Bill Pascrell: “I want to start by saying I am in opposition to this accountability bill, but I want to commend the chairman and the…”

“I want to start by saying I am in opposition to this accountability bill, but I want to commend the chairman and the ranking member and the rest of the members of the Veterans' Affairs Committee. I think you have done a good job--and I don't come up here and say that too often--because you have made it bipartisan. Now, what possessed you to bring this bill to the floor and use the word ``accountability,'' I am trying to figure that out because we want accountability. I am a veteran, and I have fought. I have got a record for 18 years, in the forefront, running point on veterans issues, from waiting for so darn long to get an appointment, to the latest problems we have had in the VA concerning addressing our TBI patients and our post-traumatic stress disorder patients. No one is more disappointed than me in what transpired in the VA last year. As a vet, I was proud to support the bipartisan VA reform legislation that became law in response, but this bill isn't about making the VA better or ensuring better care and treatment for our veterans. This bill is about trying to score some political points, an underhanded attempt to strip VA employees, and I don't think you really want to do that, but that is the result.”