you can imagine not just as an american am i deeply concerned about this but as a floridian. mflorida as a state has a great number of veterans, including my brother. people who conserved their country with dignity now have health care needs that require urgent medical attention. the story of a young man, a gulf war veteran who has a brain cyst, who has been waiting for weeks to even be able to see anyone. in fact, been waiting for mont months, with no end in sight as to when that's going to end. this needs to be addressed. so yesterday we all watched with great attention as the president addressed this issue and expressed outrage, rightfully so, at what's occurring. and what the president said is that over the next week there's going to be an initial report and then ultimately a report at the end of the month about what needs to be done to improve the system and, more importantly, who needs to be held accountable. and i think that's critical he here, because one of the things that we're learning is not

simply that there's a systemic problem in the veterans administration, but that there's been a deliberate effort by some within the administration, some within the veterans administration to cover it up or to make things look better than they actually are. and that should trouble us even more, because the immediate reaction when an agency is confronted with a problem should be, we need to fix this. and instead the reaction by some seems to be, we need to cover this. we need to make this look better than it really is. we need to diminish this. that is completely unacceptable and people need to be held accountable to this. if in the united states senate, among the men and women that serve and work here for, someone was dereliction in their duty, they would lose their jobs. if in the private sector someone did not do their job, they would lose that job. in the military chain of comma command, if a commanding officer of a unit did not do his or her job, they would lose their job. and their superiors would have the able to immediately discipline them.

and so i think many americans would be shocked to learn that even if the secretary wanted today to fire executive managers within the agency, he cannot. instead, he has to institute a long and drawn-out process leading to this absurd conclusion that you are likier to receive a bonus or a promotion than you are to have been fired because of mismanagement. and dereliction of duty. and that is completely unacceptable. and i think one thing we have to remember here is that the enormous and vast majority of the v.a.'s more than 300,000 employees and executives are dedicated and hardworking people. but they're -- and their departments' well-documented reluctance to make sure leaders are held accountable for mistakes is not only tarnishing its reputation, it unfortunately is impacting many of these hardworking men and women who are doing their jobs within the agency. and so what i did a few weeks

ago, in conjunction with may colleague from florida, jeff miller, is file a bill, a very simple and straightforward bill. the bill -- the v.a.ate accountability mapght act of 2014 would give the v.a. secretary the power to fire or demote senior executive service employees based on their performance. it is a power similar to the power the secretary of defense already has to remove military general officers from command. and of course the power that any one of our 100 senators has to remove a member of their staff. this bill passed yesterday in the house of representatives, and it is sitting here on the desk in the senate. it passed yesterday with an overwhelming bipartisan majority of members of both parties who are outraged by what is occurring and want to bring accountability. in a press conference yesterday, the white house indicated that they are very open to this concept and that in fact they were interacting with leaders on it. we called the white house and

asked them about it. they also indicated an openness to it, though they did share they have some keynes. they didn't make -- they did have some concerns. they didn't make any edits to the bill but said they were supportive of this concept. earlier today in an appropriations committee, senator moran offered this very bill as an amendment, and it was adopted by voice vote without a single objection. and so here's where we stand: i've come to this floor today to give p my colleagues the opportunity to send this to the president before we leave for the memorial day recess. we have an opportunity right mao to tank the bill that the house -- to take up the bill that the house just passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority, enacted into la enacty unanimous consent and send it to the president so he can sign it so what when the results of this investigation come to him, they can discipline or fire the people who have not done their jobs and have put our veterans

in harm's way with regard to the services the v.a. is supposed to be offering. that is all this bill does. nothing more and nothing less. we are giving a secretary appointed by this president, confirmed by this senate, the opportunity to be the able to fire employees of his agency that are not doing their jobs. that is all we're asking here. i.t. not more complicated than -- it's not more complicated than that. it is right here for us. for anyone who is saying that we need to quick act on this, here is our chafnlts my hope is that it will pass unanimously. we are not telling them who they need to fire. we are simply giving the secretary the power to hold accountable people who work underneath them and future secretaries as well. i hope that we'll be able to do that here today. i think that if it were put to a

