how do employees receive bonuses ? >> across the complete va? >> well, give me the ses number first. >> about 78 percent of the ses, but that includes title v and title xxxviii. >> okay. >> and there are title v and title xxxviii employees at the medical center. >> okay. but with regard to the accountability for beginning -- gaming the system, i am trying to get handle on how many employees are sort of accountable for that. i am thinking that title -- title xxxviii other providers, medical practitioners that for whatever reason are getting paid beyond the base pay, right? >> correct, but it is possible there are title xxxviii employees involved personally as well. >> but give me an idea of how many employees were involved.

>> overall i do not have that number, but i will take it for the record. >> okay. >> the ig has not completed their investigation, so we really probably do not have the final number right now. >> how much of the -- we talk someone about how the incentives may be should be based on outcomes rather than these metrics. i am targeting down on why the metrics, we lost control of them i heard testimony that had to do with technology, that we did not have -- we had a scheduling system that was easy to gain. is that your assessment? >> i do not know enough about the system to make that assessment. >> soaker. well, -- because i just wanted the number of employees that were involved. it made it very difficult for anyone to make, you know, look at how people were scheduled to

mile veterans were scheduled and it if there are a lot of employees, i can imagine that the scheduling component of the vista system apparently was vulnerable, but you testify on your expertise. >> unfortunately it is not, congressman. >> well, what other incentives could va used to recruit and retain health care providers beyond bonuses and performance. [inaudible conversations] >> we have recruiting in sentiment, relocation, retention incentives once they are on board. we have authorities to give those types of incentives. hiring difficult to fill positions, difficult locations sometimes and skills. >> well, the owners that va loses health care providers to the department of defense, why have they not consider increasing the base pay of the

va of your employees so that they receive comparable place. >> i am not aware that it is not i will have to look at that. >> i would appreciate that. i want to know if that is true. has the va considered offering other incentives such as loan repayments are increased pay for providers working in rural and underserved areas? >> we have not. >> that is interesting. so, my understanding is rural areas in underserved areas, typically -- well, we don't know enough about the investigation to know how this gaming system matches up, whether we are seeing the manipulation of wait times be more prevalent in these underserved or were wary as. what additional professional

opportunities could the va offer health care providers to recruit and retain those who are dedicated to a serving veterans? >> i think we are doing things like market pay, which gives them an additional pay to the base pay, the performance pay, contracts they do with individual superiors all of which gives them additional pay for us to try to meet the extern of payments. we will never meet it, but we try to make it more attractive. >> thank you. >> thank-you, representative takano. representative runyan, you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. really to observations, and i want to say there are probably not a lot of people on the basis of their discussions we're having, i don't think there are a lot of people on this committee that really have much faith in a lot of the mattress that we use va-wide because i know that we all go through,

whether it is house centers or regional offices and are totally confused by any metric they throw us. then to be able to award performance awards of of those type of metrics are mind-numbing to me. and to go back to what representative roe said, and i think you testified to it, you are setting out a template that that secretary is setting out. how low is that are really? obviously in my past career we had performance incentives all the time. we had several tiers of it. we would -- we would have two categories, likely to be earned and on likely to be earned, and it would actually count against the salary cap of that team. it was not either all and were all out.

there were tears to it. but i just want to adjust -- and i will end here and really do not have a question. i just want to say, to be able to have something, said a bar that low and not be able to really, truly measure, you know, incentives are great, and i don't think anyone here would agree that uniformly across the va they are being applied equally. and you have said that it is very subjective. the basis of it is getting the facts, and i think that we are so far away from that at this point. i really did not even have a question for you because until we fix that having that discussion about performance incentives, you cannot even have the discussion because there is no basis of fact to have it on.

so with after i yield back, chairman. >> thank you very much, representative kuster. you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you and thank you for your testimony before us today. i am feeling like we are experiencing what they would call in the academic world grade inflation or what garrison would refer to as all of the children are above average. coming from the private sector it is hard for me to believe that 80 percent of employees can be either outstanding or this other category that is above and beyond what the expectation is. it makes me feel like the expectation is low or to a place that does not serve our veterans the way that we wish. i am going to focus on where we go from here. we can fix this problem because i think this is a bipartisan issue. we are all concerned. unfortunately this is one of the

few bipartisan committees where we can work together. my concern, how we can fix the situation or help the va to fix the situation because it does not appear that the policies provide for a methodology to make this kind of change. and by that what i mean is that we have had some oversight, but at the end of the day it does not seem to change. i am just wanting to make reference to the va unable to assure that although they add the five problems that the problems will be corrected and do not reoccur. this is a review of one medical center a year later that found an identical problem. you did not end up with a change i want to focus in on, is there

ever an opportunity in this system that we have now where 80 percent of the people get enhanced pay, is there ever an opportunity for reduction or denial of this enhanced pay and just moving forward, now that we know what we do know, what will be the consequences to people that, frankly, were lying and cheating and stealing veterans' health care and taxpayers' hard-earned dollars. >> yes, thank you for the question. i believe there is room for change. part of that will come with more training of senior executives and understanding critical elements that are put into performance plans in establishing very real goals, the metrics we have talked about and ensuring that they are not too low and in fact you must

perform to reach that exceed an outstanding rating, that we pay much more attention. we have now automated the system , performance appraisal system. i personally could not see them until they came into hard copy recently. the first year we will have a chance to look at the metrics in advance and will do more training with senior executives on what these critical elements mean an hour performance review committees and boards need to view these metrics. >> what about lack of performance? and someone lose their job? can they get docked pay? is there -- is there any capacity in this system to take action when performance is less than stellar, which apparently it is for 80 percent of the people? >> yes, congressman, there is absolutely a process to do that. >> what does that entail, how someone would get fired? >> it entails proposal of

removal of we're talking about removing someone from the federal government. that employee would have a right to respond. they get a 30-day notice timeframe and can respond early. that then goes to the deciding official who would take into consideration what the employee says, and a decision maker will make a decision on the personal action to happen. depending upon the evidence for what the employee has done wrong , there is a range of things that you can do to an employee. >> can i ask you, what criminal conduct be evidence of lack of performance? >> it would be misconduct. >> misconduct, would that be sufficient for someone to lose their position? >> if the evidence proved through investigation, yes, that is possible. >> and how about lying to the extent that it was not a crime

but was certainly harmful to veterans being able to get access to care? >> there is certainly a range of punishment, and depending upon all the details of that it is possible they could be proposed for removal depending on the evidence and details. >> thank you. my time has expired. >> thank you very much. representative benishek, you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for being here, ms. gina farrisee. there was testimony in february of this year in the subcommittee on health that 6ses employees had been involuntarily removed over the last two years. however, we tried to get information as to the details of that and have not gotten it. are you aware of this? >> congressman, you receive that yesterday. it just came yesterday, but the committee did receive that yesterday. >> okay.

