Joe Manchin

Each generation of veterans have had their own form of toxic exposure, whether Mustard Gas, Agent Orange, or any number of chemicals and hazardous environments our service personnel work in today.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Secretary Wilkie, it is good to have you. I wanted to say that my reports have been excellent, the job you are doing, the changes you have made, and basically the care that you have shown for the Vietnam veterans.

My really major concern has been the opioid addiction that we have and our veterans have been plagued with.

I would rather find them there than down the line after we spent the $16 billion that you talked about.

VistA will stay in place until the Cerner rollout is completed.

We do not seem to be prioritizing it and China put $10 billion to prioritizing for armed forces.

Do you believe it is a risk for the United States of America to be held in jeopardy from not having our own supply and we are relying on outside sources in other countries?

It's an attempt to divide Americans, change our way of life, change our democracy as we know it, and it can be very devastating.

I know a lot of our drugs--a lot of the fentanyl and all that--is coming from China, and we're trying to shut that down.

Don't you think we should do the same with opiate drugs and the way they're being used in your platform?

The best defense is for the people to know it's happening.

There is a role for ARPA-E. We have seen it demonstrated.

The coal plants mean ones with all the pollution controls on and the nuclear and all those up-to-specs and up-to-date.

I am thinking like Senator King, my friend mentioned, that it has been zeroed out.

You have to have baseload fuel to run the grid system, or if not, the well-being of our country and the security of the grid and the security of our nation could be at risk.

I want to make it very clear, in my state we have 90 percent coal-fired plants because we are a state that is rich in coal.

Are you concerned or have you followed that, I know you have an energy background, correct?

I believe, first, we must act urgently to bolster our country's defenses like our election infrastructure and cybersecurity.

I thank Senator Lankford and many of our colleagues--throughout the work that we've been doing on the Secure Elections Act.

Not one of you mentioned social media. Not one of you all mentioned what we're here talking about as where you get you news or where you trust your news to come from. I think that speaks volumes of what we're dealing with today.

Russia is unquestionably the absolute greatest violator.

A properly informed voter population is the key to a sound democracy. Unfortunately, Russia is trying to undermine that foundation.

How about Macron's election in France? We saw that he fought back.

If you are exposed, you are exposed. We do not care whether it is blue, brown, purple, green, yellow water, whatever it is.

I am also for eliminating that, so if there is a duplication that we have that allows you all to declare an emergency within a week or two and not give us enough notice, we will do away with that one.