orry, mr. secretary. mr. ruiz, you're recognized. mr. ruiz: thank you very much, mr. chairman. secretary shin secretaryy, thank you for your service to our country. the government shutdown has caused a crises that could have been avoided had congress simply worked together to put people ahead of politics and solutions ahead of ideology. it is unconscionable that congress continues to put political gamesmanship above the needs of our veterans. the best way to help veterans in my district and across the country is to end this reckless shutdown. now that the v.a.'s required to furlough thousands of employees, how will that affect the veterans claims backlog and constituents, specifically in my district, meaning how will furloughs impact the l.a. regional office, and the san diego regional office, which reviews claims for veterans in my district? >> congressman, as i indicated are -- our availability of carryover funding for 2013, roughly $40 million, we exhausted that on 7 october, and therein then had to furlough about 7,800 people. we have about 13,000 regional benefits employee