On behalf of the president of the United States is my grateful privilege to be here to administer the oath of office to shulkin. Chilton the next secretary of Veterans Affairs. You may applaud. [applause] we are joined today by a number of members of his extended family. His wife is here. His children daniel and jennifer. We are grateful you could be with us to share this important moment. Joinedvery honored to be by members of the house and senate who provide enormously important and bipartisan leadership on matters concerning our nations veterans. They include johnny isakson, the senate of the chair the committees ranking member, phil roe, the chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs and tim walz the ranking member. [applause] few duties of the federal government are as important as fulfilling what president lincoln promised. We as a nation would you care for him who shall have borne the battle. President trump has called on you to leave this department, charged with the same historic psalm promise. Solomon promise. Promise. You are a fine fit for the role. You set your life on a path of helping and giving others. After graduating from the Medical College of pennsylvania you went on to internet deal university. Intern at yale university. One of the nations leaders in health care. A chief medical officer at the university of Pennsylvania Health system. An executive at multiple medical organizations including president and ceo. Undersecretary for health at the department the President Trump has now called on you to lead. Qualifications, your compassion and professionalism voterise to the 1000 confirming your nomination. [applause] we know you will be of great benefit. Not so much to the department of Veterans Affairs as to our heroes across this country. Men and women who serve in uniform. To whom we owe a debt our nation will ever never be able to fully repay. We are grateful for your continued service. President trump that i have full faith you will honor the service of these american heroes and fulfill our nations some of solemn oath. If you will join me in front of the flags i will administer the oath of office. Left in on the bible and your right hand ready. I do solemnly swear. I do solemnly swear. I will support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic. Faith andl bear truth allegiance to the same. I take this obligation freely. Mental reservation or purpose of evasion. And i will well and faithfully just ours discharge the duties of the office of which im about to enter so help you god. [applause] [inaudible] [applause] i will be very brief. For this thank you very great honor and your support. I want to thank President Trump for his confidence. Most important, this is a big day because its valentines day so i want to make sure i recognize my wife of 29 years. [applause] i think Everybody Knows when you go into service your whole family does. My daughter jennifer and son daniel. This is such a honor to be able to serve our veterans. I have such an obligation and duty that i feel to making sure we get our veterans everything they deserve. I think we have a system that is doing terrific things with etiquette of people but we all have a lot of work to do. I can be inpatient, especially my staff over here. The irony is before i got into government i used to say to my staff him on what is it going to take, an act of congress . Look where i am. And i amant to thank so honored that our ranking and chairman are here of both the house and senate. Having their support and confidence and showing the American People that there is one thing we all agree upon and that is our veterans deserve the very very best that we can possibly do. The biggest gift that all of us can have. We are going to do what it takes to make sure that this nations veterans do have lincolns promise to take arab those who are born to battle for generations to come. [applause] exploring ways to expedite the claims and appeals process for veterans. A hearing on capitol hill today. An hour and a half. Good morning, and welcome, everyone. This is the oversight hearing subcommittee at first wants to to give moment to welcome the subcommittee members. Especially those who are new to congress and new to the committee and also those who are returning. Its my privilege to have been ke