Political Quotes

“While I have worked closely with my colleague from Washington on the Veterans' Affairs Committee in the Senate, I know she is committed to veterans, and I want to work with her on these matters. I will say, though, I would disagree with her on one major issue. She mentioned growing pains and the PACT Act has expanded veterans' benefits. And that is good; I voted for that bill. But this isn't about growing pains. This is about what the IG just testified to the House on last week, and it is systemic problems of accountability at the VA. And to be honest, if you are on the committee, you know that more than anybody because we see it all the time. So I am disappointed that simple reforms, accountability, the Secretary coming in quarterly, in person, not teleworking like 99 percent of the VA currently does--and shouldn't do, by the way--telling Congress where they are in the budget so you are not going to have another overrun. And then if you made the mistake--and there is a big budget overrun, you don't get a bonus. Very simple. I am really disappointed that we can't undertake basic, simple accountability reforms when we are, once again, at the last minute, scrambling to make sure due to the VA's mismanagement, Congress is coming in with additional money making sure our veterans get their benefits, that is not the way to run a really important Federal bureaucracy and organization like we have at the VA.…”