state. those are issues important to me. treating people with dignity. making sure that that this state respects all people. >> governor walker? >> sure. paul, good question. i took an oath in office to uphold the cops stugs in the state of wisconsin and it clearly defines marriage between one man and one woman. i continue to support that. what the mayor talk and is only disagreement with the facts. the facts is it's against the law today and will continue to it be every day i'm in office. against the law in the state of wisconsin today discriminate against a woman based and unemployment, in promotion or employment itself, against a woman or to discriminate in paper based on gendered. that's the law today. it's a law we've enforced and will continue to enforce and media outlet after media outlet pointed out the mayor's attacks are plain false on it. that is the law. it was the law before 2009. it's the law today. and every day i'm in office as your governor i'm continue to stand up and enforce the law to ensure that not just women in general but i think about not

only my own kids, particularly my nieces, isabelle and emma, when they enter the workforce, the law is fully intact to get equal pay as well. as long as i'm governor i'll continue to take that fight. >> our next question is from bob dohr, directed first to governor walker bp wh. >> what is the state of the state's educational system? uw system, technical colleges, k-12, in better shape than two years ago and is it well positioned to help with thing likes job creation and economic development? >> i think it is. and i said i have a vest the interest throughout this whole process. i have twol sons, matt and alex, go to a public high school where we're we're standing today. no matter what zip code, where they come from across the state have access to a great education. one of the most underreported things positive about our reforms isn't just the savings and budgetary issues bts the

benefits provided to our pub luck scho public schools across the states. tens and millions of dollars spent on health insurance plans instead of putting that money directly into the classroom. that's changed bawd of our re230r78r reforms. on top of that, a young woman in the milwaukee school system name wund of the most y0ud outstanding teachers in the year. exactly what you want across the state. a couple months after that announcement was being laid off long before i was governor, but because of cuts made in the past. under the old collective bargains statement. the last one hire, first one fired. last in, first one out. the mayor and his allies want to restore that system, replacing seniority and tenure. i want a system that says merit should drive this. put the best and the bright nest our classrooms. even the survey conducted by the

teachers' union said this is why they wanted to hide that information from the public showing that the responses were more positive this year than anytime over the past ten years. >> i can't think of an organization where you think $1.6 billion in budget in the state of wisconsin is going to be better off, and that's exactly what scott walker did. $1.6 billion taken out of k-12 in the state. it didn't end there. technical schools took a 30% cut. university system took a $315 million cut. we have to invest in the our kids. i've got four kids as well. i want my kids to be able to get an education in this state and not come out of college in buckets's debt. that's what i want. but to not invest in education is pennywise and pound foolish. all you have to do is look at minnesota. a much higher per capita income than this state and one of the main reasons is more of their residents have graduated from college or technical school. and what did scott walker try to

do? again, the divide and conquer stratty. pit the universities against each other. you name them. and what would have been the result of that? it would have driven up tuition costs for spunts at the university of wisconsin madison and more students would have come from out of state. i want our flagship university to be a place where our students can attend and not to be a place where dollars are going to be the main goal so we can get students from out of state. >> our next question is from aaron davidson, directed first at mayor barret. >> well over a million people, one in five residents rely on some sort of medical assistants paid for by the state. while the programs offer a safety net for people with disabltsds and children and low-income families they are costly. how can the state rein in costs

for people who won't otherwise have access to health care? >> we have to use, if people have jobs, we want to make sure they have health care, because we don't want people to be forced to quit their job because they don't have the health care. and we don't want situations where mothers who don't have health insurance are forced to go to emergency rooms. because if you're a mother with a sick 8-month-old and your baby's running a temperature of 104 and you don't have the a primary care physician, i want you to go to the emergency room. ful you love your baby. but that's the most expensive and inefficient way to deliver health care. it almost seems like a -- an ironic tradition, but as a member of congress, i worked on a bipartisan basis to get care approved on a bipartisan basis so people working could get health care. i think we have to continue to invest in badger care and there were people whom their badge of care under scott walker and