so if that is correct that six people were removed and not a single person in the ses receive less than a satisfactory rating, how did that removal to replace? >> removal, once they were removed they did not receive a rating, so they would not show up in having received a less than satisfactory rating. when you see numbers that show no unsatisfactory ratings it is a little misleading because those employees did not give followed up with the rating. >> so there is actually unsatisfactory ratings that are just not listed? >> congressman, once someone the parts they do not -- >> that is not, that is not accurately depicting what is really going on. let me ask you this question. this is from my briefing.

an ses employee works with their supervisors to create a performance review plan for each fiscal year. then they raised their own performance on each critical element at the end of each fiscal year. >> yes, congressman. >> then that is then reviewed by their direct supervisor. >> by their direct supervisor, writing official -- >> so the rate themselves. >> they put down all of their accomplishments -- >> right, but they rate themselves according to this. and then that processes reviewed by their direct supervisor. >> it is. >> is that then approved or disapproved by that direct supervisor? >> correct. >> the direct supervisor does not actually read the performance review themselves, the actual employee rights the review and the supervisor oks it or allows it. is that what happens? >> the portion on the appraisal,

there is self assessment on the that is optional. so the employee can put a self assessment in there. >> does it occur? >> i'm sorry. >> is that usually occur? >> in some, not all. >> have you ever been involved in this process personally? >> i am just being involved in it since i have arrived at the va personally. i just finished doing my own ses appraisal plan. at the point of turning in plans right now. i don't know this. how long have you been there? >> since september in this role. >> so you have not been the direct supervisor to anyone that has done their own plan yourself? >> i am just doing that now. >> you are doing your own plan. direct supervisor? >> i am, and my deputy has provided to me his plan. we are not to the point of writing the final appraisal yet.

>> you think this is a good idea that the employee themselves right there on plan? it seems to me that would lead to an 80% percentage of people getting good results. >> congressman, i understand. before that plan is written there is discussion with larry t. and raped her. they do not just go off and write a plan without some sort of discussion about what is reasonable and what should be considered exceptional. >> that is what you say, but the process seems to indicate that the guy writes his own plan. if i do this, this, and this will be successful. he accomplishes that even better and then gets a superior rating. i mean, this whole -- i mean, the question that was previously brought up here in the committee, it is tough to think that there is not a real rating going on here.

i am concerned with the fact that people are writing their own review plan and it just gets checked by the supervisor. then the numbers that you present to us are not accurate, and, you know, a 0%, 6 people, inconsistencies in your testimony. the testimony is very disturbing that here we are in the middle of trying to reform the va and get inconsistent answers. it makes us not want to trust anything that comes from you people. >> mr. congressman, the numbers that we provided as far as they're ratings are where there is actually an appraisal plan. we did not do those on the individual. that is why they do not show up in the numbers. >> well, it is very disappointing to me to get these answers from you today. i am out of time.

>> thank you. ma'am, you said that the self evaluation or senior executive self assessment is optional. are you sure? >> as part of the plant -- >> i'm looking at the performance appraisal form, senior executive performance appraisal form. >> 3482? >> yes, 3482. >> and there are no rating official narratives -- >> the only place i see that is optional is the person is asking for a higher level review for their pay, or it is optional to put a letter of and put come above the other two sections, sections three, senior executive self assessment does not appear to be optional.

form 3482. section three. a senior executive self assessment. describe your accomplishments, out comes, results. [silence] >> i think you just told representative benishek that was optional. is it? >> i am going to take that back. can i get back with you? >> yes, you can. thank you very much. five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, ms. gina farrisee. now i understand that you have been in this position for a short amount of time. were you in human resources with the va prior? >> i was not. i retired from the army. >> so it has been widely reported in newspapers that a

regional director in pittsburgh, i think, received a performance pay award of $62,000. you are aware of that. >> i am. >> i am just trying to do the calculations, and i will add, $62,000, the median income in the county that i represent is $76,000. i just want to state that for the record, but so if you -- if this employee receives $60,000 the bonus, and in your testimony you said the performance they cannot exceed 20% of the base salary for an ses employee, then if you do the math on that, the base salary is over $300,000. >> yes, congressman. that award was because of a presidential rank award. >> and it what is special about that? >> very few of those are given

each year. >> so does it follow any of the rules we have been talking about? >> it is not an award given by the va. >> i see. so there -- i know that this hearing is about performance pay , but there is also a retention incentive pay. >> yes, congresswoman. >> and so the process for awarding retention incentives, i presume, differs from performance pay incentives. and so do you have the information on what percentage of ses employees receive intention resented? can they receive both retention pay and performance pay? >> they can receive both, congresswoman. we currently have 40 ses out of

the 470 some who received retention incentives. >> and is there a cannot exceed% for retention pay? >> there is. >> and what is that? >> 25% of their salary per year, and it can be given up to four years. >> are there other kinds of awards that we are not aware of beyond performance and retention ? >> relocation incentives. if you are asking, reassigning someone, you can offer a relocation incentive and a recruitment incentive for people new joining the agency. >> and is there a cannot exceed percentage? >> they're is a percentage and number of years that it can be given. that is across the federal government. >> the, and 2010 the va did its

own review. can you just described what specific actions the va took to reform and restructure the ses bonus structure from the results of their own internal review? >> i will have to take that for the record. >> similarly, the gao report in 2013, and i wanted to know what specific action the va has taken to improve the performance pay policy sense that was issued? >> we updated our hand but that was missing some very key point said that gao pointed out, and we put out an updated handbook in march to include everything they asked us to. >> can you describe some of those elements? >> one of the elements was not meeting a 90-day timeframe in which you would council and talk about the performance pay, put in a plan that has to be done within 90 days. we did not have a timeframe in

the handbook of things or not being done according to policy. >> finally, can you -- have you as the assistant secretary for human resources and administration and given this situation that we are and currently, have you been able to assess the ig ability to investigate this in terms of personnel and human-resources? do you believe that the half a enough resources to do this? >> i cannot personally assess this, but i have heard the ig in testimony say that he has enough resources. >> but you don't do that as a practice to review resources? >> not the ig. no, ma'am. >> thank you. i yield back. >> take you very much. you are recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i have some questions concerning the whole evaluation system.

i guess i would like to compare it to how the military does it for officers. you can do a support form, fill out a support for for your superiors. talk about your goals were for the year, whatever the case may be. as i understand that would be part of the process currently. through the process with the military, you do have meetings periodically with your rater to see, are you achieving goals. it also gives the reader the opportunity to add other goals. does that take place? >> that is correct. >> okay. do you think that there is a point in time where the person is just pretty much writing their own evaluation? do you think that happens within the system? and now you have not been there long. >> i have not, so i cannot comment.

