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

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

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.

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

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

Conservation is this Subcommittee's bread and butter too.

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.

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?

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.