Beto O'Rourke

The veteran would be overpaid and then have that payment taken back from her or him.

The effort that you described so far is very impressive in terms of the number of hours put in, the number of builds, the number of defects found, and the number of defects remaining, which I think you said are in the single digit, but who…

I am just grateful on behalf of our constituents, the veterans in El Paso, in making sure that we see this through.

There were reports that clinicians literally quit because they were terrified that they might hurt or even kill one of their patients.

I love the idea behind today's hearing, which is how do we make the most out of what those veterans are ready to give back.

I know in the case of Prudential and other large employers in El Paso, you haven't waited for the Government to give direction, you have taken the lead yourselves in making sure that that transition is a successful one.

We need to ensure that our veterans have the opportunities they deserve.

The conservative estimate, and we don't know the real number, but it is 20 a day, every day are taking their lives.

The single largest challenge for us to do our part in holding up our end of the bargain is to make sure that those spouses have opportunity in our community.

And I will just say, and I am sure my colleagues have similar experiences, as we have hired both veterans, military retirees, and military spouses, we have always found that to be extraordinary value for our office.

I am looking forward to any direction you can give us, any guidance that we can follow and implement in that Transition Assistance Program.

We were out a medical center director for two years, had a series of interim directors.

Six-hundred-thousand dollars.

You can't pay a tenth or, you know, a fifth and then expect that you are either going to be able to recruit people in or retain them.

Care delayed became care denied. It led to really tragic outcomes.

It is a pretty important question.

I also just support allowing doctors at the VA to prescribe it today, because there are doctors who would like to prescribe it today.

I feel like those are the two basic charges: to make sure that we cared for those who have been exposed and who are suffering and to stop this from happening going forward.

I am just constantly reminded that any progress we make in Congress or on this Committee is thanks to the pressure that you bring to bear.

It took this country more than 40 years to acknowledge our responsibility and our accountability and to pony up and begin to take care of people who we should have decades earlier been there for.

There is no Republican or Democratic bill to increase access for mental health care for veterans.

Dr. Wenstrup has been incredibly powerful and eloquent on this need to have purpose and fulfillment in your life after you come back from battle or combat or service.

Legislation that just passed last week in the House of Representatives that made significant changes to a number of programs...

I would like to know what the goal is for both of these measures for the next fiscal year, and I would like to know what the budget is for transitioning from a paper-based system to a digital system for the case management system.

I would argue that maybe we should stop digging until we have an answer on this and a budget set forward.