The Public Record
Debbie Wasserman Schultz is an American politician serving as the U.S. Representative for Florida's 23rd congressional district since 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, she has held various leadership roles, including serving as the chair of the Democratic National Committee from 2011 to 2016. Throughout her tenure, Wasserman Schultz has focused on issues such as healthcare, education, and women's rights, advocating for policies that aim to improve the lives of her constituents. She has been an outspoken advocate for gun control and has worked on legislation addressing the needs of veterans and military families.
I mentioned in my opening remarks and to you, in our closed door meetings, about the concern and the difference between what our budget agreement was, which was to spend the increase in the budget for the VA on infrastructure investment.
I know we had spoken--I am not sure during which meeting or conversation we spoke about this--but that there has been an ongoing concern over whether interoperability would extend to the private sector.
Just piggybacking on the chairman's question on the EHR process, what is a little troubling to me...
I think that underscores the point about not going pell-mell in the direction of privatization.
Almost every veteran I have ever spoken to... their preference is to go to the VA.
The more and more resources that go into private community care and the less of an increase that we are focused on in VA care, the longer it takes us
I hope you can appreciate that it is important that we are able to see... how much is going into non-VA care.
I am deeply concerned that this is a, you know, snowball rolling faster and faster down the hill, and appears to be moving in the direction of privatization.
I would like to associate myself with your remarks about the distractions, but also with yours about the importance and our singular focus needing to be about making sure that we can care for our veterans.
Really, in short, they just don't make them like Charlie Dent that much anymore, and you are going to be missed.
Other than defense, I am pretty sure that there is no other Federal agency that has fared better than the VA while we functioned under the budget caps.
What is it that you are doing to make sure that this key component of our defense infrastructure, which is energy resiliency is a high priority?
You cut regional coastal resilience grants. How are communities like mine supposed to be able to make sure they can gird against flooding?
He specifically said here that he would not, as President, cut any of these programs.
I do not know when you were a legislator if you ever helped a constituent try to get through the SSI and that disability process, but it takes years, which is insane to begin with, and now you will make it even harder.
I represent, as you know, the state of Florida with the largest percentage of seniors in the country by population, and so these cuts disproportionately impact our seniors.
I was the first and only potential GOP candidate to state there will be no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
We are still recovering from one of the destructive hurricane seasons in recent memory.
So I am trying to understand why President Trump broke his promise to the American people...
As a member of the Appropriations Committee representative on the Budget Committee, I appreciate that.
I have tremendous respect for the people who work at CBO, for your expertise, and for your commitment to giving us accurate analysis.
Politicians like Debbie Wasserman Schultz
