Beto O'Rourke: “I thank the gentleman from Minnesota and the ranking member of the full committee of the House Veterans' Affairs…”

“I thank the gentleman from Minnesota and the ranking member of the full committee of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee for being here tonight and talking about not just our challenges, but some of the hope and opportunity that we have ahead with this new Secretary for the VA, this new leadership on the committee, and this renewed commitment from this Congress and this country to do the right thing by her veterans. I am so glad, Mr. Speaker, that he mentioned the necessity to ensure the long-time health and viability of the VA. There has been some talk about privatizing the VA and of just essentially asking our veterans to go find their own doctors and their own medical providers in the communities in which they live, no longer having the VA as the core of the delivery of care that they have depended on for so long. I think it is important that Secretary Shulkin, in his confirmation hearing, said that he would never be part of privatizing the VA, at least not on his watch, at least not during his tenure.…”