[applause] good evening. Mr. President , mr. Vice president , thank you for your un wavering support for our nations veterans and families. I want to welcome veterans organizations. V. A. Employees who played a Critical Role in our success. While many challenges remain and we have a lot of work to do in the next 100 days thanks to the president s leadership and bipartisan support in congress, we have made significant progress for veterans in the past three months. Last week, the president signed a reauthorization of the choice act ensuring veterans continue to get care among community providers. Ince january of 2017, v. A. Has authorized 6. 1 Million Community apointments and 1. 8 million more than last year. We are moving quickly to remove bad employees and we will not tolerate those who put our veterans at risk. D wait time has an easy to tool. We have a partnership resulting in a 30 million to build a center in omaha, nebraska. Veterans will have a new facility built with few millions of dollars. There was a call of more than 35 . Today, that rate is less than 1 . We have launched a new modeling tool allowing v. A. To provide care to veterans who are at the highest risk for suicide and v. A. Will provide former Service Members Emergency Mental Health care at all of our medical facilities. Over the next 100 days, we will work harder and work with congress to pass legislation that provides veterans more options for care bringing the best of v. A. With the best of the private sector and pass accountability legislation and appeals reform. We will be expanding Sameday Services in primary care and Mental Health to all of our centers and will be launching a getting to zero initiative, a Suicide Prevention initiative to combat this epidemic. To kick off our next 100 days, there are additional actions starting today. I will be launching a new fraud, waste and abuse task force to protect veterans and taxpayers. We will be amending regulations to allow stateowned veterans homes going to remove red tape and save taxpayers all while increasing services to veterans. We are announcing that v. A. Is allowing Public Service officers to work in v. A. In areas where we have difficulty recruiting health care professionals. Finally, we will be formulating a robust strategy for managing v. A. s facilities and capital as et cetera. We have a lot of work to do to live up to president lincolns vision and i know our team is up to the challenge. I have the great privilege of introducing a staunch supporter veterans. He is the father of the First Lieutenant in the marine corps who is training to become a pile on the and dedicated Public Servant with more than a decade of service. But then governor mike pence signed 13 bills supporting veterans in their state in a single day. I have had the privilege of getting to know him and mrs. Pence and its clear like so many of us who are here at v. A. , this work is personal to the Vice President and his wife. On behalf of all veterans and their families, i thank the Vice President for his leadership. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming the 48th president of the United States, mike pence. [applause] the Vice President i want to thank the members of the senate isakson nate, johnny and congressman phil roe. It is accurate to say in the congress of the United States, support for our veterans is a truly unifying and bipartisan cause and join me in thanking ll of these members. Vicepresident pence in the life of the v. A. Ap this nation, we owe a debt of gratitude that we cant fully repay. You will see one more installment in that debt that we will never be able to pay for those who paid the sacrifice of wearing the uniform and proud and grateful for it. David mentioned a moment ago, my life did not take me on a pathway to wear the uniform. Im a proud father of a United States marine and it is the greatest privilege of my life to serve as Vice President to a president who cares so deeply about our military and about the men and women who have worn the uniform of the United States. [applause] vicepresident pence from the outset of this administration, President Trump has been hard at work to keep his promise to rebuild our military and insure that those who are part of the greatest military on earth have access to World Class Health care. Not long ago, the president signed into law the Veterans Choice Program extension and improvement act moved forward by members of congress to empower veterans to get the care. The American People have seen energetic leadership that has made a difference. More than 500,000 jobs created, a Record Number of bills signed, more since 1947. Knowing him well and serving with him closely, that the legislation that the president is proudest of and the progress he is most anxious to see is the progress for our veterans and with the stroke of the pen, the president will take a crucial step in providing our nations heroes with access to realtime, World Class Health care. I say with gratitude for his Boundless Energy and his commitment to those who have served in uniform, it is my high honor and privilege, my friend and a friend to every veteran in america, the president of the donald tates, President Trump. [applause] President Trump thank you very much. Mike, you have been so magnificent as our Vice President and we so much appreciate it. Thank you very much. We are joined by so many members of congress. Its been really a fantastic period of time for me and im honored also to be at the department of veteran affairs, because i will tell you, this has been something right at the beginning of the campaign, does not get any more important for me than making life really great for our phenomenal veterans, that i can say. So we are sharing the stage with a lot of