and that you will try -- i know you would try to have a good relationship between the committees, but i think that is probably one of the most important things and most frustrating things we had. >> it is certainly my intention to be responsive to whatever questions or demand you may have. i realize the role you have an oversight and are realize that you have people in your state who have needs. it is going to be our responsibility to try to help you meet those needs. i will plan to, if confirmed, to give every member of the committee my cell phone number. i will expect you to use it and call me when you have a concern. we will try to do that together. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you. i think you were probably the

first person to give all of us your cell phone number so i hope this is not a situation where it is be careful what you ask for. >> i mean it. >> we appreciate it. senator brown brought up the question of the significant events of that occurred to our enlisted people, our soldiers that never get into the records as i have heard of veterans as they are trying to make their claims, they are not able to get the information to back up those claims. it leads me to ask you when general gates and secretary shinseki were leading the dod and the v.a. respectively, they talked about seamless records so that the records follow the person, the individual. here we are. we still do not have the compatible systems. is this something you would pursue so that when our people

leave active service and become veterans as their records are with them, it follows them. apparently this require some kind of a huge computer change now we have not been able to achieve even if a lot of money has been spent. would you pursue this course? >> yes, senator. i really think it is important that the dod and the v.a. operate seamlessly. it is not the veterans fault there is a boundary between those two organizations. we need to operate seamlessly. i think when i met with secretary hagel, he had the exact same interest that i do. in fact, he asked for the meeting which i thought was incredibly gracious for him to do since i am only a nominee. i think that recognizes how well

we can work together to get these things done. i know progress has been made on the record. interoperability between the two organizations but more progress needs to be made. >> apparently, there is some tremendous difficulties of getting this done because six years later, we are going to follow up with you. i intend to see how you're getting along with that. you mentioned in your testimony that the v.a. operates as loosely connected individual administrations so various decisions are being made at the local and state level perhaps. there is not compatibility or procedures that are being utilized that would enable you to decide or prepare -- compare what is going on with the v.a.

and one state versus another state. in a situation like that, how would you address the fact that across the v.a. system systemic problems will be difficult to address when there are multiple organizational management structures in place? >> i think your question is insightful because any large organization needs to operate with one team and one dream. you cannot have separate organizations going different directions. a lot of thought is put to how do you break down boundaries in organizations? my experience over the last 40 years has been if there is a problem in the organization, typically a curse as a boundary. how do you make those boundaries permeable so that resources, information can flow between those boundaries? one of the ways we have to do that is by putting in place

systems that will work so that we get predictably good results every time something happens. scheduling system is an example. the other thing is that allows you to flow resources across the boundaries so that each individual entity is not asking for more resources when in fact the resources may exist somewhere else and we need to flow them there. a good example of that is migration that is a currently happening with the veterans. they are migrating to different places than you may have expected. we are going to have to be flexible enough to make sure we follow that migration. >> when you're dealing with the huge system like the v.a. system, you are going to get a lot of pushback from people who are used to being left alone in their regions or wherever. i wish you the best in making sure that we really are working with the system that responds to the way it should. >> thank you, senator.

senator moran. >> thank you very much for your presence today. thank you for earlier willingness to serve as the secretary of veterans affairs. i hope you'll consider me and other members of this committee allies as you try to develop a strategy and implement that strategy that benefits those that serve our country. i want to talk broadly for a moment and bring kansas into the topic of conversation. first of all, in the hearing that was held in may, most of the veterans service organizations testified. i think without exception, those organizations that have consistently requested additional resources from congress to support the activities of the department. my summary of the testimony was that each and every organization, those seven esos all caps the five that while in the past there is additional

money going to the department, the president indicated earlier this year that during his time in office, the department of veterans affairs and more resourced than any other agency or department in his administration. madee point that v theso's is that we can probably use additional resources in the in thebut the -- veterans affairs, but the money is going to the wrong place. it results in more paperwork, bureaucracy as we have conversations about we need to make sure this is about not expanding the

number of people. i am told in the 1990's, there were 800 people who work here. nownumbers now 11,000 -- is 11,000. the focus has to be on the patient care, not the folks who get anyway of it. i indicated that what i am looking for is somebody who can rebuild the trust that i have -- want to have in the department. more importantly, what our veterans deserve. i look forward to working with you to a compass that. >> let me turn specifically to kansas. i want to highlight for you how rural our state is. i served representing a congressional district larger than the state of illinois. no va hospital in the district.

we need to continue to work to provide services to folks who do not have any place to live close to where there is a hospital. over my time in congress, working with the department, nine secretaries, we have had a outpatient clinics. that has helped. if you live for-five hours from va -- 4-5 hours from a hosptial, if you live 2.5 hours from a clinic, it doesn't make that much difference you are two hours closer to a facility if you cannot get there anywhere -- anyway. one of things i am pleased about any legislation, -- in the legislation, is the idea that if you live long distances from the facility, the v.a. will provide that care for you. the v.a. has the ability to do that. they have the ability to pay for outside services.

they are seemingly reluctant and often unwilling to do so. provide v.a. fails to the fee for services to the veterans, most likely what happens of the veteran gets no service at all. 23 miles away -- is hayes. we were successful in opening an outpatient clinic. is 1100 who are making it their way tog wichita. the end result is 2200. the other 1100, the doubling amount occurred because the veterans were receiving no care. i look forward to my opportunity, in the time i am a member of the committee, to explain the challenges any real state.- in a rural

we have a clinic in kansas that has not had a physician for more than three years. well i have raised this issue -- the problem i have, i understand it is difficult to recruit and retain physicians, but there is no plan to fix the problem. i want to be an advocate for all veterans. i want to bring home to you the unique nature of places like my home state. as you said, it is all about the mission. care for the veterans. look at all these decisions through that lens and get access for the people in rural america. billngress passed a new before the august recess, making changes to the system. it includes $10 billion for a

new program allowing veterans to get treatment outside dba if ify lit -- outside the va they are facing long wait times. there is -- there are 27 leases for new facilities. it makes it easier to fire executives. president obama signed the bill into law on august 7. headline says aube on a signs be a reform -- says obama signs va reform. with the new v.a. secretary in place, how quickly will changes happen? >> it will take a little while. a lot of the initiatives are things the groups and lawmakers are excited about. it will take time to develop rules and get funding for, implement.

of example, the expansion private care options for veterans will take a while for the v.a. if they face long wait times or travel, it is something that may take six months to a year. groups i haves talked to say they like this and it is a good first step -- the veterans groups i have talked to say they like this and it is a good first up. time until to take the provisions can be lamented. >> -- can be implemented. >> what about robert mcdonald? revolves around getting out of d.c. and getting a sense of what the problems are.

we are seeing the start of that. last friday, he was in phoenix. as your viewers know was the center of the wait time problems. he was talking to some of the employees, some veterans out there. went to the disabled americans convention in las vegas. the va facilities out there. of a listening tour for the next couple of weeks. in conjunction with that, he is reviewing what the department's polities and procedures are for wait times. to make sure there is a public face. he ordered an outside review, that will be done by the joint commission.

there are veterans that have concerns about how this is handled. outside folks are looking at this. examined any numbers are on the up and up. the veterans groups have said they are excited by what you have laid out. they will take a step back for the next two or three months. and then get back with more pressure after that. stay on the issue. as the investigations continue on phoenix and other locations, what sort of disciplinary actions are possible? we haven't seen many firings at all. just a few mid-level -- we are looking at possible dismissal. conducting a separate investigation into the possibility of mental chargers. we haven't -- into possible criminal charges.

there is the assumption among lawmakers and veterans groups, even many in the department, the the -- that there will be firings. some of the folks who were involved in gaming the system. we are getting to the end of the summer. until we hear from their reports, we don't know what could happen. >> congress passed a new law. they have a new v.a. secretary. are they likely to re-visit issues with this in the coming months? >> i think so. whether they will pass legislation or not depends on the politics on the hell. -- hill. they will be holding oversight hearings. he is doing failed oversight hearings.

