Executive Session

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, Americans across the Nation have been truly shocked by the way our veterans have been mistreated. The fact that 18 veterans died in Phoenix alone while waiting for care is, as we all know, a national tragedy. This should be reason enough for Washington to take decisive action to reform a system that has allowed this tragedy to occur and action to hold those responsible accountable.

Yet, as we know, the scandal extends well beyond Phoenix. In the words of the government's own inspector general report, the kind of problems we saw there are systemic and extend throughout the administration's facilities.

A new internal audit released just yesterday found that the scandal has spread to 76 percent of the VA facilities that were surveyed. It also found that about 100,000 veterans continue to wait for VA appointments and that many veterans have already had to wait 3 months or more. This is a national disgrace.

I recently received a message from a disabled veteran who lives in West Liberty, KY. He said he has experienced delay after delay in the VA system, and he is understandably fed up. He said every time he thinks he is getting somewhere, he finds that some VA employee has changed a date in his file or posted a ``no show'' for appointments he was not aware of.

``I suppose I will become a casualty of the war with the VA,'' he wrote, ``before I ever receive a decision on my appeal or ever receive proper treatment.''

We know this is not right. That is not the promise this country made to our veterans, and there is no good reason to make veterans wait another day longer. There is no reason for the majority leader to prioritize partisan bills aimed at boosting Democratic turnout in November over bipartisan legislation that is aimed at fixing the problems at the VA.

We will have a vote tomorrow on one of these partisan bills that is going nowhere, when we know the Sanders-McCain bill is ready. It has been filed and that is what we ought to be moving to. Veterans have been made to wait long enough at these hospitals. Congress should not keep them in the waiting room by putting partisan games ahead of solutions. Fixing this problem is where the Senate's focus should be right now.

As the Acting VA Secretary recently said, the extent of the problems at the VA ``demand immediate actions.'' He is certainly right about that.

I know the majority leader is going to have us turn to another one of these political show votes tomorrow, written by people over at the campaign committee, but we will have plenty of time to consider bills designed to fail later. Instead, now is the time for the Senate to act like the Senate again--to be serious and more than just a campaign studio for one political party.

Senators Burr, Coburn, and McCain have been working extremely hard on the issue, along with the chair of the Veterans' Affairs Committee. We all know there is no one in this Chamber better suited to tackle this crisis than John McCain. He understands the experience and needs of our veterans.

We should give Senator McCain and the rest of this group the space and support they need to get effective and bipartisan reform through the Senate. Given that their legislation contains provisions similar to a bill that has already passed the House overwhelmingly, I think we will get there as well, but we need to give the effort the attention it deserves first, and that means putting the designed-to-fail bills off to the side for a minute because, look, this is what the American people actually sent us to do--to legislate.

I am calling on the majority leader and the President to hit the pause button on the never-ending campaign. Veterans have been denied care. Veterans have actually died. This is an issue that deserves the Senate's immediate attention.

If our colleagues are serious about getting to the bottom of the scandal, holding the perpetrators accountable, and enacting reform to fix it, then they will actually focus on helping our veterans instead of worrying about saving their own seats this November.

I yield the floor.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source