To say that I am disturbed by these accounts and by the multiple reports we hear every day about the skyrocketing use of prescription painkillers - particularly opioids - to treat veterans in pain would be a major understatement.

It is critical for VA to take responsibility for its failures and rise to the challenge to change and take immediate action to adopt effective pain management policies, protocols, and practices.

I think in today's hearing I leave compelled that the system appears to be broken.

VA's band aid approach to suppressing the symptoms of pain rather than treating the root causes must stop.

So as I said in my opening statement, one of the options I am interested in exploring is the VMT.

In fact, it is questionable how effective any other recommendation will be without addressing this issue.

Chairman Shuster and Ranking Member Rahall both said that when it comes down to finding ways to finance our Nation's transportation system, all options need to be considered.

According to a recent report, nearly 64 percent of our roads in Los Angeles County are listed in poor condition and costing our drivers $832 a year, well over the national average of $377.

But you would be in favor of getting more of your Harbor Maintenance Tax dollars back.

This is frankly appalling, and I believe it is a reason we need to be looking at any and all options to address the continuing funding shortfalls in the Highway Trust Fund.

Thank you for your service. Thank you for all those days that you went wondering, and thank you for finding hope in your struggle to make sure that other people do not get treated like you did.

Not allowing the next of kin, the spouse, to be seen with the patient for privacy reasons, is one of the biggest hog washes I have ever heard.

I will continue to advocate for pragmatic solutions so that we can open our doors, specifically for our veterans.

It is unconscionable that Congress continues to put political gamesmanship above the needs of our veterans.

Well, we are going to have to find better ways of how we have limited amount of money now as compared to what we have had in the past.

Sounds like we set up another scenario of corruption there, to be frank.

the land tenure situation in Haiti is more a political problem than it is a technical problem

And how do we find the NGOs? You know, are they U.S.-based NGOs? International? Haitian?