Bob Filner

On rollcall 402, I was away from the Capitol due to prior commitments to my constituents. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.'' Amendment No. 18 Offered by Mr. Holt The Acting CHAIR. The unfinished business is the demand for a…

This would put in danger important parks and monuments, not only in my area, but those such as the Statue of Liberty National Monument, Cape Cod in Massachusetts, Point Reyes in California, Cape Hatteras National Seashore in North…

I thank you, Mr. Markey. I rise in opposition to the bill, especially to the border provisions of the bill, and I rise in support of the Grijalva amendment that is going to be coming. I represent the entire California-Mexico border. I know…

If you are given amputation, why should you wait three years for all the other parts of your claim to be adjudicated?

We do not need all these thousands of employees and bureaucracy after bureaucracy after bureaucracy.

Nothing has worked. It has gotten worse. And you refuse to admit it.

It is time for VA to uphold its responsibility, to our veterans and to the American people, to break this cycle of un-productivity and deliver the benefits that the agency was created to provide.

You know what the definition of one definition of insanity is? You try the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.

We owe it to these heroes to not let even one of those VRAP slots go unfilled.

I would say to my colleagues on this Committee: let's do something.

This is disgraceful. This is an insult to our veterans.

You got to do something different, radical, change the whole nature of the situation.

Say welcome home to our Vietnam vets. Let's grant their Agent Orange claims.

I mean, it is like you are trying to fix a mouse trap that does not work, does not trap mice, just traps veterans.

With all due respect to my friends in the VSOs, as I listened to you, it seemed like you swallowed the Kool-Aid.

What are you so afraid of, of having to accept this massive, massive bureaucracy which you said, Mr. Hall, veterans comes first, but you yourself are not putting the veterans first?

There is no plan, Ms. Hickey. There is no transformation.

You are so afraid that one veteran is going to commit fraud. I talked to some of your officers and they said, well, there are guys that are going to lie. Come on. Ninety-nine percent of them are not and we can live with one.

This is not a plan. This is not a strategic plan.

Who is responsible for this kind of sloppiness? Who is responsible for this irresponsibility?

If someone of my constituents is sitting here who has waited three years for a claim adjustment and heard your statement, they would throw up.

Insanity, doing the same thing over and over again and that you expect a different result.

I cannot stress too much if you are going to keep doing the same thing, we are going to keep failing.

What gives me the confidence? That you were an Air Force General? Sorry, it does not work.

Let's grant those claims. Forget the suffering. Forget all the presumptiveness. Forget all the studies.