Mark Kelly: “I see the hospitals as being a piece of the assets that the VA actually owns. I look at an aging veterans population…”

“I see the hospitals as being a piece of the assets that the VA actually owns. I look at an aging veterans population that is strongly in need of support in terms of assisted living and skilled nursing and that type of care; and I am concerned that if we step down these assets, which are currently full care, acute care hospitals, that we are closing a possibility, closing a doorway for those elderly veterans. I would like to ask the chairman of the committee if he would help me and work with me through addressing these assets that we have in trying to use them in a better way. I think it is very important that the enhanced use lease authority be addressed in this manner and used in this manner. I think that I could perhaps comfortably withdraw this amendment if I can get that kind of a pledge from the committee.”