Johnny Isakson

I'm one of the last remaining people who voted for No Child Left Behind in the Congress of the United States, and we caught plenty of hell for requiring too much testing.

We really want to try to take action by the end of March and have a consolidation of bills put together that give flexibility of direction and the flexibility the Secretary needs to have accountability within the VA.

We depend very heavily on what you have to say and your active participation as we all work together for the best benefit of our veterans.

Let us not let another year go past by kicking the can down the road. Let us make the reforms necessary to get the VA straightened out.

I would appreciate your checking on that and being sure.

I would suggest you check that out.

The Secretary needs some tools in his toolbox he does not have, and one of them is getting this whole backlog straightened out.

We cannot continue to do what we are doing now, which is have a backlog of claims at almost half a million, some 25 years old that continue to build up.

I consider accountability to apply two ways: employee to supervisor, but supervisor to employee as well.

That may be the biggest problem of all. We have got to correct that.

We have got to hold ourselves accountable.

If the other eight of those ten are doing as good a job as those two are, we are going to be in much better shape at the VA.

I think it is important for our veterans to have accountability in the system to make sure if they have an appeal, that it is justified and is heard.

Accountability is the single most important thing we must accomplish, in my judgment, on this Committee and within the VA itself.

We are working on it. I guess I would just like to assure you of our commitment that we will continue to work with your staff on the care planning codes.

I was pleased to see that CMS introduced a payment form for physicians to have those kind of conversations about advanced directives and POLST.

I will do a favor for you. If you will get me the information that I need to call them to tell them to expedite getting submitted to you, I will do that if--and I have just been handed this, so I take responsibility for the accuracy of…

I just want to make sure everybody who was going to get reimbursed gets reimbursed.

It says FDA has moved the goalpost and is now requiring a new test that no one has ever heard of.

As one who has survived two melanomas in my life, I took that on as a call to action and started investigating what was happening at FDA.

This is a part of everyone's life, and it needs to be dealt with with respect and dealt with appropriately.

Make sure that you all are utilizing those people.

On the zika virus, I know Tom Frieden and I talked last week. I think the estimated request is $1.48 billion; is that correct?

I want to tell you how much I appreciate your accessibility, your willingness to work to solve problems, and I appreciate everything you have done for us in Georgia.

I could not have said it better than Senator Flake did. I met with the nominees as well. They are outstanding citizens of our country.