Justice, and righteousness. May they cultivate such ethical consist tency, that their words will be undergirded by right actions. Lord, keep them aware of your continued presence, as they find in you fullness of joy. Show them the path to life, as you guide them to your desired destination. We pray in your merciful name. Amen. The president pro tempore amen. Please join me in the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of americ, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Mr. Grassley madam president . The presiding officer the senator from iowa. Mr. Grassley i ask to speak as if in morning business for one minute. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Grassley the United States of america has the mightiest military in the world to protect our freedoms and to guarantee peace around the world. Thats why its so important to keep check on the pentagons financial ledgers. Taxpayers expect their m
Largest Government Agency and 350,000nt with over employees. What is your management style, what is your approach to this job . V. A. Sec. Shulkin my approaches is that we have a mandate from the president and from the country to get this organization back on track. Organization that has been working hard, but not necessarily accomplishing what we really need to accomplish. I have patients in my management style, but we really want to make sure the organization is successful and fulfilling its mission to take care of this countrys veterans. Host how did you get off track and when . This is. Shulkin decades and decades of problems that have not been dealt with for a long time that eventually the solutions were difficult and they got pushed off from administration to administration. There is a natural progression of these problems continuing to, essentially develop until we see them now so clearly. Hud sec. Carson you cant go back and change things host you cannot go back and change thin
In 2014 and what we can do about it. That was a very fast you minutes and we are ready to go. Thank you for being here for strategy. Ate democrat i am excited to see everyone here and excited to see full room. Most and forf the important topics we can talk about. We are talking about it in a place where he needs to be discussed, a place like arizona. Like arizonates all around the country where democrats could be doing more and better and progressives could be doing more and better but we are not. We have seen over the last five years democrats have lost over 900 seats in the state legislatures across america. We have gone from having democratic trifectas or you have a governor, state senate, state and now we only have five of them. Five states in the union where democrats control all of State Government which means only five states in the union where we can have any hope of driving anything progressive. Washington state is one of them who is no longer a trifecta democratic state. We h
To receive Mental Health care at a Outpatient Clinic in pennsylvania. He was told he would be unable to get an appointment for six months. When that employee left another va employee lean in to tell the veteran that if he told her he was thinking of killing himself she would be able to get him appointment much sooner in three months instead of six. Luckily that veteran wasnt considering suicide. But what about those veterans who are . How many of the tens of thousands veterans that va admitted have been left on waiting list for weeks, months and even year for care were seeking Mental Health care appointments . House education and Workforce Committee are suicidal or edgeing toward suicide as a result of not getting the care they earned . Despite the increase in budget, program and staff the suicide rate among veterans has remained more or less stable since 1999 with approximately 22 veterans committing suicide every day. The most recent data has shown over the last three years rates of
Committee, i appreciate the opportunity to discuss Va Mental Health care, and i certainly want to acknowledge the loss and the courage of these family membe members, ensuring that this wasnt in vain, and i struggle with the severity of the stories. As an infantryman who lost so many in the iraq war and injured and struggled with the loss of suicide from chronic pain and other injuries, i just thank you all for being here. My experience with the Va Health Care system began in 2008. Sorry. Its okay, youve got plenty of time. After i was medically retired from the army due to severe injuries from a mortar blast in iraq excuse me. Ive been a patient but im also an advocate for other warriors who are struggling with deploymentrelated traumas. For a period of about 12 months, i did receive excellent Mental Health care at a va facility. It provided easy onestop access through Deployment Health models staffed by Mental Health, pharmacy and social work providers. Unfortunately, though, hospital