agreement of what we have done. and over time, it seems to be that most of the decisions of the supreme court have found acceptance in the bench and in the bar and most important in the american people. this is not a position i sought. some of you know the story. i talked with miriam. >> once again, the supreme court justice anthony kennedy announcing his retirement from the high court today. he said he has informed his colleagues and president trump of his plans and that resident

retirement will effect at the end of july. president trump's pick to lead the veteran's affairs department robert wilkie appearing this afternoon. we join it in progress. >> continue work together, as the chairman said. so thank you, mr. chairman, and, robert, it's good to see you and have you here today. i appreciate your willingness to serve as acting secretary. i appreciate your willingness to step forward now during what i believe are unprecedented times at the va. if confirmed, and you know that you will be tasked with ensuring our nation's veterans have access to time and care and services and benefits both housing, educational, and others they have earned. you'll expected to treat every veteran with the dignity and respect that they deserve.

today this committee is here to determine if you're the right person for the job. every administration brings its own priorities and people to the table. it can lead to turmoil and confusion and can generate uncertainty inside and outside the agency. from my perspective, the va has been above that fray. the sacred mission of serving our veterans and families is transcend end. i've been working with jim mickelson, i've worked with jim peak as closely as bob mcdonald. we've seen the political appointees work actively and publicly to undermine the secretary and the deputy secretary who are unanimously confirmed in the senate. as we speak, the secretary and

deputy decisions are vacant within the va. we're seeing va reform after reform in a manner inconsistent with congressional intent. we're seeing political interest groups given a seat at the table. we're seeing va leadership lash out at anyone seeking true transparency. in the last couple of weeks, the va's official media accounts attacked fake news. the va's official media accounts have -- and the acting secretary has claimed that the inspector

general is his import nant. that couldn't be further from the truth. i hope you agree this type of behavior undermines the va's mission and does a disservice to the millions of veterans. i hope that everyone at the va was watching last week when the nate voted 96-0 to reaffirm the independence of the va. federal agencies can't be trusted to police themselves. veterans and taxpayers need to know that the va is -- i need to know that you are the guy who understands the va has larger challenges ahead. i think you do. congress has provided the va amp time to roll out the mission act and get it done right. if it doesn't happen, the buck stops with you. congress and veterans will hold you accountable and i think you

understand that. to carry out the mission. by the leadership, i might say. they provide those tools. but far too often the va failed to properly utilize the tools. this needs to change and i'll be looking to you as a person who is ultimately responsible to make this happen. i appreciate our working relationship. i believe you're a straight shooter and i think if

confirmed -- when confronted with the decision about what is best for veterans, you'll ability in the best of intentions. the question is how that decision will be impacted by the influence of others. my only advice to you is take the cue from the veterans. the folks that are sitting in this audience and do what you think is right. even if political forces threaten your job. i want you to succeed. i want you to succeed. i think the veterans across this country want you to succeed, too. i look forward to our discussion

today. once again, i want to thank you for your willingness to serve on behalf of this nation's veterans. thank you. >> thank you, senator tester. i'm going to introduce senator tom tillis for introducing our nominee, after which i'll administer the oath. senator, tell us -- >> thank you, mr. chairman. i'm proud to introduce my friend and colleague as the nominee for secretary of the va. i've had the honor of working with robert for three years now. sometimes he worked for me. and many times i worked for him. his combination of noble, humor, humility, and heart has endeared to my staff. robert was born in germany. he literally grew up on fort

bragg and he lived most of his early life on fort bragg or in fayetteville in north carolina. he received his va from wake forest university. his jd from loyala college of law in new orleans. masters of law from georgetown university and masters in strategic studies from the united states army war college. robert is an intelligence officer in the united states air force reserves today. previously he served in the atlantic intelligence command and joint forces intelligence committee and he also served in the united states navy. he's long been regarded in washington and been held in high regard in washington, especially here on capitol hill he's developed close relationships with members on both sides of the aisle. he's also forged an excellent work on the relationship with the committee. and the committee staff and universally recognized as a team player and a mentor.

robert has been a trusted advisor to some of the nation's most respected leaders. including condoleezza rice, robert gates, donald recommenum and secretary mattis. i was surprised and proud to have robert accept a position with the newly sworn in freshman senator. it was clear from the start he was destened to serve the nation at a higher level. yast year robert received that call from the administration when he was nominated to be the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness. robert demonstrated his extraordinary skills in a few short months. it was no surprise to me that the administration identified him as the perfect fit to become the secretary of the va. when he was appointed to the acting role, he quickly worked to improve morale in the va, earning strong reviews from members of congress.

he moved to execute the electronic health record project, which we all know is a critical part of the va transformation, and also successfully pushed through the va mission act to the finish line. robert has all the education and professional experience required to be the secretary of the va. perhaps what makes robert best suited for the job is his lifelong experience as an army brat and the personal experiences as son of a gravely wounded soldier and a service-member himself. he's literally lived the experience. so i know robert will bring his professional experience and his personal insight and an intensity to the role that will serve our veterans well. thank you, mr. chairman. >> please raise your right hand. do you affirm the testimony

you're about to give before the senate committee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you god? please be seated. >> my wife julie is behind me. we have known each other since we were youngsters growing up in fayetteville. as you now, mr. chairman, she has a strong georgia connection. her grandmother was in georgia. >> that's the real swamp. >> that's right. just in 2006 and 2017. she's with me and nothing i have achieved would have been possible without her. this is the third time i have

appeared in the confirmation chair. i mentioned how long i've known my wife, and one of the aspects of our relationship in those early years is our high school was about three blocks away from the fayetteville veteran's hospital. every day on our way to and from high school, we would see a sign outside the veteran's hospital that says that the price of freedom is visible here. so i'm humbled today not only by the confidence placed in me by the president of the united states, and the support of our veteran's service organization but introduced by veteran's tills. having grown up in the military world, he exemplifies what we strive to be. that's servant leader. as a senator said, i've been privileged to experience military life from many angles. as the son of a bravely wounded combat soldier. as an officer. as a senior leader in the

pentagon, including leading the reform of the defense health agency. and for eight weeks the acting secretary of the department of veteran's affairs. i walk the field shyly with my great grandfather. as a young captain of field artillery, he witnessed thousands perish in a matter of minutes in 1918. in the short time that i was privileged to know him, he impressed upon me the cost paid by ordinary americans caught up in the experience of war. mr. chairman, my life changed when my father returned from his second combat tour in vietnam. i was seven when we received the word that he had been terribly wounded. when he came home after almost a year at army hospitals, he weighed less than half of what he did when he left.

we visited our claims process center in baltimore, as well. as it was clear to me that the veteran's population is changing faster than we realize. for the first time in over 40 years, half of our veterans are now under the age of 65. of america's 20 million veterans, 10% are now women. the new generation is computer savvy. and demands 21st century service. service that is quick, diverse, and close to home. the va to thrive is integrated health care network it must be agile and adaptive.

