>> what i think is disgraceful i , have about 20 seconds left. what i think is disgraceful is for you to insinuate by not giving money nobody on this committee cares about veterans. hold -- i am so sick and tired of that insinuation. and i yield back my time, mr. chairman. >> just to be clear, we didn't insinuate that. we all think you care for veterans dramatically. what we are faced with you pass , the laws to give veterans benefits. you pass the budget to pay for those benefits, and we have to execute that. when there is a mismatch between the laws in the budget, it is a difficult opposition. i get letters from all of you every single day trying to give more benefits to more veterans. but we have to have the money to do it. >> the law also says the secretary must manage within available resources. but the choice act is not a resource that is available to

you at this point. mr. kaufman. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. secretary, thank you for your service in the united states army. although the president -- i'd like to think the president chose you in recognition. in proctor and gamble. and we had in this committee, my predecessor on the over sight subcommittee had requested a study of major construction products and that was done and published in april of 2013. at that time, it said there were four ongoing projects -- one in las vegas orlando, new orleans aurora colorado listed as denver. that the average 366 million

dollars over budget. and that they were each on average about three years behind schedule. we clearly knew there was a big problem. if you and proctor and gamble were to step in and you had an apartment that was that dysfunctional, you would have fired the management team. straightened it out, spotted off -- when i look at the v.a., your core competency is benefits to veterans, health care being a significant part of that. construction is not a core mission. i would love it if you would re-examine extricating the the a from being involved in construction products. i know we have legislation today that would reduce the amount. i talked to gibson about this,

he was at the $250 million figure that would be outsourced to the army corps of engineers. i think we have legislation today of $100 million. one of the problems is that the different investigation boards were supposed to be finished in june. they will not be done in june. they may be done in september. but i just think there is a real concern. we held a -- the subcommittee oversight committee held an investigative hearing in denver on the aurora projects at the state capital. i think it was last year, the chairman was there. mr. lamborn was there they stuck to the $604 million figure. that the project could be built for that.

lost in late 2014 on every single count was that this was a plan that could not be built for $604 million. the army corps of engineer's is taking over the project. we're talking about shortfall of the day we are talking about a half-finish hospital. hopefully a little over half-finish. it will cost another $625 million i believe is the figure. which is more than the initial projected amount to finish. so, i would is really ask you, i mean as a veteran, is not the core competency of your organization. focus on health care benefits, and to leave as many other agencies in the federal government -- they do these major construction projects. i love your response. >> punishment kaufman, we agree

in part with you. the only difference between your point of view and hours was what that right level was -- 250 or 100. i do want you to know that we've taken a lot of steps to improve our construction process. we are doing integrated master planning requiring major construction has at least 35% plans designs made prior to scheduling. we are doing very deliberate requirements to control process that we are instituting a project review board, using a project management system, establishing a v8 activation office. i could go on. these are best practices from the private sector. at the same time, we have also met repeatedly with the association of general contractors. they had boycotted the v.a.. we met with them, secretary

gibson i did, we took them through all the changes. we asked them for their point of view, if they are missing anything. they're helping us redesign. wherever we end up with legislation, what i can assure you is we are now operating against a new and improved process. what happened in denver, which is really regrettable and awful should never happened. it will never happen again. >> we have been through this, wound up in the same position. i think $100 million ceiling will be 300 million ceiling, i don't have confidence it will change. >> i just want to be quick. as we move forward with this construction discussion, when you say general service or army corps of engineers i know

no one likes the word. when i look at the corps of engineers, i know what happened with katrina and that project. we need accountability, i don't care what agency is handling it. i yield back. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. secretary, you are introducing in my view a new way of talking about contract care with non-v.a. providers -- not salaried within the ba. is that correct? >> yes, sir. >> you are calling this care in the community. on a bipartisan basis we are encouraging cooperating more with the community non-v.a. providers. i think you are trying to change the culture, so that there is not this enmity -- not a conspiracy to disappear. that is where i am reading.

