Tim Walz

I am amazed at the lack of anticipating what is going to be asked of you when you come here...

If you are serious about this triage, I would think you would be turning over every stone to find a physician.

I am your staunchest supporter, but I will be your harshest critic when it needs to be.

It does not make sense to have over 150 individual performance pay policies as is currently the case.

The starting point for all that we do has to be the veteran; if we are going to improve their health outcomes, we have to get them directly involved in the process.

It is clear that the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) current performance review and performance pay systems are part of the problem.

We owe it to the thousands of professionals at the VA who are doing things right, and, most importantly, we owe it to the veterans in their care to get this problem fixed.

This is the only thing that matters, and this is the only reason the VHA should exist.

Conservation is this Subcommittee's bread and butter too.

From a sportsman's perspective, Mr. Kovarovics, how do we reach this compromise?

I just--and I am trying to get this, and you are hearing the frustration.

The biggest mistake here was, it does not feel to me that there was enough of that input.

We are all open to new techniques. I have seen our folks work hand in hand with NRCS and we have heard great success stories.

We all know that this is a business where there are lots of uncertainties.

We need to keep in mind, that leaves about 250 million Americans who we have to educate about this process.

I just had a couple questions for me and for others listening who might not know this.

Let me be clear, I am not opposed to these standards, having advocated for them in the past, however I am concerned that imposing them as a qualification for exemption has the potential to lead to significant disincentives for conservation…

I want to thank my friend also for giving us this opportunity to discuss the issue of clean water, the impact on agriculture and conservation and our rural communities.

we should show great concern that our producers are showing this level of concern

I am just wondering if in the process now is not too poisoned or whatever you might say to go forward.

I do worry, and the gentleman from Ohio brought up a great point, that we have to be very careful in doing this so that we don't disincentivize people that want to do this right.

If a farmer builds a fence that does not comply with NRCS standards, the cloud then is that he has violated the Clean Water Act.

Did you anticipate there would be this type of, I guess, concern and level of concern? Did it surprise you when you heard this or were you prepared for that?

Now, that is very difficult for me to explain to my producers in any way possible, and you are not making that case.

I want to thank my colleague and friend from Colorado for his kind words and his work on the Veterans' Affairs Committee. I am proud to serve with him. I rise today in support of H.R. 3682, which designates the Department of Veterans…