i experienced what can and will never be duplicated in the private sector. that's the aspect of va. what does it mean? it means when our veterans walk into any va facility they converse with men and women two speak a unique language of military service. what are the priorities? first, improve the culture. offer world class customer service. second, improve access to care through implementation of the mission act and transformative i.t. modernization such as electronic health records and programs. mr. chairman, the prime directive is customer service. when an american veteran comes to va, it's not up to employ a

team of lawyers to get va to say yes. it's up to va to get the veteran to yes. that's customer service. those problems are administrative and bureaucratic. alexander hamilton said that the true test of a good government is its aptitude and tendency to produce a good administration. that's where va must go. the new electronic health records system is the first step to modernize va and modernizes our appointment system. it's the template to get us started on the road to automate disability claims and payment claims. particularly to our providers in rural america and those who administer emergency care. more importantly, interoperability of the health records system that will connect va to the dod private doctors

and pharmacies to create continuum of health care and organize health care around the v veteran's needs. this is our opportunity to turn the corner on opioid abuse, intervention, and suicide prevention. give power to the professionals closest to our veterans. this means reforming human resources. to give those seam people more lea way to manage their budgets and relocate the staff they need to serve veterans. transmore make also means entering robust partnerships with our state and local communities to address veteran homelessness and particularly plagues our vietnam veterans who also suffer the highest rate of

suicide. we are also pledging to help veterans transition a new life in education and nonmilitary careers. if confirmed, i'll leverage va's partnership of labor, small business administration, and defense and other agencies to carry out this. mr. chairman, as secretary mattis said when this congress passed a $700 billion defense budget, there are no more excuses. you have infused va with a $200 million budget. you have passed the accountability act to shake up complacency and passed the mission act to bring constitutional va, community care and care givers closer to together. the future is now up to the department. about 40 korean war veterans climbed aboard the presidential yacht williamsburg docked about

two miles from where we were sitting. many of those veterans were missing limbs. some were horribly disfigured. ike arrived a the pier and they separated the president from the troops. seeing that, eisenhower yelled "halt. i know these men." the agents retreated and the soldiers gathered around the president. he asked to address them at attention and those who could did stand. he said there was nothing that the country could do for them to compensate what they had given to america. but he also said you never put your uniform away. you have to get well to remind your countrymen every day that freedom is never free. mr. chairman, that is why va must succeed. it is to remind americans that . mr. chairman, i thank you and look forward to the questions. >> robert, congratulations on your nomination and thank you for an outstanding statement.

and as i read tt night before last before i met with you yesterday, i thought about what a compelling statement it was and how appropriate it was for the challenges that we face. so i want to repeat here what i told you yesterday. there needs to be no -- you are getting an agency that had its problems. an in need of help and we are proud of and want to be more proud of. senator tester and his democratic side of the aisle and me on our side have done everything we can this last year and a half to account ability and cola increases and everything in the world we can do to make the va respond to the questions. you mentioned the $2 billion infusion. mr. wilkie, there are no

executions. failure is not an option. we know what we need to do. we stand at your back so see to it our veterans get what they risked their lives for. and and i think we will give now and in the future. so that's not admonition. whatever phone number i've got rk, i'm on duty 24-7 give me a call. we don't want to wait for it to fester. when you say customer to a veteran, tell me what it means to you? >> customer service, mr. chairman, means that before the veterans walks into the door of the va, he is already been greeted through schedulers and medical professionals with americans who are ready to serve him. i noted that in some of the

debates this committee had h the greatest problem that you all saw was actually getting the veterans through the door. i have no doubt that va provides some of the finest care in america. but i also understand that getting to that care is something that the leadership of the veterans affairs department has to focus in on like a laser beam. a world class customer service is the key. and that ties into something that you and i talked about in your office, and it goes to human resource management. the first people are veterans contact are usually the schedulers. va has had a hard timekeeping those schedulers. train them and then they often leave. i do believe that it's in cocumt of secretary of va to have long discussions with personal management to make sure the secretary and those who work for them have the ability to adjust

pay scales so that people who are there at the very ground level when a veteran comes to work or comes to be scene, treat him respectfully, and stay in that job and learn what it means to talk to our veterans. >> mr. wilkie, as you know, mr. solace and sullivan, senator rounds, and bozeman, senator tester, other members of this committee represent states where our veterans are a long distance away from our va facilities. sometimes a full day's drive in some cases, montana as big as it is. as you may know in the debate on the mission bill, and in the markups, a choice program that works to make va health care services available to the veteran is a key to that argument and that debate. will you work as hard as you can and tell us what you plan to do to see to it that choices are retalt and timing of

appointments is good? and we end the problem we have with veterans not reach the benefits they earned? >> yes, sir. and this talks to something we talked about, and i'll say that those of us from the east even in the 21st century do not understand the scale of the american west. in montana, a normal journey will sometimes take 600 miles round trip to get to a va facility. what choice means is giving those veterans and their family care givers the opportunity to engage with va any time of the day through things like telehelp, and also with the development of the community care networks that will provide them access to services that va can't provide. va services that will be close to home so that the burden is not on them to get to va. the problems with choice were

such that because it was so rapidly implemented, particularly in rural america, our providers were not being paid. not only the small town doctors, but the small community hospitals where veterans go to get emergency care. if we do not automate that system and make it part of an integrated community care network, we will have failed veterans, but in particular those veterans who live in our largest states geographically. >> senator tester. >> thank you, chairman. and thank you for being here, mr. wilkie. when you agreed to take this job, were there any conditions attached? >> knowno, sir, there were no conditions. >> will you have the autonomy to do your deputies to do that?

>> yes, sir. >> are you in agreement to empower the veterans even if you disagree with the president? >> yes, sir, i have noted that i have been privileged to work for the most high power people in this town, rumsfeld and mattis, they pay me for their opinions. and i give those to them p or i would n -- or i would not be working. >> tas i mentioned earlier in my opening statement the acting secretary recently va inspector general to act as a subordinate. i can go through his direct quote. but do you think that that is appropriate? >> had the inspector general, and coming from a military life, the inspector general is an integral part of any military organization. i'm not familiar, since i left va with all the particulars that you are talking about. but the ig is a partner. is not subordinate to the

secretary. and va, because of the work this committee has done, has three prongs of what i would call the investigation and enforcement tool. not only the inspector general, but the office of the general counsel as well as the accountability and the whistleblower protection office. my vision is those three offices work symbiotically. va suffered, as everyone on this committee knows, with places like phoenix, because the ig office at that time was not as diligent as it should be, and lost the train on that. >> okay. you do not believe that the ig works for you though, do you? >> i believe the ig works with me. >> independently? >> yes. but the ig, as any ig, and i certainly work with the department of defense ig, is

given the silence by the secretary. the secretary feels that it's something that needs to be investigated -- >> got you. would you commit to not interfere or hinder the independence of the ig and be transparent with information when asked to give it? >> not only do i commit to that but interference with the inspector general's investigation, even though i'm a recovering lawyer, is probably criminal. >> all right. thank you. look, we have heard about the choice program has been a train wreck, you talked about time frame, ill think that's part of the problem with the choice act. it is not the case with the mission act, though. congress has provided va with a full year to implement that program with funding for a full year to get that program off the ground. any delays or snags , as i said in my opening statement, will

not be -- i just don't think it's going to be accepted by this committee. the implementation of the rules established in the standing of the community care networks, i talked about them in my opening statement. i am troubled that these contracts, the warawards have b delayed. >> i think they could undermine your ability to establish a robust problem and would fall right back into the same pitfalls we had with choice. so the question is, day one when you get on the job, as it applies to the mission act, what are you go go to do to make sure this program works? >> yes, sir. the last project i began before i had to leave and return to the department of defense was a deep dive on the integration of the three regional community care network contracts. my understanding is that they

are on schedule to be signed, or implemented at the end of the year. i didn't get much beyond that. but i will pledge to come back here, if confirmed, and give you a report as soon as i get there as to where that is. >> okay. >> because it can't be delayed any longer. >> good. you talked about one of the problems is getting through the door, i agree, of the va. i had a bunch of interns in my office that said if you could do one thing with the va what would it be? and i said we don't have another doctors and nurses. in montana there is 2 hin clinical vacancies in mon tan a that's unacceptable. what do you intend to do differently? because these shortages have to be filled. va is good health care system as we know. what are you going to do differently to make sure we get folks on board? >> sir, two things. first of all, because of the size and complexity of va,

blunder b blunder approach to filling the vacancies that you rightly mentioned will not work. we have to target where va has the greatest need. to me, even though i'm not a doctor, it is primary care physicians, internists, two skills that are vital, particularly in the american west, mental health workers, and medical professionals who specialize in women's health. the second part of that would be to finally create a holistic approach to veterans care. i was stunned when i vitssited e small business administration and was told i was the first secretary they had seen in a long time. there are a lot of places in the federal government we can go to leverage resources to help veterans, particularly in those things that we don't often talk about, education, vocational rehabilitation, and job

training. >> senator rounds. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. wilkie, first of all, thanks for being here. i appreciate your service to our country and taking on this very challenging job. i'm one of the senators up here that voted against the new mission act. and i did it not because there weren't some good ideas being brought forth in the new proposal, but rather because of some protections that were found within the previous choice act are no longer there anymore. and one of them was the fact that if you went for 30 days without being able to get in, that you could go to the doctor of your own choice. that guarantee is now gone. at the same time, today, most recent count i've got, 53% of those veterans who were initially applying for application for services were going beyond 30 days.