great people and a lot of great friends. A couple of my friend are out in perlmutter andke laurie perlmutter. These are incredible people. And they just have an affinity of helping the veterans and i want to thank them. Unbelievable. Thank you. Witz. Okko and we are going to protect the people that are protecting us. The secretary is 1000 man because in a totally obstructionist group of democrats and we say that with affection, he got not only the republicans but the democrats in a 1000 clip. I hope they are right. I hope they are right. [applause] President Trump davids doing a phenomenal job. And voted unanimously and worked ever since then day and night to work and reform the v. A. Im pleased by so many members of congress. E have with us senators ernst. What a tremendous woman. And right from the beginning, she has been [applause] President Trump she morse she knows more about veterans. Senator isakson. Senator moran and senator tester. Thank you, thank you all. [applause] President Trump along with the forward to i look serving our veterans with all of you and i can tell you this Group Whether they are republican or democrat, we are going to make this so good and one of our crown jewels and it is happening already. As part of that process, the senator has carried outdoing a thorough review and he had some very inside understanding of the v. A. Because he has been here, but a thorough review of the v. A. To uncover the problems and challenges we have inherited, of which there were so many. Based on those findings, we are putting plans into place to fix those problems and giving veterans the health care they need and the health care they deserve. And they were so for me during this recent election, and i can promise them, we arent going to let them down. We have a team the likes of which has never ever been assembled, and that includes outside people who are so brilliant and so good, like ike and laurie and they are helping us and they dont fail. Much work lies ahead, but we will not rest until this job is totally done. During these first 100 days, which as you know, i have been saying, there is a very stream emphasis placed on thinks 100 days. Its not quite as big as they are saying, but we have laid a foundation and a lot of legislation passed, 28 bills as of this moment. By the time it ends, its 32 bills. And tremendous legislation. But we have already made strides to improve the v. A. And the v. A. Services. We have imposed new standards of accountability and transparency, including a new website that publishes wait times at every v. A. Hospital and this is a website that works. Is is not the 5 billion ork website. Does everybody remember that . I dont think so. We dont have to remember it anymore. We implemented same day Mental Health centers so the veterans in crisis can find help at the v. A. Without any delay. Last week i signed the veterans choice improvement act, very proud of that, so that more veterans can see the doctor of their choice and dont have to travel long distances or wait forever for v. A. Care. They were waiting in lines for seven days, eight days, nine days, two weeks. Some instances were horrible. They were waiting so long, they had a very cureable problem, and they died before they got to see the doctor. Its not going to happen any longer. Already this year, using the choice programs, veterans received 42 , more aprovals, to see the doctor of their choosing. But that is just the very combing of what we have planned, so much more is coming. Today we are taking another bold step forward. Im signing an executive order to create an office of accountability and whistleblower protection at the department of veterans affairs. [applause] President Trump this executive order makes it clear that we will never ever tolerate substandard care for our grapet veterans. With the creation of this office, we are sending a strong message, those who fail our veterans will be held for the first time, accountable. At the same time, we will reward and retain the many v. A. Employees who do a fantastic job, of which we have many. Some of the doctors in the v. A. And i have heard it from so many, these are the finest in the world. These are great, great people. We have to get our vets to these doctors. But we have some of the finest doctors in the world and some of the most honest employees and some of them expose wrongdoing and we will make sure they are protected. We are also calling on the senate to give the secretary the authority he needs to ensure all v. A. Employees are held accountable for how they treat our veterans. Todays action is historic, but its only the start of our reforms. Our veterans have secured this nation with their blood, sweat and tears, and we will not let them down. These are our great, great people. We will always stand with those who stood for freedom and who stood for us, they protected us. They have made it all possible. And now we are going to protect and take care of them. [applause] President Trump i would like to thank david and his family and the people who are working so hard at the v. A. They havent had enthusiasm like this for many, many years. And the veterans see what is happening, because im getting so many different messages through all forms of communication, which we now have many. But they are very happy and pleased with whats going on. David, we want to god bless you and your family and wish you a lot of luck. You have a lot of talent, but you have a big job ahead. I want to wish everybody god speed. And we will do a fantastic job at the v. A. , rest assured. Thank you very much. And we are going to sign right now. Thank you. Cheers and applause] indiscernible] [applause] President Trump thank you very much
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