Mike Johanns

I ask for the yeas and nays. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there a sufficient second? There appears to be a sufficient second. The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the nomination of Joseph S. Hezir, of Virginia, to…

Just a word or two to both leaders. Thank you so much for your kind words. I also want to say thank you for mentioning my wife Stephanie. This has been a remarkable partnership for a lot of years, and I could not have done what I did…

I think it would be beneficial.

Somehow we have got to figure out a better way, because at the most important time in this person's life, when they are crying out for help, it should be a simple, straight-forward pathway to access that help.

Our job is to try to figure out how we deal with that puzzle, that very difficult issue of how to provide services to people who need it.

But to anyone who might be listening in who is wondering if is it time to give up, it is not.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I just hope we are not over-engineering something here.

Could you do that and make it crystal clear to the public that you confirm that the role of conservator... is to be the bridge builder?

It is Congress who will create the next housing finance system and that the next housing finance system is not the conservatorship of the FHFA.

I will continue to push this legislation, but many of its provisions are things that HUD has the flexibility to implement on its own.

Let us make it right this time. Let us not make it so that the only thing that happens is the narrow band of things that everybody agrees to.

The Inspector General report we are here to discuss today has confirmed disturbing allegations about secret wait lists and barriers to health care for our veterans.

Why don't they have the freedom to make their own choice about their health care?

I need more money. I need to be bigger, faster, grander. I need a bigger bureaucracy. I need to hire more people.

The accountability and transparency pieces of the legislation are not only important, they are critical.

It is critical that we continue to have these oversight hearings to do everything we can to hold VA's feet to the fire and make sure that accountability is there.

There has to be accountability for wrongdoing or these issues will continue and the Senate will have more hearings, not only next week or the week after, but in 5, 10, 20 years from now.

The White House needs to have a more visible role in addressing the crisis.

Personally, I think what you need is competition.

The notion that employment should be tied to performance might seem elementary to most people, but this has not been happening at the VA.

The proportion of Americans in the labor force is now less than 63 percent.

I was then and I still am concerned that the risk of quantitative easing outweighs the benefits.

This is the third time you have been before the Committee--once as a nominee and now twice in your role as Chair.