>> that is why we changed the name to care in the community. we in the v.a. own that care even though it is in the community. >> i have seen others within the the a health testify before the committee the concerns that you do own the care, you are responsible for it -- there need to be ways in which the contractor and the providers are also accountable. that that care is accountable. i have raise a number of times this issue of health records. you have centralized the billing and payment from the regional areas. you are saying in your testimony from what i've heard, that centralization had a lot to do with driving the shortfall. the misunderstanding that arose from what you knew from the regional billing to the centralized billing. is that somewhat accurate?

>> the requirement in the choice act to centralize the accounting and billing and administration of the choice act helped make it more obscure for us to figure out what was going on. >> so when you were in february seeing a discrepancy between the authorizations and payouts, you are not able to figure that out. this centralization of stored -- was obscuring your cash position? >> yes sir, a new practice. >> my concern, is there any feeling that the centralized authorization has resulted in inappropriate authorizations? the regional offices had problems with records that were paper records being passed back and forth. there were complaints that even

registered mail was not being acknowledged. i envisioned stacks and stacks of records that had to be scanned then, there were delays in payments to doctors because of that. is the centralization improved at all? >> from what we know, the centralization not just of the choice act but across the payment function of the v.a. has accelerated our ability to pay bills and -- >> you are not worried about the excel or is acceleration, the accountability -- >> centralization usually leads to better security. the care is still determined at a local facility level, a clinician seeing a patient, puts in that request.

and the authorization is entered at a local level by the business office people at that facility into the facility records information, it is transferred to a third party. >> there is a great deal of umbrage, what is information we have to act on immediately, but the overall narrative i am getting though is more money is being pushed out the door more appropriately. many more veterans are being served, more are finding out about the superior service. meaning that you use the example of the knee replacement -- there is no co-pay. it is a rational decision that a lot of veterans who qualify for both programs are choosing to come to the v.a., that accounts for, can you give me that number again? the number coming to the v.a. that you had before? >> it is over 2 million. but what we are talking about is

7 million more appointments in the last year -- >> i was looking at the increase. >> 4.5 million more in community care, 2.5 million in v.a. care. >> this was of stored by the change in the choice act and how you do the accounting. i don't like the short notices but we have to act quickly. more importantly, we serve the veterans. the good news is we are serving more and more. and let's keep doing it. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank you gentlemen both for being here. he spoke today about the increase in productivity, and i think the number you said is every 1% of increase is 1.4 billion? is that a number? >> i may have confused you. that are and's 34% of their care

from the v.a. any increase of one percentage point of that leads to a $1.5 million increase in budget need. that is different than productivity. >> with the increase in productivity the v.a. is different from private practice. when you increase productivity, that is not money coming in. that money going out in most cases, there may be some silos there. whereas on the flipside, an increase in productivity has more coming in. that is the reality we have to face in this, we ask for more productivity. one question i have, is that increase within the same amount of hours, if you will? in other words, if i increase my productivity because i work saturdays and sundays, that is different because did i increase in the same amount of time?

>> right, also what we worked at was productivity, disregarding how many more physicians we brought in. as we first shared on the 8.5% increase in productivity, jim can talk about this more. jim: we have done it, increase productivity a number of ways. one of them is what you suggested. we have evening clinics, we've had a weekend clinics. and particularly those evening clinics have been very popular with younger female veterans, in particular. >> one of the things we need to focus, again the comparison with private facte practice, how do we increase in the same amount of time? we talked about poor setups and clinics, one room when you need four. the increase in productivity has

to be looked at realistically i'm as well. these are good things to add but if we are not giving the same amount of time, we are hurting ourselves. jim: we are. it is a little bit of both. increasing productivity during the normal hours, as well as the extended hours. one of our biggest hurdles to improving access is the physical infrastructure we have. if we can use that physical plant infrastructure more efficiently by having weekend hours, everybody benefits. >> i have frustration my first came here, before phoenix broke and everything else. i will go into clinics with you. i will go into the operating room with you and tell you why you're not getting more. i think we still need to do that. we have doctors on this committee that would be willing to partake in that process.

