would there be some recommendations from you all for mechanisms to hold people accountable--some real teeth in what we do so that you know that it is going to be done or there are going to be consequences to that?

I want to start by saying that just briefly to both GAO and to the I.G., I had no idea until I got to Congress about the oversight responsibility that Congress has and the role you all play in bringing this information forward to us.

What are the penalties if you make these recommendations and then never carry it out?

What we hear when we go home from veterans, they do not know about boxes and all, they do not know what that is.

documentation from your office shows that the Chief Counsel of Operations in your office held a case for 397 days before finally signing it.

Mr. Takano and I just spent way too many hours on the V.A. Committee in the last few months, and much of the work we were able to uncover was due to the--what your shop does, both the GAO and I.G.

But it is incumbent on us to serve the ones who did make it back.

that is the lamest excuse I have ever heard in my life.

My time is running out. But you think, this particular person got $21,000 in bonuses.

And what I hear veterans tell me is that, doc, I think they are just hoping I will die.

Maybe you should. And what you are dealing with there is a, and let me tell you what I hear at home.

I just want a veteran whose claim is waiting on it, and this August break we went on, clearly I heard it over and over again.