>> that would be a concern of mine, that this is just kind of a network. just filling out and send it along and we will be a carry. i am also wondering how much the va core values come into play when it comes to a valuation. can you tell everyone what those core values are? >> care, integrity, commitment, advocacy, and excellence. >> is there a part where the raider can take those values and comment on those? >> yes. >> because it seems to me that for some of the people, especially the part of an integrity, it really fell short. yet some people got their performance been a. would that be correct? >> congressman, at the time it was written we may not have understood there was a problem. if it were to be written now

once the investigation is complete i would expect to see that. >> i was just trying to understand your process. i yield back. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. you are recognized for five minutes. >> thank you for holding this hearing. take you for being here. based on the latest data released, 46,400 veterans who enrolled in the va health system in the last ten years have not received appointments and more than 56,200 veterans have been waiting more than 90 days for their first appointment at a va medical facility. unconscionably senior executives who oversaw health care facilities would manipulate data and be awarded bonuses based in part on faulty wait times. clearly demonstrating a lack of integrity. as an emergency physician, i am appalled by the thought of va officials covering of the fact that they are not providing much

needed medical care to veterans and still obtaining bonuses. in an effort to get to the bottom of this reprehensible behavior and ensure executives are held responsible, i would like to know in what year bonuses started being tied to a scheduling metrics. >> i will have to take that for the record. >> it is important to know. you can clearly see the difference between pre and post bonus. things do not move fast in the va, including behavior and performance. it would be important to determine which facilities had those drastic changes. also, i spoke to some of my veterans back home. there is of that trend bill young, and he is in line with the veteran-centered approach which i absolutely agree with. his question is, are there any bonuses based upon patient satisfaction be back?

>> i will have to take that for the record the see of it as a metric. >> okay. think that there is -- we need a very drastic cultural change so that when that question is asked again it should be in the top three answers as to what our va personnel are measured against. number one, too, and three, a patient-centered, patient patient-feedback bonus. has there been any analysis of the effect of bonuses on scheduling the turks? >> there has not been analysis to this point. >> are. what was the exact criteria for awarding these bonuses regarding scheduling matter? ..

>> i'm not aware of doing one in addition to their annual appraisal. >> so, if something like this happens, that was -- shows the character or unsatisfactory performance, there's nothing that goes in the jacket of that individual that gets these bonuses or what have you? >> that would be included in their current year appraisal -- >> i'm talking about, because of what happened, and things that happened on their watch, that they get a special fitness report based upon unsatisfactory performance. no? okay. just want to go on, a couple of

things here. we had a number of veterans testify -- maybe six weeks -- and i asked them basically -- i was using the comparison of the military being fully combat ready or noncombat ready, and i used it analogous to the va, and everybody was here, and across the board everybody went down the line and basically said they're not mission capable. which everyone here, i think, has the same -- but it seems as those -- we talked about mission

izar i'd like to understand how

salaries are set for doctors and nurse practitioners and others who provide the care to our veterans. >> it's a complex process of calculations on market pay, so that we can look at what the national pay is and that is used in calculating what we recommend for pay. it's in addition to a base pay. so if we are talking about sess and we talk about a title 5. there's no addition to any of their base pay. our title 38, physicians and dentists, receive in addition to that base pay the market pay which we must do these calculations to, and then also they can receive a performance pay that has nothing to do with an award of performance, but it is a contract and an objective they must meet in order to receive that performance pay. >> and so apart from the formulas and the calculations, does the local vha director have discretion to deviate from those formulas to attract or retain somebody who is needed in that

student. >> they can request recruitment incentives and they can request relocation insenttives or retention incentives. somebody they want too keep, they can request those type of incentives. >> is there any -- want to make sure i'm using the right words, we don't use bonus, but any incentive offered to the vha director for returning money back to the va or coming in annually under budget or not spending a certain amount of over a certain amount in a certain category? >> i would not say there's an incentive. >> so no part of a vha director's performance incentive is based on how they perform financially? >> they would need to stay wind budget, absolutely -- >> there's a penalty for going over but no reward for coming under. >> not that i'm aware of. >> we're trying to figure out in el paso, we have a mental

healthcare crisis, one confirmed by the audit that showed we're the worst in the country for setting an appointment for an existing veteran patient within the va for mental health care, fourth worst for new patient, second worst for specialty care, and for those in el paso it's not a surprise. we have known it for a while. what we have been told as providers and others within the va in el paso, in division 18 we're in, start to come to our office in many cases anonymously, is a deep concern that the director is not providing those discretionary incentives to attract or retain people. so, if we have these terrible performance measures in terms of being able to connect a veteran with an appointment, if we have a provider shortage, with 19-1/2

full-time employees when i started a year and a half ago. it was 13-1/2 as of last month. i'm wondering how we can provide greater incentives or leverage or discretion to the local director to bonus or get providers or keep them in the first place. any thoughts how you might be able to do that, the administration can do that or we on the committee who are interested in this might propose if we need to change legislation to do this. >> i need to know what incentives they have already attempted to do or if there's anything we can do to help them look at those incentives. >> we again, had an cute issue -- have an acute issue at the el paso va, and we we are told by an anonymous source within the division that until we started to push on the director, he had not once deviated from the formula recommendation for what you pay

someone to practice medicine at the va in el paso, and it was only through our pressure that there was this one deviation that ended up in hiring a much-needed psychiatrist to el paso. it's very hard to get direct answers from the local vha and even through at the administration. i look forward to following up with you to find out what the formulas are, how to improve or change them, how we hold people accountable for their performance, given the discretion and power they already have. >> yes, congressman. >> mr. chair, i yield back. >> thank you very minute. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, ma'am, for being here. you talked in your opening statement about stringent controls, clear standards, in -- on these performance awards. in hour opinion, what happened? >> -- in your opinion, what happened. >> on the awards -- >> on the performance awards how much did we go from your opening statement of stringent controls and clear standards standards ad upped over here with this massive amount of money and the

revelation of presidential awards, and all these other awards, 20 and 25% of income, the 80% amount of people who received them, was there any red flag -- you have only been the since september but when you came in, as you look at this structure, where there any red flags or alarms or instinct or gut feelings that says, this is a lot of money, or anything to set off a red flag in your mind that something is really wrong? because it seems like it got away from the stringent controls and clear standards. >> what i said in my opening remarks was we needed to have precise and stringent and clear standards. i feel that is what we need to do. from here forward. i think we do need more stringent and precise, written performance plans -- >> my question is, were you aware of that prior to this whole blowup in the va there was something out of line with the performance bonuses bonuses andy