we talked before about third-party payments, people coming to the v.a.. i would love to see them as centers of excellence, they don't want to go anywhere else. people from the outside would prefer to go to the v.a. because of the centers of excellence. we do have veterans that come in and i have other insurance. and i am not sure how this is taking place in a what percentage we are capturing, but maybe we should put that out to people who do claims like that all the time. take it out and increase the revenue to the v.a. these are things we can do, and as we see more people wanting to go to the ba, especially if they have other insurance -- >> collections are up, but we are and value waiting a lot of our business offices practices. one of the things we're looking at is whether collections is

something that should be out -- >> i suggest we take bids on what that would look like. we talked about this before, at some point, we have to be able to know what we spend her relative value unit. if we do not know that, we do not know what the cost is compared to when we pay per rvu outside the walls. i do agree with you, care in the community. i agree with that, rather than non-v.a. care. if i was still in practice seeing veterans, i would like to say i am a v.a. provider. >> we have cost data and we should discuss that with you. >> i have asked about it several times. secretary gibson said we cannot do that. i'm talking everything, not just what you are paying the doctor. i am talking physical plant, staff, supplies, everything involved. that would be very important to

the entire committee. i think the secretary would understand it is not just paper. thank you both for being here, i appreciate it. >> thank you to the chairman and ranking member for holding this hearing. when brave young men and women volunteer to serve in the armed forces, they swear to support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies -- foreign and domestic. they make a promise to all of us to keep us safe and protect our way of life. in recognition, we promise to care for them when they return. so veterans have served and sacrificed to uphold their end of the bargain, we must do whatever it takes to uphold our end. many veterans in my district who are excluded from the strict requirements and the choice program are unable to receive care in the community, for which they are statutorily authorized. the v.a. has already gone delaying elective care due to

the shortfall. as a physician, i can tell you that even if a condition does not meet the urgent working standard for non-choice purchased care, it may still be painful and very urgent to the patient. veterans being deprived of health care, they have earned whether due to unforeseen increases in cost or demand, budgetary mismanagement at the v.a., congressional dysfunction or any other problem outside the control is completely unacceptable. it is absolutely critical we stabilize the immediate problem and resume serving veterans who need community care at full capacity to prevent any furloughs or facility closures and reform whatever structure systems that have failed. you are actively searching for new ways to be able to predict the way future needs of veterans -- this is a problem due to the success of have an 7 million

more appointments. as a physician and public health expert, i understand that you cannot predict to the t the health needs of a growing population. of a system in transition that needs to take risks to identify best practices and understand that some of these practices may fail therefore we need to learn from those lessons. in order to improve. and you mentioned before the term managed to budget, which we have done in the past. now you are managing to the requirement. but i want to warn you that the one requirement you are managing to is only one of the larger piece and complex. whether a veteran gets seen within 30 days is not the same whether they get the quality care, the respect they need, and

the efficiency of care when they are being seen. thankfully, and a lot of our v.a.'s veterans rate their care very highly. we need to manage the veteran's health care needs with efficiency, to the point of measuring how much it costs per rvu. and the percentage rate of cost due to -- the amount due to the increase in amount, that reflects on the efficiency of the v.a. so i really want to stress those points. my concern here is this claim we are shutting down facilities that -- the way it is being presented you are holding them hostage because you're not getting your way. absolutely, i know thee sentiment is not true. can you explain more what is going on in denver.

how this is affecting the care? of our veterans and receiving that care? two, one of the concerns is that if you take this flexibility which i think is a great idea, if you take money from one pot that you already have for another, there is going to be takeaway. is this a surplus fund, what is the takeaway that is at risk here? >> the choice care act itself that congress approved was to provide care in the community for veterans. there is a $10 billion appropriation that is to expire in three years. what we are talking about is care in the community largely there is another half $1 million for hepatitis c drugs. so we would be using the money for what it was set aside or,

care in the community. in that way, we are using the money for what it was set aside for -- it is not a new appropriation. secondly, the issue you raise about denver, because we have an influx of money between accounts, the accounts it came from this fiscal year for denver do not affect the health care of veterans and other locations. so in that sense, denver has no impact. now, as i said in my prepared remarks, we have to get denver the denver medical complex -- we have to get that in the 2016 budget. i am concerned about that since the original house budget cut our construction by 50%. >> ok, thank you. i yield back. mr. costello. >> i would certainly like to associate my comments with those of the congress andwomen

