Political Quotes

“I rise, as did the Senator from Georgia, in support of the nomination of Dr. David Shulkin to be Secretary of the VA. First, I wish to take this opportunity to thank Senator Isakson for his leadership of the Veterans' Affairs Committee and throughout this confirmation process--and throughout the many processes--as chair of the committee. Look, I think it is critically important that we have a Secretary of the VA to serve our veterans. I think Dr. Shulkin is the perfect person for that position. The solutions to the VA's problems should be based on common sense rather than partisanship or an extreme agenda. I think Dr. Shulkin recognizes that. He is committed to our Nation's veterans above all. Through the conversations I have had with him over the last year and a half, I think he understands the challenges ahead of us in the VA. The Choice Program, for example, which has been a wreck by anybody's standards, is looming with dramatic funding shortfalls and is a program we need to work on here in Congress--and we will on the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee--to fix, and I think Dr. Shulkin is on top of it. I have many letters from veterans across Montana about how the Choice Program has not worked. It is not that it isn't a good idea. When we passed it, we all agreed that it was a good idea. But it needs to be changed to fix the needs of our veterans and make it more workable.…”