folks to talkhave about long-term fixes. senator sanders said the same thing. there are provisions he would like to see go further. dba has asked for additional money to hire clinicians. this will be part of the preparation process. there will be more hearings in the fall. maybe even a handful in september. to keep the issue alive and reassure veterans they don't think their work is done. >> you can see many of the hearings we have covered at c-span.org. you can read the reporting of leo at military times.com. he is also on twitter. thank you for the update. >> thank you. >> coming up next, former house speaker and presidential

candidate nuking rich on using smartphones to help veterans. then he -- the highlights of hearings. >> coming up wednesday, the business group on health reveals survey ons their health care coverage. that is live at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. are some of the highlights for this weekend, friday at 8:00 p.m., a tour looking at the civil war. the communicators visits a technology fair on capitol hill. pat buchanan. looks on hillary clinton, barack obama, and edward snowden. morning, they literary sites of casper, wyoming.

the negro league's kansas city monarchs. the depiction of slavery in movies. sunday, on real america, an interview with president who bert -- herbert hoover. let us know what you think of the programs you are watching. call us or e-mail us. like us on c-span -- like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. technologygrich on on smartphones. his remarks came at an event hosted by the american into prize interested -- enterprise institute. this is one hour. >> i want to thank arthur brooks for giving me this opportunity to propose a very large bold rethinking of both the health system and the bureaucracy in the context of the veterans administration crisis.

i spent a decade as the aei family. it is always great to be back discussing ideas. i want to thank the cnn investigative team who stayed on the scandals until they broke through and became a national crisis. early on the stories were dismissed as isolated small problems. the teams continued effort grew the facts until they had to be dealt with. our thinking on the future of the veterans administration has been deeply influenced by the hard work of chairman jeff miller and their find many staffs. we are further down the road because of their help. they have worked tirelessly and against a lot of opposition to help americans veterans find a better future. i want to thank our chief researcher on the v.a. and who developed the interactive map you will see. i want to thank ross worthington

for helping think through these proposals. let me say this is going to be a bold by washington standards radical speech. i'm going to use terms that are not common in washington policy circles. let me share a few of these new ideas ahead of time. smartphone. smartphone apps. ipad. facebook. google. khan academy. duolingo. this is not your typical washington policy speech.

you know that these words are now part of everyday life. facebook was founded in 2004. 10 years later it has 1.3 billion monthly users. there is no government subsidy for joining facebook and no government training program for how to be on facebook. google was founded in 1998. it has grown into a worldwide index of knowledge with well over a billion searches a day and a host of other capabilities. smartphones date commercially to 1994. today, 3-4 americans owns a smartphone. you can get a smartphone for free with a service contract or for as little as $50 online. many people in the developing world revealed they will invest

in a smartphone before indoor plumbing. when i ask all of you, take out your smartphone if you have one. to get a sense of the audience. you are holding the entry point for a massive information system. i think it is important to understand that. every time you think the proposals in this speech are unrealistic, i want you to look at your own smartphone and the apps you already have installed. which is more presented of our future? the current failing bureaucracy or the smartphone in your hand? we have the opportunity to create a 21st-century veterans service system, empowering veterans to use their smartphones to re-center services on their lives, at their convenience, and with the veteran rather than bureaucrat

in charge. this vision of a dramatically more effective, more modern, more responsive veterans centered system is part of a much larger opportunity to think about the transition from late 19th century bureaucracy to 21st-century citizen centered government. the three major regions to have a national dialogue at the future of veterans health care, we owe it to our veterans to get them the best possible health outcomes with the greatest convenience at the lowest cost. it isn't enough to eliminate the worst aspects of the current bureaucratic mass. we have to be able to answer the question, is this the best we can do for veterans? anything less should be unacceptable. a slightly improved bureaucracy

fails that test. secondly, the lessons we learned in thinking through a 21st-century veterans health system will teach us a lot a bout the characteristics of our future health system for all. the same technologies that will improve veterans health will help improve everyone's health. third, replacing this obsolete bureaucracy with a new 21st-century system will teach us a lot about how to replace every other bureaucracy. the v.a. could be deferral runner to a generation of profound transformation in government. the changes we have seen in information technology are so indoor mist that the next few decades will be the most creative in rethinking government since the founding fathers. virtually every field.

pioneers of the future are developing new technologies am a new science: new solutions, new products, new ideas. these breakthroughs are current in the private sector, nonprofit sector, and in government. they are going to continue and accelerate. just as the founding fathers had to think through the relationship between organized power and free citizens, so we have to think through the relationship between organized public effort and the technologies which are revolutionizing our lives. my recent book outlines the scale of change has occurred around us and begins to imagine a new 21st-century model of government that takes advantage of this emerging world. our current federal bureaucracy is trapped in the late 19th century. bureaucracy is largely an intellectual pattern developed at the same time as the manual typewriter. they were the clerical

requirements of carbon paper which led to a pentagon of enormous scale. 17 miles of hallways, 6.6 million square feet, and extraordinary symbol of american power when they were completed 71 years ago. yet to fulfill clerical and administrative purposes dating back to the 1940's, 31,000 people still work at the pentagon. modern information technology should enable us to turn the pentagon into a triangle. we should be able to replace at least 40% of the clerical effort with modern information technology. this potential for rethinking exists throughout the government. every year the speed, convenience, accuracy, quality

and affordability we see in most private sector roddick's and services keeps growing. as a result, with each passing year the gap between the obsolete typewriter bureaucracy we have and the modern decentralized citizens government we could have continues to grow. the smartphone and ipad are symbols of this gap between failing bureaucratic systems and the speed, accuracy, and convenience we are experiencing in our private lives. consider the atms. you can go virtually anywhere in the world, find an anonymous machine, insert a plastic card, punch in a code, and get local currency in 11 seconds. how many have have this experience outside of the u.s.? by contrast, it takes 175 days for medical records to move

through the department of defense to the veterans administration. defense to the vs administration. has a problem with the accuracy of their credit card statements or atm transactions. $4 billion inut bad refunds last year. including 340 three checks to one house in shanghai. medicare and medicaid have $70 billion in fraud every year. almost every government redistribution program has substantial fraud. the fact is that a manual typewriter bureaucracy that goes home at 5:00 cannot keep up with crooks using ipads. the on efficiency and honesty, there is a more powerful reason to rethink modern bureaucracy.

inevitablytypewriter is focused on the bureaucrat. it is devoted to rules that make the citizens subservient. will be century digital, mobile, virtual, and personal. digital,nment used mobile, and virtual capability to empower citizens to leave -- leave their lives focused on their concerns and would be different from the current federal bureaucracy which increasingly uses its power as a tool for social control. californiaovernor of and former mayor of san francisco has intriguingly outlined the potential for a citizen centered smartphone enabled 21st-century model of government in his book.

he writes, technologies like smartphones in the cloud enable an enterprise to organize itself in a distributed fashion without central power to collaborate in ways you couldn't before. it gives power to the people. it is the first crucial step in moving away from top-down chokingatic government our democracy. understanding this concept is central to understanding how the government must change and what it must become. appliesroach everywhere. the veterans administration is a particularly good starting point. the scandals, corruption, dishonesty, and failures and serving our veterans are so deep at the v.a. it is especially ripe for a fundamental rethinking that shifts from the manual typewriters of smartphones and from a system

centered on bureaucrats to a system centered on veterans. this process of thinking requires adopting the three principles. the problems are a systemic and non-episodic, and models are central to refocusing our thinking and analysis. second, modern information technology and its ability to empower the citizen and to dramatically improve how we organize public activities is at the heart of how we will rethink government. systems thinking in modern information technology can only work if the bureaucratic model of the 1870's is replaced with a agileexible adaptive system of continuous improvement , measurement of metrics, learning, and continuous willingness to reward achievement and take steps to eliminate failure.

