Political Quotes

“The House has just finished its rollcall votes for this week. With the conference committee at an impasse on H.R. 3230, the Veterans' Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act, hope is fading that any legislation will be enacted this summer to address the urgent needs at the Department of Veterans Affairs. This is truly shameful, and as an American, I think this is shameful. It is beyond me to understand why our legislative branch of government cannot get this done. It is true that this body has taken some modest steps toward improvements, like allowing veterans to seek care at non-VA providers when they cannot get medical appointments. I have supported that effort. That is fine where private sector health providers are available, but for elderly veterans in rural areas, where travel is difficult and costly, where physician shortages and medically underserved areas are abundant, like in southern West Virginia, that doesn't help much. My State's VA facilities need funding to hire doctors--lots of them. We need primary and specialty care providers and mental health specialists. We need the resources to train and recruit health professionals and to pay them competitive salaries. Our VA health providers, many of them veterans themselves, have a unique understanding of our veterans' needs. That expertise cannot be duplicated in the private sector.…”