rice and ruiz, what i am hearing in my district -- i want to assure those veterans in montgomery county that i will work at 100 and110% to make sure there is no on intrepid care. i am very confident in the leadership, the ranking minority member brown we are going to resolve this. so that there is in no way a diminishment or any interruption in the care for veterans. but i do also want to focus on a couple of things that are either in your written testimony or that i have learned that are very frustrating for me. and i want to start with the issue of technology, and i want to talk about the use of the

term "flexibility." you received $475 million for the i.t. system, the report comes out and says there is essentially nothing to show for it. in 2010, the vehicle the plug on more money. you were not around then, i was not around then. it is very clear that in the past, the v.a. has identified a need for updated technological capacity, as well as congress being willing to invest in that. part i feel of your explanation in coming here with this request relates to the financial systems that are in place as being attributable to why you have a budget shortfall. i don't want to put words in your mouth, but i believe that is what you said thus far. but on the issue of flexibility you indicate and i would just

quote you on page three, "over 70 line items in the budget are inflexible. freed up, they would help us give veterans what they deserve. the 70 line items." are you talking about the $170 billion plus budget. ? >> with the choice act, we have given the veteran a choice whether they get their care within the v.a. or outside the v.a. very simplistically, those two budgets cannot be co-mingled. so i have to predict how that veteran makes that choice. or come back to you each week -- >> i get where he is going you don't always know what the medical need is going to be. i understand there is going to be flexibility with the budget

to appropriately address the needs. but i also feel that in a budget of $170 billion, and that is itemized among 70 line items that isn't really that many line items. and in terms of flexibility, the more money we just say, do what you like with it, the more i fear we will get into the issue of $475 million disappearing into an i.t. budget, i don't like the aspect of shifting things around the other being accountability. >> we agree with you. in the case were the aim of the budget is exactly the same, i would argue they would be coming on. >> the next question related to

rep. costello: i continue to hear that there is just a reluctance by many to sort of buy in to the choice program. congress last session made a legislative determination that from a policy perspective, the choice program was something not only offered, but encouraged through the allocation of dollars. now, i feel that because some either do not like the program or feel that since there is money left over and it was popular to institute that legislation, that we could shift it elsewhere. he gets back to the issue of accountability and transparency. while you use the term flexibility, i also feel we could be painting a too broad rush when we use the term

flexibility for budget purposes losing the accountability that we need and is frankly the source of some of the problems that cause us to be here today. senator mcdonald: we are in favor of caring for the community, and we are in favor of the choice program. if you or your veterans are encountering employees that are not in favor, we need to know about it. we are trying to create a culture where we don't care where they get care, as long as they are getting care. rep. costello: as you talk about a new i.t. system in order to better handle budgeting and planning, in my opinion, mismanagement can be a very visible -- can be visible and also not visible. on the i.t. side, it is easy to miss manage things and not

really have any ability for those doing oversight to really know about it because it is sort of on the planning side behind the scenes. moving forward, as you are talking about coming forward with what your needs are going to be for new i.t. systems, and has to be thorough comprehensive. the ad hoc we need a little bit money here in the year after is not going to work. i think in these to be a comprehensive plan so that we have some confidence that what you are proposing is going to solve problems and over the long-term, reduce costs because run manager perspective, you are going to have more transparency. i yield back. senator mcdonald: we agree and we would love to have our new head of i.t. to talk to you. i think she is going to be terrific for us. she has experiences with dell. we are taking the best of the

private sector. >> i want to thank you for your service, both in the army and in this complicated transition. we are hoping that it turns out well and we are going to do our best to make sure it does. my first question has to do with public and private partnerships. secretary gibson mentioned that you had spoken about this and you are in favor, can i ask you that question -- do you feel the v.a. could benefit from public-private partnerships? senator mcdonald: one of our strategies for the transformation is strategic partnerships. we set up an office of partnerships -- we have a leader . yesterday when i was in pittsburgh working at the medical center, there was a wonderful example. i'm that with the chancellor of

