Mike Coffman

Do the VA clinicians who sit on the board of biological implant vendors violate this statute?

What should VA do to maintain control of construction designs in the future?

I just think it is so disgraceful how our Gulf War veterans have been treated on this issue.

Thank you, Chairman Coffman

So when the GAO report says that these major medical construction projects are delayed an average of 35 months each with an average overrun of $360 million each, you differ with GAO and you say that you can produce accounting standards…

This bill recognizes the tremendous problems associated with VA major construction projects.

Notably this bill is supported by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, and the former secretary of Veterans' Affairs, Jim Nicholson.

These bills are intended to heighten the protection for our veterans and improve services provided by the VA.

Unfortunately, I think sometimes politics gets in the way within VA, within the community, within Congress.

This legislation requires the VA to use the Army Corps of Engineers as the special project manager.

I agree with many of the commission's findings including its findings that there are certain core capabilities better suited for the Guard and Reserves such as missions in cyber, ISR, in space mission support.

This year the National Commission of the Structure of the Air Force released their findings, of their 2-year extensive look at Air Force--at force structure in the United States Air Force.

I can tell you that for our disabled veterans, the enemy does not discriminate on who they fire upon.

I am proud to have introduced this proposal with both Chairman Graves and Chairman Miller of the House Veterans Affairs Committee.

The process is cumbersome, expensive, and does not work for our veterans.

Mr. Chairman, the bill as currently written respects not only the veterans of this country, I being one of them, but also respects the taxpayers of this country in that it merely continues an existing funding source that this particular…

I certainly second that, his view of that.

The former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said before he left the administration words to the effect that he didn't envision the United States doing another Iraq and Afghanistan again

And failure to report will subject the VA facility to State penalties. These penalties are vital to ensure the VA will comply with and improve their reporting requirements. Given the VA's recent inadequate responses to infectious disease…

I am worried that the future pool of recruits may not be able to maintain the elite standards that we have established.

This paper details the reasons why the current enlistment statute is flawed and why H.R. 435 provides the best remedy.

I introduced legislation that would widen the enlistment statute, section 504 of the U.S. Code, to allow not only natural born citizens and legal permanent residents to enlist, but also temporary visa holders and individuals approved under…

I am proud of the extraordinary current level of talent in the armed services that has developed under the all-volunteer military that we have today.

I am not convinced that VA has taken the appropriate steps to correct these problems, especially considering how many of them were addressed in similar hearings this subcommittee held nearly two years ago.

Vendors performing operations on veterans is not only a serious breach of VA protocol but also violates the veteran's privacy and thereby HIPAA.