Dan Benishek

I am still very disappointed in the way the VA is taking care of veterans who are suicidal.

I want to thank you gentleman for appearing before us today. And I really appreciate your input.

Let me just say that frankly I brought up this toxic exposure bill after talking to veterans in my District.

We really need to be more on top of this possible exposure, because like you say, the Agent Orange issue didn't come out until 20 years after Vietnam, if not longer.

I certainly agree with you about the glacier-like attitude there.

I am also proud to sponsor H.R. 5484 the Toxic Exposure Research Act of 2014.

With an estimated 22 veterans each day committing suicide, it has never been more important for us to take aggressive action.

So on September 18th you are having a town hall at the Saginaw VA. What time is that?

I agree with Mrs. Lummis.

Might as well try to finish it off a little bit. Yes.

The availability of this data has benefited the people of Michigan significantly.

As the National Research Council reported in 1995, data are the lifeblood of science and the key to understanding this and other worlds.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I really appreciate the time to introduce this bill. And thank you for holding the hearing.

I think we all just want to be sure that we have an Inspector General that we can rely on to be inspecting independently of VA coercion or enforcement or discussion.

This is a big problem. This is a huge problem. This is a problem that has to be addressed.

But we are being burdened down so much, and there are so many things that could happen to us.

For the audience we passed a pretty major veteran reform bill this past time that, frankly, it's going to come down to implementation.

I know that we haven't covered all the aspects of VA's problems that we've heard in Washington. I know that in your positions, from where you're at, you can't solve the problems of how the whole management of the system works.

I've got a couple more questions. In a statement for the record, the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of the Chippewa Indians stated that they are seeking an agreement with VA to allow members who are veterans as well as non-Native veterans to…

What I'm trying to get to is the point is that when a veteran is scheduled for an appointment, do they speak to the veteran as they schedule the appointment?

Is that the standard method, then, of actually speaking to the patient when they make an appointment?

That's been a complaint elsewhere in the country.

Is there a consistent way of reminding people of their appointments?

While preparing for the hearing today, my office received a call from a Northern Michigan VA employee...

But do you agree that 5 hours is excessive?