Floor Statements

Madam Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Madam Chairman, I rise to offer an amendment to the Justice appropriation that would plus-up the account for salaries and expenses by $1 million for the United States Attorneys' Office and make an offsetting decrease in the amount appropriated for general administration.

The first reason I offer this amendment is to acknowledge that, over the past couple of years, the United States Attorneys' Office has devoted substantial resources in the successful prosecution of numerous individuals for the fraudulent use of the service-disabled, veteran- owned small business preference program.

My subcommittee worked diligently to bring attention to this type of fraud to the VA Office of the Inspector General and to get its commitment to pursue these cases.

A recent case involved a joint VA OIG-FBI investigation of a sham company set up as a passthrough to secure almost $13.5 million in set- aside contracts that rightfully should have gone to a business owned by a qualified service-disabled veteran.

Victimizing veterans must not be tolerated. As chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, I want to see these investigations and prosecutions continue.

Second, I anticipate a serious need for investigative and prosecutorial resources, going forward, nationwide, as a result of the burgeoning scandal involving the manipulation of appointment scheduling records at VA medical facilities.

My subcommittee has been investigating problems with appointment scheduling, consult delays, and timely health care for over 3 years. Lists with true wait times are being kept off the official books. According to these sources, as many as 40 veterans may have died while waiting for an appointment at the Phoenix medical center.

Upon this discovery, the full committee chairman, Jeff Miller, immediately called for an in-depth criminal investigation by the VA OIG at all medical centers where such schedule manipulation, appointment delays, and preventable deaths may be occurring.

The VA has had knowledge of the intentional manipulation of appointment schedules and the falsification of official records since at least 2010, when an internal memorandum warned of the use of as many as 17 different scheduling schemes. Such manipulation occurs because scheduling delays negatively affect a performance metric used for bonuses at the VA.

In an interim report issued today, the VA OIG confirmed that the manipulation of appointment schedules persist, and they substantiated that significant delays in access to care have negatively impacted the quality of care at the Phoenix medical center.

Further, they indicated that they opened investigations at 42 other VA medical facilities across the Nation. We do not yet know the full extent of the scandal, including how many veterans have died while waiting for an appointment with the VA.

As with every scandal, I am very concerned that additional crimes may be committed during the coverup. I have instructed my investigators to continue to pursue leads in furtherance of the committee's congressional oversight duties.

In this role, we have received credible allegations from numerous employees that multiple VA supervisors are instructing them to destroy evidence and are dictating what to say to OIG investigators. These allegations are being referred to the OIG for criminal investigations.

Given the scope of the problems and the seriousness of the allegations, I strongly urge passage of this amendment to provide additional money to the U.S. Attorneys' Offices who will be tasked with the difficult job of pursuing investigations and prosecuting the crimes related to this national scandal unfolding at the VA.

When our servicemembers are deprived of the quality health care that they have earned, we must demand justice from those who are found responsible.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08.

Today, it is $17,485,062,209,497.43. We've added $6,858,185,160,583.35 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.9 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08.

Today, it is $17,479,199,305,480.74. We've added $6,852,322,256,567.70 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.8 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4031 because I believe that systemic failures of the VA exist far beyond the issue of appointment wait times.

My subcommittee on VA Oversight and Investigations continues to uncover countless failures of leadership at the VA. This lack of leadership is the driving force behind the unacceptable delays and cost overruns in major VA construction projects, the tremendous backlog of veterans' disability claims, and the horrendous patient care practices that have resulted in preventable patient deaths.

The individuals with responsibility and authority in the VA are unable to lead and, as a result, our veterans have suffered.

It is time to usher in a new era of accountability at the VA, and I urge my colleagues to support the Department of Veterans Affairs Management Accountability Act of 2014.

Mr. Chairman, thank you for your service to our Nation as the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. As a veteran, I deeply appreciate all you have done and will do until the end of your term.

Madam Chairman, I rise in support of this en bloc amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act because it contains an amendment I offered which provides servicemembers diagnosed with a mental health condition who have been discharged access to a physician with special mental health training to provide an additional level of expert review on appeal.

According to the Congressional Research Service, from 2001 to 2011, well over 900,000 servicemembers were diagnosed with at least one mental health condition. While the majority of those diagnosed were able to continue serving, many were ultimately discharged from the military either directly for their mental health issues or for conduct linked to those diagnoses.