attempted to cut seniors from getting prescription drugs. a rare bipartisan occurrence because it was put back in the budget on a bipartisan basis so seniors would not lose prescription coverage and only when the federal government threatensed action he decide toll take action on family care. to be that one to trust to have the governor say he wants to restore family care, but then we find out he said it because the federal government had threatened the state. that's a problem. >> governor walker? >> we put $1.2 billion more in medicaid that wan in there in the past. in fact, i invested more money in medicaid, the program that funds badge of care than other governor in history. compare us around the country, illinois failed to make the tough decisions we made over the past year and they're now cutting something like $2.7 billion from medicaid. we added more money. than just about any governor in the country. put in place reforms to make sure it was sustainable to

provide a safety net for elder, and family care. continue to add people with physical or development many disabilities as part of family care and center provided a basic safety net under badge of care. you can't do that without investment and without putting in reforms. you're on badger care and your employer has health insurance. we'll ask you to take it from your employer instead of relying on the taxpayers. if you're in your 20s, get it there instead of going on the taxpayer. the sorts of things that ensure, ensure that medicaid and the program is funded around the state like badger care and family care are there for generations to come. we really don't nope ma the whar will do, it's been 44 days since first asked, if this is about undoing the past year and a half what would you do? he hasn't told voters. he doesn't have a plan. a few talking points is not plan. we have plan, laid it on the table, invest the money in made

caid. we will in the future. >> one last question from paul, directed first to the governor. >> governor, this is a bit of an understatement over the past year and a half there's been ideological warfare to say the least going on in the state capitol. hard democrats on the right. hard republicans on the right. hard democrats on the left and -- many would sap that the state is polarized at this point. so our question is, what would you do to bring unity back to the state of wisconsin? what can you do? >> one of the biggest thing moving past the june 5th elections because we have a real choice here. voters need to understand, get past june 5th, get back to focusing on job reform and education and a broad consensus around the state, we can move the state forward. going back and rehashing the same debate we had last year as my opponent wants to do is not the way to move forward. i want to build off the foundation of a process we've changed. i talked earlier about improving

the process as well as getting good variety. we started with dr. tony, ideological wouldn't necessarily be in line with us but we have shared interests. me and my two kids, the superintendent, and worked on improved reading scores for elementary kids. educator effectiveness and our staffs put together one of the most comprehensive group of stakeholders from across the state where when it came to school and school district accountability. there's much more work to be done together on that and i think that process gives us a great foundation whether on education or assortment of other issues where we can build off that and really bring the state together in the future. i think the public doesn't have to say he's talking about it. he's done it for almost a year. the reason people don't know about it is because it's working. it hasn't been a contribution. we've brought together a good number of people. we can do it again when it comes to jobs antsz budgets and other things in the future. >> mayor barrett? >> the first thing you have to do is establish trust. and you don't establish trust

when 20 days before an election you try a whole new set of employment numbers. people see right through it. and you don't establish trust when you know you have a deficit and instead of dealing with that deficit honestly you take out the credit card and say, i want to make myself look good politically, so our kids will pay $156 million more in interest. that doesn't establish trust. i was elected in 2004 as mayor. it was a deeply, deeply divided election. bad afterwards. i reached out to people who did not support me. i did not try to punish my political enemies. becauseful you're mayor or governor, you have to be the executive for the entire jurisdiction. scott won by 52%. you would have thought he won by 92%. the first step he took, punish his enemies. that's easy to do. it's easy to punish your enemies, but it doesn't bring people together.