the university of pittsburgh. we have a great partnership there. this is a system that omar bradley set up in 1970 to ensure that veterans get the best care in the country. those partnerships are absolutely critical to us. rep. mcnerney: thank you. taking a look at this graph, it is a straight line. if you divide 7.6 by 12 -- you are totally over and you are going to clearly missed the target. why did it take so long given this kind of information yucca was it not available? senator mcdonald: we went back and reconstructed so that represents our obligations. what we were projecting early on was lower. the obligation that we did --

the obligation data we had was understated. rep. mcnerney: how much of the three billion dollars shortfall is to two under forecasting? senator mcdonald: i think we had anticipated that more of the care in the community would have gone through the choice program and been paid for out of the money that was appropriated for the program. that program -- i am not going to sit here and tell you that it is working perfectly because it is not. it is a complex program. dr. tuchschmidt: it is -- we have payback done because nobody else in the industry was interested in taking it on. we have business processes that, quite frankly, need improvement.

we are working on those things. i think that we have a choice program that we and you thought were going to get more care in the community for veterans and make sure that veterans were not waiting over the early days for care. we have not been able -- and maybe some of it as coulter all -- but we have not been able to get the volume, the number of authorizations through that program that we had anticipated. that has not stopped us from trying to be faithful to the intention of congress when it passed the act which was, note veteran should be waiting. what we are asking for is to be able to use funds that were appropriated for the purchase of care in the community to the choice program to pay for care that we purchased in the community that -- not through choice -- but through normal mechanisms because we have

oversubscribed those programs. rep. mcnerney: how soon can we provide the flexibility? so what would require a bill to be passed by the end of august, or by the end of july? dr. tuchschmidt: the money has been appropriated -- sen. mcdonald: the money has been appropriated. i assume it is some kind of bill. rep. mcnerney: we would have to authorize the transfer of those dollars. can you provide a list of the facilities that will be closed if you do not get that money? how soon can you provide that list? sen. mcdonald: we have an entire plan which we can share with you. dr. tuchschmidt: i would just say that when we run out of money, we will move funds around

between facilities as best as we can -- medical services will be the first appropriation that runs out. it will affect every facility in the country. rep. mcnerney: thank you. dr. abraham: let me start by saying that you can delegate authority but not responsibility. i know you are ceo of a major firm before you came aboard and i just think that if you had come to the board of directors at the 11th hour, they would be a little incredulous at the shortfall, at the lack of vision . we don't want to disparage that. we understand that everybody in this room has the best -- the veterans' best interests at heart.

you and i both know hepatitis c is an insidious disease. i was in my district this weekend and three vietnam veterans came up to me and said that they had yet to receive anything from the v.a. because i understand that is in the pipeline and i understand that the other hepatitis c rows are only approved in 2013. that still gives about two years to formulate plans, delicate how this medicine is going to be divvied up. it has not been done. can you give me some indication as to when our vietnam veterans can expect some hard data as to if they can get treatment?

dr. tuchschmidt: we -- we have treated over 20,000 veterans this year for hepatitis c. dr. abraham: how were you delegating which veteran gets treated in which does not? dr. tuchschmidt: you may be getting a little bit over my head in terms of hepatitis c. we have a severity score based upon whether the veteran has advanced liver disease. dr. abraham: i guess what i would ask is if you could just give me that information of how the determination is made. is it viral loads or autopsy results? if you would just place to do that i would appreciate it, so i

can give it to my district. dr. tuchschmidt: i would be happy to give you the information. we have treated over 20,000 veterans with hepatitis see and we continue to treat patients with advanced the vertices and patience who can go out into the community have the choice program as an option to do that. dr. abraham: secretary, you said of the $3 billion you are anticipating, $500 million of that would be designated for hepatitis c treatment? sen. mcdonald: yes, sir. dr. abraham: i yield back. >> thank you mr. chairman. with regard to the medical scribes, elaborate on that pilot program, because these are great pilot sector --t private sector

solutions. i had a town meeting that lasted four hours and people were bringing that up last weekend. you want the doctors to focus on medicine. elaborate on that pilot program. sen. mcdonald: i have heard a lot of this. at every facility i go to there is a different approach. we are pretty consistent in the team of people working with a particular patient. on those teams today, we do not have a scribe. i think what jim was describing was, let's pilot describes so that everybody on that team can be working on the patient and not just entering information into the medical record. dr. tuchschmidt: i did not come prepared today to expect this

