Chris Smith: “Mr. Chairman, despite significant and sustained efforts by Secretary Principi and the VA to boost effectiveness and…”

“Mr. Chairman, despite significant and sustained efforts by Secretary Principi and the VA to boost effectiveness and efficiencies in the VA health care delivery; despite enhanced DOD-VA sharing of resources, individual facilities, administration, and pharmaceuticals; despite improved collections from individual veterans' insurance companies, and as a matter of fact my committee passed legislation that will boost that even further, and collections are up 70 percent since fiscal year 2001; despite an ongoing crackdown of waste, fraud, and abuse by the VA, and I point out that PL 107-103, one of my bills, goes after fugitive felons and we expect to glean about $209 million per year by recapturing those dollars; despite all of this and increases in the VA health care funding over the past few years, there remains what President Bush's 15-member task force calls a serious mismatch between need and resources.”