the job of an executive is to try to work to get things done. and it can't be -- it's my way or the highway. it's my way or the highway. it can be just and ideological litmus test and we don't care what the practical results are. i want to work with people. and my style has never been that i make myself look big by making someone else look small. when i try to push people into a corner politically. that's the type of executive that we need. >> now each candidate will have the opportunity to the ask one question of the other, and i ask you to keep your response, because of time to 45 seconds. governor walker, you may question mayor barrett first. and then have the opportunity respond. >> actually, more time to xm a question. i'm going to skip like i did two years ago. i think the voters don't want to hear bickering, answer questions. with that i'll defer. >> then i'm take more time. scott you probably think i'm going to ask you a question

about the john doe criminal investigation, and while you won't tell the people of the state who's paying your legal defense fees or why you refuse to turn over those e-mail, but that's a question that's been asked, and i think the public might have an answer to that. i'm equally concerned though, recently an investigative report that talked about your traveling and talked and your schedule. and it had days and days filled with personal -- an investigative process went on to find many of the times you caught out of state giving political speeches or fund-raising events and you've refused to tell the public what your schedule has been as it pertains to fund-raising and political events outside the state. prior to this election, will you disclose to the people of this state your out of state travel for fund-raising and political purposes? >> i think it's real simple.

to the people, for example in gl green bay, six times in of the past 1 d1 days seen me in their community, talked to people in iowa, richland county and lafayette and other, to the people i just saw the other day in oshkosh, chippewa falls, i think they know where i'm at and know where my interests are. i'm focused on the people of wisconsin. i've stood up and take on special interests. that's why they poured money in since last year. brought money and bodies into the state of wisconsin because i dp something that hadn't been done before. took on the powerful special interests state of the and local level when the past it dictated to taxpayers what they would do. instead i put the power back into the taxpayers and every day will continue to the do that near wisconsin. >> responden in 30 seconds or less? >> he didn't answer the question. it's imperative that the people know why their governor was not here and what he was doing outside of the state raising money. but i think we have his answer.

>> okay. i'd say for the 30 seconds back, actions speak louder than words. people see me. people see me across the state fighting to help the people of the state and the government create jobs. seen me standing up to take on special interests to put power back in the hands of taxpayers. that's why today i talked to local officials in southwestern wisconsin finally, thankfully, someone's given us the power to act at the local level on behalf of local taxpayers instead of someone else dictating to us whats will happen. >> that concludes our debate. each candidate lp have the opportunity make a 1.5 mind closing statement. mayor barrett, your statement. >> again, thank you all for watching tonight pie want to make something clear. i have no desire to be the rock star for the far right in this nation. and i have no desire to be the rock star of the far left in this nation. what i do have a desire is to be rock solid and do everything i can to create jobs in the state

of wisconsin. because that's what's we need right now. and we need a governor who will stand up to the special interests, and i will do that. scott walker gave billions of dollars in tax douse corporations and the wealthiest people in the state. and he asks seniors to sacrifice. i've said, no, to my friends. scott's talked a lot about the unions tonight. the large public unions. face it. i wasn't their first choice and certainly not the first choice of the people on the far right, and why is that? because i've said no to my friends and to people who oppose me politically. that's the test of leadership. it's easy to say yes to people who give you millions of dollars. it's easy to say no to political opponents. the real test of leadership is whether you can say no to people who'll are your friends. scott walker has never asked for

shared sacrifice. he's asked for others to make sacrifice. as governor, i will focus on jobs. healing this state. ending his civil war. and doing everything we can to move this state forward. that's why i ask you for your vote on june 5th. thank you very much. >> john, thank you and the broadcasters association. to the panel, bob, aaron and paul and the mayor for join me. particularly to all of you across the state of wisconsin. earlier this week i stopped at a mmper in oshkosh and after to talking to people working there around the factory i met somebody particularly interesting. a guy by the name of chris came up to me and told me the story how he voted for hi opponent two years ago. now he and his parents raised democrats are actually voting for me in the election. the reason was simple. impressed somebody had the courage to take on tough issues helping our state helping us move the state forward. i often chuckle when i hear the

word courage. it's amazing to me pliths is the only profession out there you're call kd courageous just by keeping your word. what we're doing is moving the state forward and the courage i get doesn't come from those in politic fps comes from the people i meet every day. moms and dads across the state just like those who work hard in factories and farms and small businesses in schools and clinics across this great state. people vie a honor of meeting just about every day. moms and dads, who have the courage to go to their workplaces and work hard not just to earn paycheck, not just to put food on the table or clothes on the back of our kids. they work hard each and every day just like we do, to have our kids have a better life than we do. we ultimately want our kids to grow up in a better home, a better community and most importantly in a better state than we inherited. that's why i ask fod your vote on june 5th to move the state forward. that con cluts this eveni

