VA OIG reports 'must be accurate,' 'must be fair,' and 'must be objective.' This report is none of those things.

But like any business, the times change, the needs change and it's time for us to look at how we operate our networks differently to get the type of accountability that's needed to make sure we don't see the failures that we saw here in…

The VISN model was put in place close to 20 years ago, a very innovative model that has served VA well.

It is my hope we can work together to ensure talented medical professional remain in the VA to deliver quality care to our veterans.

I received a phone call saying that the President wanted to make a change, and that's certainly his prerogative to do that, and that's what happened.

I came to Washington with the commitment to make our system work better for veterans. That's the commitment that I went to work every day. I continue to feel strongly about that. There was no reason why I would resign.

I believe strongly, Anderson, that when it comes to V.A. and national security, we can't make this a political issue.

I wasn't willing to do that. I don't think that's the right thing for veterans and I stood up against them.

This is a tough job for anybody to do. What the successful secretary needs to do is to build a team around them because this is bigger than any one person, and to work very collaboratively with veteran service organizations and Congress.

I think the way the findings were used -- were used in a political way. Not by the inspector general, but by the political appointees within V.A.

We are adding to our app store, you know, apps where people can connect.

As you know, coming from a provider background, I strongly believe people deserve to get paid when they deliver a service, and we have failed many of our providers in terms of that.

I ask for your steadfast support in funding our full FY 2019 and FY 2020 AA budget requests.

Veterans come first, absolutely.

How could you argue against wanting veterans to have choice and the best type of care?

Our job to do the best thing for the veteran.

We want to make this easier for veterans to access private sector services when they need it, when it is the best thing for them.

We just have to do more.

It just simply couldn't work by turning on a switch and privatizing it.

There is no pressure to privatize. There is pressure to fix the system.

This is critical to us and our top priority to reduce veterans' suicide.

Since April of 2017, I think this is a very much better environment for our veterans.

The VA has a responsibility to increase its capacity for substance abuse.

We need to be doing more of this in alternatives.