those folks no longer have that promise that they can go someplace else. you made it very clear that you want to be able to provide world class customer service. what i'd like you to be able to do is share with the veterans out there the number of days that they should expect to have to wait, if any, in order to get in? and how long will it take you to change it from more than 30 days, which it is now, to a reasonable number of days under the proposal that includes community care network? >> yes. i'll keep mentioning that i'm not a doctor, but i certainly was responsible for the reform of the defense health agency. and tackled the waiting times that our military dependents were facing. we had, as the va did, on many military installations our families still making appointments on paper.

the threshold question, i think it it's a complicated question, is it depends on what the veteran is seeking. if the veteran is seeking a yearly physical, i would not expect va to handle that in two or three days. if the veteran is ill, i would expect va to move as rapidly as possible, and that would be the demand. the 30 days is unacceptable. it goes back, though, to the reforms that are contained in mission act. and i think the beauty of the electronic health record system is that it actually gets to that. it has markers put into the system that will alert institutional va as to how rapidly they have to get that veteran into the system. and there will be a scale based on what that veteran needs. 30 days is unacceptable.

and, again, with the new automation coming, i think we will have for the first time the ability to do a triage as soon as that veteran or his pharmacy or his local doctor puts information into that system. >> let me just ask, how long do you think it will take to implement that system before veterans can actually expect to have their waiting time less than 30 days? >> well, that system will take several years. b but the changes -- >> what do we do for veterans that have excess of 30 days before the next two years? >> yes, sir. the changes i'll be advocating in terms of bridges in the appointment system will address those issues as well as better

training for those making the schedules for our veterans. we still have a computer system that does that. it does need to be updated. but we will be able to transfer in increments. >> okay. what you are saying is it's going to be a while but you are focused on it. >> yes. >> hock. focus is important. next, i have literally dozens of providers in south dakota who had provided services to veterans who have never been paid. and we are talking anywhere from hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions of dollars. would you commit to us today that you will work so that those folks that still are owed dollars have appropriate avenue to get reimbursed for the services they provided the veterans? >> absolutely. >> okay. thank you. and, lastly, you said something in my office which i think was very compelling and i want you to -- you bring a huge

perspective from being a military dependent and air force officer, a congressional staffer, a senior civilian leader in the dod, to a very difficult job right now. and i want to thank you once again for the service. when we met in my office last week, you brought up a number of challenges you witnessed during your time tas an acting va secretary. would you expand on your reference to walking the post and other experiences you've had from your time in and around the military, and how would you like to bring that to the va? >> yes, sir. thank you. walking the post is an ancient military term that requires had the commander to walk amongst his troops. i think senator tillis will last at me, it dates from shakespeare. and it is beat into our heads from the time we raise our hands. i'll tell you, and i'm not

casting casting aspersions on anyone. i will tell you i was amazed when walking in there i was the first secretary they had seen. i mention it has to it be a bottom up organization. anyone who sits in the secretary's chair and claims he has the answers should not be there. and he's pulling the wool over our eyes. so walking the post means talking to the people and to the veterans who are using va services and getting out in the field. thank you. >> thank you. mr. wilkie, i think you are the right man for the job. i think you've got a huge job ahead of you. mr. chairman, thank you. >> thank you, senator rounds. senator sanders. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thanks for being here, mr. wilkie, and thanks for the visit in my office. >> sure. >> let me be blunt and tell you what my dilemma is. we discussed this a little bit

last week. the veterans organizations and the veterans in the state of vermont are in fact quite proud of the va. they feel that everything being equal, once they get into the va, they receive high quality care. there is, to the best of my knowledge, overwhelming opposition to the privatization of the va from the american legion, vfw, and all of the major veterans organizations. we had a statewide meeting in vermont a couple of months ago, and what all the vermont veterans were saying, bernie, do everything you can to prevent the privatization of the va. we had a president who called for trillion dollar cuts in medicaid over a five-year period. $500 million cut in medicare. we have ta congress that wanted to end the affordable care act. so we have a sentiment here that

is not terribly in favor of public health or government run health care. yet of course the va for all intents and purposed is a socialized health care system. then on top of all that we have the former secretary david shulkin who did a pretty good job, when he was fired by the president, shulkin indicated he thought it was because he wasn't moving on privatization as fast as the president had wanted. given that conflict, let me ask you two questions. number one, do you believe in the privatization of the va? that's question number one. >> no, senator, i don't. >> will you vigorously oppose, whether it is the koch brothers and their various organizations, or the president of the united states any effort to privatize the va? >> my commitment to you is i'll oppose efforts to privatize va. >> okay.

the difficulty is, of course, the devil is in the details. chairman isaacson made the good point, which i agree with, is we constantly hear negative stories about the v tachlt. but you and i know va is doing phenomenal work all over this country. aen there is no disagreement on this committee that if somebody has to travel 300 miles to get a physical checkup, that that's insane, when they can get in there their office, or in fact if somebody can't get the services they need at a local va, of course they should get a local care giver. no one debates that. but the devil is in the details. so what happens if you have a va where people can walk in care in a prompt matter but somebody prefers to go to a private sector doctor, number one. and on top of that, one of my concerns, and ts reason i voted against the mission bill, is that it put $5 billion into the care program, $0 into the va.

so my fear is that we'll see a drip by drip depleadintion for va and services they provide putting it into the choice programs. what do you feel about my concerns? >> senator, and you and i had a great discussion about this in your office. i believe in the centrality of va to care. i will also say there are things that va does, and i mentioned one, but let's go through the medical items that will never be replicated in the private sector. spinal cord injury. traumatic brain injury. rehabilitative services. prosthetics, audiology, services for the blind. you are not going to find that anywhere, even in the mayo clinic. >> right. >> i do believe though that if we believe that the veteran is central, we can also make the argument that as long as va is

at the central node in his care, and that that veteran has a day-to-day experience with the va and walks through where va can help him with care when he needily needs it, that reenforces, i think, the future of the va, and that's what i believe. and i also think that that's -- >> i apologize to interrupt. i have little time left. let me ask a couple of questions, i'll probably preempt senator murray that led the support on care givers. would you support the full funding of care givers, the care givers program so that every generation of veterans will have that service? >> senator, as i said, i come from -- i'm a dependent of the vietnam era. yes, sir. >> okay. one of the concerns that many veterans organizations have is that dental care, which to me is an integral part of health care, is not part of va health care other than service connected.

