To thank you and the Ranking Member who is currently not here, but you all in this committee have done such a great job in responding to this crisis. I think showing excellent leadership. We heard from the va directly. Weve heard from the gao, the office of Inspector General, hearing from the private sector. Each of us in our individual capacities are listening directly to the veterans in our community. I ask we have a panel of vet vans and Veterans Service organizations if we are talking about veterancentered care, we need to hear from them. And add to mr. Mcclains excellent suggestion of having a Management Organization identified structural and organizational weaknesses and complement that with the veterans and what they are missing in their care right now. I think one of the issues that has to be included in that review is the issue of accountability. Weve talked about and described our frustrations with the amount of money thats been authorized and appropriated. Virtually lost wit
In this nation of ours we always believed and we believe in the American Dream that if you work hard and play by the rules you out to be able to do well that we live in an america where few work hard and play by the rules you will have mounting debt and stagnating wages. This is not the land of opportunity. This is growing to be the land of economic stagnation and being stuck and we believe in our country and we love our country in the thing we love about it is you can come here and make something of yourself and we are living in the days that no matter how hard you work thats getting more difficult every day. Aint that something to start a conversation about . Thats a conversation starter. [applause] we have to talk to the people out there. We have to talk to each other and we need to do it in a systematic way. We have got to do it in a fervent way. We have got to do it in a smart way and im telling you the wind is at our backs. You see the republicans the conservative side has a very
Negotiations. It might decide at the margin not to make certain last mile investments in its network. I guess another cost i add, i think i offered eight of them through the paper, i wont take you through eight now, but another one im worried about unraveling content agreements between content providers and i is sps. Netflix and comcast entered into an agreement. If netflix looks out the window and sees cogent or level three by regulatory assistance can get a better deal, then you would accept a voluntary agreement. Why is that upsetting . Theres something efficient about those doing a deal. It was cost in place where should be and do my put downward pressure on the price broadband access. If youre telling and isp youre telling and i speedily we can raise money is on the backs of its customers a can make money off transit, cant make money off service. Youre basically putting upward pricing pressure on access races for consumers. Let me go back to you. Say although more about, you are p
Past five or six years. But i think pretty obviously its a misallocation of the those resources. Mr. Collard. Not only a misallocation, but perhaps just looking the other way when you have the resources. I think i heard on monday night the fact, chairman miller, that you raised a specific financial number thats been invested or been provided for i. T. And i. T. Related services. The question was raised, wheres the money . And so whether its whether its misallocation or just, perhaps, an ignoring of those funds available, perhaps, leads to the current state. Dr. Mccaughey. Yes. The v. A. Budget has increased 173 from the year 2000 through 2012. That in inflation adjusted terms is 72 . The increase in total v. A. Patients was 69 . So the funding increased at a faster pace than the number of patients who had to be treated. And the number of acute care patients who need costly care increased only 49 . So the v. A. Funding should have been adequate to meet the increased demands on the syste
To viewpoint. Kristen, later this month, your organization is going to release the annual survey of military families that focuses on the biggest issues theyre facing right now. What are the issues . This year blister families does the military family life survey every year and top issues center around transition, financial security, and also uncertainty. Theres a lot of uncertainty right now as to benefits and as to what holds the people for transitioning out and people staying in. The common practices that other people experiencing because of the economy but some additional uncertainty at the same time. Laura, in your experience, what are the biggest issues . Well, what we find based on our research and based on our collective research throughout the organization is the Biggest Challenges for veterans when they leave are really more of a sense of culture and life. Cot heegs in the military. They miss the sense of purpose. They want to keep serving but they dont know. They miss the se