On the recordJune 25, 2014
From the day that I was sworn into office, I have heard from the veterans that I have the honor of representing that while--when they can get into the VA to seek care--the care is great and the providers are wonderful, it is too hard to get an appointment, and that appointment, once given, is often canceled. The VA, on the other hand, was telling me something far different, that there were no problems with wait times. To resolve the differences, we surveyed the veterans themselves. What they told us was that more than 36 percent of the veterans that I represent cannot get in to receive a mental health care appointment. This is at a time when we have 22 veteran suicides every day in this country. That is why I join my colleague from across the State and across the aisle, Mr. Flores, to introduce the ask veterans act, so that we do this in every community and VHA district in this country, so that veterans help us lead the VA out of the crisis that we are currently in. We cannot trust the VA to tell us how the VA is doing, but we can certainly trust veterans to do just that. ____________________
