Hearing on the President's Task Force on Veterans

"It seems to me that the Department of Veterans Affairs should've been prepared many years ago. Mr. Secretary, I visited the Carl T. Hayden Medical Center, that's the VA medical center in Phoenix. I have tremendous respect for the staff, but what they told me is that they are strained, that they're understaffed and in some cases don't have the equipment they need. Aside from the Administration's delay in addressing this issue, I'm concerned that the VA may not have the resources it needs to get the job done."

"So when I hear things that everything's fine, and we're reducing numbers, one's too many -- and it gets frustrating. And when my veterans see, they'll see a document and they'll see it's well done and they'll see great things in here, and they'll ask me the question 'so what? I still can't get in.' And so that's why we're here and that's where we're coming from."

"With this shortage that we have at our vets' centers across this nation, I cannot for the life of me imagine why $3.8 million is being sent out in bonuses. We have six hundred thousand backed up claims, and yet when you came to us and asked on the general operating expense account, you asked for less money than 2007 which was a cut of the $9 million. So your comments about the VA having all the money it needs must be reflexive."