Hearing of the Conference Committee on VA Reform - VA Reform and Increased Care for Veterams

Hearing

Today, the joint House-Senate VA Reform Conference Committee met for the first time to begin their work finalizing a bill to reform the VA and increase access to care for veterans.

"Thank you, Senator, and thank you, Chairman Miller and Ranking Members Burr and Michaud. Thank you to each of my colleagues that are here. You came to Congress, and you chose to serve on this committee and serve veterans, and that says much about your character, and I'm grateful for that.

"As so many people have said, the tragedy is spelling itself out and there are no adjectives that can describe the disgust the American people have with this. Don't underestimate the American public's willingness to get this right, and again, I would ask each of you to understand; each of us will be judged by the product we produce, as we should be, for veterans.

"And like so many of my colleagues, this is an opportunity to think big. I think Senator Coburn was getting at and thinking like a physician: you have to diagnose first before you can prescribe cures. And we need to know what's there, we need to know what can be there, and be willing to get it out there.

"Coming from the son of a Korean War era veteran -- and myself, my entire adult life in uniform, I can tell you, restoring the faith of the veterans is critical to what we do here. And the veteran service organizations that are sitting here listening today, it matters. It matters that we get them back on board. It matters that they're listening, it matters that their point of view is heard because they know this, they've seen this movie before. They've seen the yellow magnets that are now faded. And they know that lots of folks want to stand in front of veterans; who wants to stand behind them? And more importantly, who wants to stand beside them?

"So I would encourage my colleagues, let's have vision on this. Let's go big. Let's triage and get the care done right now, but there are issues that we can set a legacy, we can change the culture, we can change the trajectory, and I would put out there that we do need to have the details. There are a grandeur of things that do need to be addressed. There are physician shortages, there are accountability. Those things will be handled.

"I think what's missing here is that I've never quite understood, and again, in over 24 years in uniform and eight years having the honor to serve on this committee, why is there no overarching American strategy on veterans? Why is there no quadrennial review of veterans? Why is that not tied to the budgeting process when the needs are there? We're never done that. We wouldn't accept that in the DoD, and we accept it here. I would argue that would set the stage for the accountability, it would put it where it should be: back in our constitutional authority and Congress to make sure this is happening instead of having committee after committee and IG and then the frustration of some midlevel manager thwarting what we think. And when I asked yesterday senior V.A. officials what our strategy was, they said, "the timely care of our veterans'. That's a goal, that's not a strategy. And you can't get there unless you have that.

"So, I'm encouraged by the folks who showed up here. It's obvious this is serious, and we have the American public's attention. They're busy, they have lives, they're working, they're doing all that. Now is the time. Let's not miss the opportunity to get this right, and I'm confident that the folks here possess that ability. With that, I yield back."

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