I would say that the VA has been more aggressive than the rest of the American health care system

I have been impressed. I have been to VA facilities all over the country and I have been to a couple of DOD facilities and I am amazed.

We have a horrific problem in Vermont but I think it is shared in States throughout this country.

I want to thank all of our panelists. This Committee considers the issue of overmedication to be a serious national problem.

I take and this Committee takes these allegations extremely seriously; and we are going to do everything we can to get to the bottom of this story and get to the truth.

So, if you walked into a VA facility you would be more likely to have the option of looking at these approaches than in a private-sector hospital.

Not at all. I wanted to mention to my colleague from Louisiana, which he may or may not know, that we have a very serious problem in the military regarding sexual assault, and it is terribly important that the men and women who were…

Reserving the right to object, let me again thank Senator Landrieu, who has raised this issue with me on numerous occasions. The issue we are talking about--I think Senator Vitter referred to it--is clearly not just an issue for Louisiana…

I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Oligarchy

I object. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont, objection is heard. The Senator from Louisiana has the floor.

the point I am making is that furthermore, not only are we dealing with the instate tuition issue, which impacts veterans from Louisiana and Vermont and every other State, we are dealing with another issue in that we are going to extend…

reserving the right to object, we talk about holding hostage. The distinguished junior Senator from Louisiana pointed out that 43 Senators voted against comprehensive legislation that is supported by virtually every veterans organization…

that is a fair question. Let me ask my colleague from Louisiana--as he knows, I will be speaking more to this in a moment. I wish to thank Senator Landrieu for her strong support of legislation I introduced and for her support not only for…

I hear more and more from people in my own State of Vermont and from people, in fact, all over the country via email, through my Web site, who are wondering whether this great country is evolving into an oligarchic society. Historically…

Community health centers serve 15 percent of Medicaid recipients at 1 percent of the cost. We save the system $24 billion.

We are much, much weaker in terms of primary healthcare, and we put much less resources into primary healthcare, comparatively speaking, than do most other nations.

My apologies again. But here in the Senate, there's usually about six things happening simultaneously, and that's the way it is.

If you want to go to medical school, fine. If you're smart enough, you can go to medical school. But guess what? On average, you're going to graduate $160,000 in debt, and a third of you are going to graduate with more than $200,000 in…

The United States of America ends up spending almost twice as much per person on healthcare and yet our end results, our healthcare outcomes are not particularly good compared to many other countries around the world.

Yes, absolutely. Starting with some very profound research that was done by the late Barbara Starfield...

The more primary care docs, the better the ratio.

You're going to be able to go to medical school regardless of your income, but we need a commitment from you of X number of years to serve in underserved areas.

Maybe people can comment on this--my understanding is that if the U.S. military wants a doctor, what they will say to you is, 'Young man, young woman, congratulations. We're going to send you to medical school, and in payment, you're going…

I think you have heard from Senator Burr and myself and, I think, from a whole lot of folks that we have a crisis in primary healthcare.

I would therefore ask you to support the reauthorization and funding of section 5316 in the amount of $75 million through fiscal year 2019.