would you be willing to look with me at expanding health care to dental care for veterans even when it's not service connect snd. >> actually, senator, i left your office, and yesterday talked with the chairman about that issue. and if the chairman is desirous, we'll explore that with you. i don't know enough about it. but if there are hearings down the road, we'll certainly participate. >> mr. chairman, it's my understanding we'll have a hearing on that issue. isn't that correct? >> the senator is correct. in fact, i brought it up when we talked yesterday. and i told you on the floor that we wouldn't do any add ons to any bills going through which was the request that you made on the appropriations bill. but i would assure you that, a, it would have an intent on hearing and it would be timely, which means not put off by a long time. and i have a couple other problems including one to murray. i live up to my promise to

dochlt facts manage at this time making the decision we'll deal with that when it comes. exclusionary rule that chance. >> thank you, mr. chairman, thank you mr. wilkie. >> senator moran. >> mr. chairman, thank you very much. mr. wilkie, thank you for your presence with us today. thank you for your service to our nation. and to your service as a public official. you've been through a few confirmations hearings and i'm delighted to have you back to have a conversation. when i judge whether the va is working for veterans, i do so by what we call case work, which is when veterans seek help from my staff to solve problems. the number of those instances is increasing, not diminishing. and it suggests to me we need to do more hand work harder to make certain that those who need our help receive our help. right now, we have 80 open veteran cases with the steady stream of about 30 cases each

month. you indicate that you want, and you indicate in your statement that when the veteran comes to the va s y, you want him to empa team -- excuse me, he or she ought not to employ a team of lawyers to get the va to yes. and i want to commend you on that and work with you to make certain that you have the best opportunity you can to get the va to a position of yes on behalf of those that you are -- the department is created to serve. before i jump into a couple of questions, i want to highlight a couple of things in construction, both at leavenworth and at wichita va med centers. there is efforts a foot for a long time to create a partnership in the case of leavenworth, a public private partner sheriff. in the case of wichita va a partnership between the air force base, mcconnell, and the

va. i raise those today in your confirmation hearing because i'll be back with us. those have been off and on on a list for a long time. those partnerships we should pursue and the va to date has failed to do so. in regard to my questions. i acknowledge and believe that you have a monumental task ahead of you. i think in reforming and success filly implementing the va mission act, i think if it's implemented correctly it can be transformative. it can reduce those number of cases that my staff and i pursue on behalf of veterans. one of my complaints, and i raised this the confirmation of one of your predecessors, is so often when congress passes legislation, the va impla plen tags, in my view is contrary to the intent, or to the letter of the law that we've implemented. what can you tell me about your

efforts in regard to implementation of va mission act? how will you make certain that the will of congress is pursued? we have seen, i've seen, in my view, push back from the department of veterans affairs in terms of community care. how can you overcome that ret sans? >> first of all, i support as i told senator sanders, community care and it's funding. but may i take a step back and tell you how i did it at dod? as many of you know who work military issues, personnel and readiness had not had any confirmed leadership i think since the bush administration. in order for me to send a signal to the congress and to those who work in pnr that the organization was capable of moving forward, my first directive was to implement outstanding instructions from national defense authorization bills going back to fy 10.

va has a problem, as you mentioned, but the problems at d.o. d for pnr were catastrophic. the d.o. d had not implemented the exceptional family member program from the fy 10 bill. it had not implemented the sexual harassment policy from the fy 13 bill. and it had not begun the full implementation of defense health reform from the fy 17 bill. i issued the directives for dod to carry out those programs. we now have a sexual harassment policy. exceptional family member programs are moving out. and we are looking at october 1st for the first implementation of defense help. i don't know all of the specifics, senator, of the outstanding directives from past authorization bills, but i give you the same pledge that i gave

senator mccain, that i'll get the list and start moving out. >> i look forward to working with you in that regard. i don't have much time, but i would say that, and i know that senator tester raised the vacancies positions unfilled. i think the department of veteran affairs has a challenge in not only filling current vacancies but adding employment and more providers for the medical services. again i would hope that you would confirm to me that you will have an aggressive approach to filling volkswagen antibiotic positions and adding more where needed. >> yes, sir, i do. >> thank you. mr. chairman. >> senator murray. >> thank you, mr. wilkie, i appreciate you being before us today. before i get into some of the specific veteran policy issues, i do want to express my concerns with reports about your opposition to equal pay for equal work. and your record on diversity and your passionate advocacy for the confederate flag. i'm not going to ask you about it at the committee hearing.

i'll be submitting questions for the record. but i do want to get full answers back on those from you in writing. mr. wilkie, as part of the mission act, congress expanded eligibility for the care givers programs, senator sanders mentioned, to veterans of all areas and added kritdicily needed services. including i work to include the veterans bill almost $861 million for the care giver program. $365 million above the president's request. so va has the resources it needs to start implementing this expansion. so we need the va to commit to making the needed reforms, to enhancing capacity, and strict oversight of this program's operation. so it's extremely important if confirmed i want to know, will you make this a top priority for the va to fully implement the new care givers law as congress intended? >> absolutely. yes, senator. >> okay. we will count ton that. we will be watching. mr. wilkie, two years ago this

congress gave va the authority to provide. >> julie: vf and other necessary fertility treatments for ill veterans or their spouses. access to this care is really important, it can help our veterans realize their dream of starting a family. but access to this care promised to our veterans is still difficult. if confirmed, will you ensure additional providers are enrolled into the program, and any other necessary steps taken to make sure our veterans do have easy access to this treatment in the country? >> senator, women's health is the frontier, the new frontier for va, absolutely. the issues that i confronted at dod are similar to the ones at va. and in response to senator moran's question, the congress has spoken on the services that you just described, and we will move out on those. >> okay. this is really important. this is about veterans who have

been injured through no fault of their own. our country has promised to make them hole again, and being a family is part of this. so this is something i'll be following very closely under your jurisdiction. senator sanders asked about privatization. i appreciate that. i stand where he does and your answer was important to all of us. so let me ask you, i know dod has been struggling with the roll out of the new electronic health care record. you are well aware of that i have heard from pry vo ders in my state, from fairchild air force base, to their dire concerns about their quality of care. you went forward pursuing the same system. we cannot see the same problems. so i want to flow what you'll do to oversee the roll out and what specific steps you'll make sure quality and access to care is not diminished? >> well, snoshs, one of the reasons i got ha lot of criticism for not showing up in

va and immediately signing off on the health care record. i wanted to see that it can work. i had the best minds from the west coast and experts from other parts of the country take a look at it and convince me that it could work. i do want to say, though, that the report that we saw at dod on mhs, i believe it's mhs, not working two years ago, it i'm glad it didn't work. because what that was was -- i'm the head, i'll give you an example. i'm the head of the secretary's close combat task force. my job is to make sure that our weapons are tested, our systems are tested before we put them in the hands of any of our soldiers. the testing of that system was designed to show us where it wasn't working before we fully

implemented it. that is due diligence. in business. it's due diligence in government. i believe that many of those problems that they were experiencing have been remedied because they found the kinks when they started the beta testing several years ago. i'll not commit to putting any program online until it is properly tested. >> well, have you, since becoming interim va secretary, what are you doing to hire qualified leaders and individuals so they can manage the implementation of this? >> in the short term, i found experts inmate complex dod systems to come aboard. it stopped when i left va and went back to dod. i'll have to pick it up when i return, if i return. >> okay. can you get back to me on that on what steps you will take then? >> yes.

>> okay. thank you. i do have additional questions i'll submit for the record. >> thank you senator murray. let me interject right here what the senator jusz brought up is extremely important. one of my ventures in life or misadventures in life was being selected by governor to take over department of education for y 2 k preparation for 187 school systems all of whom had their own software that was different from everybody els to keep up the student grading system and everything else. way was not ha computer expert but i managed a large company, and after a week i found out we had problems in our own agency koorting with the professionals to do what we did. so we turned around and fired everybody, canceled the contracts, got people knew what they were doing and got people in knew what they were doing and passed y 2 k. i'm going to expect you to do this in this as well. all of a sudden back up and cry

cities lack of cooperation. so first thing we have to do is have everybody in the ground level va cooperating with everything that's required of them to input into the system to make it work to begin with. i'm sorry i interrupted but this is important. senator. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you, mr. wilkie for being here as well as your wife julie, we appreciate her. when you take on a task like this, these are certainly family affairs, and we appreciate both of you all. >> thank you, sir. >> you have a varied background and i believe you'll serve well in the job that we are asking you to do. choik boozman. >> you have as a military child, officer, and civilian servant. you understand many of the complexities serving our nation and understand firsthand taking care of our veterans. we haven't been able to get together and i look forward to that. on other hand, i liked working

