Mazie Hirono

The current Supreme Court is one of the most corporate-friendly Courts in history.

So, would you all agree that any face-to-face audit should include--probably, this is a rhetorical question, but--input from the veterans' organizations as well as veterans at the particular facility?

I would envision that any kind of an assessment of the entire VA health care system would involve not just this process that Secretary Shinseki has described to us.

I would like to ask you--perhaps we can start with Mr. Dellinger--what needs to happen in a face-to-face audit to truly elicit the kind of information we need to address the challenges and the problems at VA hospitals and clinics.

As we look at the potential need for making systemic changes to how VA operates...

The lack of transparency and the lack of accountability is inexcusable and cannot continue.

Clearly, this problem has gone on far too long.

I think it certainly encourages the kind of activities that we are scrutinizing today.

This is the time to make real changes.

The Veterans Health Care System is a promise we made to America's veterans--that we will take care of them in return for their service and sacrifice.

I completely agree with you. I hope we are all on the same page on that.

We need to get rid of sequestration because it has done so much damage to our readiness and other aspects of the military.

I cannot understand why we do not allow generic drugs to be sold in our commissaries.

I think it is really important to educate our servicemembers, explain to them that the cuts that are being made are not mainly coming on their backs.

I hope that there is a way that we can better track the experiences of our veterans.

The post-9/11 GI Bill has been an outstanding program.

Madam Chairwoman, I would like to request that all of our Services send to our subcommittee the latest of standard surveys and any modifications that are made to the surveys.

The men and women who do serve need to be treated fairly.

I think, as a general proposition, that it behooves all of us to care about the graduation rates throughout our country.

A huge percentage of them are not able to join. Maybe 75 percent--that's a number that I came across in some other setting--are not qualified, a lot of them due to the fact that they may not have high school degrees.

Only 14 percent of youth are inclined to serve in the military.

If it goes down very significantly to the point where we may be having to close some commissaries, that might happen, that could happen?

Right now, the difference between the prices at commissaries and what the prices would be outside, although we have a lot of competition for lower prices through Costco and other places, is about 30 percent right now, isn't it?

Would there be some differentiation that would occur in these price increases?

What very much impressed me was that this was a situation where the veterans that were homeless are in transitional housing.