evening's debate. on batch of the radio and television broadcasters we urge you to vote on june 5th. thank you for listening. and watching. good night. mitt romney is poised to clinch the republican presidential nomination after today's texas gop primary. mr. romney largely uncontested in texas with its 152 delegates. he needs 58 more delegates to reach the 1,144 that's needed to become the nominee. c-span.org will follow tonight. election counts. the next round of primaries is next month in california, montana, new jersey, new mexico and south dakota. mitt romney is out west today but not in any of those states. he's visiting voters and donors in colorado and nevada during a two-state swing punctuated by a las vegas fund-raiser with conservative businessman donald trump. during this holiday week we're

featuring some of america history. tv programs in primetime here on c-span3. tonight a look back at world war ii begins at 8:00 eastern with reporting and censorship during the bipartisan 9:00 eastern, three original members of the band of brothers from the 101st airborne division, and two actors from the hbo miniseries. american history tv normally seen weekends, primetime all this week here on c-span3. there's a distinction between suction a between success and what it means to go after greatness. put it this way, you can be successful without being great. but you will never be great without being successful. if your whole modus operandi, the whole goal is to have, have, have, to get, get, get, more, more, more. if that's all it's about, then you're chasing success. and in truth, you're probably really chasing significance.

but it can't just be about the chase for success. we must also be concerned about what it means to be great, and in my tradition, greatness is simply this. he whosome greatest among you will be your servant. >> watch commencement speeches by notable figures from of the past three decades online at the c-span video library. this is c-span3 with politics and pub lk affairs programming throughout the week, and every weekend 48 hours of people and events telling the american story on american history tv. get our schedules and see past programs on our websites, and you can join in the conversation on social media sites. the senate veterans affairs committee is investigating the backlog of military disability claims. the defense department and veterans department officials told committee members the current system is better than the old way, but also say there's room for improvements. senator patty murray chairs the

committee. senator richard burress serves as the ranking member. the hearing lasted about an hour and a half. good morning, and welcome to today's hearing to examine the ongoing efforts of the department of defense and the department of veterans affairs to provide a truly seamless transition are in our service members and our veterans. almost a year ago today this committee held a hearing on v.a. and d.o.d. efforts to improve transition. we explored a number of issues including the integrated disability valuation system. at the hearing we had an opportunity to hear from both departments about the state of the joint program. the department's testimony that day spoke to how the departments had created a more transparent, consistent and expeditious disability evaluation process. their testimony also states ides is a fairer, faster process.

well, now that that joint system has been implemented nationwide i have to sap that i am far from convinced myself that the departments have implement add disability evaluation process that is truly transparent, consistent, or expeditious. there are now over 27,000 service members involved in the disability evaluation system. as more and more men and women return from afghanistan and as going to see an even larger group of service members transition from the military through the disability valuation process. this process impacted every aspect of a service member's life while they transition out of the military and doesn't stop there. if the system doesn't work right it were negatively affect the service member and their family well after they have left active duty. getting this right is a big challenge, bu it's one we have no choice but to step up to meet.

i have seen the impacts of a broken system. whether it's from a wrong diagnosis, an improper decision or never-ending wait times you and when the system doesn't work and service members can't get a proper mental health evaluation or diagnosis, it means they are not getting the care that they need. without the proper care, these men and women may find themselves struggling to readjust to family, our civilian life, and they often struggle to find work. worse yet, we've heard stories of soldiers overdosing on drugs and in far too many cases taking their own lives. these are real tragedies affecting real service members and they're happening despite a system intendered to provide greater support to our wounded, ill and injured. i eave sfirs hand the impact an improper decision can have an 0 soldier and his family. earlier this year i met sergeant first class stephen darns ever davis and his wife kim stationed at joint days lewis-mcchord in my home state of washington.