you needed the stringent controls and clear standards? >> no. it was because prior to this year we did not have an automated system so you could not see these in advance. so having the opportunity to see these in advance and be able to look at these across the board, prior to the end of the year, i thought would allow us to have a better look and more precisely see if we do have the correct metrics, if the right things are being done. >> i have a question on the presidential award. doesn't come out of the va budget. whose budget does it come out of? >> i'm not sure. i'll come back to you. >> er is there an allotment of money -- do we know how many employees that received the presidential award? >> very few. but i will get you that number. it's a very minimum amount across the federal government. >> i appreciate it. could you also then give me for the state of indiana a list of all the ses level employees and of what their performance bone newses have been for the past five years? >> i will gather that

information and if it is releasable, absolutely will release it to you. >> due know how long it will take you to get that? ball park? >> a couple weeks. >> okay. and so, as you look at this, as we move forward and look at this whole question, i echo representative ruiz's question about when these incentives started, when waits tied to the mate tricks of appointment tikes, and i'm curious, when we look at this and i had heard just dish think some of the news reports this has only been in effect for a couple of years, but 'when we look at a place like phoenix where over the last three years there's been something like $10 million in bonuses, i'm trying to get my arms around why that didn't send signals or red flags somewhere in the system on the performance bonuses if such an inordinate amount of money, even for one place where this whole thing started with the investigation. it's unbelievable the amount of money going into this system. >> i'm not confirmed that amount

that's been spent in phoenix, so i have to go back and confirm that. >> okay. and then also, when you send the information on the presidential bonuses, i want to know what budget it comes from. there is a cap on how much money comes from a presidential bonus, how many people received it, for how many years, the details,, id appreciate it. >> yes. >> yield back my time. >> thank you very much. miss -- if you don't provide the information, i will subpoena it. >> understand. >> i just want to echo some of the comments that have already been made by my colleagues and the concern about performance awards going to people who may or may not have earned them. i think it was the chairman who pointed out earlier that the director of division 21, which oversees part of nevada, turned

out had put false information on a resume, where she had gone to school but rose all the way through the ranks to be the director of that division, and that's an enormous task overseeing tens of thousands of veterans, stretches all at the way from guam to reno. i wonder if you could tell us how you verify people's resumes or when they file applications? how do you look to be sure that this wouldn't happen again? and this woman also received bonuses moving up the ladder. she is having to give some back now, but could you address that issue for us? >> congresswoman, when we receive resumes, we call references, we do background checks. i have just heard of this recently this week so have not had the opportunity to look into that matter. >> well, when you look into it, would you get that back to us? >> yes, congresswoman. >> thank you.

and then kind of along those same lines, the regional office in reno serves all the veterans of las vegas, which is where most of the veterans are in the state, but thes of is in reno. i'm just wondering given the fact that was the fifth worst or one of the worst in the country for the backlog. backlogs there took over 500 days. the way you reduce the backlog there was brokering out over half of the cases to other places around the country. you have hired 25 new people finally after we have been harping about this for a year and a half. they're in southern nevada but joan seen over the telephone by somebody who is still in reno. this person has had a number of problems. surely this is not a record of success. can you tell me if there's anybody na that reno office who has gotten any of these performance ben n news over the

last couple of years? >> i have to get back to you on that, congresswoman. >> okay. i also recruitment incentives. i'd like to find out if they've got any of those incentives in addition to the just bonus, and would you get back to me on that? >> yes, i will. >> thank you very much. i yield back. >> thank you. mr. coffman, for five minutes. >> thank you for being here before this committee here today, and as i understand it correctly, you're kind of overseeing the personnel system within the department of veterans affairs and as part of that is this performance pay system or this bonus system. am i correct in senate. >> you are correct. >> can you tell me how the bonus performance pay system works? for veterans when they're on active duty, can you tell me how the process works for them? >> active -- some active duty soldiers receive bonuses based on their specialty, but the majority of active duty soldiers

don't receive bonuses. >> but on performance, can you tell me how the bonus structure works for performance in military. >> there is no performance -- >> that's correct. now, can you tell me about your own military service. >> i spent 34 years in the army. >> that's amazing you would serve this country in uniform and yet you would be so tolerant to how this department treats our veterans, i think is just absolutely extraordinary. that how can somebody go from the united states army to this environment and yet not take the values from the united states army into serving our nation's veterans. i think it's absolutely extraordinary. and so as you know, bonuses are -- if we call them that for enlistment and re-enlistment

purposes are based on occupational specialties. when the people perform in the military their reward is promotion, their reward is through various awards, but they are not financially driven. as they are in this department which you seem to defend. this extraordinary. it seems to be the only thing that the department of veterans affairs is effective at doing is writing bonus checks to each other. those that are in leadership. i just think that is stunning. certainly not serving our veterans. not providing a claims process that is all ex-speedent, not providing the healthcare they earned. certainly fudging wait times to get these bonuses and what -- - you don't seem to want to come down on these people for doing. you ought to be outraged. you ought to be jut raged at the

manner that these veterans are treated. based on your own background you ought to be outraged. but you're not. it's all status quo to you. all, all things are good, maybe the could be better but they are good. things are not good. this is the most mismanaged agency in the federal government yet is entrusted witch honoring our commitment to those men and women who made extraordinary sacrifices in behalf of this country, and i think we'll be better served as a nation when you're working outside of the veterans administration, not inside the veterans admission. mr. chairman, yield back. >> mr. jolly, you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. as the assistant secretary for human resources i'm sure much of the conversation today is not a case of first impression. conversation about metrics and what are appropriate metrics and how they are reviewed. i presume there have been many conversations wind the department already in the wake

of the crisis about how performance awards are distributed and based upon which metrics. is that an accurate assumption? >> so much so that the acting secretary has already said there will be no awards for vha. >> so within those discussions, or based on your knowledge, and even if it's hearsay, are you aware of

>> is the acting secretary

looking at steellining the process. >> we'll discuss it. >> thank you very mump. mr. huelskamp for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i appreciate you being here today, madam secretary. don't you think retaining one's salary is enough incentive for a ses employee to do their job? >> that would be my personal opinion but i cannot tell you how everybody feels. i just joined the ranks of the civilian employment. >> and you're here to answer those questions about that, and the announcement -- i'm unclear on this announcement about the ses bonuses in the future, how will they be handled and they're suspended, deferred -- >> the acting secretary has suspended any awards for 2014 for ses' veterans health administration. >> you also state they're critical to retension and

performance, dot that mean you're going to laws employees and performance will go down with this announcement. >> there's always that probability. >> do you think that will happen? >> we did that last year with our veterans benefits administration's. i do not think we lost a lot of people because of that. >> okay. you also made reference earlier to a deferred list on bonuses. can you explain that again? >> yes. at the end of every year, once the appraisals are complete, we ensure that we do a check with the ig, with eeo, to ensure that we don't have any of our sess who are on what we consider a bad list, under investigation, anything possibly derogatory. the ig provided us a list of 13 names. the then defer the rating. so they received an appraisal performance and so they have a rating but that rating is held until such time as the investigation is complete and

