Beto O'Rourke

This bill would simply require that the VA contract with an independent third-party to assess true wait times.

We cannot ask the VA how the VA is doing and always expect an honest answer.

And what was truly shocking and confirmed stories that I had a hard time believing when I was told by veterans when we first took office was that more than one-third of the veterans surveyed who tried to obtain a mental health care…

Well, something just didn't add up.

I have yet to hear a compelling answer to Mr. Lieu's questions about why we can't unify within a single system.

When we have cost and time overruns, it is not just money and time in an absolute sense...

I think we have to insist on consequences and accountability and performance.

Short-term focus has caused us long-term problems, and probably more importantly, it causes the people in those countries significant suffering and long-term harm.

We have essentially looked the other way because of very real, short-term immediate problems.

You can't solve a political problem militarily.

When we know that care delayed becomes care denied, turns into tragic outcomes for veterans and their families.

When officially we know that 22 veterans a day are taking their own lives, and most veterans organizations that I have spoke to think the real number is certainly much higher than that.

I think there are some very serious operational concerns that are self-evident to everyone here.

Is some demand more important than other demands? So if a veteran is coming back from Afghanistan with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and cannot get in to see a mental healthcare provider, is that not more important?

I like that, because if we had a chief information security officer that is a level to which we hold that person accountable.

I would like to know how you think Iran would respond if we were more explicit about sign this deal with a more ideal standard than the one we currently have, or else we will invade.

It is hard for me to understand, considering that we invaded the country to Iran's immediate west and changed that regime.

Out of 141 mental healthcare systems within the VA, El Paso ranks 141st. We are dead last.

I have got to, on behalf of the veterans I represent, tell you that we are in crisis right now, and we really need your help.

I think it's within the VA's interest to answer that if you can.

I think we are doing our best to strike that balance in ensuring accountability without being punitive and working constructively with the VA.

We are not likely to get a major facility in El Paso in part because of the royal screw up in Colorado, in Louisiana, in Nevada, in Florida.

What is more important is actually getting that accountability.

We must be successful politically if we are going to be successful at all in the other lines of strategy

But, again, the feedback stands because I am hearing it directly from veterans that that is apparently not happening in El Paso.