with you. i'll support your nomination and will enthusiastically vote for you. >> thank you. >> because of the experience i've had with you. one thing i'd like to visit that i think is very important. we had a tragedy in arkansas. the va medical center greatly impacted a number of families in a very, very negative way. former pathologist was found to be impaired, was terminated, now all of his cases under review by a third party. i'm pleased to hear that the initial response phase of the incident is being met with positive reports from veterans. the costs and handling patients inquiries and all of that is working well. we appreciate the concerted effort of the team on the ground. i think it was a model as to how you responded to that. so we appreciate that very much. i see dr. clancy here, she's

been personally involved, hand done a very good job. i guess the thing though that i'd like to follow up with, i'd like to know if i have your personal commitment that you keep a close eye on the situation as it continues to unfold to ensure timely notification continue to remain ha priority, veterans sheaf follow up care, and independent reviews are handled expeditiously while maintaining the integrity of the review process? >> yes, sir, i do. >> and senator bozeman, i'll follow up by referring back to something senator tester said. the response in arkansas on the tail end was outstanding, because you saw the coming together of the u.s. attorney, the leadership, va, the state of arkansas. the problem, obviously, was

terrible by the time it reached that. tan where senator tester was talking about vigorous inspector general, that's one of those areas, that without a robust inspector general, we are going to have problems finding them. >> right. >> so it ties into what the ranking member was saying. >> no, i appreciate that. and, really, my follow up was i like your commitment that we review the policies and procedures within the va to enact the necessary changes to prevent such a tragedy as a result of this type of misconduct from occurring again. >> yes, sir. >> in the future. so we appreciate that very, very much. >> thank you. >> the other thing is, senator murray, asked about the it system and things. and i think we all shared the questions that she had, and i appreciate the response that you had concerning that. i guess what i would like to

know is how you believe the program is progressing now? it hasn't been very long, but, you know, the progress now. and do you anticipate any additional delays or challenges during the implementation phase? >> i don't anticipate any additional delays now. but i do want to say that it can't happen overnight. it is a four-year implementation system for the care giver network. veterans injured before may 7th, 1975, their programs will be fully online, i believe, by 2019. two years later, those who come after the end of the vietnam war will be fully online. i'll do my best to accelerate that, but i've read a lot in the

papers about this program happening overnight. this is a radical change in terms of the mission act for va. it's still taking the department of defense to get try care right. and it's much better than it was four years ago. but this is one of those programs that we will implement and i'll give it my full attention. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator bozeman. senator hiramo. >> thank you, mr. chairman. welcome mr. wilkie, thank you for the time you spent talking with me. >> thank you, senator. >> to start, i ask every nominee who comes before any of my committees to answer the following two questions. one h since you became a legal adult have you ever made unwanted requests for sexual favors or committed any verbal or physical harassment or assault of a sexual nature? >> no. >> senator, in question, have

you ever faced discipline or settlement related to this conduct? >> never. >> i wanted to ask you about some outstanding programs in hawaii. we discussed this briefly in our meeting. as a nation state oftentimes veterans need to fly from the islands they live onto honolulu if care is not available on their home island. that's why i've consistently fought for construction of community based care options for hawaii veterans living on the neighboring islands, including the va clinics for kauai and island. there are total of seven outstanding va clinic projects at various levels in the procurement process that my office has been monitoring, including the patient health care clinic which i worked to ors in the 2014 choice act 6789 can you commit to me to continue to provide my office updates? >> yes.

>> from the va on the status of these projects ensure they are completed in a timely manner? >> yes, senator. and i'm very well aware of the unique challenges, both hawaii and alaska face, and if confirmed i'll take you up on your invitation to come see those facilities. >> thank you very much. as understand secretary of defense and personnel and readiness, you implemented a new sexual harassment policy and i commend you for that. a the board came out with troubling va had the most reported instances of sexual harassment of any federal agency. so i assume that this will be a pry priority for you and i'll be in touch with you as to what your plans are to address the serious problem at the va? >> yes, senator, and i'll start by comparing what was done by my office at the department to what has been done at the va. >> and we will certainly stay in

touch with you on your progress. senator murray referred to recent article in the "washington post" and she will submit some questions for the record. but i wanted to ask you, when you were working for the senate majority leader a lot, you marked up a draft resolution meant to highlight the pay gap and call for equal pay for women for equal work. some of the reports could be considered rather offensive and condescending particularly a provision you put into this resolution that, quote, call on congress to require young women to finish high school as condition of receiving welfare. end quote. those were your edits to the proposed resolution. why did you make that addition to the resolution? >> well, thank you for bringing that up. i had to put on my memory cap to go back and review that. i was the floor manager for the majority leader.

senator lots instructions was that he saw every piece of legislation that came through. i was not an expert in that field. i took it to him. he and the staff made changes. some of the changes that i remember making that did not get put into "the washington post" story that senator lot is the leader, wanted to recognize american women who chose to stay at home. and, also, that -- >> excuse me, i'm sorry. did you put in that edit? >> i don't remember. i was not -- i passed it off to staff -- >> do you think it's a good yz then to require young women to finish high school before they can receive welfare? >> i would not make that a requirement. and, again, i was just the floor manager. >> i understand. >> i was not an expert in any of those matters. >> so do you believe that women, including veterans should have

to finish high school to receive government benefits? >> that would never enter my mind. >> thank you. there are -- the article also noted some other position that is you took, because you worked for some very conservative people, such as of course in addition to senator lot, senator helms, and they had some views that would now be deemed very offensive. so considering that there is some concerns being raised about your own attitudes toward the kinds of views that your previous bosses held, would you welcome the scrutiny that youle probably face based on your past positions to make sure that you are treating women and minorities fairly and with respect as the head of the va should you be confirmed? >> well, senator, i say, and i say it respectfully, i welcome the scrutiny of my entire record. "the washington post" seemed to

stop at my record about 25 years ago. if i had been with "the washington post," i don't believe i would have been able to work for condoleezza rice or bob gates or jim mattis. and i think i've had 11, 9 full field background investigations by the fbi. and i will tell you they ask, anyone they talk to, is this person someone who discriminates against anyone on the basis of race, sexual orientation or creed, and they just finished an investigation going all the way back to my 18th year. so i'm very -- i'll stand on my record. >> thank you for that reassurance. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator. >> senator sullivan. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and thank you mr. wilkie, thank you for volunteering to serve again. i think that was a very powerful

opening statement, one of the best opening statements i've heard of any cabinet nominee. and i want to thank you for that. i fully intend to support your nomination. and hopefully most of my colleagues, or all of my colleagues will as well. i appreciate you and the chairman already talking about rural issues. as i've said before, there is rural america, there is extreme rural america, and then there is alaska. and it's not just the size. i don't like doing this to the ranking member, but you mention montana, i think we are close to five times the size of montana. but it's also the expanse, if you looked, as we talked about in our meeting, if you looked at the expanse of alaska and superimpose it over the lower 48, communities like catch a can in my state would be northern.