then that will go to the secretary to receive the results of the investigation, to see the original rating that the employee received, and make a determination if that rating should be changed based on the results of she investigation, think i speak for most of my con ting students as well until the veterans waiting list is shorter than the defederal bonus list -- deferred bonus list, no need to move forward on the bonus list. mr. glen hagstrom was before the committee, in charge of overseeing construction projects which i think we determined had massive failures, cost overruns. the bonus issue came up with him as an ses executive and i asked mr. hagstrom a lot of questions and exactly why kid he get the bonuses? pretty massive bonuses for three years. he said he had no idea. he had no idea. how is there a connection between performance when,

shazam, the bonus shows up in a paycheck. are there personal visits every time between the immediate supervisor and folks like glen hagstrom or simply paperwork. >> there should be a personal visit. i cannot confirm there is. they should have seen the rating and understand the rating they received is what is tied to the award amount, depending on your rating depends on what percentage of an award you receive, and that rating is based on their performance. >> according to mr. hagstrom's testimony there was no such visit no such communication, and no connection, obviously, between performance and retention and his pretty significant bonuses. is that required in the rules and regulations, there's an actual meeting. >> i do not believe a meeting is required. >> no required meeting. i so, exactly how does this

improve performance? there's no understanding of that. i presume -- you have only been there nine months and most of these, i guess there was in the year december evaluations for most of the folks, correct? so you have been through that with your folks immediately below you. right? >> no. they were just receiving their final evaluation when i arrived. >> mid-year evaluations? >> mid-year -- we're going through that right now. >> so the december evaluations, i understood you didn't go through the mid-year -- the december evaluations. >> we do mid-year about now in the last 30 days, not in december. >> end of the year is december. what did you do during those evaluations? did you meet with your folks that worked for you? >> that's happening now. >> mid-year is usually now. you went through this in december, though, correct? you came in september? >> i came in september, but --

>> no end year. >> not in demps in fact in december we were just completing our performance review committees and performance review boards for the end of 2013 fiscal year. >> so you do those in june, mid-year, and then there's -- just once a year? >> just one mid-year. but you can counsel and discuss with your -- >> but at the end of the year -- >> september 30th. >> okay. so your predecessor went through that and you came in there. >> correct. >> your press sed are so was how long in the position? >> it was an acting, and i think he was there about a little over a year. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i yield back. >> thank you very much, mr. huelskamp. thank you-everybody, for being here. i have two quick questions if you would. yesterday after requests being made at three separate hearings by members of this committee, multiple staff requests, va did finally provide us limited

information on the six members of the ses who were supposedly fired last year. subsequent to this information, the staff has requested a briefing on that. can i have your commitment that briefing can take place within the week? not within a week? >> yes, mr. chairman. next week we'll have this briefing. >> and as the senior hr official at va, can you tell this committee, if you think that susan bowers should have given what we know now -- should have given miss hellman a fully successful or higher review for last year? >> not if she knew what we know now. >> given that the review, miss bowers gave of miss hellman was not a true indication of miss hellman's performance, would it have been your recommendation

that he review given of miss bowers should also be re-evaluated and any bonus she has received rescinded? >> miss barrier is retired. >> there's no way to go back after they retire. this is another one of the disciplinary actions that va takes that allows people too seal their benefits and not have anything taken back. >> mr. chairman, it was her right to retire. >> okay. any other questions? m-michaud. >> thank you, mr. chairman. ask unanimous consent that miss kirkpatrick's name be entered into the record as well as the association letter we received on april 19th -- june 19th. >> without objection. >> thank you. >> thank you, everybody, for being here today. thank you miss farrisee for being here. this meeting is adjourned.

>> an f on transparency and freedom of information, and i think my colleagues in journalism would give a similar grade whether they're liberal or conservative. the freedom of information process has become a joke. it was already well on its way. prior to the obama administration, but this administration has perfected the stall, the delay, the redactions, the discussions, and really it's shocking because i feel very strongly that the information that they withhold and protect many times belongs to the public. woken it. but there's no sense of that when you ask for it. they covet it as if they're a private corporation, defending their trade secrets, rather than understanding are what they hold is information they've gathered on our behalf. >> emmy award winning journalist sheryl at kissson on the changing face of network news and her career, sunday night at 8:00 on c-span's q percent a. >> now you can keep in touch with current events using any

phone. call 202-626-8888, to hear congressional coverage, public affairs forums and washington journal, and listen to a recap at 5:00 p.m. eastern on washington today and hear audio of the five networks sunday public affairs programs. c-span radio on audio now. call 202-626-8888. long distances or phone charges mail apply. >> at the faith and freedom coalition conference, newly elected house majority leader kevin mccarthy talked about what he hoped to accomplish as part of the republican leadership. also appearing at the conference, form are presidential candidates santorum, herman cain, and new jersey governor chris christie. this is an hour and 40 minutes. >> thank you very much. very kind.

yesterday was big day. i got elected majority leader. got to understand where i come from. i'm the grandson of a cattle rancher, the son of a firefighter, and i had the opportunity to run for majority leader. only in america do we have this. [applause] but i want to start the way i started my acceptance speed inside our conference. i want to thank milords and save -- save -- saviour, for his faith and strength. and whatever we face in the future i know he'll be even stronger. i'm not ashamed to say it and i'm proud to be a christian. [applause] >> i want to tell you about my walk, a little bit about my life. i'm not an attorney.

i don't have a poly-sci degree. i grew up in bakersfield. it's a shanty town in the grapes've wrath. like men towns across america. neighbors work hard. they play by the rules and they raise their children. they expect others to do the same. the lesson is learned there i didn't learn by talking, i learned with listening. it's a town that that see -- your faith, your family. i'm in the youngest in my family -- i'm the young nest my family. got out of high school, didn't apply myself well enough for a scholarship, my folks didn't have great wealth. my father was a firefighter, moved furnished on his days off. i went to my local junior college. i took a summer job, saved my money, started buying cars and

selling them to pay my way through college itch found out later it was illegal but i didn't know that. one friday night, i was going to visit some friends at a college in san diego state, and i stopped off at the grocery stores, the lossry just started and i bought a ticket and won the lottery. i took the money, took my folks to the nicest restaurant in town. ever walk into a place you never been like that and felt uncomfortable in but i had the money so we ate everything on the menu. my brother still ordered dessert just to make the price higher. i gave my brother and sister each $100 and took the rest of the money and invested in one stock. i believed in taking risks. i believed if i was successful, i didn't want government to take all my profited but itself i failed i didn't want government to bail me out, either. and that semester, i told my folks i wasn't going back to college. so i took my money out of the market, refinanced my current car and went out to try to buy a

