John Boozman

Seventy percent of veterans who die by suicide are not actively engaged in VA health care.

You are requesting $8.6 billion for veteran mental health services, a 5.8 percent increase over last year.

The solution to these problems need to come from the ground up, rather than a judge or somebody that has never been on a farm making some very, very important decisions.

Operating under continuing resolutions (CRs) for extended periods of time complicates the execution of the Department's plan.

Without the navigation, there is no way. Grain would be spoiled on the ground, and our balance in trade would quickly go out the back door.

Do you feel that the Administration's principles for infrastructure properly address America's inland waterways?

We are trying to make it such that we allow the State Revolving Funds--the SRFs--to bundle multiple drinking water and wastewater projects together.

If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order. There being no objection, the Senate, at 6:41 p.m., adjourned until Tuesday, February 27, 2018, at 10 a.m.

I very much oppose the question of user fees.

Why do so many items remain open?

I think he is going to do a very, very good job.

I noticed that the Department of Veterans Affairs was rather high on the list of agencies with not addressed or partially addressed actions.

I believe there are tens of billions of dollars that could be saved by implementing our recommendations.

There is a lot of frustration in this area. There is a lot of frustration not only in this Committee but throughout Congress.

I think it is really important. We do not want the border wall to be the new CFPB.

We would like to make it such that we have a significant amount of money, you know, going that way because it is going to take that.

I appreciate the emphasis on the business practice reform approach that you are taking, and certainly your work on the audit is going to be so, so vitally important.

Okay. So go ahead. I interrupted you. Are there other things that you learned that----

So are we able to go ahead, you know, and follow-up on that right now? Are we starting already?

But you have got that flexibility?

What do we do to help you get the people that you need and retain people?

I think it would be helpful for us to know the areas that we can truly rely on the information versus it is a guess.

I think at times, too, we run into disagreements.

How does the VA project its expected collections for each year, and how does that match up with what we are actually collecting?

Thank you. According to the VA OIG report on the consolidated patient account centers, in 2015, the VA billed third-party payers approximately $7.2 billion for medical treatment.