All of them. We sat down to resolve the differences, they will not negotiate. I would hope that the democrat and my democratic colleagues in the senate would listen to the American People and sit down and have a serious discussion about resolving these differences. I went through a little litany of things we would be able to talk about, or anything he wanted to talk about. We said well be happy to talk about discretionary spending, well talk about agriculture, health care, parks, well talk about anything that you want to talk about. And he says no. All i want to do is go to conference on a shortterm cr. We have a debt ceiling staring us in the face. And we wants to talk about a shortterm cr . Senate democrats have indicated a number of times those proposals from the house, the continuing resolution to fund little slivers of the government are dead on arrival. Meanwhile, the discussion seemed to resolve around the favorite talking point. All the National Monuments are closed down includ
Thank you all for coming. I want to thank our panelists for what is going to be a very important hearing. The rules will be that i will make some opening remarks, senator burr, the Ranking Member will make opening remarks, members will have three minutes, and i will keep people to three minutes because it will be a long hearing it, and that we will go to secretary shinseki, and the undersecretary. Excellent second panel and a very good third panel as well. It will be a long hearing, and we will get through it. Let me begin by just making a few basic points. Serious allegations have v. A. Personnelt in phoenix and other locations. I take these allegations seriously, as i know every member of the committee does, which is why i have supported an thependent investigation of v. A. Inspector general, and they are in phoenix doing a thorough investigation, and my hope is the report will be done as soon as possible. What i have stated and i will repeat right now, is that as soon as that report
Chairman, for holding this hearing. I certainly echoed the concerns of my colleagues and the need for structural and systemwide changes. Healthcare system is a promise that we made to americas veterans that we will take care of them in return for their service and sacrifice. The close to 10 million veterans that access care through the v. A. Systems need to trust that they are receiving high quality care when they need it, and i do note that 10 million veterans signed up for the healthcare huge here that is greater than the population of a number of states, including the state of hawaii. When we fail to provide proper care for our veterans, we not only fail them, but their families as well, and these families have also sacrifice for our nations security, and provide essential care and support for our veterans. While the immediate focus might be on the phoenix case and similar allegations regarding a hospitals,ther v. A. It is important to see what is happening systematically at the v.
I do not think any took place did the v. A. Take to respond to the memorandum that to see to it that hospital directors followed their orders . We have worked very hard to root out these inappropriate uses of the scheduling system and these abuses. We have been working continuously to try to identify where those sites are and what we need to do to prevent that from happening. It is absolutely inexcusable. The schedulers response validity is to nature that that program is administered with integrity. What do you do when you uncover one . What do you do to hold them accountable . The individuals are held accountable. I cannot give you an example of specifically, but if someone were found to be manipulating the scheduling system, they would be disciplined. Would they lose their job . I do not know whether that is the appropriate level of punishment or not. We can probably give you a little better answer to this, because youre focused on scheduling. In 2012, we involuntarily removed 3000 e
Of their inalennable aalienable right to get 30rate mortgage. Think feelings like that are zapping some of the current momentum. Anymore. O crisis wondering about the begin is the major constituencies agency,ederal finance wall street, the banking industry, fair housing advocates are there others that i accompliced . Homeowners. Basically, the federal Housing Finance agency is a very agency. Mel watt is very powerful because he doesnt answer to a board or commission or the president. Hes an independent regulator. The policies that he sets governing the mortgages that and freddie mac affect about 2 3 of american mortgages. Thats how many mortgages are freddieby fannie and now in the market. So if he puts in place a policy that might change Mortgage Rates or might mean you cant get a bigger or smaller loan, thats going to affect people who are to buy a house. Its difficult for the public to react to his speech. Other constituencies have voices. How good they react to the things he laid o