I think, Deputy Secretary Gibson, you were at that hearing, where I said it is a shame that a benefit that over 10 years will equate to about $6.2 million is going to require $5.1 million in systems changes before you can start providing…

But we have to start getting very serious and have everyone understand what the distraction possibly costs us in terms of shortening the time to benefit for the overall transformation.

I will bring this back to the Secretary in the ongoing discussions Senator Tester and I are having with them.

I want to start out by thanking Ranking Member Blumenthal and Senator Brown for some opportunities to work with you all.

I wanted to use this as an opportunity to try and figure out how we begin to weave what I think are good proposals.

I have the sad duty to report to the Senate the passing of the first lady of North Carolina, Dorothy ``Dot'' Helms. Mrs. Helms was known to many in this body as the ever gracious wife of my illustrious predecessor, Senator Jesse Helms. In…

I will close by saying that I hope we all remember another great North Carolinian who was buried just today, Congressman Howard Coble. He served 5 years in the North Carolina House and 30 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was…

I hate to sound like a broken record, but unfortunately that is the scenario the Obama administration and the minority leader have led me to today. When I sought this position as a Senator from North Carolina, I promised the voters back in…

There should have been an option.

It seems to me that when you are looking at root causes to these sorts of problems, the sort of resources that will really focus on it...

The VA should welcome that as an additional resource, not as some perceived threat.

The more people we have auditing the systems and the outcomes, the better off we are.

I have only been here 10 months and I am really becoming frustrated with the lack of progress.

To me, a wait time is when the veteran is waiting when he or she does not want to.

Is that just another breakdown in training or a systemic problem?

That should never have happened.

Thank you, Madam Chairman, for another very important meeting.

What sorts of discussions have we had with foreign jurisdictions to not only seek their cooperation, but potentially have a consequence if there seem to be these clusters within countries where they seem to be the biggest source of…

It could be a good consideration for your certification program, to make them adhere to the same.

I like 'scum' better than 'lowlife,' by the way

I think that that's a message that should be heard loud and clear.

I do not understand the difficulty here. I mean, this is a blinding flash of the obvious in terms of what we need to do.

This is action that needs to be taken promptly in defense for our seniors.

It defies any best practices in other government organizations and certainly in the private sector.

This administration doesn't recognize that that---- Their policy right now is despicable, and I appreciate Senator McCain holding this hearing.