Political Quotes

“I expressed in this letter that I was disappointed the Department was not forthcoming, and I was hopeful they would come forward and let us know what was necessary, how much money was needed, so we could then respond. And as I mentioned in the letter, I was confident the Senate and the House would respond. I think what you are seeing here today is my prognostication is correct. We are going to respond, and we are going to respond with the money they say they need. Now, I would suggest that if you look at the analysis that Senator Byrd provided for us as to where this money is coming from, some of it was unanticipated and, potentially, you could argue was something that could not have been forecasted or budgeted with the number of people who are transferred from the Defense Department over to the VA as a result of the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan. But a lot of this was simply just poor administration and not accurately forecasting the utilization of the system. I think we have to do a better job of understanding what the needs are, what the demands are and have a better understanding of what the budget should be and accurately reflect that budget in submissions to the Congress. So I know the chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee in the Senate, Senator Craig, has had those kinds of candid conversations with the Secretary.…”