Lisa Zagaroli, McClatchy Newspapers

When U.S. Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina assumed the GOP leadership position on the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs last week, he came to it with a bit of a gap -- he had attended fewer than half its hearings in recent years.

Others on the panel have worse attendance records. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a member of the military himself, only showed up three times at veterans committee hearings between the start of 2005 and May 16, 2007, according to a Charlotte Observer review of the published proceedings from 44 meetings.

Burr's attendance -- he has gone to 20 meetings -- is about the middle of the pack. A few senators attended most of the meetings, led by former Chairman Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, who attended 43 of the 44 hearings, and some senators attended only a few, such as Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who attended two.

A veterans affairs activist said he's less concerned with Burr's record of attendance than his votes on veterans funding, which he criticized.

Lawmakers are marked present even if they stay only for moments. The Observer's analysis included only oversight and fact-finding hearings that issue reports, not joint meetings with other committees or hearings where they can vote by proxy.

Conflicting meetings

Burr said he serves on five committees and is ranking Republican on two subcommittees important to North Carolina -- national parks and health care. So he routinely has to choose among several priorities.

"Every day is a choice for us," Burr said in an interview. "We do a very good job of selecting based on the topic."

Burr said he will always attend if there's a state-specific or other matter of particular interest before the panel. If he has a conflict and can't attend, he'll submit a proxy if the committee is holding votes. His staff attends, regardless of whether the senator is there.

Burr had to dash out of his first meeting last week as ranking Republican on the veterans panel to briefly attend the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, which was discussing the Lumbee tribe of North Carolina.

A week ago, Burr was named the acting replacement for Craig, who was the panel's ranking Republican until he was stripped of his committee assignments. Craig is expected to resign later this month in connection with a widely publicized incident in an airport restroom.

Chairmen from the majority party set the committee agenda, but the minority's ranking member decides which legislation to support or challenge, proposes alternatives and recommends witnesses for hearings.

More attention sought

Dennis Cullinan, national legislative director for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said Burr attended a reception for veterans last week and has demonstrated that he's engaged in the issues since he was appointed to the committee in 2005.

Larry Scott of Vancouver, Wash., who runs a Web site called VA Watchdog, said he's less concerned with Burr's attendance than his votes. He finds Burr's record on veterans funding issues "terribly dismal."

"It disappoints me that this is a 'B' committee," Scott said, referring to its status as a panel secondary in importance to others such as appropriations and armed services.

He understands that veterans who use government programs are a small population, but he'd like to see more congressional oversight of the Veterans Affairs Department. "They've let the VA kind of run on its own for most of its [existence]," Scott said.

The population of veterans is growing in the Carolinas, with about 750,000 in North Carolina and 410,000 in South Carolina.

The Observer has written extensively about quality of care issues at VA facilities, primarily the hospital in Salisbury.

Graham spokesman Kevin Bishop said the South Carolina senator serves on five committees with often-overlapping schedules. He spends much of his time on the armed services and judiciary panels.

"A hearing is not a good barometer of how active you are on an issue," Bishop said.