On the recordJuly 30, 2014
I would like to say to Chairman Miller and Ranking Member Michaud, on behalf of the 54,000 veterans in my district and the 20 million around the country, thank you. And to every conferee that has served on this conference committee, thank you. This is a huge step forward today, and I am grateful to have been a part of this process. The need for this legislation and for our conference committee to have worked together was great, and it has been an incredible experience. Let's not forget, in the past decade, nearly 1,000 veterans have died as a result of substandard treatment from the Department of Veterans Affairs, and many more cases are under investigation. Mr. Speaker, 50,000 new patients have waited at least 90 days for their first appointment at VA hospitals. VA staff have admitted to falsifying medical appointment dates to fit within the agency's wait time performance goal of 14 days. All these facts have been simply appalling. All of us in Congress have constituents who have been directly impacted by this scandal. The need for the legislation is so timely today. I just came from the World War II Memorial, and I thanked a veteran from the Chicagoland- Indiana area. I shook his hand, looked him in the eye, and thanked him for serving our Nation. He stood up out of his wheelchair, looked me in the eye, and said: ``Thank you for fighting for us.'' It just simply shows how important this is.…