franchise and no one would sell me one. so i created my own. a deli. my father and i even built the counter in our garage. we did pretty well. we had all the struggles that small businesses. first to work, last to leave, and last to be paid. the regulations that came on it. but you know what, we were successful. and i now had enough moeaki pay my way through college without working, and no one had finished college yet in my family, so i sold my business, and when i was going to college there was an article in the paper that said, be a summer intern in washington, dc with a local congressman and i thought, how lucky he would be to have me. so i applied and he turned me down. the end of the story is, i now hold the seat i couldn't get an internship for. [applause]

i feel very blessed. i married my high school sweetheart and we have two kids. we in the struggles we go through, just like everybody else in america. i'm fortunate enough that my con constituents have given me power to represent them and i go to work inside washington. i go home every weekend. i sleep on a couch inside the office. i don't want to become washington. i want kearn county to become washington. they asked me yesterday, what would you do differently as majority leader? going to have the courage to lead but the wisdom to listen. sometimes washington doesn't listen. so if you're ever in the capital, come by the office. inside my office i have a friend of mine, ever heard of a guy named steve pinly, an artist? he painted me two pictures.

one is abraham lincoln hundred my desk,. the other is ronald reagan. many times at night you ponder and you're reading and you wonder, what what these two great leaders' advice be for us today for america and all of us. i thought for a moment, think there's the things lincoln would tell us. the first thing lincoln would tell us is, believe in the exceptionalism of this country. and i think one of the places you can look to that is the gettysburg address. you all know the beginning. four score and seven years ago tonight. but every read the rest? our forefathers brought fortha new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. you read through and it he says, but if we fail, government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall perish from earth. we weren't the strongest nation

at the time but he said we're different than others. we're conceived in liberty, and we're dedicated to the proposition that everybody is equal. but if we fail at this, england and france could not solve the problem, only us. one summer i was in israel a couple years ago, meeting with sharon perez. we were walking through jerusalem and he turned to me and said you live in the greatest country on the face of the earth. a powerful statement from someone who is not an american, the president of another country, saying about us. i said, thank you. i got very proud. put my chest out. thank you very much. the president says you know what your greatness comes from? it's not a for what you take.

it's for what you give. you will give the ultimate sacrifice of life so another country could h

we should not ignore the tough digitses. we should lead and make a difference. as i look across and see ronald reagan and say thick quick -- this quickly because of my time. and reagan ray is smiling and he is from california and was a conservative as well. ronald reagan smiled and you think in today's era what would his advice be for us or our current president. when reagan ran, it was the last time an american u.s. ambassador was killed. jimmy carter. this current president is making jimmy carter look good, right? have you seen jimmy on tv a couple times lately? just now coming back. ronald reagan is running, americans are held hostage, the soviet union entered afghanistan. our president's response was not to go to the olympics. the soviets say, great, we'll win more medals, don't come. he said we'll defeat the sovietdownon. there were two germanys and the press says you have to have a

plan, you have to heave it written out. how can you defeat the sovietdownon, ronald reagan said, four simple words, we win, they lose. he believed it, they believed it. america believed it and we won. those four little pieces of advice would go a long way today. i want to leave you with this. i know we're frustrated. i hear the message and i want to pledge this one item to you, the same thing i pledged inside conference. we'll unite, have the courage to lead, and the wisdom to listen and we'll turn this country back around. thank you very much and flawed -- and god bless. [applause] >> good morning. good morning.

how are y'all doing? we had some people who rode some buss in this morning, right? well, don't fall asleep yet. i hope you slept on the bus. i want to welcome ale of you to "road to majority." yesterday we had ted cruz, we had marco rubio, we had allen west, we had ambassador john bolton, we had senate minority leader, soon too be senate majority leader, mitch mcconnell, we had senator john cornyn, and that was just the first day. and we are going to have an incredible lineup over the next two days. we'll equip you, empower you, we're going to encourage you and then we're going to send you back to your respective states, to build the organization that will turn out a record number of evangelical and faithful catholic voters, and come

november, harry reid will be retired as the majority leader of the u.s. senate. [applause] and frankly it can't come soon enough. i want us to take stock this morning of the state of our country and look out upon the fiscal, the cultural, and the foreign policy chaos that is america as we gather this morning. we are a nation that is $17 trillion in debt. which is equal to the entire u.s. economy. which is viewed by most economists as a red warning light that goes off on the dashboard and tells you, your engine is about to shut down.

when your debt equals the size of your economy, that's never been true in the history of our country, even during world war ii, even during the cold war. and 40% of that debt has been run up in just the last five years. by this administration. we have between 65 and $85 trillion in unfund entitlement obligations we promised a future generation and have no way to pay and that's not even included in the debt. last year for the first time since the social security system was created in 1935, the social security administration took in less money than it paid out. and by the year 2024 they will be unable to pay benefits to beneficiaries. and the system will either require a multitrillion dollar bailout, which we have no means

to pay, or it will go bankrupt. we have an economy that has grown at a roughly one to two percent growth rate, an anemic eurozone and a largely jobless recovery. we have, if you included the underemployed, the unemployed, and those who have given up and simply stopped working, we have 14 million unemployed or underemployed, and we have the lowest labor participation rate since then 1970s. that's the fiscal and economic picture. then you look at the cultural picture, and we have one out of every two majors in america ending -- two marriages in america ending in divorce. we have majority of all the children being raised in america today are been raised with one of their two parents not president in the household. 40% of all the children born in america this year will be born out of wedlock. that figure is 72% in the

african-american community, it is 53% in the latino community. folks, there is no way to sustain vibrant communities with that many children being born and raid out of wedlock. without the benefit of the tough love and the nurture of both parents. according to the centers for disease control, one out off every four 18 to 24-year-olds in america today is a regular -- that is to say a weekly or more frequently, regular user, of marijuana or other illegal drugs. one out of four. highest level since the 1970s, and when states around the country are beginning too legalize marijuana in violation of federal law, this administration announces publicly they will no longer enforce federal law. they just pick and choose which laws they're going to enforce.

in new york city, 80% of the graduates of public high school, 80%, require remedial classes to perform basic functions or are functionally illiterate. and in this city, new york city and other major cities, an african-american under the age of 25, african-american male has a higher stackal likelihood of being killed before the age of 25 than an american soldier did in iraq or in afghanistan. now, that is the domestic picture. and, folks, these are tough words. but they are the truth. as a society, after 50 years of, if it feels good, do it, we have reaped what we have sowed.

