Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I rise to offer an amendment that seeks to redirect funds that would otherwise be spent on Department of Veterans Affairs bureaucrats and administrative expenses and puts those monies towards timely service for our veterans. Although this amendment is a dollar-for-dollar transfer within this bill, which will result in a neutral impact on the bill's budget authority, the amendment will actually decrease budget outlays for 2015 by $1 million according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The general administration account for the Department of Veterans Affairs is funded at $321,591,000. Funds to this account can be spent on things that have nothing to do with administrating critical services for our veterans. Examples include things like receptions, conferences, uniforms, and excessive travel for bureaucrats. It is no secret that the VA, like other Federal agencies like the GSA and the IRS, has in recent years abused the trust of the American people by spending exorbitant amounts of money on conferences and travel expenses. I think we all know that the VA has had its share of problems in the past few years. Meanwhile, wait times for claims processing and appeals processing are horrendous. The most recent report put forth by the VA indicates there are more than 600,000 veterans' claims pending with the VA. Even more troubling is the fact that 319,363 claims have been pending for more than 125 days. Many of our veterans are simply giving up.…”