Kathleen Rice

This 94-year-old veteran, who served his country and played by the rules and informed the VA of the passing of his wife, to be hit with this financial burden when he can't--I mean, he can't pay for his life if they are going to take this…

you shouldn't have an agency like the VA being constantly run by someone in an acting position

I think this is an issue that we--my time is up, but I think this is, you know, we need to communicate that acting positions and this kind of turnover are not helpful to the efficient running of an agency as important as the VA and helping…

If it means us acting to raise those caps, if that is where the authorization comes from, that is what we have to do

Today our subcommittees are examining the challenges we face in addressing one of the most severe health crises in our Nation's history.

These numbers emphasize a critical fact: We are currently in a new phase--a third wave--of the devastating opioid crisis.

although the VA has procedures for investigating whistleblower complaints, these procedures have allowed the program office or facility where a whistleblower reported misconduct to conduct the investigation.

Well, I think at the heart of this is that women need to be seen on an equal level as men.

I think that there is definitely some room in the military from point of entry for financial education...

Miss Rice. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This question is for any or all of you, the Ranking Member, Mr. Katko, and I recently wrote to the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority expressing concerns over the possibility of buying subway…

there is no one at the top, there is no accountability.

These are all really great suggestions. I want to thank Mr. Chairman for holding this hearing and I want to thank all of you.

This is completely unacceptable. We cannot allow individuals who are brave enough to come forward about threats to veterans' health and safety, and who are perfectly, more than good at their jobs, to be pushed out of their positions, while…

It seems to me crazy that these--that the potential wrongdoers are the ones that ultimately are making the decision as to what happens with the whistleblowers?

this horrifying treatment of whistleblowers was--Obama was President when you--Dr. Mitchell, when you had your whistle--in 2014, and some has been under the Trump administration.

The fact that all three of you reported misconduct at the VA regarding wait times and backlogs, some of which occurred, you know, as far back as 2014, and only a couple of weeks ago as well there was another whistleblower report about the…

So would it be appropriate to put a time frame on how long a whistleblower investigation should take?

we choose to stay at our positions, and we choose that because we care, we truly care about the veterans and our patients and their families.

Your dedication to serving our veterans is not only exemplified by the work that you have done, but through your decision to continue working at the VA despite the challenges and the intimidation tactics that you have faced.

I ask that both DHS and DoD leadership commit to transparency by sharing any and all requested information with this committee and the other oversight committees moving forward.

there is a lot that we can do as well.

If a school's main goal is to maximize profits, providing a high quality education will never be the top priority.

To me, there is no amount of retraining that that person can undergo to understand that what--that was not a training issue.

I just want to thank the Chairman for holding this hearing...because you have the management, who is trying to implement the program and all of you who are hearing firsthand from the clients about the pros and cons of the program.

the more trained and the better trained they are, the faster without sacrificing--we can be more efficient without sacrificing the quality of the care that is given to the clients.