we have turned our back on god, and his precepts, and like a prodigal child we now live with those consequences. beyond our shores, russia has seized crimea and threatens not only ukraine but the other former baltic republics. syria is in flames. a blood thirty tyrant has slaughtered over 160,000 innocent civilians and three million people are displaced throughout syria and surrounding areas, including a million refugees in jordan alone. we have an al qaeda offshoot on the verbal of toppling the government of iraq and this administration fiddles while rome burns. and i decent know about you but i thought it was more important for barack obama to come back to

washington and convene an emergency meeting of his national security council than it was for him to stay in palm springs and play golf for two days when al qaeda was marching across the middle east. [applause] >> in iran, the mullahs stand between 120 and 180 days of having enough enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb. and there are 30,000 centrifuges spinning at their nuclear installations. now, i ask you, do i paint an accurate picture? or die exaggerate? i think it's an accurate picture. and this is our message to the people of america this weekend. these are not just money problems. and these are not just military

problems. friends, these are moral problems that will only be solved with moral and spiritual solutions. [applause] >> and if you don't believe me, just look at the moral and spiritual corruption that has let to a hearing that is going on right now in the house of representatives as we speak, in which the commissioner of the internal revenue service is being called to testify under oath about what was a systemic and deliberate campaign, i believe, coordinated with the white house and the justice department to try to harass and intimidate and silence opponents of this administration. and after they got called on that, they have now destroyed

the evidence of their crime, and make no mistake about it, my friends, these were federal crimes. it is a crime to abuse the power of the internal revenue servicer is for political purposes and those who were responsible should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. for that abuse. applause [applause] now they say that two years of e-mails between lois lerner, the white house, and the department of justice, are missing. they can't find them. this is the bureaucratic equivalent of the dog ate my homework. this comes after these e-mails have been under subpoena for, i believe two and a half years.

in which the irs has claimed they were complying. and not only did lois lerner's hard drive crash, but the hard drives of six other irs officials who were involved in this conspiracy, have also crashed. and while this was going on, you probably know -- i know you know that this year, the irs attempted to promulgate new rules that would have cracked down on the ability of grassroots citizen organizations, like faith and freedom coalition and others, to educate, inform, and register voters prior to election, and i don't know how closely you looked at this, but these regulations were so draconian and so nefarious that they would have prohibited voter registration drives in churches

within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a general election. they would have outlawed the ability of groups like ours to even post the voting record of an incumbent member of congress on a web site. folks, this is a total infringement of our god given -- not just our american rights -- our god given right as free people, and we were not about to take it lying down. so faith and freedom coalition in the spring of this year, e-mailed, phoned, texted, text-messaged, and otherwise contacted approximately 2 million of our close permanent friends. all across the country, and said if you don't speak out now they're going to take away your first amendment rights, and let me tell you what happened.

71,600 members and activists and supporters of faith and freedom coalition filed comments with the irs that was roughly half of the 150,000 comments that were received and the irs has now announced they have stopped that rulemaking procedure because of the efforts you undertook. applause now, look, we have to remain vigilant. because when they made that announcement -- and this is typical of this administration -- they said, we stopped this rulemaking procedure. we have turned off the switch. we're now going to start a new rulemaking procedure. so we're going to have to do it all over again, and that's fine, because the price of liberty is eternal vigilance, and we're going to remain vigilant. and objects we kill these regulation, we're going to see a

new senate and a new house. come january of 2015. and we are not going to stop until we abolish this agency, clear that building, fumigate it, -- [applause] >> i think we ought to raze that building to the ground and build a monument on the rubble so that future generations will know that we stood up and stopped tyranny so they would remain free. [applause] later on i'll tell you what i really think about this issue. i'm sort of dialing it back right now. but you know what? as important as that is, and it is important, it's important for us to make sure, as the apostle

paul so eloquently said, that we complete the work and we finish the job of those who surround us like a great cloud of witnesses. ...

>> >> this is a precious right then has been purchased with the blood of patriots. and we should not taken lightly. important as it is i really believe this with all my heart whatever problems we have fascination god is bigger than everyone of them. from whatever problems we have in this has always been true but i think the board has promised to this play is that we'll realize and is irrefutable. we will turn out a big vote in november and believe you me, change is coming.

the calvary is on its way. but what ails america will not be solved by throwing out one group of politicians to replace with the other group of politicians. [applause] >> not by repealing bad laws replace it with others. there is only one thing that will bring the nation back to economic and military and moral greatness. that we needed a weakening of moral and spiritual awakening calling the nation back to humility, reliance and reliance on almighty god. that is what this nation needs. [applause] when ronald reagan took the

oath of office, you may remember that he had asked when he was inaugurated to move the inaugural ceremony that was held that the east front of the capital for as long as they have been doing it and it passed to move to the west said he could look darrell minimal at the washington monument, the lincoln memorial the jefferson memorial to taken and what made america great. before he stepped to that podium to deliver that inaugural address, when he took the oath of office you may know that he took the oath to place his hand on his mother's bible. she was a deeply committed christian. he did not lead a charmed

life as a sign of an alcoholic and grew up in a home that the tragedy and the pain of chemical dependency. and became a believer in an 11th-hour 12 years old but his mother's bible that well marked by bold that has guided him through that turbulent childhood and it was open second chronicles. that was his theme first. and it says if my people were called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my name to return from their wicked ways then will i hear that prayer from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land.

think about the first floor of minutes in the note that it does not say if the others will pray. if all those senators are bad people on the other side of the divide no. it says my people. if the people called by my name that means us. we are the ones that have to repellent. we have allowed this to happen. but i am done letting it happen in the country that i love. [applause] so let the repentance begin this weekend. let's humble ourselves by the power of the holy spirit.

think you very much. god bless. [applause] ♪ >> they q very much. born in the of warehouse that is some wisdom. they give for inviting me back and to be here today. i come here with us special message i had been delivering one-year robo how we as a movement have to identify the fact as a movement we have not been connecting to provide them with the message to embracing and live the american dream. lot of people struggle with

disillusionment that america is on the wrong track for good reason. just listing a bunch of them with conservatives our message and has gotten out of step. with america's problems. we are a party and a movement that continues to focus on certain issues that i believe are not as relevant to average americans as they used to be. you have folks who looked at our voting patterns with the elected republicans that is not the case said the more.

the conservative movement with the corporate boardroom or the country club and it holds traditional values. yeah people working for a living but if you listen to the of message we have been delivering i mentioned in his speech last year at the national convention two years ago houri's and entire day on this subject now one business owner after another comes to the podium how many business owners there are versus how many workers? who is struggling most to fall behind with inflation this 70 percent of americans don't have college degrees but the business owners in

volleyball wall street and working americans. that is why i decided to write a book bluecollar conservatives because that is the future for america. we need to be the country that believes it america to have a game plan that does not say businesses to will everybody else will do well. we see wall street at new highs and average americans not doing so well liked anybody cares about them. 23% of the people said the most important issue does this candidate care about people like me?

those said it was their most important issue. how they're candidate did. he got 19 percent of the of boat. and if people don't think we care about them if the average american doesn't think we have an agenda and a message for them everybody loves to hear their own name. with tax cuts and balanced budget with the size and scale of government i am for all those things and a pro-growth policy but where

in that picture is the average american? we'll have to start painting a picture that they can see themselves in the artwork of america. this is where some of the elements.

