Political Quotes

“The Sinema-Salmon amendment is a commonsense, budget-neutral fix that helps restore our veterans' trust in the VA by transferring additional resources to the VA Office of Inspector General so that it can carry out its mission to provide oversight and accountability. Our amendment increases funding for the VA OIG by $1 million and offsets this increase by reducing VA General Administration funding by the same amount. I want to thank the chairman and ranking member of the Military Construction and VA appropriations subcommittee, Mr. Culberson and Mr. Bishop, for supporting this amendment and for working with us on this issue. Mr. Chairman, we offer this amendment because the recent allegations of secret lists and long wait times at the Phoenix VA, which may have caused some 40 veteran deaths, require answers and action. This is immoral, unconscionable, irresponsible, and un-American. We need answers in Phoenix. But this is not an isolated incident. A December 2012 GAO report found that Veterans Health Administration wait times are unreliable. Stories of health complications and deaths because of wait times have surfaced in other parts of the country, including South Carolina and Texas. That this is happening to the good people who have defended our flag and our freedoms is beyond the pale. I have worked on veterans' issues for a long time, and it is wrong that it took deaths to get action--but there had better be action now.…”