Current law insufficiently equips servicemembers diagnosed with a mental health disorder during appeal of a discharge. My amendment corrects this injustice and ensures fairness for those suffering from mental health issues as a result of their service to our Nation.

I urge my colleagues to support this en bloc amendment.

Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08.

Today, it is $17,471,572,575,280.71. We've added $6,844,695,526,367.70 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.8 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08.

Today, it is $17,484,285,711,524.06. We've added $6,857,408,662,610.98 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.8 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08.

Today, it is $17,473,168,572,574.12. We've added $6,846,291,523,661.04 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.8 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08.

Today, it is $17,468,093,940,076.33. We've added $6,841,216,891,163.25 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.8 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08.

Today, it is $17,447,321,527,551.15. We've added $6,820,444,478,638.07 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.8 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08.

Today, it is $17,447,321,527,551.15. We've added $6,820,444,478,638.07 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.8 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Lana Millman, Matthew Dowgin, Anna Vallad, and Amanda Davanzo for their dedication and hard work for the people of Colorado's Sixth District as interns in my Washington, DC office for the spring 2014 session.

The work of these young men and women has been exemplary and I know they all have bright futures. They served as tour guides, interacted with constituents, and learned a great deal about our nation's legislative process. I was glad to be able to offer this educational opportunity to these four and look forward to seeing them build their careers in public service.

All four of our interns have made plans to continue their work in public service next year with various organizations in both Colorado and Washington. I am certain they will succeed in their new roles and wish them all the best in their future endeavors. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to recognize Lana Millman, Matthew Dowgin, Anna Vallad, and Amanda Davanzo for their service this spring.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Savannah Clemente, Jacob Johnson, Lucas Nicodemus, Luke Robinson, Nathan Teeter, and LeeAnn Wilson of Aurora, Colorado. Colorado was well represented by these Rangeview High School students at the 2014 CyberPatriot Competition National Finals in National Harbor, Maryland.

CyberPatriot is the premier national youth cyber defense competition that teaches high school and middle school students about cyber-safety and how to defend computer systems against cyberattack. It also teaches students about internships and careers in cybersecurity and other opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

The Rangeview High School CyberPatriot team distinguished itself from the rest of the competing teams by demonstrating outstanding skills in three rigorous rounds of competition against their peers. Out of 1,500 competing teams, only 28 made it to the final competition where national championship trophies and scholarships were awarded. The Rangeview team won First Place in the Digital Crime Scene Challenge sponsored by the U.S. Cyber Crime Conference.

The Rangeview High School CyberPatriot students will undoubtedly go on to serve as innovative leaders in our country. Their fierce dedication to the STEM disciplines is critical to our nation's future. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to recognize the Rangeview High School CyberPatriot students for their achievement of competing in the 2014 CyberPatfiot Competition National Finals.

Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support as the chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee for the House Veterans' Affairs Committee.

I rise in support of the Sinema-Salmon bipartisan amendment to transfer funds from the general administration line item within the Department of Veterans Affairs to the Office of Inspector General for the purpose of really looking into this issue, the issue of veterans dying from preventable illnesses because, in fact, the VA was playing a game in the Phoenix VA hospital with appointment times.

My office--my investigators last Monday turned over this ``secret list'' that the VA was using that they, in fact, are denying today to the VA Office of Inspector General.

In that list, it will demonstrate that there are veterans with preventable illnesses that died waiting for an appointment, and we also know that there were administrators who received bonuses for supposedly bringing down these wait times for appointments.

My greatest fear is not only that this act which has criminal implications, this alleged act which has criminal implications, occurred in the Phoenix VA hospital, but also my concern is that it is more widespread, it is more systematic, that it is something that the leadership in the VA has knowingly or unwittingly allowed to occur, and so I think it is important for us to get down to the bottom of it.

It is a great tragedy that we don't have confidence--certainly, I don't have confidence in the leadership of the Veterans Administration in and of themselves to get down to the bottom of it, and it takes the Office of the Inspector General and that it takes my investigators in the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee for the House Veterans' Affairs Committee to uncover these things, bring these things to light, and move them forward.

So, again, I rise in support of the Sinema-Salmon bipartisan amendment to transfer moneys from the administration of the Veterans Administration to the Office of Inspector General to move these investigations forward; and if, in fact, they are found to be true, I certainly hope that they are referred to criminal prosecution.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08.

Today, it is $17,436,444,226,130.22. We've added $6,809,567,177,217.14 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.8 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.