requireree key steps congress to shift from traditional oversight based on reviewing failure in playing got and to focusing on breakthroughs in the world that empower and best practices throughout the world, not merely the best bureaucracy. you can see a paper on congressional committees and the concept at gingrich reductions. productions. it goes far beyond the recent reform bill. that bill represents a fascinating balance between the reformers push for new solutions and the prison guard of the past protecting their bureaucratic turf no matter how bad. the v.a. scandal has been big enough that the reformers want a notory of allowing veterans

wait 30 days for a department have the choice of any dr. who accepts medicaid. -- this wasobably probably worth the entire bill. and one of the most remarkable steps to prevent the secretary to expedite firing of senior officials. the reformers had to agree to open 27 clinics and provide $5 billion to hiring more people for the be a your accuracy even though the current productivity is so low that modest improvements would have improved veterans health without a larger yurok received. the extra $5 billion was the price of having a socialist who believes in bureaucracy chair the veterans affairs committee. the bill that obama signed into law thursday is only a start. there is some bipartisan agreement that the reform effort

needs to go further. said this will not and cannot be the end of our efforts. daniel dillinger said in a statement that the v.a. reform inkage is an important step the process to begin repairing systemic problems, but only one step, and only a beginning. on theking republican veteran affairs committee agreed that the bill was only the beginning of what it will take to repair it or rent this -- her friend is a blemish -- horrendous blemish. it starts a conversation for the future. a bill signed into law was only the first step. now, the real work begins. "thisor john mccain said, bill is the beginning, not an

end." house majority leader kevin "a modern v.a. must except the modern world and give veterans the ability to access private care, streamline its system, and remove bad employees." real reform is possible. only if we unshackle ourselves from the old idea that more bureaucracy, more government, more money will solve today's problems. it is time to try something new and build a 21st-century v.a. the skill of reforms needed is suggested by this interactive , which you can find it in gingrichproduction .com.

people kept saying it is isolated, it is isolated. there are 62 sites up there. you to goem allows and look at the data on each site. we didn't make the case this can't possibly be random episodes. system in collapse. i am proud of the work they did. this is what is amazing about where we are. , there all the evidence are still supporters of bureaucratic big government who continue to believe in the current bureaucracy. in 2007 him as recline stated the v.a. lead in care quality isn't disputed. krugman called it a model to be immolated for the

rest of our health care system. even after the recent revelations, the true believers stayed firm. "it is stille that, true it invites excellent care at low cost." just member that one quote. everything he says is out of touch with reality. " i'm sanders maintained, chairman of the veterans commit need -- committee. it provides high-quality health care." before i outline and propose a bold 21st-century veteran services bill, i want to examine these claims. if they are right, we will need bold reform. it is important to understand how badly broken and how deeply

corrupt the current bureaucracy is. the current public outcry started when we learned 40 veterans died on a secret waiting list in phoenix. that was only the beginning. in february we learned employees destroyed veterans medical records to hide their backlog. theecame clear that appointment system was pervasive. systemic lack of integrity throughout the v.a.. the final audit confirmed corrupt scheduling practices ofoss the department at 70% the v.a. medical facilities surveyed. 57,000 veterans have been waiting three months for an appointment. with the scheduling practices are only the beginning. transfer a5 days to

veterans medical records. the v.a. and defense department have spent $3 billion over four years attempting to build a joint system for electronic health records before announcing in february they were giving up. as of february there were 400,000 disability claims considered backlog. they had been in process for a hundred 25 days -- 125 days. and electronic records system developed at the v.a. to help manage this problem had cost $500 million but was crippled by poor planning design an planning, -- poor design, and implementation. there are lots of instances of narcotics that. this is the one that's most disturbing.

patients were prescribed narcotics without seeing him a doctor. waiting times are twice the national average. thatoburn's office found the v.a. is spent $200 million may last 10 years in attempt to compensate victims for its mistakes. more than 1000 veterans needlessly died under the v.a. watch. the median payment for a victim was $150,000. most agreed it was not about the money. they wanted the v.a. to be held accountable. ofween 2006-2013, the number full-time employees jumped 40%. 220,000, 314,000. the budget is up even more. 90%.

with 94,000 additional government employees, and twice as much money, the left believes the problem is the v.a. is underfunded. v.a. workforce is larger than the marine corps. compared to 200,000 marine corps. 150,000, shrinking to at which point they would be asf as many a reins -- half many marines. despite the competence and corruption, leadership has seem to reward the officials with performance bonuses. last year, 78 percent of the a senior managers receive these bonuses and got performance ratings of outstanding or exceeds successful. 470 the got successful or better. employees are

performing wonderfully. in some cases, these bonuses were outrageously unwarranted. the former director of the v.a. medical center was paid bonuses even though the inspector general blamed several preventable deaths. the report found that as of february 2017, there were more than 277 v.a. employees performing as union representatives on 100% of official time. they spent $42.6 million in cost related to maintaining official time. on average, private sector primary care physicians have an average caseload of $2300 -- 2300. hospitals,ate sector

some v.a. facilities close eye 3:00 in the afternoon. getting the truth of the ms. behavior has been hard. bureaucrats have routinely lied to congress. the department misled congress about the number of deaths claiming findings were found on a systemwide review since 1999 when the numbers were based on a handful of cases. the officials looked me in the eye and lied to me. turn theued, at every v.a. has thwarted effective oversight. of cover-up and deceit. the v.a. director in alabama ensure that employees who falsified records were fired. i have now learned that wasn't

true," she said. v.a. silences whistleblowers. the new york times reports staff members at dozens of hospitals across the country have objected to years to falsified patient employee schedules another improper practices only to be rebuffed, disciplined, or fired. the times continues, the federal office of special counsel which investigates complaints is examining 37 cases of retaliation by employees in 19 states. the article tells the story of a doctor, from dallas. aboutan complaining negligence by nurses who marks the wrong kidney.

saidother instance, he medical personnel brought the wrong patient to an operating table. a supervisor told him to let some things slide because of staffing problems. he continued writing complaints. officials considered him disruptive and fired him. watchdog routinely minimize whistleblower allegations by claiming the behavioral had no effect on care. the point is there is a failure of the current system. this litany of deaths, mistry meant, violation, dishonesty, lying to congress, failing to treat our veterans should convince any reasonable person there is something deeply and profoundly wrong to let the of the v.a.

nothing in the bill will get at the underlying corruption and the network of bureaucrats to protect each other and punish those who would blow the whistle on bad behavior. tophe reform bill, only the 400 of the 314,000 people who work at the v.a. are affected by the fire and procedures. some have expressed worries about expedited procedures for 1/10 of 1% of the v.a. workforce. there are six different unions at the v.a. four masterare -- union contracts. this includes employees at taxpayer expense. toy are an enormous barrier reform. if we were serious about helping veterans these union contract would be suspended just as

contract would be suspended in the private sector. all of the sistine reform bureaucracy with virtually nothing changing. bureaucracy has deep patterns of self-defense and self-preservation. it would adopt a new work ethic, a new commitment to transparent accountability, and enthusiasm for whistleblowers is asking for failure. the scale of change we need to ensure the best possible care is greater than the recent reforms and be on the conference zone of the traditional political system. two missingd are

components. imagination and a spirit of replacement rather than reform. first, imagination. imagine the 21st century veteran services. the greatest failure in washington is a lack of money. it is a lack of power. it isn't too much partisanship. the greatest billiard washington is a lack of imagination. washington is so absorbed in its own petty gossip, daily activities, definition of practical and realistic, it is very hard for washington insiders to relax and let their imaginations develop the possibilities that are all round. there is a simple fact that can open up everything to the imagination. everything which currently exists and government was imagined by a president, congress, and decor. our generation has as much responsibility and as great a right to develop a new generation of solutions as did

any generation before. i want to focus on one technological breakthrough. to illustrate how dramatically imagination based on practical reality can open up the entire system to new thinking and possibilities. the smartphone is an empowering breakthrough that exists all around us. it has not begun to be integrated in the public policy solutions. think of smartphones as empowerment devices. the first and the important question is what and we grew up in the bureaucratic world else around clerical processes in the manual typewriter. the bureaucratic procedures that define what happened wil. they'll define the relationship. in this world, the amount of power citizens have over the bureaucrats is remarkably small.

