Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. HUDSON. Mr. Chair, I move to strike the last word in order to engage in a colloquy.

The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from North Carolina is recognized for 5 minutes.

Mr. HUDSON. Mr. Chairman, we are all aware of the tragic backlog that deeply affects so many of our Nation's heroes all across this country, and particularly in my district back home in North Carolina. Fixing this issue needs to be one of the highest priorities of Congress and this administration. We owe it to our veterans, and I know that many of my colleagues agree that we owe them to do this.

However, the solution is not necessarily to continually throw money at the problem. We have done that for years without the results we are looking for. The reality is the fiscal situation we find ourselves in today means that we can no longer afford to be so shortsighted in our approach.

In order to reform the VA--or any other department, for that matter--we need to have a clear understanding of what costs are associated with running their programs so we can evaluate their effectiveness and root out those that are wasteful, duplicitous, and are underperforming.

Mr. Chairman, I know you have been a leader on this issue and have tried for years to get from the VA a clear breakdown of what their administrative costs are. Is that correct?

Mr. CULBERSON. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. HUDSON. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.

Mr. CULBERSON. Yes, I have. It is an ongoing problem trying to get any of the agencies to tell you what their administrative costs are. It is extraordinarily important. I really appreciate you bringing it to our attention. We are going to continue to work on this with you and other Members to ensure that our constituents' hard-earned tax dollars are spent wisely.

Mr. HUDSON. Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman for his hard work and commitment, and I share his frustration. I have had a very difficult time, as well, trying to understand how the VA deals with its overhead. In fact, I have got a story I just heard from a veteran in my district that is probably not unique.

This gentleman went to the VA center in Winston-Salem for an appeals hearing. A veterans service officer, one of the very hardworking veterans service officers around the country, accompanied him to this meeting. He sat down with the VA employee, and he asked the employee: Do you have my file? I don't see it sitting on your desk. The employee said: Well, we computerized all the files, so I have got it all here in the computer. The veteran said: Well, just so I know where you are, which page are you looking at? Somewhat sheepishly, the VA employee said: Well, actually, I don't know how to access the files in the computer.

It is outrageous. It got worse from there.

They went forward with the hearing. At the conclusion of the hearing, the employee turned off a tape recorder and popped out the cassette. The veteran said: Well, what do you do with that cassette? He said: Well, we send that to San Diego so they can transcribe it. In about 6 weeks, we will get the transcription back and then we can start processing your claim.

Mr. Chairman, this is not what we intended when we asked that we go to a computerized VA system, and it is outrageous that our veterans are having to see these kind of delays. I would just ask that you work with us to try to resolve this problem.

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Mr. HUDSON. It is absurd.

I appreciate your commitment to this, the time you put into it. Our veterans deserve the best we can give them. They deserve to be treated with the highest respect, and they deserve to not have to wait these extraordinary amounts of time just to be heard.

Mr. Chairman, I commit to working with you to continue to deal with this issue, to take care of our veterans not just in North Carolina's Eighth District, but around the country.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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