Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of our Nation's veterans and in support of action that will fundamentally address the systematic failures that are clearly occurring across the Department of Veterans Affairs. I reluctantly support this legislation because I believe we owe it to the brave men and women who have sacrificed so much for our Nation to do everything in our power to ensure the VA is accountable for its performance. I share with the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Miller), my good friend and colleague, fundamental goals of addressing shortcomings in VA leadership. I am proud of our bipartisan working relationship. Not only does our working together usually allow us to get more done, but I believe it makes our efforts better. I am disappointed, however, that the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs was not given the opportunity to consider this bill. I believe that members of the committee, Republicans and Democrats, could have improved this bill before it was brought to the floor. I believe this bill would be stronger and more reflective of the substantive reforms necessary in the Department if it had been allowed to go through the committee markup process. H.R. 4031 has been put forth as an accountability bill, but it falls short of providing substantive beneficial changes in the VA's executive performance management system.…”