the amount of power the bureaucrats have over the citizens is remarkably large. too often, we the people have become weak, but bureaucrats. -- we, the bureaucrats. this extends far beyond the v.a. they were only an office for a brief. . enthusiasm ofand the new secretary of veterans affairs will presently run up against bureaucratic rules, hopelessly and intentionally complex policies, especially in information technology, and unwieldy union contracts. it has outlasted every president and every secretary. it isn't that secretaries were incompetent. he was immersed in the system that simply ignored management and asked for polite applause

for enthusiastic speeches and then went back to bureaucracy as usual. the smartphone shatters this shifts thec -- it location of power to the citizen. as is the potential implied in the new book, "the responsive city." we are organizing and empowering people with smart phones. if every veteran had a bertphone, they would empowered to gather information, to interface with health systems 24 hours a day, seven days a week. the v.a.urther that adopted this model for the 21st century. digital, mobile, virtual, personal. the smartphone with electronic records in the cloud and instantaneous decision-making could become the new center of gravity which would replace the bureaucratic model with the veteran centric model.

consider a v.a. app for the smartphone which would enable veterans to skiable his or her appointments. you know how this works in your own life. think of your app for restaurant reservations. food youthem what want, what neighborhood, a list of options with reviews, you tap reserve, you get an e-mail, the system walks off the table -- locks off the table. there is no question if you made the reservation. it has been around since 1988. zotdoc is the equivalent of opentable for doctors. you tell them what insurance you have and what type of specialist you need, it gives you 27 june youn your area. , they get anctor e-mail with all your paperwork

and insurance information. you show up when they are ready for you. no inspector general to investigate why you didn't get an appointment. than 24ait time is less hours. 25% lastave up to minute capacity for patients who canceled and rescheduled. 15-18% of patients would otherwise be going to the emergency room. ocdoc was founded in 2007. it is now serving 5 million patients. about as many as the v.a. they have 400 employees. repeat those numbers. it serves 5 million patients a month in scheduling, about as many as the veterans administration schedules. they have 400 employees, total.

the v.a. employs a thousand programmers. zocdoc covers more than 40 specialties, 1000 types of procedures, in 48 states by the end of this year. their market cap is $400 billion. if zocdoc went to the v.a. and offer to help with their scheduling software, which they know how to integrate with lots of insurance companies, the v.a. 17ld tell them about the self-imposed requirements that prevent us from using zocdoc software. including the requirement that zocdoc has to make all of its software open source. so that i can be custom built from scratch by the v.a. they will be prepared tomorrow morning to provide the services. the bureaucracy won't let them.

medical has app. -- an app. you can book appointments and communicate with your doctor, send pictures, send electronic prescriptions. you don't need to take an hour out of your day to go in. imagine if a 21st-century v.a. had this capability. doctors could see dramatically more patients in a day. veterans could get dramatically faster care. imagine if the veteran smartphone had a prescription app. every doctor could see every prescription. sometimes you need to go to the doctors office and they can take your bvitals. one app takes your temperature, your blood pressure, your heart g, in your lung function in a couple of seconds. it costs $199.

togine if instead of going the v.a. medical center, they could send this information to their doctor right from their smartphone. greatgottlieb had a paper, asserting that the fda will say that it subjects the smartphone as a medical device. another example, there is a company in california that is automated the 1000th most common medical lab tests, all of which can be performed using just a few drops of blood. out invice was rolling walgreens. give a few drops of blood, have the results e-mailed to your smartphone by the time you walk out the door. chargingcommitted to 50 percent of the medicare reimbursement rate or less. imagine if instead of waiting months for such tests, veterans

could go to their local pharmacy and have it on their smartphone in the afternoon, all at cheaper costs. there are enormous challenges with veterans and mental health. imagine if instead of waiting for problems to develop, support started immediately, reaching the veterans over there smartphones. apps could help walk veterans through the process of transitioning back to civilian life. imagine if online support similar to facebook could help veterans form a community to talk to each other about their shared experiences and help identify veterans who may need a higher level of support, all at very little cost. other challenges, like homelessness, begin to compound. systems, thethese scheduling applications, the

doctors visits, the prescription functions, were automatically available. the veteransoth and the higher levels of the v.a. of problems in a timely way. los angeles could not have deleted the names if the information was on the smartphone. that's profoundly different. all of this is very different we willhe department need to continue to expand the use of digital technology to free human resources that can be applied to the care of veterans." one of the key tests of rethinking the administration is whether the primary focus should be internally, on improving and strengthening the bureaucracy, or externally, on empowering and strengthening the veterans. in his keynote address, secretary mcdonnell described the traditional philosophy perfectly. "we are going to judge the success of our -- veterans

outcomes." v.a. is the customer service organization. we serve veterans. if we fail at serving veterans, we have a lot of work to do. there is a huge jump between serving veterans and empowering veterans. the bureaucracy remains the center of activity in serving veterans. in empowering veterans, the veterans become the center of activity. mcdonald does not understand how big is imagination must become to be successful. are updated the antiquated appointment scheduling system, beginning with near-term enhancements to existing systems, leading to the acquisition of the copperheads of, state-of-the-art scheduling system. i believe the department will need to continue to expand the use of digital technology to free human resources."

e muchal challenges ar larger and more complex then he can imagine. nothing in his business career prepared him for the regulatory, legal and bureaucratic barriers which make progress in washington so difficult and so slow. believewhy i replacement, not reform, has to be the goal. take advantage of modern information technologies and empower veterans with smart homes, we have to do more than marginally reform obsolete bureaucracy. we have to think through the principles of organizing human activity in a world of mobileous, real-time, computing and information available 20 47. personalized to each individual connect the vast computing and data storage of a worldwide network. every process of the current bureaucracy works to prevent this from happening. for example, one of the most

successful scheduling companies offer to provide its proven technology to the v.a. and was told that federal law and self-imposed internal regulations made it impossible. what is true of v.a. information-technology acquisition is true across the entire federal government. president obama outline the information technology last year, and explaining the gap between the brilliance of his two campaigns and using information technology and the failure of the obamacare website. "what is true is that our i.t. systems, how we purchased technology and the federal government, is cumbersome, complicated, and outdated. where, on a situation my campaign, i could simply say, who were the best folks out there, let's get them around a table. are doing it at the

federal government level, you are going through 40 pages of ands in this and that, there are all kinds of laws involved and it makes it more difficult. it is part of the reason why federal i.t. programs are over budget." sadly, the president didn't leap from this absolutely correct analysis to propose that congress profoundly overhaul the information technology procurement laws. google founders noted the same artificial challenges and health. -- in health. "generally, health is just so heavily regulated, it is such a painful business to be in. it is not how i want to spend my time. even though we do have some health projects and will be doing that to a certain extent, but i think the regulatory burden is so high that it would dissuade a lot of entrepreneurs." secretary mcdonnell will soon departmenthe defense

and administration announced in february that they were abandoning a multibillion-dollar project. entire sections of law involving have toion-technology be replaced is not merely reformed. -- and not merely reformed. only one congress steps up to the plate will we be in a position to start using our imagination to develop the replacement system which is necessary if we are truly going to help our veterans. there are first steps we can take for the 21st-century veteran service system. ideally, president obama would recognize that the overwhelming bipartisan vote for the v.a. reform bill, the speed and that there- indicate is a rare zone of bipartisan opportunity to develop a better system. if you would reach out for the

congressional republicans and pursue new thinking, he could have an enormous positive response. a series oflaunch visionary hearings, bringing in new technologies and new capabilities and exploring how to move from bureaucratic centered systems to veterans and power systems. secretary mcdonnell has an opportunity to outlined changes -- outline changes. such a the a is patriotic and compelling cause, the secretary wolf wind pioneering leaders in every field who will work with him to develop a new 21st-century program. each of us can tweet, facebook, even talk with folks about the new potential, the new opportunity, the new obligation we have to bring the best to our veterans by empowering them with all the tools the 21st century. thank you for giving me this opportunity. [laughter]

