We have given you tools, for example, in the Education Debt Reduction Program.

The people who lied, who acted dishonorably, who manipulated data in Phoenix and elsewhere clearly must be held accountable.

Our goal in passing this legislation was to provide VA with the tools needed to address the serious problems veterans were facing in accessing care.

What we have seen in Phoenix never happens again.

the vast majority of VA employees... work tirelessly and work very hard to do everything they can for our veterans

Clearly congressional oversight is critical, as is VA's efforts to increase accountability within its system.

We thank all of his staff for being here as well.

It is unacceptable for VA staff or high ranking people to be lying, to be manipulating data.

The lack of providers was a common refrain heard throughout the hearing.

The IG's report provides troubling details about a facility that failed to meet our Nation's obligation to provide timely, high-quality care to veterans.

most veterans believe the care they are getting once they are in the system is of high quality

Senator Coburn forgot to mention one point when talking about the increase in VA funding. He forgot to mention that we were in two wars. He forgot to mention that 500,000 men and women came back from Iraq and Afghanistan with posttraumatic…

yesterday the House voted 420 to 5 for this conference report. They understood that taking care of veterans, as Senator McCain just indicated--the men and women who have put their lives on the line to defend us, who have sacrificed so…

I rise today in strong support of the VA conference committee report, which I expect and hope will be on the floor here in a couple of hours. That conference committee report was passed yesterday by the House with an overwhelming vote of…

before we vote, I wish to take this opportunity to thank Senator McCain for his intervention and making sure that we had serious negotiations. I thank the staff of the Veterans' Affairs Committee: Steve Robertson, Dahlia Melendrez, Travis…

pursuant to section 904 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the waiver provisions of applicable budget resolutions, and section 4(g)(3) of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, I move to waive all applicable sections of those acts…

as the chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, I rise today in strong support of the nomination of Robert McDonald to serve as Secretary of Veterans' Affairs. I also thank Majority Leader Reid for moving this important…

This bill contains language which will allow the Secretary to fire people immediately who are doing -- who are underperforming or lying. It gives number 21 day period of appeal without pay during that period.

Let me ask Senator McCain one more question. I thank the Senator very much. He is not on, at this moment, the Veterans' Affairs Committee, but he has jumped into this with both feet and is playing a very big role. Would the Senator be…

First of all, I want to thank Senator McCain again for all of his hard work on this issue. Let me ask a few questions. The Senator and I have been talking the last few days. Does the Senator not think--he has been here for 1 or 2…

I thank Senator McCain very much for his statements and for his hard work on this and would reiterate what he said; that is, my belief that what we have here on the Senate floor, that if taking care of the men and women who have put their…

One more second. I wanted to paraphrase. Tell me if I am misquoting. I do not have it in front of me, but when we were debating this bill on the floor, the Senator said--we were talking about emergency funding--something to the effect of…

16 major veterans organizations, including the Disabled American Veterans, the Veterans of Foreign Wars--the VFW--Paralyzed Veterans of America, the Vietnam Veterans of America, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the Military…

on June 11--a month and a half ago--in a very strong bipartisan way, the Senate voted 93 to 3--an overwhelming vote--to pass legislation written by Senator John McCain, a Republican, and myself to address crises facing our veterans…

Essentially what the letter goes on to talk about is that many of these organizations have been looking at this issue for years, and in their independent budget have noted that the VA needs more space, because you have many hospitals where…