sergeant davis led his men in combat in both iraq and afghanistan. he was exposed to multiple ied explosions during his service and after being treated by the army for years for ptsd and other mental health disorders he was told during the disability evaluation process that he was making up his ailments. from speaking with him i can tell you sergeant davis and the hundreds of other men and women at the base are far from satisfied with the transparency and consistency of the disability evaluation process. all of these men and women have been diagnosed with and in many cases were receiving treatment for ptsd during service but then during the disability evaluation process were told they were exaggerating symptoms, labeled as malingerer, and their behavioral health diagnoses changed. since then the army has launched investigations and hundreds of soldiers are now being re-evaluated in an effort to make this right.

in fact, the most recent update from the army shows that out of the 196 dacases re-evaluated, 1 have resulted in a diagnosis of ptsd. that is more than half of these men and women. still more have received other significant behavioral health diagnoses. other referrals and re-evaluations are still occurring, and i'm still hearing from those who have completed think re"you havations only to find themselves stuck back in the same disability evaluation system that failed them. despite all of thez men and women have been through they continue to the have their behavioral health injuries minimize and feel like their chain of command doesn't understand what they're going through. clearly, more needs to be done to build uniformity and account act into the process of identifying those who are struggling with ptsd and other behavioral health problems. 's in recent weeks the army has taken a number of steps in the

right direction. their recent policy on the diagnosis and treatment of ptsd address as number of the concerns that i've raised. it standardizes the army mental health care through the use of proven treatment and assessment. recognizes ow extraordinarily rare it is for service members to fake symptoms of ptsd and this acknowledgement is critical as we saw all too often that accusation as the army medical center. additionally just last week the army took mother critical step forward are in addressing concerns raiseed by announcing a comprehensive army-wide review of behavioral health evaluations and diagnoses in support of the disability evaluation system. i want to applaud the army leadership for taking some significant steps towards addressing these issues. this is going to take continued engagement from the army leadership. now, i know some may argue that this is just a joint based lewis-mcchord problem or an army problem, but it is not.

this is a system-wide problem. we will continue to see similar issues to those at madigan until the d.o.d. and v.a. ensure policies and accesses like those we've seen from the army's in recent weeks are adopted across the services and throughout the joint system. ensuring service members receive a prop per diagnosis and the care and benefits they earned is an obligation we have as as nation. we owe it to these men and women to get this right. these are not the only challenges confronting integrated disability evaluation system bp we're going to hear today from g.o.a. about other challenges facing the departments. challenges which i must say sound all too familiar. everyone on this committee knows of v.a. struggles to address the claims backlog. i'm troubled because numbers of from the integrated system paint a similar picture. enrollment continues to climb. the number of service members cases meaning the department's timeliness goals is unacceptably

low, and the amount of time it takes to separate and provide benefits to a service member through this system has risen each year since its inception. this continued rise in the amount of time it takes to provide a service member with a decision has to be addressed. the goal the departments have set forecompleting this is 295 days for active duty and 305 days for reservists. last year, on average it took active duty service members 394 days and reservists 420 days. that's around 100 days longer than your goal and it is simply unacceptable. dr. rooney, mr. gingrich right now, the departments are failing these service members. the only thing this committee is interested in are the solutions to this problem and the dedication of your leadership in making things better. we cannot allow the same problems to plague the laerg disability claims system to negatively impact the transition of thousands of service members

in the next few years. the consequences are too severe. clearly, a lot of work remains to be done. what we've seen the army moving in the right direction, now d.o.d. and v.a. need to take the lessons learned and apply them across the entirp sometime. not only will this require quick action but the total engagement, cooperation and support of all senior leaders at both departments to get this done right. while d.o.d. and v.a. are at a critical juncture i'm confident by working harder and smarter thousands of years. turn to here but senate burr has >> thank you, chairman murpy, and the thank you and senator, for holding this hearing to discuss the disability