question so i will have to take it for the record and get you information about where we are in terms of the pilot program. rep. bilirakis: thank you. any other innovative solutions coming from the private sector that you have implemented in the last year, do you have a council set up of physicians that work in the private sector to get these ideas? sen. mcdonald: we do. believe it or not, we have more than 25 advisory councils but we have two i would like to tell you about. one is our special medical advisory council which is the best medical minds in the country. it is shared by john perlin. he is the chairman of the american hospital association. he is the chief medical h officer of hca. on my v.a. work we are doing, we have also set up an external

advisory council. we have many doctors that are part of that including the head of the cleveland clinic, the former surgeon general. one of the things they are bringing is not only their innovation and ideas but they are taking away our innovations. a couple of weeks ago, we published an article that was picked up in medical journals -- not broadly at newspapers -- about the new monte carlo simulation technique we can use to predict suicide. this is a breakthrough. if we can validate this model of predicting suicide, this will be a breakthrough for the v.a. but also a breakthrough for the american public. a lot of what we have seen has been innovations that actually start in the v.a. -- part of our $1.8 billion in research

spending that you appropriate and we appreciate it that result in a positive result for the american people. here's a copy of the article. i would be happy to put in the record. we have more of these breakthroughs coming. rep. bilirakis: very good. sir, we need to get the word out on this choice program. i know you sent out a car -- what else have you done to get the word out? i have another question with regard to access. sen. mcdonald: we have e-mailed letters to everybody. we have e-mailed three letters total, first with their card and then a follow-up. we have a flyer we developed. we have a website -- dr. tuchschmidt: we have a website that we have just reengineered. we do surveys of veterans who use the choice program, asking what they think about the program and one of the biggest issues they have had is with the

website and availability of information so we know have a redesigned website that is about to go live -- it has a live chat on its and that the veterans, why they are looking -- if they cannot find information they can click the chat button talk to somebody right then so we have really done a lot, we have a set of outbound phone calls to people who initially were actually waiting for care more than 30 days to contact them about the choice program. so we have tried to do a a lot of outrage. rep. bilirakis: sir, my constituents are having trouble getting access to the program. describe for the benefit of the heroes, describe the scenario. how would it work? can you describe a real-life scenario? dr. tuchschmidt: there are two benefits under the choice program, one is that you are waiting more than 30 days. if you wait more than 30 days for an appointment, our staff -- if you call in or while you are

checking at a clinic in getting a follow-up -- our staff will tell you if you cannot get an appointment within 30 days that the choice program is available to you. they have information that they can hand out to the veterans about the choice program. at the moment, booking an appointment for the veteran into the v.a. and offering them a choice program in making that referral to the third party administrator, the veteran can decide which of those two options they want at any time. we are about to change that program so that what will happen is at the time the veteran asks for an appointment, if we cannot give them an appointment within 30 days, we will ask them if they want an appointment in the v.a. beyond 30 days or the if they would like to go to the community and in our staff will contact the tpa and get an a pointman for the patient. will you to do a contract modification to be able to put that program in place but it is coming down the pipe and that should improve i think the coordination and the level of

service. if you are in the 40 mile group, what happens today is that the tpa already has your information and you can contact them directly. you don't need to go through the v.a. to get an authorization. rep. bilirakis: sir, we got to make it easier for the veteran. sen. mcdonald: we totally agree. rep. bilirakis: i yield back. >> we are not going to do a second round of questions unless there is one that is absolutely pressing. with that, you are recognize. rep bro. brown: i want to thank you for holding this hearing. we have heard a lot of discussion today. it used to be a program -- fax, just attacks.

