Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Budget Listening Tour

I want to suggest to you that the ultimate prevention of suicide is to supply the treatment in a timely fashion that our veterans need.

I am worried about the ones that never pick up the phone.

I do not want anything to stand in the way of the VA coming to that table while your testimony is fresh on their minds.

According to the IG statement, even veterans who sought help and were accepted into the mental health program ended up waiting for the actual services. This is unconscionable.

Trust me, if you look at the last 9 years in the VA, if increasing funding solved the problems, this would be the model of government.

I can assure all that when you have the opportunity to live to the age of 90, you have not been cheated relative to the length of time on this earth, and my dad was certainly blessed and is blessed today.

VA must transform at every level to ensure every employee is committed to the notion of keeping veterans engaged in treatment.

The only assured way that we can make sure that we minimize the number of people that call that line is to make sure that, in fact, the service we provide is effective.

You have given us a number of avenues to look at from the standpoint of this Committee, and I am grateful to you for that.

I cannot tell you how alarmed I was on Friday of this past week when the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the employment report and there are over 430,000 people unemployed in my State now that are looking for work.

What can be done in the short term to boost demand, help get our citizens back to work?

I actually have a bill on that, and I was not using you as a prop, either.

I believe it is a problem that we do need to separate from the longer-term fiscal imbalance that we are attempting to address.

As Senator Burr has reminded us time and time again, that first person who answers the phone has to be responsive because that is how our veterans feel that they are treated.

Mr. President, I rise today to report to the Senate on the completion of my North Carolina Budget Listening Tour. While people in this town were mired in political gamesmanship that seems to be pushing parties further apart, I wanted to…

If you only take one thing away from this, please understand it does not work.

As I have said before, early intervention offers the best hope for improvement and recovery from PTSD, depression, and substance-abuse disorders.