Every senior citizen I talked to in the State of Kansas... say groceries are up 20 percent. Gasoline prices went from $2.00 to $3.50 a gallon.

I continue to hear from veterans in Kansas and across the country who face what are unacceptable barriers to accessing timely, quality health care that they need.

the name of this Committee, quite frankly, should be the House Oversight Committee on the District of Columbia

I urge Members to vote no on this bill, and I urge this Committee to keep its hands off D.C. and pass the D.C. Statehood bill instead.

Assuming the people of Kansas sent me here to save and protect Medicare and Social Security.

So to save Social Security it would be a good idea to stop paying people more to stay home than to go back to work.

When I was Mayor of Long Beach, California, I was really proud to establish the first city-wide project labor agreement in the state.

I look forward to the day when we have honest discussions in this Committee and our investigation powers to investigate our own out-of-control Federal bureaucracy that actually impacts the American people.

The act that is being discussed is really nothing more than a scheme to cripple Congress and to give right-wing extremists more and more opportunities to sabotage our government and eliminate, essentially, programs that help people.

I have introduced a couple of bills that are on today's agenda as a result of those kind of circumstances.

Probably $5,000 or $10,000 a day, literally.

Right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ms. Lawrence, you are a living, breathing miracle.

This is why we came to Congress, was to fix problems like this.

Congress has a responsibility to give direction to the VA. We do it based upon our best abilities and the information that we have.

I look forward to working together with all my colleagues on this Committee and the Senate as we work to negotiate a strong bipartisan and fiscally responsible legislative package.

A lot of this was done in the dark of the night, so to speak.

There are no individuals that will be losing because of this, financially.

I am grateful to you for your support of the Veterans HEALTH Act.