Tim Walz: “I thank the gentleman for bringing this forward. This amendment addresses an issue that we dealt with in our committee…”

“I thank the gentleman for bringing this forward. This amendment addresses an issue that we dealt with in our committee last Congress, where senior executives are transferred to different positions around the country, receive pay increases and relocation incentives. We subpoenaed two senior executives. In fact, the first subpoenas ever issued out of the VA Committee, I asked for them to get there; and they were backed by Mr. Roe, backed by our chairman and ranking member. And to refresh people's minds, these were folks that took positions of lesser power, used their positions to negotiate to get there, and then, in some cases, took $129,000 moving expenses. You cannot find anyone more outraged than me. And I will tell you, because it was not done correctly, and we didn't focus on this, I still work with some of those very same people. They have their jobs back. Now, the debate that the gentleman may have heard earlier is we don't disagree at all that we should get rid of these people. This amendment will focus on the right things, that is what we have been making the case of. So I applaud the gentleman. I am glad he is here. His military service is greatly appreciated. The statistics he gave on veterans shows that he will be there. I support this amendment, and I certainly believe that my colleagues should all support it. It is this type of work that improves upon a bill, as I say, once again, 90 percent of what is in this bill is in absolute agreement.…”