Beto O'Rourke

You mentioned 64,000 who have not been able to get an appointment at all, we found in El Paso 36 percent of veterans seeking to make a mental health appointment were unable to obtain one at all.

How do you all decide that Fayetteville gets 7.4, El Paso, 1.9, some other community, another amount?

I would fly down to El Paso immediately and try to discover who those 36 percent of the veterans seeking mental healthcare appointments who have been denied and locked out of the system are.

The problem with that is that money belongs to the veteran, and instead of saying we took an $8-million dollar hit for non-VA care to their budget, they need to say we took and gave $8 million dollars to the veteran.

An issue that I would like to get your thoughts on, and I really loved Ms. Titus' idea about getting more residencies in rural or hard-to-serve communities like ours, is this question of where are we going to get the doctors in the…

I think this is a crisis. And frankly I do not see the urgency from you.

I think we need to hear from them. And add to Mr. McClain's excellent suggestion of having a management organization identify structural and organizational weakness.

I think we need a SWAT team flown down to El Paso to go connect these people.

I think this discussion today is happening within the larger context of the American publics' and Congress' frustration with lack of accountability within the VA.

So I want to ask the same set of questions as it pertains to the VA rating part of this which is that the goal is 15 days.

There is this understandable tension between people who are on the verge of transitioning out and their commanders.

The BDD, the Benefits Delivery Discharge claims and the Quick Start claims I think year to date are under 25,000.

I will say that we have cosponsors that include the chairman of this committee, the ranking member of this committee, Mr. Walz, Mr. Takano, members from both parties, we would welcome additional support.

Okay. And I have got limited time, but the reason then that I am showing 48 days army-wide versus 30 days which is what you are saying is that you still have those older cases in the system and as soon as they move out, you will be at that…

But, Mr. Chair, earlier I had the privilege of introducing Ms. Gipson who will be testifying in a later panel.

I am now resolved, as I know the rest of this committee is, in insuring that we correct the mistakes that were made in your individual case and the larger systemic problems that today's hearing has uncovered.

Let me see if I can understand this because this is a difficult concept for me to get and it is similar to the way that you explained to us the backlog numbers when it comes to disability claims for veterans and how we should be measuring…

This does not build confidence in you and what you are doing and what our veterans can expect.

I think it is very important for us if nothing else to learn from his specific case and ensure that it is not repeated.

Are you saying that by August, you will relieve the backlog and by October, you will meet that 15 day goal?

I have heard this directly from servicemembers at the WTU at Fort Bliss in El Paso.

I think about the providers at the El Paso VHA, many of whom--doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses, psychologists, therapists, counselors--could be working in the private sector for more money.

I would think that those major findings that the GAO made after the failure of SBInet we should stop before proceeding with this Arizona Border Surveillance Technology Initiative.

Will you pause in this project?

the sensitivity is so great that not only have I but the other Congressman representing the area... have all pleaded with CBP not to construct that wall there at a cost of $5.5 million.