Jason Chaffetz: “It was April 2009 when President Obama said that he was going to form an integrated electronic health record project to…”

“It was April 2009 when President Obama said that he was going to form an integrated electronic health record project to take the records between the DOD and Veterans Administration and, together, he said that it ``would represent a huge step towards modernizing the way health care is delivered and benefits are administered for our Nation's veterans. It would cut through red tape and reduce the number of administrative mistakes.'' Fast forward to February of 2013. The Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration announced that they were going to halt this program. It was a $4 billion--not $4 million, not $40 million, not $400 million--a $4 billion project. Secretary Hagel, and I quote him: ``I didn't think we knew what the hell we were doing.'' So after all these years, $4 billion later, they totally halted and abandoned this project that was going to improve the quality of health care for our veterans. It wasn't for a lack of money, but there was a lack of leadership and management and dedication. Mr. Speaker, this cannot stand. We do need to do better for our veterans. This has got to be a national priority. ____________________”