Political Quotes

“I thank Chairman Takano for yielding me time. Mr. Speaker, earlier this year the VA Office of the Inspector General released two separate reports highlighting VA's failure to conduct reliable lifecycle cost estimates for its Electronic Health Record Modernization program. Specifically, the IG repeatedly found unreliable and incomplete estimates for infrastructure upgrades and costs as well as inadequate reporting of those costs. Given the size and scope of the EHRM program, the lack of accurate cost estimates hampers VA's ability to provide Congress with an accurate picture of the cost and scale of efforts to modernize IT and physical infrastructure at VA medical centers. This piece of legislation will address these issues. It requires VA to look at all costs across VHA, OIT, and any other programs for any amount expended on the EHRM program, including for infrastructure projects and contractors that were not part of the original contract. This legislation also requires VA to provide the committee with reports on performance metrics and outcomes. I thank Chairman Takano and Ranking Member Bost for their leadership and for cosponsoring this legislation as well as all of the other cosponsors and the committee members who have truly made this a bipartisan effort. Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this bill. {time} 1230”