Richard Burr

The most alarming thing to me today is, I cannot find anybody in the administration who has a Plan B.

Do I have your assurance that you are going to share it with the Committee?

Every person who testified in one way or another referred to the fact that veterans could not get mental health treatment when they needed it through the VA.

There is a huge difference between reality and goals; and I think what we heard today were realities; and I think what you have stated to us are the goals of what VA would like to hit; and unfortunately, I do not think the proof suggests…

If you recognize anything that this Committee can do through government to facilitate the awareness of that, would you let us know?

I will do everything I can to fence off headquarters money until the VA provides the Committee with that metrics performance.

What do we do in 2015 if, in fact, we still see a trend going up of disability claims backlog?

I hope that would be provided to the Committee.

Do I have your commitment to provide this Committee with those performance metrics on a monthly basis?

DOD is headed for a totally separate system. There is no assurance that it is going to be integrated in a way that will talk to VA.

What is the plan if it does not?

Can you provide for the Committee the percentage of time that that system is unavailable to those in the field that are working on it?

I will take that as a no then.

The dumbest idea he has ever heard

If it is that good, why would we not include all branches?

If the Affordable Care Act is the panacea some suggest it is, why did the executive branch exclude themselves from coverage under the Affordable Care Act?

We cannot let sequestration take effect.

I hope that you take the opportunity, if you haven't already, to take back to the administration that it is absolutely essential that the documents this Committee has requested on Benghazi be supplied before the confirmation moves forward.

I would encourage you to maybe throw some new things on the table.

I would, on behalf of all of us, solicit any thoughts that you have on an ongoing basis as to how we can change that to make sure that our veterans and their families do not have to wait too long for these decisions.

I think it is too long.

I think, as a Nation, we have an absolute obligation to do everything that we can to make sure that people who serve this country get decent jobs.

2 years ago we extended the 2010 tax rates. Over a year ago, we passed the Budget Control Act, which will trigger sequestration unless we pass a budget reduction plan. The point is we have known about the fiscal cliff for a long time, and…

He pushed legislation that was passed in 2012, and when that was enacted on the 6th of August, 2012, VA immediately started providing health care for 15 different conditions to Camp Lejeune veterans.

It shocked me when I checked to see how many States actually check the sex offender registry. Only 31 States.