"It looks like, honestly, a backdoor privatization effort."
"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."
"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 hope you can appreciate that it is important that we are able to see... how much is going into non-VA care."
"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 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 vete..."
"community care spending will have increased by 49 percent."
"almost every veteran I have ever spoken to... their preference is to go to the VA."
"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 secto..."
"I think that underscores the point about not going pell-mell in the direction of privatization."