Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. First of all, Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the chairman, my friend from Texas, John Culberson, and I certainly want to thank our ranking member, Mr. Bishop. These two gentlemen are true models of what bipartisanship is here in Congress. They have really done a great job to show the American public that when it comes to veterans and the military, this is not a Democratic or a Republican issue, but it is an issue that we all work together. So I certainly want to thank them. I want to thank them for the work that they have done, but in particular I want to thank both gentleman and the committee about an issue dealing with the backlogs that have existed at the VA for many years. Veterans of all generations deserve a benefit system that is easy to navigate and is responsive to their needs. As of April 26, 2014, the VA claims totaled more than 596,000. Of those, 319,000 have been pending for more than 125 days. This is something that has to be cleared. And this is something that Congress is working on. While Congress has done some work, more has to be done. We need to make sure that in this appropriations bill we not only provide the bureaucrats, with all due respect, with the money, but they have to be provided the oversight and the performance measures to make sure that, if they are given the money, they get to work and eliminate this backlog that has been affecting so many veterans in my district and across the State and the Nation.…”