Richard Burr

The VA is an agency in crisis.

My hope and expectation, Mr. McDonald, is that you will not allow VA to ignore the signs of deep dysfunction at VBA.

These changes will not happen overnight and this Committee must provide the critical oversight to ensure these changes occur and are effective.

It concerns me because these are veterans that are waiting for their determinations to be made.

I commend you. You have made all of us go back and sort of ask about numbers.

The role of the Office of Special Counsel and the IG are even more crucial now than ever before.

I will not accept honest whistleblowers--who want to improve the system--being silenced or having their concerns ignored.

I want to be crystal clear; the culture that has developed at VA and the lack of management and accountability is simply reprehensible.

The problems that have been identified over the last several months--and, I might say, over the next several months as a host of IG reports come out--are effectively and appropriately addressed and they are not allowed to happen again.

These changes will not happen overnight, and this Committee must provide the critical oversight to ensure those changes occur and are effective.

I join my colleagues today to discuss the administration's misguided foreign policy, especially as it relates to Afghanistan and the threat of Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and the Haqqani Network. Despite what the administration would have you…

Last week the Senate passed H.R. 3230, Veterans' Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act. Today, I rise to address some concerns my colleagues raised about whether veterans will be able to choose their own…

The Veterans Affairs committee, which Senator Sanders ranks, and I am the ranking member, has jurisdiction over many veterans education programs.

North Carolina's subsidy to higher education is extremely high for in-State students.

Our active duty forces that are stationed within North Carolina, their children receive in-State tuition on Day One.

It does not take the Federal Government stepping in to create something.

Unreliable wait time measurements has resulted in a discrepancy between the positive wait time performance VA has reported and veterans' actual experience.

It has not been fully completed.

The Secretary of VA direct the Under Secretary of Health to take actions to improve the reliability of wait time measures.

If any allegations are true, they are completely unacceptable to veterans, to me, and to our dedicated VHA employees.

It is my understanding that on June 21, 2013, VA received a report from the Office of Medical Inspector regarding chronic understaffing issues at the Jackson VA medical center.

There was a December 23, 2013, report by the Office of the Medical Inspector regarding the Cheyenne Medical Center and Fort Collins Clinic that found that several medical support assistants reported that, 'medical center's Business Office…

The issue before the Committee today is the state of the VA health care system, which we have a sacred obligation to ensure that those who have fought for this Nation receive the highest quality of services from the Department of Veterans…

It seems that every day there are new allegations regarding inappropriate scheduling practices ranging from 'zeroing out' patient wait times.

Mr. Secretary, were you aware that on October 25, 2013, the Office of Special Counsel requested that VA conduct an investigation into the allegations of the inappropriate scheduling at the Fort Collins Community Outpatient Clinic?