Political Quotes

“I have just learned that the majority leader has filed for cloture on the nomination of Ms. Tanya Bradsher to be Deputy Secretary at the Department of Veterans Affairs. In addition to my remarks on the Senate floor on July 18, I would like to provide more context to my decision to oppose her nomination, especially in light of new information that has come to my attention. Ms. Bradsher, if confirmed, would be second in command at a deeply troubled agency. Both the VA and Ms. Bradsher in her current role as chief of staff have shown repeated indifference to congressional oversight. Records show that she played a key role in the VA's deficient response to my investigation of VA corruption that I launched in 2021. Another of my investigations has revealed that she also failed to secure sensitive veterans' health information, PII, and whistleblower information in the VA's correspondence system, VA Integrated Enterprise Workflow Solution, also called VIEWS, which is under her direct authority. My oversight has shown that VIEWS exposes veterans' private and sensitive information to thousands of VA employees, only a small number of whom are authorized to see it. The VA and Ms. Bradsher provided misleading information about that as well, which I will discuss here. If confirmed, Ms. Bradsher would be in charge of the VA's effort to modernize veterans' electronic health records.…”