northern communities like barrel would be the northern part of north dakota, and the aleutian island chain would go out to san francisco. so my state is actually a continental wide place. and yet we do not have a full service service va hospital in the state of alaska. yet we have the highest number of vets per capita. and incredibly patriotic population, that includes the native alaska population. 20% of my constituents that serve as highest rates in military in any ethnic group in the country despite, you know, let's face it during world war ii, korea, vietnam there was a lot of discrimination from the government to this incredible group of americans. and we had a great discussion and i appreciate shated it. most of it was about these challengesinging issues as it related to alaska. so the first thing i'd like from you is to get a commitment to

come to me to alaska soon in your tenure to meet with my veterans, see these patriotic americans firsthand, challenges, i think i mentioned dr. shulkin did that with me for almost, gosh, six days, and i think it really had an i impact on him with some of the challenges. can i get the commitment from you? >> i would be honored to come. >> thank you. one of the ways that va extends its reach into parts of my state is through partnerships with alaska native health organizations, what are called tribal sharing agreements with the va. many aspect of the mission act that focus on extreme rural states like ours and some of the other states is these tribal sharing agreements are actually mandated in the mission act. so can i get your commitment that you'll initiate

consultation with the alaska native health board and other tribal health organizations upon your confirmation on reneed negotiations for the tribal sharing agreements to nail these down? we are working on a five year extension to the current contract, but that contract is expiring next year, and the lock is ticking. so it's a high priority issue for me and my constituents. can i get your commitment on that. >> >> yes, sir. >> the other issue we talked about was how you suggested, and i couldn't agree with more with you, when it comes to understanding the needs of local veterans in different states, oftentimes the local va really knows best. do you agree with that still? >> yes. >> so can i get your commitment upon confirmation that you'll come to alaska and consult with our local va leadership? i think, again, one of the things we see here is we have

challenges at the headquarters, no doubt, but a lot of times the va, local leadership is working quite well. so can i get your commitment on that as well? >> yes, you can. >> let me ask, i asked dr. shulkin this. i had put out a post to ha bunch of my veterans just on questions that they'd like to ask you when dr. shulkin was up for his confirmation, and we'll submit a number of those for the record. one of the questions was from a guy by the name of bob tom's, nickname is cajan bob. but if how far been going through constitutional avenue and seeing the giant picture of the marine at the news museum,

it's huge, it has a marine, staff sergeant in the tet offensive, his clothes are shedded. that's kagan bob. he received 6 purple hearts, and the battle, i think that's depicted in the museum, you should take a look. in his question to me, a real hero among us, and we have so many that we are proud of, was the concern that we hear from some veterans that there has been stories of senior leadership at the va not being held accountable for some of the actions they've taken, i think we tried to address this with the accountability act, but that the veterans themselves feel sometimes they are stuck in a system that works against them, for n not for them. so he had a basic question when dr. shulkin was up for his

confirmation. i'll repeat it. forgive the language. the question was, will you be able to kick ass and take names for the veterans, for the veterans? >> yes. >> above anybody else if you are confirmed to be the secretary? tan how will you do that. >> well, being an air force reserve officer we don't use language like that, but it takes away from other things. but, yes, sir. i was very proud, and you can tell kay jan bob this, when i was sworn in at the pentagon, it was reference that i had been born in khaki diapers. and i think my attitudes toward that and leadership flow from having been in that world my entire life. >> thank you. i look forward to your confirmation. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you senator sullivan.

>> thank you, mr. wilkie for your service and continued desire to serve. >> as you can tell, we are all proud of veterans in our state. we want to make sure you don't move everything to alaska. >> that's right. we still don't have a hospital so i don't think that's going to happen. >> secretary tillis won't let me move everything. >> that's right. >> anyway, this morning there were 93 va jobs on the va federal jobs for west virginia. we have full time primary care physicians needed in different countries, psychiatrist, social work coordinator at clarksburg and registered nurses. we'll submit everything for you. and we brought there to your predecessors before. what plan do you have in recruiting, especially in rural areas, whether it be alaska, west virginia, rural north carolina, or nevada, all of our states, montana, georgia, what's your plan to basically get more

people involved in helping us in the va with expertise? >> yes, sir. i would go back to experience i had with secretary tillis when the ribbon was cut on the new va center in my hometown. one thing that the director asked senator tillis is one size job process does not fit va. fayetteville, north carolina has very different needs from west los angeles. it probably has different needs from west virginia. my pledge, and i think i mentioned it in my opening statement because i believe it, is to allow those medical directors and visiting directors, the ability to move their funds to address the critical needs if they have the funds available, and we will work with them to make sure that they do, to address the immediate medical needs in those areas. i have to do a deep dive,

senator, on the whole taos jobs process. i can tell you secretary mattis is thinking deeply about it in terms of va and va's relationship with other elements. >> we look forward to working with you on that because we all have desperate needs. will et me move on because my time is limited. the opioid epidemic that we have, not only just in our states, but in our military, how do you propose to have input on basically not getting our veterans hooked when they are deployed? and the treatment alternative treatment centers when they come back? two fold if we can stop them from getting hooked and how will we treat them in nonopioid way when they come back? >> i have responsibility for one end right now. >> but we are asking for urine put. because you are seeing the end result. sometimes on the front end we can prevent that from happening. >> yes, sir.

and i think this is a case, and senator sanders mentioned it, where va has taken the lead. va has come up with what appears on the face simple way of addressing this and bringing down opioid addiction. tan that is with alternative therapies. the use of advil, tylenol, and aspirin in place of tylenol 3 or other opioids. the other thing that va has done is emphasize rehabilitative care, motion care. dod is just getting on the cusp of that. so, yes, i think dod is moving in the direction that va has moved in. and it's absolutely vital that we stop it there. >> yes, sir. and my final question is going to be, since 1998 the va's budget has quadrupled from

$42.38 billion to $188.65 billion. a the lo of these factors can be pointed to the vietnam veterans are getting older. the fact that combat medicine improved and therefore that, v. more complex injuries and illnesses than ever before, costs of healthcare in the united states have become more expensive and we've extended with good intentions a lot of benefits. people are going to ask, you know, are we making sure we get our best service and best care for our veterans with the bucks that we're spending, so my question is what steps do you plan to taken to sure both the high quality services are available for veterans and families but are also looking out for the american taxpayers to make sure that we're spending their money wisely and given the care that's needed? >> yes, sir. i'll start by saying there aren't any more excuses because of the infusion of money that this committee has given. i do believe though that we do

have to make sure that the -- that the world class health services, the priority health services are fully funded. i was asking two questions by two members of this committee to the point that does v.a.'s expansion in the community care mean that world class services like spinal cord, traumatic brain are going to diminish? no. we'll go where the need is greatest. >> thank you, mr. wilco. >> thank you, senator manchin. senator heller. >> thank you, and to the ranking member thank you to this meeting and mr. wilkie thanks for taking time for being here. you were in my office yesterday. we had a great conversation. appreciate that time also, but i think today is a different opportunity. yesterday it was about you and me. today it's about the veterans that are behind you.

the veteran services organizations that are represented and also the veterans back in the state of nevada, and the point, of course, is to prove that you're ready to manage an agency of this size. that is in my opinion quite the bureaucracy. i told you yesterday we have about 300,000 veterans in the state of nevada. good men and women, patriotic. we'll take the call again regardless of age to serve and defend this questions and i'm just pleased that we both have come to the same conclusion that they deserve the best quality care and benefits that our nation has to offer, but saying that there's a lot to be done. we need v.a. doctors as has been mentioned several times. clearly it's a national issue. i'm working to get a veterans world cemetery and one of our rural counties. our care giver program in las vegas and the v.a. nursing facility in reno need improvement and, unfortunately, the veterans suicide issues remain quite a challenge nevada.

several times as i mentioned doctor shortages have been raised, but i think nevada has really felt the impact, especially in our urban areas like las vegas and rural areas. let me give you an example. in 2016 i was at the ribbon-cut considering of a v.a. clinic in parump and with all the pomp and circumstances and other we are in 2018, and they still don't have a full-time doctor. 2016, here we are two years later, all the pomp and circumstance for that community. they have been waiting years to get this done. the work by my office, myself, this committee, this congress to get that clinic into that town, and they still don't have -- two years later they still don't have a full-time doctor. can i get your commitment to work with me to get a full-time doctor into that clinic by the end of the year? >> absolutely i will work with you on that.

