At today's Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing, Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) for not doing enough to stop law firms from profiting from Camp Lejeune settlements over veterans.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Senator Sullivan. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Secretary. Thank you for your testimony today.
00:06We all want to take care of our veterans. And, you know, you and I have talked about it,
00:12and I want to thank you on a couple things. One of the biggest issues I've seen in my 10 years here,
00:18one of the biggest scams I've seen in terms of hurting veterans, was the implementation of the
00:23Camp Lejeune Act that we pass here to help Camp Lejeune Marines and their families and sailors
00:31who were exposed to toxic water. You want to talk about taking care of Marines? I worked
00:37and taking care of veterans. I worked with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle
00:40for years to try to get them to cap contingency fees to the lawyers who are advertising billions
00:51of dollars on Fox News and CNN. None of my colleagues would do it. None of them. Why? We know why.
00:57Every one of them knows why. So these law firms were charging 60 and 70 percent contingency fees
01:06to steal money from sick Marines and their families. That happened. I met a woman outside right there.
01:15I asked her about it. She said, I'm paying 40 percent, Senator, from some ripoff law firm.
01:21Okay? I tried to get my Democrat colleagues, by the way, the former chairman of this committee,
01:25who's no longer here, bye-bye, I think, because he was screwing veterans and favoring trial lawyers
01:33over veterans. So when we talk about taking care of veterans, I get a little miffed when my colleagues
01:38over here bring the show and they wouldn't do it. You know who's doing it? You're doing it.
01:44You're doing it. Thank you. You put out a scam alert saying if you are getting charged over 25
01:52percent by a law firm, and by the way, the Attorney General President Biden worked with me to put that
01:5925 percent cap. My colleagues wouldn't do it. No, no. No, no. So it's a little rich when I hear everybody
02:06talking about taking care of veterans. And I spent a decade trying to get Democrats to help me and they
02:11never did it. You're doing it. So I want to thank you for that. You put out a scam alert. There are
02:17still law firms who fund Democrat campaigns who are still charging Marines and their families 60
02:24and 70 percent. So can you continue to work with me in this committee to put out scam alerts so these
02:32patriotic Marines and their families and sailors, and by the way, this is zero sum.
02:36You get a million bucks, okay, it's either going to go to the law firms or to the Marines. And I know
02:43what side they were on, and I know what side the former chairman of this committee was on,
02:49and you're on the side of the veterans. You're on the side of the Marines. You're on the side of sailors.
02:52So thank you, because you know what? It's a little rich for me to watch all this theater when I know
02:59that you're taking care of them. You want to comment on this? I appreciate the scam alert, but gosh darn it,
03:04I'm still seeing these ads on TV. My staff calls these law firms 70 percent. It's the biggest
03:10injustice I've seen since I've been here as a senator, ripping off sick Marines and sailors and
03:16their families, and nobody's on the other side of the aisle helping. None. I worked this harder than
03:22any other issue since I've been here as a U.S. Senator, and you're helping. You want to just comment
03:27on that? Thank you very much for the scam alert. And by the way, the former Attorney General said,
03:31if you're a law firm and you're charging a sick Marine more than 25 percent, that's a criminal
03:35violation. I've talked to Attorney General Bondi, and she is going to bring it. Criminal and civil
03:44violations if they go over 25 percent or 20 percent if they're just doing the administrative filing.
03:51So thank you on that. Senator, I appreciate that, and I'll work with anybody on this committee.
03:55It doesn't matter the side. If you're doing something that shouldn't be done to our veterans,
03:59I've said this before this. I take this personal. I take it. We can disagree about things. We can
04:03disagree about numbers. We can disagree about anything else. But at the end of the day,
04:08I want to honestly say that I believe all of us are trying to get the veterans help. And when you
04:12have folks who do that, when you have firms that do that, we'll continue to put the scam alert. If
04:17they're watching today, they can get mad at me all they want. I really don't care. Trust me,
04:20they're mad at me. They're coming for me, but I don't care, right? Because I know I'm doing the right
04:24thing for United States Marines and veterans and their families. It is the right thing. Everybody
04:29here knows it. Yeah, it is. I agree with you. Let me ask and let me thank you on another thing.
04:33Every year, every hearing, I've been coming to this committee talking about the Alaska backlog.
04:39My state has more veterans per capita than any state in the country, right? It's a proud heritage
04:44of the great state of Alaska. And the previous administration, the backlog to just get an appointment
04:51ballooned to it was almost 15,000. Okay, we got 80,000 veterans. That's like 15%. It's over 15%.
05:01Finally went down when I pressed the former secretary to 5,500 at the end of January,
05:08when the Biden administration left still way too high. You know what it is under your leadership,
05:13Mr. Secretary, right now, I'll tell you, it's 1361. I don't think I've been here the whole time
05:20where that backlog has been that low. In three months, you did more than Biden did in four years
05:26on the Alaska backlog. So I want to thank you for that, because that is real service for our veterans.
05:34Thank you, Senator. We're going to continue to do that for all veterans in every state. We want to
05:37make sure that those numbers are coming down and that the veterans are getting the benefits that they
05:41deserve and also the health care that they deserve. And if you can help us finally get a call center up
05:45there, I know it's an issue you and I've talked about. It'll bring that backlog even down further.
05:51But I want to thank you on both those things. I'll submit some questions for the record that relate
05:56to community care and some of the other issues you're working on. But on both of these issues,
06:02I appreciate your focus, because this is what taking care of veterans is. Senator Slotkin.
06:07Bringing down the backlog and making sure our Marines and sailors don't get scammed.
06:13Thank you, Senator. Thank you. First of all,
06:15I just want to recognize the chairman. Thank you for holding this hearing. I think.