Political Quotes

“Again, the House version of this bill, which is ready for us to take up today, has stronger accountability language which we do not oppose. It simply was not included for purposes of time at the committee level. But we are prepared to move now, if we could, because the House version is here and ready for action on our part, and it has the stronger accountability language. It sounds as though, no matter what, we are probably going to have a delay here on acting on this matter. I would say this for people watching here in the Gallery or at home or anywhere they might see it later--I just want everybody to understand what we are saying here. All we are saying in this bill is that if you work for the VA and you aren't doing your job, they get to fire you. I think people are shocked that doesn't actually exist in the entire government since there is no other job in the country where, if you don't do your job, you don't get fired. But in this instance, we are just limiting it to one agency. This should actually be the rule in the entire government. If you are not doing your job, you should get fired. But this is just limiting it to the VA because we have a crisis there with the lack of accountability. I would hope we can move forward on this, and I am prepared to listen to anyone who wants to improve this. We went through the normal course and process in the Senate. We went through the committee. It had hearings. Opportunities for amendments were offered at the time.…”