>> we have problems in some of our rural areas with access to mental health services for our veterans. can you share with me how you plan on bringing more doctors or mental health professionals to these rural areas in nevada? >> yes, sir, and i thank you for the time that you took with me. i think we have to do -- to take a deeper look at how we bring doctors into v.a. there have been many things that the federal government has tried in terms of recruiting doctors, and i think v.a. has to look at that. we have to do a better job of recruiting doctors coming out of the military. i would like to learn about how we can get commitments for doctors to work to the v.a., and then this is my opinion. i've not cleared it with anyone,

and in exchange for their service with v.a., do we go down the road where we take care of their medical school loans in exchange for long-term service with v.a.? we do need to make an assessment again as to where we need our doctors, and we do need to also in those underserved areas look at how we incentivize people to go out there. the blessing that i have is that i've been learning a lot about these things from carolyn clancy who is running it now, and i know she's hard at work trying to address rural need in particular. >> i'll follow up with you. time is running out, but one of the things -- i want to kind of steal from senator sullivan and his request, and that is that

the nevada veterans have been in this v.a. system for decades. they know the ins and outs. they know the dos and don'ts and frankly know how to fight for their care. can i be allowed to make the same request that i can get you out to nevada so you can spend some time our veterans in a roundtable discussion and discuss issues important to them. >> yes, be honored to. >> one more question. this is about agent orange. i hear from a lot of nevada veterans on this particular topic, especially from our blue water navy veterans. as you know, the v.a. doesn't provide these blue water veterans the disability benefits that they deserve after being exposed and experiencing these harmful effects. i think we can agree that this isn't right. how do you plan on helping the blue water veterans as well as the veterans exposed to agent orange. >> i'll speak to agent orange first. i'm from the generation who saw the effects of that on those who have come back from vietnam, so

that is an experience from adolescence that remains with me. on the blue water issue, the house has spoken, and it is my understanding that the issue will be taken up by the senate, and i stand ready to answer any questions or go down any avenue that this committee wants in terms of how we address blue water. >> mr. wilkie, thank you, and to the chairman, thank you for the time. >> thank you, senator heller. >> senator brown. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. >> last but not least. >> thank you very much for saying that, mr. chairman. thank you, mr. wilkie. i enjoyed very much our conversation and wish you well through this process. >> thanks. >> and i expect you to be confirmed, and then as the new v.a. secretary. yesterday "the washington post" ran a story about your time as a staffer for a very divisive, a very racially divisive senator. you've been appointed to this job by a very racially divisive

president. that being said, i will just ask you this. the v.a. secretary needs to serve all veterans regardless of race, gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation. yes or no questions. will you commit to doing that? >> absolutely. >> thank you. i've worked with two previous secretaries to establish a history research and national heritage station at the date ann vmac. will you commit to it the commit to the existing moa? >> i will. i look forward to going to dayton. this is my geek moved. i just finished reading a biography of one of ohio's great presidents and learned that dayton has been the center for v.a. care for well over 140 years. >> good. >> thank you. thank you for saying that. we've heard reports v.ha cannot account for medical equipment. can you commit to get my office information on the missing

equipment. >> yes, sir. >> thank you. i have grave concerns regarding the administration about privatizing veterans healthcare, at times community care is necessary which is why we passed. v.a. mission act. however, v.a. should not siphon funding off for vha care. will you commit to fully fund vha and stop efforts to privatize the v.a.? >> i'm opposed to the privatization of the veteran affairs department and will continue to make sure that vha is fully funded. >> thank you. pro publica and politico reported the bulk of 1,700 employees fired since the passage of last year's accountability bill have been low-level employees with limited offenses, not senior employees with egregious events which is how the v.a. said it would use the authority this. gives me great concern. will you commit to me that you will not use this authority to go after whistleblowers or individuals with limited offenses? >> absolutely, sir, absolutely. >> thank you. i worked on a provision in the

v.a. mission act to create v.a. vacancy transparency. will you commit to pubically post vacancy data? >> yes. >> thank you. do you believe the v.a. has an obligation to provide medical care and disability compensation for veterans who have been exposed to toxic chemicals while serving our country. >> yes. >> thank you. will you increase transparency with congress on the department's position on agent orange presumptive conditions on blue water navy veterans' eligibility for benefits and to establish a process to diagnose constrictive wrongioitis due to burn pit exposures? >> yes, and i will add transparencies key to the organization and country. my time with senator tillis had me working on the first efforts to raise the issue of burn pits. >> thank you. i enjoyed our conversation, as i said, the other day and

appreciated the work that when senator tillis and i co-sponsored so many bills together, i appreciated the work that you did with him and my office. thanks to both of you. >> thank you, sir. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator brown. senator tillis. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, i first want to thank you and ranking member tester because you a couple years ago encouraged and endorsed what became a regular meeting with the leaders of the v.a. to track their progress, and i specifically want to thank ranking member tester for always being there at every single meeting over the course of that process with the two secretaries. mr. wilkie, i hope that we have your commitment to continue that discussion because i think it was very helpful. >> yes, sir. >> mr. wilkie, i wanted to ask you something. i had the -- i'm not going to say the name of the newspaper, but i'm going to have the -- the

person that was reporting this story called me up. i spent probably 15 minutes, maybe as much as 20 minutes on the phone with them to talk about you. somehow that insight was in much of your recent work history was not at all reported. million chair, without objection, i would like to submit an article that actually provides context that was written back if i believe 2002 that provides context for a statement that was asserted in "the washington post" that i think is out of context. >> without objection. >> there's something else that i wanted to ask you, and this may require you. you've got an incredible sense of history and a great memory so hopefully you'll remember this. it was a vote recommendation in the nda a couple of years ago, and at that time you were my senior adviser, and the specific amendment was related to providing same-sex spouses with veterans and social security benefits. do you recall how you recommended i vote on that? >> yes, sir, i recommended that

you vote yes. >> and how did i end up voteing? >> you voted yes. >> thank you for that recommendation. there was also a reference, and i know senator murray was going to submit questions for the record but i think it would be helpful here for some members who may not see that. i think you already borought up your role as a floor manager and the question on equal pay, but there was another reference to the confederate flag. i don't know how exactly senator hit-and-runa framed it, but can you tell me at least had a little bit in the context of the article that's been run here and maybe the broader context around the confederate flag. >> yes, sir. >> the article mentioned participation in events. there were three events, two sanctioned by the department of the army and department of defense and one by the speaker of the house. those events in those days were

big events. participation by senate and the house members. i at the last one, the only thing i did was introduced a fellow named ron maxwell who is the producer of the famous movie "gettysburg, and i thanked president barack obama for his support of his support that celebrated american veterans, both union and confederate. president obama had a wreath delivered the old guard of the army. the broader issue of the flag to address what "the washington post" said, i stopped doing many of those things at a time when that issue became divisive. >> yeah. >> and i do though believe, and i will say it, and i heard it on memorial day at this capitol at the memorial day concert.

i think it was gary sinise who pointed out 150 years ago on the first decoration day, the most ferocious warrior in the union army, a guy named william tecumseh sherman said what this committee is now responsible for, that we honor all veterans and order flowers and wreaths placed on the graves of both union and confederate soldiers, so my last statement on that is i think they have the last word and that we celebrate veterans. >> thank you. but you mentioned condoleezza rice, gage, rumsfeld and mattis and said that if you had in fact had any history of the sorts of behaviors that this article put forth you wouldn't be working for them. is there any doubt that if i had that history of behavior you wouldn't work for me? >> absolutely not. >> you are going to do a great job as secretary. i leaned over to mike rounds and

said i want to let him to know enjoy the honeymoon because the floggings will begin soon. >> yes, sir. >> we need to make sure that we get you in there, that you act decisively and you have a sense of priority and you bring the resources in that will allow you to accelerate some of the transformation initiatives that you were very briefed on. i should mention that every one of those meetings that senator tester and i have had over the past few years also included mr. wilkie, so you've got a keen insight into what works and what we need to accelerate. i know you have a commitment, and you're going to bring the intensity that's necessary and been lacking for quite some time so i look forward to working with you in your new capacity and i wish you very well. >> thank you very much. >> thank you, mr. chair. >> we have a couple more questions for you if you have the patience and time. i have a few and so does senator tester. one, i would like to tell me in