[applause] we will take questions. if anyone has a comment, question. i am peter, a law student. how would you address a privacy issue concerns? veterans might be a little hesitant of putting their information on the cloud. >> i think there's going to be a permanent challenge of privacy. we have very draconian laws about violating privacy, particularly as it relates to medical records. on the other hand, i would suggest -- if you look at the way records have been handled the v.a. right now, you can make it optional. if you don't want to take the risk, you can continue to be in

a bureaucratically centered system. my experience with most people is that people are more and more willing to have the convenience, accuracy, speed -- then we have to have systems that are fighting against hacking. i think we should have very strong laws for people who violate privacy. it is threatening the whole society. >> mr. speaker, i was part of the united states air force. there seems to be a clear lack of bipartisanship and a clear lack of leadership from all sides of government, a government that can even reform too manye, that was pages long so that the experts can't even tell you what's right. you get charged, lose your money. what makes you think that any change to the ba system is going to ever happen? just had a all, we

bill passed by a very large, bipartisan majority. the bill contained a surprising amount of reform, much more than you would expect a year ago. the secretary was just approved the fastest approval of any secretary in recent times. it gives us an opportunity to talk to this. it rapidly becomes hard. reason these bureaucracy survive, they are very good at fighting to protect their turf. that leaves towards the partisanship. i do think strong ideas that are supported by the country have a tendency to bring people together because the country forces them together. on the global policy fellow. -- google policy fellow. are you proposing to give smartphones to all veterans? how would you suggest digital

, teaching veterans to use smartphone technology if they are not familiar? , my am biased because 82-year-old mother routinely plays "words with friends" with four different people. routinely keeps up with facebook. five years ago, she would've thought it was impossible. people learn and adapt. this is true if you are dealing with populations the size of recognize, the smartphone system, the sheer computing power, it would enable you to put things online that are audio and video. for somebody who literally can't read all, you can give them an audio opportunity, video opportunity to be informed you would not be able to if you were in a bureaucracy. bureaucracy will produce a brochure no one reads.

people don't like to read very much. you have to know everything about the brochure to understand the brochure, so you don't read it because you can understand it. if you go to something like go, whicho -- duolin teaches separate different languages for free. duolingo has more language students and all the language classes in the u.s. combined. you can imagine a circumstance will people like duolingo have literacy for people who speak english. they will be able to go online to learn how to be literate. want toargin, if you say, here's a person with a severe mental problem and they have a severe set of wounds and they have a -- they are 86 years old, you can create specific people for whom none of this works. the current v.a. doesn't work,

either. have a better chance of inventing someone that will work then the current bureaucracy does. i'm a researcher. when this crisis erupted and veterans decided to go out and see anyone that was willing to see them since the weight was so long, the government indicated that they would pick up the tab. through some means, the v.a. would pay for it. we need to develop special rates for this kind of activity? as a way to solve the crisis? why not like something like medicare? theors would pay for care, same amount of money, something has been done that should be done? i don't know smartphones was

assessed. >> i do know the details. because theeptical v.a. has to regulations for the implementation of all of this. i wonder how easy those would be. actually -- is it does it increase the income of positions? there is a 25% cancellation rate, which means 25% are not making any money. they just increase their income by a substantial amount. how do you have an interface with the doctor is winning and the patient is winning? the best is a free society is for everybody to win. >> good afternoon. i live here in the district.

you gave a massive push for changing the bureaucracy, and it is clear to me that a lot of that effort would have to come from the citizens, to push the congress to make those kinds of changes after careful debate. as a retired veteran, one committed to assisting veterans, also believing in good government, also wanting to have conversations with people and am certainnment, i that the faces and voices that look and sound like me are heard and seen. what i would like to do in front of everyone here is to invite me andhave dinner with

my friends, veterans, from a grassroots level, ordinary ideas,n citizens, your so that people don't always have .o go outside of washington there are people here in the district, even though the veterans in the city don't have full equal voting representation in congress as they should. they would like to invite you to have dinner in my home. we could talk and get a schedule. you could, one of your regular visits to the nation's capital. it is up the street from cnn. video chat with vince afterwards, we will find a time. chat with vince afterwards, we will find the time to get together. i'm a policy analyst with the

american heart association. he talked about the regulatory uncertainty regarding mobile application. the report, which i am sure you are familiar with, categorized mobile applications based on wellness applications, clinical, and health care giving. they didn't really define them. is thisdering, how initiative going to progress with such regulatory uncertainty? >> i think there are bills in both the house and senate that are bipartisan, that pushed back pretty hard against the fda. what you had to have is some ability to measure whether or not something works. that is a retrospective, not a prospect of ability. if you make it a hurdle to actually launch into these things -- the fda has been in charge, steve jobs would not have been able to found apple.

microsoft wouldn't exist. the wilds were in environments making lots of mistakes and developing products, many of which didn't work. there are now 93,000 medical apps or health apps. the idea that the fda bureaucracy is going to slow down their admission until some bureaucrat has approved them, i think that should horrify everyone. you probably have a standard which i think exists in state law, in terms of fraud -- we someone with an ekg on his smartphone. we bought 12. one, too. it takes an ekg and says that

your cardiologist. it's amazing. if somebody says, i am making an ekg, they are liable for fraud. you don't need the fda to approve it. there ought to be a fraud standard applied for the stuff, but it does not require that the government bureaucracies become primary hindrances to the system. i think you are going to see an extraordinary revolution in the impact on smartphones, and i only use smartphone as a generic concept of mobile capability of communication on the 24/7 basis. i think it is going to explode in the next few years. thank you for offering us more of your best and brightest ideas. we are very appreciative. it is extra start if you start -- smart of you to start with the v.a., because veterans are

crossing all boundaries. almost all american support veterans will stop thank you for starting with them, to help improve the bureaucracy. do, which suggestion do you have, for the people who will lose their jobs because of this long needed rollback in cleaning up of this bureaucracy at the ba and other departments in washington? >> i think it depends on which people you're talking about. if your member that long section on what's wrong, those people should lose their jobs. i have no problem saying that -- a nurse who substituted water for morphine should be fired this afternoon. second, as you shrink, -- you

put in a hiring freeze. they discovered that with a hiring freeze, a west virginia state employment dropped 10% year. that number of people retired or left or moved on. oughtd suggest that they to have a retraining program. they will give you the right to bid on another job. you have to mean make people unemployed, that is the same challenge every business in america faces. we have been through a tough economy. bureaucrats don't have an automatic right to say you owe me a lifetime job. there is a political reality, which is how hard they will fight. you want to make it as unthreatening as possible but you do want to manage a dramatic transition. i am a strong national security

hawk, but i tell people i am a cheap hawk. i think we ought to shrink the pentagon to a triangle, because there is no reason to have 31,000 people pushing paper at the center of the defenses to many more. that was the tip of the iceberg. when you look at the distributed people who work at the pentagon. always, i'msay, as delighted to be back, we appreciate the audience -- i was grateful that you introduced me. i hope you found this a useful starting point. the actual texts available are available at gingrichproductions.com, and aei. tank y >> coming up, president of the

feminist majority on the impact of recent supreme court decisions on the women's rights movement. then filmmaker dennis michael lynch talks about the situation at the border and his documentary on illegal immigration. then later, christine gorman on scientific american on the march 40-yearnancy on the march on cancer. "washington journal" live every onning at 7:00 a.m. eastern c-span. join the conversation on facebook and twitter. the center for strategic and international studies hosted a discussion wednesday on the trade relationships between south korea, japan, and the u.s. livean see that event starting at 12:30 p.m. eastern here on c-span.