>> that is true with all welfare benefits but let me

tell you what else happens with these benefits. it discourages marriages. and showing me as a document a single mom with two children making $50,000 per year figure eligible for $38,000 of government benefits. but if you marry you lose them all. think of what we're doing to win and trying to raise children to with like to be a married relationship but cannot because it is economically devastating. to do you have any republicans or conservatives fighting to say we need to help people or in courage

people to get married? because they need mothers and fathers. [applause] >> we need to have an agenda that speaks across the economic spectrum, the party of the worker. the movement that says we need to make things and to create wealth and opportunity one that sold for $19 billion as of app had imagined and $19 billion manufacturing company how many employees, households and wages and.lcft communities

with that manufacturing facilities support? >> that is all technology. know they are not we can still make things in america if we create the economic environment. having tried that experiment to find that stability that legal protection just are not what they are. let's be a party that says we want to make things or have strong families and communities to create energy to keep the cost down or build the infrastructure of america so 70 percent to don't have college degrees can have jobs to sustain family is. it is about good solid family values could hard workté you want to work nine to five and is5) okay.

for people to work nine to five and it is a good thing for us to be on this side of the workers. i can tell you if you look at the polls they are like any of us. republicans or democrats. that we just steal their money the to a culture of decay but we never talk about it it is time to start talking to america again. ronald reagan is always the person we go back to. he would be appalled to day

if a judge say. if this is the of movement ready to go back, and no. we looked at the problem misheard of our time that government is not the answer. it is the problem of. with a different crisis in america of people in the middle of america being disconnected and the opportunity achan provide. to provide a way out that is good and true based on family and work and education so with a technical school in the

country is lost. ladies and gentlemen, we have an opportunity to transform america. started today. thank you. god bless you. [applause] >> are you feeling good? are you feeling of love? i may be leaving the united states congress but i am not leaving the fight. i amended for the long-haul. god bless you all. i am grateful to be here the last couple of weeks you have been falling hillary clinton's book tour as the media has been telling us to make so many unforced errors

that barack obama is seriously considering making her his new vice president. [laughter] [applause] but we do have a lot in common. we're both members of united states congress and served there, both the only to women to participate in their presidential debate. she of the democrat side we 15 times on the republican side i've made a contribution in that effort because many of the men onstage with me believe and are not word not for the full repeal of obamacare as my signature issue by the time we were through every male candidate adopted the position. i am extremely proud of that [cheers and applause] but most importantly both mrs. clinton and myself are obsessed over by a msnbc for

various reasons. feel baughman ship is sinking feeling like it is december 2016 because the presidency is virtually over. the president's approval rating is set the all-time low even with my left leading state it minnesota because the american people simply do not trust him. it is not hard to figure out why. as a freak coincidence the irs justin vows they mysteriously missed two years the emails to people central in the scandal investigation and apparently it is not an obstruction of justice when you're attorney general believes the law of the plan applies to only one political party.

a now v.a. in particular with the world war ii veterans paul still managing to give themselves bonuses while they were busy cooking club books. with a full-scale attack as well as the first demand their right of free speech. the legacy would be as i predicted the establishment of lawlessness of the united states of america especially when it comes to the issue of rewriting obamacare. that is his legacy. that is not our legacy. we will fight back with every turn with his establishment of lawlessness and the united states. it is not who we are.

we are for the rule of law unashamedly so. here's the other statement of the year the united states border is not a secure. poring over the southern border of texas the hundreds of illegals by the hour are surging across the southern border. it just here in the united states. let's spend time about a tough football mascot. that is what is really important to democratic senators and president. dealing with the secrets of the nation and the threat of worldwide terrorism and if you scan the globe it is clear we are living in a profoundly dangerous time. unlike what any of us have seen in the course of a

lifetime but a former secretary of state using several leasing five of the taliban topic operational peters poses no national security risk to the people of united states of america. i beg to differ with that assessment. that includes the former secretary of state held of the clinton who reinforces daily to the american people that she is not commander in chief material. she fails to inspire confidence in practically anything she has touched and including her utter abject failure that she should never be considered for the presidency. to explain to the american people why she repeatedly ignored requests after request for increased

security in the benghazi mission compound. schaede failed to pick up the phone to call the commander in chief to send military reinforcements to rescue the brave americans on the ground. [cheers and applause] she has to answer my she repeatedly for weeks after this tragedy continued to play in the internet video that she said hastily in salted the profit mohammad the recently she said that we knew from the beginning the was that was just picked up on sunday that he was a part of the process. she cannot keep her story straight.

in that interview will come with the accountability from the american people. [cheers and applause] let's review where the foreign policy has gotten us today in the united states. terrorists are on the march. last week this morning when we will cupping and found out the worst of the worse, a terrorist so brutal and so violent that even al qaeda has renounced them they are called isis in a blitzkrieg it took over one-third of iraq in a stunning display with a have taken on the american tanks tanks, american trucks and high-powered weapons to also take over chemical weapons and cachet as well.

it is the form policy failures of hillary rodham clinton tanks are rolling into the crater and it happened one week ago today it continues unimpeded if nuclear weapons program. nothing has changed. nothing has changed recognize saying iran will have a nuclear weapon unless we have a new commander in chief who understands and appreciates the rest and stops the nuclear program from iran. [cheers and applause] brutal terrorist are actively killing christians in syria today. said terah or get -- terror organization kidnapping and killing innocent women and children and that is the list of the horribles from just the last few weeks and ideas have consequences and

decisions have consequences that is why elections matter. the president and hillary clinton do not understand what works and does not work in the real world of the real bad guys. they believe in fantasy for a policy where the good intention = success. a real strategy not a time for fantasy. the obama administration has continued to thumb its nose at our strongest ally in the world coming over friend israel. for the you did the government of of loss is now a reality. that means the muslim brotherhood violent terrorist organization with american blood on its hands is a member of the palestinian authority. just last week the five

worst terrorist the top operational leaders live and he believes those in exchange for bergdahl that the terror organizations and kidnapped three innocent jewish teenagers who were blocking hope for a ride home from school. one of the kids is an american citizen from new york city. not of the celebrated the kidnappings but compare these three young boys to rats who were real then by a fishing pole. and obama should be giving more land to those who want to a exterminate all jews? and this is what it means to stand with israel. [cheers and applause] . .