roll call vote on the floor, it would pass by an overwhelming majority as well. and so there' that's why, madam president, i ask unanimous consent toker the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of house resolution 4031, which was received by the house -- which was received from the house, and i further ask consent that the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? sand sand reservinmr. sanders: e right to object, i thank senator rubio for his remarks. i think many of us share the exact same concerns that he has raised. when men and women put their lives on the line to defend our country, they are entitled to the best quality health care that we can provide to them. in my view -- and i think in the view of virtually every veterans

organization -- the v.a. does provide good-quality health care to those people who access the v.a. system. but there are very serious problems in terms of access. there are serious problems with regard waiting lists. there are serious problems regarding the possibility of hospitals keeping two sets of books. and we're going to get to the root of those issues. but one thing that we do not want to do, madam president, is politicize the well-being of america's heroes. let knee quote to yo me quote tn editorial in "the washington post" today. "the men and women who have served their country in uniform deserve better than delay or denial of the medical care they need and have earned. so it is crucial to get to the bottom of allegations of misconduct at the nation's veterans hospitals.

america's veterans also deserve not to be treated as so many pawns in election-year gamesmanship. but that sadly is approving to b--but that sadly is proving toe the case in congress's hyperbolic response. that the extent of wrongdoing is unclear doesn't seem to matter much to those more interested in scoring political points. how else to explain the knee-jerk calls, mainly by republicans in the house and senate, for the ouster of veterans affairs secretary eric k. shinseki or the ill-advised legislation aimed at v.a. workers." let me make this point. i happen to think that the bill that was passed in the house yesterday has many american provisions, which i happen to agree with. but as the senator from florida knows, we have not held a hearing on this legislation.

and some of us are old-fashioned enough to know that maybe folks in the senate might want to know what is in the bill before we voted on it. the senator from florida is right. it passed with very strong support in the house, and in my view, a similar bill containing some of the salient provisions in the house will pass the senate. but it is important that that bill be discussed. and i will tell you, madam president, that one of the concerns that i have is i do not want to see the v.a. politicized. it is one thing to say -- which i agree with -- that if a hospital administrator is incompetent, the secretary should be able to get rid of that administrator without a whole lot of paperwork. i agree with that. it is another thing to say that if a new administration comes

in, whether it is a democratic or republican, that somebody sitting in the secretary's office can say, i want to get rid of 20 or 30 or 50 hospital administrators because we have other people that we have in there, and we can just get rid of them, and they don't have a rate to defending themselves. i -- and they don't have a right to defend themselves. i worry about that. so clearly we have to discuss the issue. i would suggest that the senator from florida understands that i.tit's probable probably a good idea to discuss an issue before we vote on it. so bottom line for me on this, yes, every top administrator at the v.a. has got to be held accountable. i do not want to see an enormous amount of paperwork and obstruction go forward before we can get rid of incompetent people. but before we vote on legislation, it might be a good idea to understand the full implications of that legislation, and there are some aspects of it that i think some aspects of it that i think some

>> president obama will be at the arlington national cemetery. we'll have live coverage 11:00 a.m. eastern time. later tomorrow, former president george w. bush and jill biden. we'll have that tomorrow at noon

eastern. >> thanks for the service. you're going to have a nice surprise tomorrow when you go into the cathedral. you in the navy? >> i was in the marine corps. >> that's tough. >> that was tough. thank you for being here today. >> and thank you for all the

service. >> former world war ii veteran and senator bob dole regularly greet visitors at the the world war ii memorial in washington. monday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span 3. >> this month c-span showing commencement addresses from graduation ceremonies around the country. next we'll show facebook chief operating officer sheryl sandberg. her speech lasted 15 minutes. >> welcome to all of you. most importantly,

congratulations to the magnificent class of 2014. it is a privilege to be with you here today honoring 2000 students from schools across chicago. colleges named after giants who dare to imagine a better city, cannot and world. .....