here are some of the highlights from this weekend. friday, a history tour looking at the civil war. saturday at 6:30 p.m. eastern have many technology fair on capitol hill. sunday on "q and a," former presidential candidate pat buchanan. books on hillary clinton, barack obama, and edward snowden. on afterwards, the weekly standard's daniel halpert. we too are the literary science of casper, wyoming. the negro league kansas city monarchs. depictionil war, the of slavery and movies. , anunday, reel america interview with president herbert hoover. let us know about the programs you are watching. call us or e-mail us.

join the c-span conversation. like us on facebook. follow us on twitter. night, c-span prime time looks at the cdc disease detectives. government health experts tasked the spread of dangerous diseases. doone reason why we investigate is this very thing, emerging diseases often traced back to animals. one of these situations occurred in 2003. the first hint we had that something had gone terribly in thisou can see picture appear, a three-year-old girl who lived in wisconsin who developed these very awed skin lesions. i'm too young to have been vaccinated for smallpox. there are many reasons researchers at the cdc who dedicated their early career to

eradicating this disease from the world took one look at this smallpox.d said it is we were worried when a second case was reported from another part of wisconsin. they did not know each other. one is a businessman and one is a three-year-old girl but they had one piece of history. they had been bitten by prairie dogs. disease detectives tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span. this month, c-span presents debates on what makes america great -- evolution and genetically modified foods, issues spotlight with in-depth looks at health care, irs oversight, student loan debt, and campus sexual assault. new perspectives on issues including global rights and food safety.

and our history to her showing sights and sounds from historic places. ind our tv schedule one week advance on c-span.org. let us know about the programs you are watching. call us. e-mail us. join the conversation. like us on facebook. follow us on twitter. earlier this year, news broke at least 40 military veteran son died while waiting for appointments at the phoenix health care system and was also discovered that they had provided misleading information about how long veterans have been waiting for appointments. in the wake of these and other elevations,ients -- eric shinseki resigned and congress held a number of oversight hearings. tonight, a special look at the veterans health care issue will begin with the chairman of the house and senate at her and affairs committees talking about

the legislation congress passed in response to the crisis. then, the bill signing ceremony with president obama. highlights from congressional hearings start with members of the house veterans affairs committee, questioning the officials about the allegations. then testimony from family members of veterans who committed suicide. that is followed by former and current veterans affairs officials say they experienced retaliation after trying to fix problems that the v.a. we will also show you testimony by veteran service organizations. finally, a portion of the confirmation hearing for the current v.a. secretary, robert mcdonnell. after weeks of negotiation starting in mid-june, the house and senate possibility that changes the veterans health care system and provides billions of additional dollars. shortly after reaching an

agreement, the chairs of the senate and house veterans affairs committee spoke with reporters at the capitol. this is about 20 minutes. >> thank you all for being here for what i think is a very important announcement. let me introduce chairman jeff miller of the house pa committee -- v.a. committee. v.a. committe. >e. >> this legislation that we are bringing forward today is far from what i would have written. i suspect it is fair to say that it is far from what chairman miller would have had. it is a compromise. legislation has been give and take. let me be clear that i strongly support what we have come up with. that wel makes certain address the immediate crisis of veterans being forced onto long waiting lines for health care.

it strengthens the v.a. so that i will be able to hire the doctors and nurses and other medical personnel it needs, so that we can put a permanent end to long waiting lists. it addresses the very serious problems of accountability and make sure that incompetent senior officials at the v.a. will not remain employed there. in addition, it provides other significant benefits to veterans and their families. funding for veterans needs must be considered a cost of law, and appropriated as emergency spending. someone is taking care of the men and women who used the weapons that are battles. this was the funding mechanism contained in the bill which passed the senate with 93 votes. sufficient sums of money must be

provided so the v.a. has the resources to immediately and unacceptable waiting lists throughout the country. by contracting out with private medical providers and community this isenters, something that was contained in the house bill. we accept that language. veteransement allows to report loss from the v.a. facility to get their health care outside, and we appreciate if you live 100 miles away you should not have to make that long trip, you should be able to go to a provider in your community. this bill, in terms of dollars, provides some $10 billion for contracting out of health care and for those veterans who live 40 miles or more away. secretary and many

of the veterans organizations have made it clear that we need to make sure the v.a. has the doctors and nurses and medical personnel they need. this bill provides $5 billion for the v.a. to strengthen their capabilities. this legislation consists of a bill passed in the house, in the senate, it authorizes funding for the v.a. to answer 27 major facilities in 18 states. that will cost about a billion and a half dollars. we have all been outraged by the distortion of data. this bill contains language which will allow the secretary to fire people immediately who lyingderperforming or are . it gives them a 21 day. of appeal without pay. day period of appeal without pay.

it improves the liberty of veterans who strain -- two injured sexual trauma -- who endured sexual trauma. it lets all veterans qualify for in-state tuition. it also extends the program terms of money, this bill will provide $17 million to the v.a. health care. there is a $5 billion offsets within the v.a. this has been a difficult process. chairman miller and i are working within the context of the house and the senate. ofking at the -- a lot partisanship going on. it has been a difficult process. i want to thank chairman miller

very much. from day one he understood that it is absolutely imperative that we get this build up and we get it done now. it certainly would not have happened without his determination. you to my friend, the chairman of the state committee. because of that saying -- we have a v.a. that is in crisis. this agreement will go a long way to helping resolve the crisis that exists out there today. helping to get veterans off of waiting lists is extremely important and this bill does that. it holds people within the department accountable. that is something that both bodies wanted to do. this, theritten secretary would've had the ability to fire the top senior level individuals pattern appeal. senator sanders wanted an appeal, this is a compromise that we have been able to reach. we have been working on this

from the days that this was passed. beenact that there has little action or movement for a long. of time i think was exaggerated -- a long period of time i think was exaggerated. members of committees have worked very diligently to try to bring this into closure before we left for the august recess. it has always been the deadline that we had set, to get this bill passed by both houses before we went home. the other thing it does is it starts a conversation. senator sanders and i differ about certain things, but one thing we do agree about is that the veterans of this country deserve the best quality health care that they can get in a timely fashion. that has not been the case as of late. as i said in my opening statement with acting secretary gibson and our committee the other day, the v.a. is not

sacred. the veteran is. that is the most important thing for all of us to remember as we go through this process. we still have to have appeals approved by the conference committee. i say thank you to my good friend, senator sanders, for working in good faith throughout the entire process, and i look forward to moving this to the house. >> had a you keep costs from spiraling out of control and thousands of veterans are getting their health care outside the system? >> you both have different answers, i am sure. debate. a philosophical this legislation is appropriating $10 billion for

veterans who are currently enrolled in the v.a. to get emergency care if they go to a facility, or to a private doctor. in addition to that, there is for veteransble -- r living more than 40 miles away. it may well be that at some point in the future we will need more money, and that is a debate we will have to have we crossed the bridge. >> i would say that the biggest thee we had to confront was score that was given on both the house and the senate bill. with strong negotiations, we moved to the senate bill, i don't believe any of us believe it will cost that much. what the house said as we began talking with the senator was, we believe it will be less than the first-year cost.

we are willing to lock that number in. it will continue as long as that money is there. i don't believe that there will be a flight of all the veterans out of the system. but we don't know until we start this program, to see how veterans are going to act. this first year is going to give us a good venture mark. -- bench mark. it will set the future of this program. the other thing i think we all agree on is that one of the important things in our bill was to have a commission that would go through, independently, and look at the department of veterans affairs from top to bottom and be able to tell us where we need more money and more people, but what they won't do is help us understand what efficiencies can be found within the system. nts doctors seeing patie as they should?

