I rise today to support S. 2648, the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act. I recently led a congressional delegation to McAllen, TX, and to Lackland Air Force Base to see firsthand what the administration was doing to handle this…

I think you are probably the first person to give all of us your cell phone number, so I hope this is not a situation where, be careful what you ask for.

I want to publicly thank Secretary Shinseki for doing that which he believed would be in the best interest of the Veterans Administration.

I expect that this Committee will work with you in a very open and transparent way, in a frank way, so that we can work together to move the ball and get the veterans the kind of attention that they very much earned.

I think when you are dealing with a huge system like the VA system, you are going to get a lot of push-back from people who are used to being left alone in their regions or whatever the grouping is.

I am not going to sit here and say that you do not need more money to hire more caregivers and other necessary personnel to take care of our veterans.

I hope that in your review you are also looking at your hiring processes, because it should not take a long time.

What could be more pressing than to make sure that our veterans receive the care that they need and deserve.

I want this Committee and this Congress to continue to be motivated by the sense of urgency.

I was told by the veterans that I have been talking with--many of them live on neighbor islands, so these are rural issues--I was told that even if they got vouchers to go out to get private care, the doctors on the Big Island and Maui…

So, if you were to have the appropriations to hire 10,000 people, how long do you think it would take for 10,000 people to be hired?

I do agree that abortion is a different procedure from other medical procedures because its foundation is a constitutional right.