Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman from California. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 1994, the so-called VA Accountability Act. I am the daughter of a career servicemember and a veteran. I, too, was outraged last year at the findings that wait time records were falsified at the Department of Veterans Affairs. But I have to tell you--and it has been said on the other side--my father actually received really good care and services in VA, as hundreds of thousands of veterans do all across this country, by the hundreds of thousands of veteran employees and workers at the VA. I recall that, in my State of Maryland, 10 percent of our population are veterans, and we are a small State. We all care about veterans and the care that they receive. Just before adjourning for our August district work period last year, Congress passed and I voted for and the President signed into law the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act. That law gave the VA Secretary expanded authority to fire or demote Senior Executive Service employees, capped the amount of bonuses the VA could pay each year, and it required the VA to establish penalties for employees who knowingly submit false wait time data. Well, enough already. Almost 1 year later House Republicans are not only here skipping town early with a whole bunch of unfinished business, but they are spending the last day of the session on an ideological bill that is aimed to disparage Federal employees.…”