do they need to close in a lazy people during normal business hours? there are a lot of things we will find out during the next year. >> i agree with what the chairman said. in addition, we hope, that with more doctors and nurses, the v.a. system itself will be able to accommodate more veterans. >> this is a two-part question. you said you don't believe you know what to put people out of the system. how can you assure people will come back into the system? thisther question is, price tag is pretty hefty. will that be able to fly in the house of representatives when there are tea party conservatives concerned about the bottom line? >> i believe it well. as we discussed in our conference, throughout this process, taking care of our veterans is not an expensive

proposition and all members understand that. this is not a process in which we wound ourselves because of congress's lack of oversight, because oversight is what brought this to the table. we have a serious problem that needs to be resolved. in the v.a. has caused this problem, and one of the ways we can help solve it is to give veterans a choice. a choice to stay in the system or choice to go out of the system. there may be folks that will not come back into the system, they may want to -- there our a lot of veterans who don't because they have the ability to seek health care somewhere else. begin to seee will what that number is. they always said 90%+ of the people are satisfied. here's a great way to test it. you will expect 90% to stay in the system. is--he $10 billion offset

>> mandatory emergency money. offsets, and if additional money is needed, it will have to be done through the normal appropriations process. the veterans need quick response. this is the way that we need to be able to make sure that the veterans are not standing in line, as they happen. it doesn't matter what senator sanders roy or our conference committee passes. we can't legislate good morals and good character. as long as people are inside the system, willing to gain the numbers as they have in the past, the v.a. is not going to be able to fix itself. as we both have talked with the incoming secretary, he will be able to make the change that is necessary from the top. you mentioned about $5

billion will be offset. where those offsets coming from? >> $5 billion offset from other programs in the v.a., which i feel comfortable with. >> this all emergency funding. -- is all emergency funding. >> can you change the culture inside the v.a.? >> i hope within the next few days, it will be voted upon -- i have a lot of confidence in bob mcdonald. e. have a new man ther i hope very much that the da fully understands that some of what we have seen and heard about in the last few months 0--

it is not a political issue, it is unacceptable to every member of the united states congress. about our relationship between congress, the v.a. -- it will provide information to us when we need that information. i want to say that i believe that i think it is true in many parts of this country that when veterans get into the v.a. system, they feel pretty good about the quality of care. the problem we are having with access, we will deal with the right now, short term. people going to private doctors and so forth. will have the doctors, nurses, and culture to make sure that every eligible veteran in this country gets quality health care when he or she needs it. >> you are suggesting that we shouldn't read too much into the bill, but give us a sense of

what the biggest sticking point will be. let's be clear. eyed enough chairman miller would use the word -- the congress in my view is a dysfunctional institution. there are major issues were virtually nothing is happening. important legislation needs to happen. rather than go through why we didn't do this a month ago, the important point is we are here together, having done something. that happens quite rarely in the united states congress. >> you mentioned in your original bill -- you didn't have this 21 day review. . people think of all offer to much red tape and bureaucracy. >> the weight will be written is that when the secretary makes the decision to fire someone, they will immediately be fired. they lose their salary at that point.

they will have a one-week. in which to appeal, and the board will then have a 21 day. in which they can review it. and if they don't do their job within a 21 day. , the firing is permanent. -- 21 date period the firing is permanent. taking away their salary before they have a chance -- >> i'm sure that people -- this is the compromise we reached. >> isn't this a short-term fix? goesere a specific -- it for two years and then that is at or is it going to be re-extended? the wait times in the bill that trigger allowing veterans -- what is the current wait time for the v.a.?

the senate have 30 days. we are going with the senate 30 day. arch will be continued for two years. abouting up your question how you deal with house republicans. howow that veterans know -- are you planning on selling this when it is mostly not offset? >> i come from a sales background. [laughter] i think i can do an adequate job. [laughter] we will be able to sell it. we will probably not get a unanimous vote as we did. senator sanders talks about

93-3. >> he is always trying to one up me. [laughter] >> as they go through the process, there will be an educational process. obviously some of our members will be more educated than others. day, the end of the whether you are a conservative republican or a progressive, people understand that this issue should and must go beyond politics. people who put their lives on their line, comeback with a whole lot of problems -- it would be an absolute disgrace to this country if we did not address that. i think there will be widespread support. do youhe process -- when expect the conference committee, and would chamber do you expect to go first? >> we want to get this done as quickly as possible. i think it would be appropriate to say that we would like to

have everything done by the end of the day. in regard to the conference community signing off on the report. and the mechanism as to who goes first is not as critical. as other pieces. thell step out and say house will probably go first, but that hasn't been decided. is it isportant thing done as quickly as possible. that your view is that congress is dysfunctional, nothing getting done-- >> did i say that? >> you did. going just from last week, it was a pretty tense moment at the end of last week. when you give us a sense of what it took to get here? it could be instructive. congress is so divided right

now. we have to work through these things. at the end of the day, what is important -- am i understood? are you understood? this is the veterans of the united states. we have an obligation to do it. >> there has not been one time that senator sanders nor our staff have continued to communicate. hey out the media made of what took place last week. we continue to negotiate even if that today was unfolding. we were communicating. >> ok, one or two more questions. >> their members of the pennsylvania delegation who have been seeking to have some measures put in. about if that was part of the conversation and what happened? >> it was not part of this

conference report, however we both agree that some of the issues, specifically in pittsburgh and other places around the country, will not resolved we must try to the veil of secrecy that caused the issue to crop up in the third. -- in pittsburgh. >> this is not the end, this is the beginning. we are dealing now with the crisis situation, and i think we are going to work through it. there is a lot more work to be done. we have got to keep going. thank you all very much.

>> president obama signed the veterans health care law at fort belfour, northern virginia, just outside of washington. members of both parties attended the ceremony as well as current via secretary robert mcdonald. a bigo want to say thanks to america's new secretary of veterans affairs, bob mcdonald. [applause] some of you may know bob headed up one of the biggest, most successful companies in the world. but he also was a west point grad. who serveder valiantly on behalf of his country. this was a labor of love for him and he hit the ground running. he is turning out clinics and

hospitals around the country. for exceptingbob, discharge in this challenge and making sure we are doing right. [applause] i'm really proud of him. i want to thank all the members of congress who are here today, and i especially want to thank those who led the fight to give bob and the v.a. more of the resources and flexibility they need to make sure every veteran has the benefits they have earned. senator bernie sanders-- [applause] senator richard burr, represented in mike michaud, representative jeff miller. give them a round of applause, thank you. [applause] we are all grateful to our outstanding veteran service organizations and all the work that they do on behalf of our veterans and their families. thank you very much to all the veterans service organizations.