your pox at undersecretary of the army, what accomplishments are you proudest of at the secretary of defense and how does this experiment prepare you for what you're about to take on at the veterans administration? >> thank you, sir. first of all, extraordinarily proud that someone of secretaryies' stature asked me to serve with him. i'm very proud that the undersecretary office of perm readiness is a place where many people want to work. i mentioned "the washington post" and transformative leadership in that vain and that's begun to happen. in terms of employing the exceptional family member program for the 132,000 military families who have children with exceptional needs, autism, mental health issues, cerebral palsy, et cetera, getting in train the reform. defense health agency so we no longer have three independent

health services, army, navy and air force. we now have a defense health administration, and the sexual harassment and assault policy which sends a clear message that the military of the united states has changed. that everyone who signs up for service deserves dignity and protection, and finally, to show how pnr has moved. the secretary of defense has empowered my office to take charge of what he considers to be his most important project, and that is the close combat task force. that is the task force that takes the very deep look into how we train, equip and fight our front line forces, our infantry forces, where 85% to 90% of the casualties take place. coming from secretary mattis, there is probably no greater assignment than anyone could have, and i'm honored that he gave me the responsibility to

help him on that. >> you acknowledged in your testimony earlier or your speech that you had been surprised how people at the v.a. told you they had never seen the secretary in that part of the building before? >> yes, sir. >> i can tell you one of the first things i did when i was -- when i became chairman of the committee is go visit the v.a. here and go on the floor as i found the same thing. they had never seen a member of congress either over there, and i don't think you have changed to improve that. of all the problems that we have, morale at the v.a. may be the biggest single problem. you and i have talked about the morale change at the cia when pompeo went over there after some difficult times that they had. that's going to be your biggest challenge. senator tester and i are here to back you up on that and anything you can do on morale issue we're helping you to help build the morale of the agency and the esprit du corps. >> i would like to submit to the

record a letter signed by eight members of the military retired, six major flag officers of the united states military, former chief of staff, all in glowing support for your recommendation. >> thank you. >> senator tester. >> thank you for being here today, mr. wilkie. electronic medical records have been talked about a bit, and i would just say that i'm encouraged with the v.a.'s purchase. you know what the goal is. but i have concerns about how the v.a. is communicating its plans to congress for this modernization. it's a price tag of $16 billion and we have a ton of leadership vacancies that's going to impact this moving forward at loefrkts i believe. for example, there's no permanent deputy secretary, no undersecretary for health, no deputy undersecretary, no assistant secretary for oit and

no deputy in oit, so the question is who do people on this committee hold accountable for this program other than yourself? >> well, that's -- that's where -- that's the be all and end all. you know, coming from my world, there's -- i think admiral nimitz was the one who said if you can't point to the man in charge nobody is in charge so that's me. i pledge to the committee that i will move as rapidly as i can if confirmed to get those people in place. i mentioned dr. carolyn clancy as the executive in charge of vha. couldn't have anybody finer doing that. the process is moving along because of people like her, but i do pledge that i will be talking with you all about filling those jobs. >> so do you have folks in mind right now? >> i don't have a list, sir. i've got to be honest with you. in the eight weeks -- >> that's perfectly fine.

i mean, i just -- you know, the chairman and i talked about doing an oversight hearing. man, it's really tough doing an oversight hearing on v.a. right now because there's nobody to hold accountable, and it -- you need to have some oversight quite frankly. i think you would appreciate it. there was a situation that happened, probably over a year ago, where folks were told not to respond to requests made by -- it's never been a problem on this commit and never been a problem with previous leadership. still got to the ask it. if you're asked for information, are you going to be as transparent as you possibly can to get that information to anybody on this committee or anybody for that matter? >> absolutely. i was raised in this institute and i take article i serious. >> okay. when it comes to foia requests, there's a couple of ways to handle it. people can either turn over the

information, or they can slow roll it. if confirmed, will you require that political employees comply with any freedom of information act in a timely manner? >> i will demand that they comply with the law and with requests. >> okay. karumba. blumenthal is coming right now and he ain't waiting much longer, the chairman just told me. i'll give you my closing statement right now, okay? you've gotten pretty good at this. confirmation, i don't know how many times you've been in front of a committee to be confirmed, but you ain't a rookie. you not only answer questions but you anticipated questions as god as anybody i've ever seen in front of a senate committee, not

that i've been here all that long, but i would just say that i as others believe that you are going to be confirmed. i don't know if i would say it would be a public flogging, but you will be held accountable, and i don't -- i think that's our job to make sure that things are moving. we're here representing veterans because that's who we take our cues from, too, and so it's going to be really important that we have a strong lowered. you've got a lot of challenges in front of you, and i would just say that i think you've got the tools to do the job, and i don't think it's going to be easy, and i think there will be rough waters on occasion but in the end i think if there's good communication between you and the members of this committee, particularly the chairman and

myself, i think we can smooth a lot of those rough waters. >> thanks. >> and i thank you for your courtesy to me. >> thank you, senator tester, and if you would inform senator blumenthal, i'll ask the nominee to -- in the next 48 hours if senator blumenthal gives you his questions to the record, will you get them as quickly as process and we'll be in the process of moving towards a confirmation vote at some time in the not too distant future so the quicker you get the answers in the better off. i want to thank julie for being here. lucky you married a great lady. want to thank our vsos, so grateful for being here. you've been a part of the process from the beginning and to the members of the committee i thank them for the insightful questions and the endurance of time they have spent here and all they have done to help make us successful. we've all got each other's back and we'll help make our veterans

administration better with a new secretary, mr. wilkie. we stand adjourned. twith a new secretary, mr. wilkie. we stand adjourned. hwith a new secretary, mr. wilkie. we stand adjourned. awith a new secretary, mr. wilkie. we stand adjourned. nwith a new secretary, mr. wilkie. we stand adjourned. with a new secretary, mr. wilkie. we stand adjourned. ewith a new secretary, mr. wilkie. we stand adjourned. evwith a new mr. wilkie. we stand adjourned. ewith a new mr. wilkie. we with a new secretary, mr. wilkie. we stand adjourned.ewith a new mr. wilkie. we stand adjourned. mr. wilkibwith a new secretary, mr. wilkie.

this morning housing and urban development secretary ben carson testified in an oversight hearing by the house financial services committee. you can seat entire hearing starting at 4:30 eastern here on c-span3 and available online at c-span.org and listen with the free c-span radio app. fbi director christopher wray and deputy attorney general rod rosenstein testify thursday before the house judiciary committee about actions taken by the fbi and the justice department during the 2016 elections, including the clinton e-mail investigation. watch live thursday at 4:30 a.m. eastern on c-span3, c-span.org or listen with the free c-span radio app. this past woke with the help you have or cable partners gci the c-span bus traveled to juninho and haines, alaska and

the bus continues its trip across alaska to its next stop in fairbanks. >> c-span programming is especially valuable for alaskans. for most of us it's the only way to see our delegation hard at work in washington. gci is proud to carry c-span for a number of reasons, especially for their emphasis on education. from lessons plans and handouts, to timely teachable videos and educator conferences, the c-span classroom program offers so many resources to teachers and as a great deal of value to the day's classrooms. >> thank you for being part of it, bringing your awesome bus to fairbanks. the tour of that was just incredible, and i -- i heard stories of driving up to elcan and the things they saw on the way coming to alaska. it was a nice trip from what i heard, and i understand. i've driven it a few times myself, an it is an awesome trip, and we're so glad that your bus came here and using it as a tool to bring fairbanks

nationwide. >> what i appreciate with c-span, it's 40 years old and much older than me, but what i appreciate -- that's a joke, by the way. you can laugh. what i appreciated about c-span is that it's not partisan. you watch the sparring that takes place. you watch your delegations talk back and forth. it's extremely informative and very educational. one of the best things on the bus and i'm a technogeek, so i hope they take them with me on their tour and i would just spend hours in that bus, and if you go in and look at the video screens, they are interactive. people can learn and kids can learn about government. i mean, government doesn't have to be a bad word. >> be sure to join us july 21st and 22nd when we feature our visit to alaska. watch "alaska weekend" on c-span, c-span.oral or listen with the free c-span radio app.