Beto O'Rourke

We are thinking 7 to 8 years.

Representative Coffman has been an exceptional leader on this Committee on this.

Considering their personal contributions to defending our country, veterans merit special consideration with regards to accessing capital.

Thank you for having me here today to speak about an issue of immense importance to our servicemembers.

I just want to thank Mr. Hubbard for his very powerful and damning testimony.

I think if you can meet the concern to his constituent's satisfaction and if you could report back to the Committee, then we don't need an act of Congress to get this done.

We are going to have to confront this the way free--generations of Americans have confronted other threats.

I think the U.S. Congress has got to embrace this as our fight.

Those who are about to testify, some of whom we have heard many times at this table before...

For 30, 40 years, we've continued to sprawl out to the edges of the [E]arth and it was costing us more than we were making as a community.

Let us get rid of unproductive mediocre senior executives that are in the way of excellence at the VA.

I think it is critical that these two Committees work more closely together.

I would just like to add to the Chairman's thanks to you, Mr. London, for working with those other Members.

Something that you told us when we first had a chance to meet with you that has stuck with me since is that the United States has two principal powers, the power of intimidation and the power of inspiration.

Congress has sidelined itself from some of its key responsibilities, and the effects of those are very serious.

And in every instance where you said the veteran owes 3.7, 47.6, 49.1 million, that money has been paid to the veterans.

Let me ask you this next question. Where does that money reside?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and before the arrival of Dr. Wenstrup and Miss. Rice, I thought this was going to be a hearing restricted only to Members from Texas.

Are both those numbers overpayment?

Could you get in the middle of it? I mean, you have the leverage.

I think a really good conversation would be, you know, hey, Beto, quit banging on me for not being able to get this stuff done quickly enough.

So I don't want the collections agency going to the veteran, I want it going to the institution.

What is the total dollar value of outstanding uncollected overpayments?

Your comments about you went from a position where you could not be more necessary to a position where many veterans feel absolutely unnecessary to society and to the country.

I agree with my colleague from New Hampshire who said this is the best conversation we have had in this room in the four and a half years that I have been here.