i want to thank general buchanan and all of you who served here at fort belvoir for nearly a century. this space has helped keep america strong and secure. seven years ago, troops from were the 29th infantry, some of the first to storm omaha beach. in recent years, many of you have deployed to iraq and afghanistan. you have risk your lives on multiple tours to defend our nation. as a country, we have a sacred obligation to serve you as well as you served us. an obligation that doesn't and duty. your tour we honor that commitment. at v.a. hospitals across america andu have got doctors nurses who are delivering world-class care to america's

that are in. -- veterans. families are profamily grateful for the good over the last few months, we have discovered some misconduct. veterans waiting on care they needed, long wait times being covered up on the books. this is wrong. this is outrageous. and working together, we set out to fix it time a do right i our veterans -- we set out to fix it, do right by our veterans, no matter how long it took. we have held those responsible for misconduct. some have been relieved of their duties. the investigation is ongoing. we have reached out to

veterans, making sure we're are getting them off wait lists and into clinics inside the v.a. system. we are instituting a critical altar of accountability. and rebuilding our leadership teams, starting at the top with secretary mcdonald. his first act -- he has directed all v.a. facilities to hold town halls to hear directly from veterans they serve, to make sure we are hearing honest assessments about what is going on. in a few minutes, we will take another step. i will sign into law a bipartisan bill -- that does not happen often -- passed by congress. [applause] it is a good deal. this bill covers a lot of ground. from standing survivor benefits

to educational opportunities, to improving care for veterans struggling with traumatic brain injury and victims of sexual assault. but i want to focus on the ways this bill will help ensure veterans have access to care. first of all, this will give the v.a. more of the resources it needs. it will help the v.a. hire more doctors and nurses, staff more clinics. as a new generation of americans returned home from war and transitions to civilian life, we have to make sure the v.a. system can keep pace with that new demand. keeping in mind i have increased funding for the v.a. since i came into office by extraordinary amounts. but we also have extraordinary numbers of veterans coming home. so, the demand, even though we have increased the v.a. budget, is still higher than the resources that we have got. this bill helps to address that.

second, for veterans who can't get timely care through the v.a., this bill will help them get the care they need somewhere else. this is particularly important for veterans and more remote areas, rural areas. if you live more than 40 miles from a v.a. facility or v.a. doctors cannot see you within a reasonable amount of time, you will have a chance to see a doctor outside the v.a. system. and we are giving the v.a. secretary to hold more people accountable. we are giving bob the authorities so he can move quickly to remove executives who fail to meet the standard of competence the american people demand. if you engage in unethical practice, if you cover up a serious problem, you should be fired, period. it should not be that difficult. [applause]

and if you blow the whistle on an unethical practice or bring a problem to the attention of higher-ups, you should be thanked. you should be protected for doing the right thing. you should not be ignored. you should not be ignored. you certainly shouldn't be punished. to care for him or her who shall have borne the battle. that is the heart of the v.a.'s motto. this bill i am about to sign will help us achieve it. at but let's be clear. this cannot be the end of our effort. implementing will take time. it will require focus on the part of all of us. even as we focus on urgent reforms we need at the v.a. right now, particularly around wait lists, we cannot forget our long-term service goals for our veterans. the good news is we have cut the

disability claims backlog by more than half. but let's now eliminate the backlog. let's get rid of it. [applause] the good news is, we have poured major resources into health care. the good news is, we have helped get thousands of homeless veterans off the street, made an unprecedented effort to end veterans homelessness. we have zero tolerance for that. but we have more work to do in cities and towns across america to get more veterans into the homes they deserve. we have helped more than a million veterans and spouses go to college under the post-9/11 g.i. bill. but now we have to help even more of them earn her education and ensure they are getting a good bargain in the schools they

enroll in. we have rallied companies to hire hundreds of thousands of veterans and their spouses. that is the good news. with the help of jill biden and michelle obama -- two pretty capable women -- [laughter] they know what they are doing and no one says no to them, including me. but we have to help veterans it new careers in this economy. america has to do right under all of those who serve under our proud flag. congress needs to do so, also. i urge them to approve my nominee for the secretary of policy in the v.a., joel schwartz. my nominee for cfo, jill tierney. each of them have been waiting months for a yes or no vote. they are ready to get to work. it is not that hard.

it continues to be this hard to get someone confirms who was well qualified. nobody says they are not. it is just -- the senate does not seem to move very fast. as soon as the senate gets back in september, they should act to put these outstanding public servants in place. our veterans do not have time for politics. they need these public servants on the job right now. [applause] let me wrap up by saying -- two months ago, i had the chance to spend time with some of america's oldest veterans. some of you may have seen on television the celebration, the commemoration of those incredible days, the 70th anniversary of d-day. this was my second visit to democracy's beachhead. this was the second time i have gone as president. it is a place where it is

impossible not to be moved by the courage and sacrifice of free men and women who volunteered to lay down their lives for people they had never met. ideals they cannot live without. that is why they're willing to do these things. and some of these folks that you met, they were lying about their age -- they were 16. landing either at the beach or sometimes behind the lines. the casualty rates were unbelievable. being there brought back memories of my own grandfather who marched in patton's army and then came home and like so many veterans of his generation, went to school, got married, raised families. he eventually helped to raise me. and on that visit to normandy, i brought some up today's service members with me. because i wanted to introduce them to the veterans of d-day

and show the veterans of d-day that their legacy is in good hands. that there is a direct line between the sacrifices then and the sacrifices folks have made in remote places today. because in more than a decade of war, today's men and women in uniform, all of you, you have met every mission we have asked of you. today our troops continue to serve and risk their lives in afghanistan. it continues to be a difficult and dangerous mission, as we were tragically reminded again this week in the attack that injured a number of our coalition troops and took the life of major general harold greene. our thoughts and prayers are with the families. four months from now, our mission in afghanistan will be complete and this war will come to an honorable end. in years to come, many from this

generation will step out of uniform. whether this country properly repays their heroism, their patriotism, their sacrifice, that is in our hands. i am committing to seeing we fulfill that commitment. the men and women of this generation, this 9/11 generation of service members, are the community leaders we need for our time -- community leaders, business leaders, and i hope leaders in politics as well. from the greatest generation to the 9/11 generation, america's heroes have been called to serve. i have no greater honor than to serve as your commander-in-chief. as long as i hold this office, we are going to spend each and every day working to do right by you and your families. i am grateful to you.

god bless you. god bless america. with that, i am going to sign this bill. thank you very much. [applause] >> no highlights from congressional hearings. we begin with questioning of officials about an investigation into the phoenix v.a. health system that has been accused of keeping a secret waitlist of veterans seeking health care. this is about 25 minutes. the office of inspector general indicated they have

indications of allegations against whistleblowers in phoenix. what is the v.a. doing to make sure it does not engage in such prohibited her snow practices? -- personnel practices? >> i'm not sure i understand the question. i did not see allegations regarding retaliation. the ig will give us a complete report and it would be my expectation that if there was in a perp and it would be addressed. inappropriates allegations it would be addressed. >> how was your meeting with dr. foote? >> i did not meet with him. >> did you ask for meeting with him? somebody who clearly was at the center of the storm. you were there to understand what the process was it you did not request a meeting? concernedtime i was

that it might interfere with the ig investigation. >> i think your concern was that it might interfere with the truth. i have to tell you how far this problem goes. the fingerprints of you all at this panel today are all over this problem. i can tell that you're not being forthright in your testimony. model for the veterans administration -- there anda lot of good young men women -- of all ages that work for the veterans administration, the rank and file. some of them are the whistleblowers. without them, we would have no idea what was going on. the leadership of the v.a. simply is not there. the tragedy here is the impression you give, all three of you today, you are here to serve, not the men and women who have made sacrifices defending this country.

, not the men and women who have made sacrifices defending this country. until we haveare leadership. not just from the very top, but all of you. you are not sure to do your job. i yield back. >> you are recognize for five minutes. >> so many of my colleagues have a alluded to the issue of trust. and for the nature veterans. working in concert together. a cautiousness that may be the nature of any bureaucracy. a bunkermoved toward

mentality. the thealking about audit that was being done. he asked the deputy if we were going to get the list. i know your hearts are in the right place. bureaucracy is holding you back. i cannot imagine a scenario where we would let some of the bureaucracy get some of that information. what you would not have said, i will get it and if they don't like it, too bad. like it, too bad. that gets where we are today. what we're trying to do is solve my the problem everybody gets that.

the problem is no competent leader is going to formulate a course of action with all pertinent data. i was under the impression this is what this would look like. i thought there would have been interns taking stacks of e-mails. those would be here. this committee would decide what was important. i was mistaken. i already know the answer. the answer is going to be -- is there a team of lawyers saying, this is going to go is there something putting something in executive privilege is there an executive privilege of these