announcement yesterday by Secretary Gates that deployments for active duty will be extended raises serious questions both about the over stretched nature of the Army, which I think is getting to a crisis point, but also how we're going to continue to take care of those people as we put them in harms way for longer and longer periods of time. Our system, despite the best efforts of a lot of well meaning people, is not working commensurate with what we owe those who have served. And I think that looking at these problems that we are addressing today, in the context of this longer deployment, just makes the urgency even greater. And I hope that the suggestions that have been talked about today from General Scott's commission and others will be put on the fastest of tracks and work with the Congress to please get some answers to these problems.

I spent Tuesday at the VA in Syracuse, New York and also up at Fort Drum where I met with more than 40 returning active duty soldiers. They've been wounded and injured in both Iraq and Afghanistan. And I had a very frank discussion with them and I asked them what their situation was and here's what I heard: loss of their medical records was a constant refrain, something that I've heard continually. One young soldier, who was wounded by an IED in Bagdad, said that as he was being rolled out on his gurney to get on the plane to go back to Landstuhl and a nurse put a packet on his chest and said, "These are your medical records, don't lose them."

He said, "You know Ma'am, I didn't get to Landstuhl with my medical records." I hear that over and over again.

Physical Evaluation Board liaison officers who lack training or are just too busy, or no caseworker at all; lack of legal assistance for the appeals process; unfair determinations, at least in the minds of many of the soldiers certainly on a basis of comparability due to the administrative and bureaucratic burdens placed on soldiers. We've talked a lot today about the disability system, but I don't think it accurately reflects TBI or PTSD, amputations, hearing loss and diseases that, since the first Gulf War, we have seen in some increase in numbers as military members have returned.

And then one issue, which has not been mentioned and I want to put on the table, is that Traumatic Servicemembers Group Life insurance, which has been the subject of just anguished reports to me. As you know, this is an insurance policy that many of our soldiers sign up for and as of August 2006, over 41 percent of the claims have been denied. And what I heard at Fort Drum was that it's almost a joke. They call numbers, nobody answers. They get hung up on. They're basically told, here's the way it works, we turn you down and if you have the energy come back, maybe we'll do something for you. This is a disgrace and it's something that one Sergeant told me just made him laugh instead of cry. His convoy had been hit by an IED. He had severe injuries and the life insurance representatives told him that he'd have to prove that he had been injured when he had his commanders, his doctors and everybody else already having made that case. I think this needs to be looked at seriously and I hope Mr. Chairman, we take a look at it as well, because from what I'm hearing it is not performing the way it should.

I also heard there is not a single neurosurgeon deployed to Afghanistan. And one of the problems we're having with head injuries is that people are sent directly from Afghanistan to Landstuhl. That's a long trip under often stressful circumstances. At the very least I hope, Secretary England, we can get a neurosurgical team to Bagram so that we have the facilities and the personnel there ready to take care of our young men and women.

I also was distressed to learn that Fort Drum does not have a caseworker assigned to assist wounded soldiers navigating to the disability process. A few months ago, the only caseworker assigned to the post was reassigned to an administrative position. Then I heard from soldier after soldier that had it not been for this particular caseworker, they would've been really lost. When I asked the commanders, they told me they are not authorized to spend budget dollars from operating and maintenance accounts to hire caseworkers because they are paid from a separate medical personnel fund, which is not under the control of the base commanders. Again, I think we need to look at that. One thing that these soldiers need is somebody to help them navigate through this process and for them to feel like they have someone on their side. To follow up on Senator Webb's question, perhaps we could consider asking retired personnel to volunteer to assist us in reducing this backlog. I think we need to put as much energy and urgency into this as possible.

And finally, with respect to the electronic medical records, the VA system gets very high marks, not just within the VA system itself, but by external independent assessments. And yet, I hear the DoD electronic medical records system is plagued by failure to comply problems. People just don't want to do it and apparently they're not ordered to do it. Lots of slips with the information getting from the battle field into the system. And I just think it would be a smart, efficient approach to look at taking the VistA System in VA, which is an already functioning, effective system that has a proven track record, and extending it to DoD. Instead of trying to figure out how to merge and create a new system, let's go with what works, because I think there are too many records that are being lost and people are literally falling through the cracks. Mr. Chairman, I have a series of questions related to TBI and the legislation that I and Senator Collins, and I and Senator Bayh have introduced and I'd like to submit those for the record.

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Read more statements by Senator Clinton concerning veterans.

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