i want people to understand the facts before they walk out that door. i have seen a lot of people snapping pictures of us making different statements. i want you to give us a list of the facts while we are in this emergency situation and if we do not act before we go home, we are going to have a crisis at the v.a. everybody needs to understand where we are. this is not anything new. you have been saying it from day one, you need flexibility. and we need to give you the flexibility and then we will hold you accountable. but i need to set up. act like we don't have 7 million additional veterans coming into the system -- wait a minute, 7 million additional appointments and 4 million veterans and we have a community program that you have taken money from the end used yet he used it where

you could but it had limited ramifications how you could use it. give us the facts before any of us walk out the door. sen. mcdonald: we will. thank you. rep. brown: no, no. i want you to answer it. i want you to sen. mcdonald: -- ok, what we like to do is get the authorization to use $2.5 billion from the choice program for care in the community and $0.5 billion for hepatitis c treatment and we would like to get that before the end of the month because we have run out of care in the community money in the v.a. budget and we want to keep our care going for veterans. we think we are in a good place in a sense that more veterans are getting more care, 7 million

more appointments this year. average wait time is three days mental health, four days. primary care, five days. specialty care admittedly we have issues we have to work on in other parts of the country but we are making progress that right direction. we want to keep it going. our veterans deserve it. dr. tuchschmidt: i would like to add that we continue to buy care for patients so they will not wait more than 30 days. when we ran out of money and our budget to do that, we took money out of operations to continue to buy that care. we can probably sit here and debate whether that was a wise decision or that decision. had we decided not to do that and leave it in operations, we would not be facing any kind of shut down or closure heard but we would have told people in june that there was no more care in the community. you either waited or went somewhere else. we chose not to have that happen

but rather to continue to buy care for patients that could not get care through the choice program. and so, today, because of that, we find ourselves not having money in the field to be able to make payroll during the month of september. that is really what we are asking today is to be able to use choice money set aside to buy care in the community to pay for care in the community. rep. brown: the last thing. i know one of the discussions was a problems in certain parts of the country but some of the veterans, particular those in florida, they like the care that they received from the v.a. and i don't personally want to see the a just going to a specialty. we need comprehensive care in certain areas and i know around the country, it is a real

problem with getting the comprehensive care of. but when you look at the approval rate of veterans, it is like, what is the percentage? it is of a percent-90 7% like the care that they get in the v.a.. sen. mcdonald: that is what the vfw study told us. the other thing that we see is veterans have always had choice. 81% of veterans have multiple ways of getting health care, whether it is medicare tri-care v.a. what we are seeing as we improve care is more and more veterans are decided to come to thev.a. i take responsibility for sharing the forecast with you and as we continue to improve care how many more are going to be coming to be a for their care? -- v.a. for their care? rep. brown: thank you, i yield back my time. >> did i hear you say that in

june you are at the point that you were going to have to tell veterans you were out of money and there was no longer the ability for them to have care provided for them in a local community? sen. mcdonald: through the purchase care program, we started pooling money about $290 million to supplement that pool of money in probably early or middle of june. >> is that an accurate statement to say that veterans would not be able to have care provided for them outside of the v.a.? again, you couched your comment to make it appear that you are going to shut the spigot off in june. there are 9+ billion dollars finite dollars, which is why we

have been so protective of that money. you are the ones that sent out the notice with the cards saying that it is a temporary program and as you trained the money out of this program, and somebody made a budgeting decision, and you have already said -- right from are wrongfully -- you missed. you thought you could weather the storm and just squeaked by but you can't. you got caught. somebody made a bad decision. veterans will still get health care in the community through choice. is that correct? i know there are some restrictions on dental issues and things like that, but you are making it appear with the statement that you just made, that, as of june, you thought you were going to have to start telling veterans they could not receive care in the community.

sen. mcdonald: i think that said that veterans that could not get care through the choice program would not -- would have to wait for care. >> that is not exactly what you said but i will go back and check the record. dr. tuchschmidt: i stand corrected. >> we are at a crisis situation again -- many of my colleagues have already brought that, you know -- scaring veterans that hospitals are going to close, though we are not going to be lit a pay their salaries, i think is just that, trying to scare them. we are the ones that will have to make the decision whether or not this money gets allocated and i don't think there is a single person that was up here today that advocates anything less than trying to solve the problem that exists out there. what we are asking is when these issues arise internally, the sooner you can inform us, the better off everybody is. we are still not satisfied with where we are with the choice program. i don't think you are either.

you have made those comments. all hands need to be on deck. with that, i would ask that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and add any extraneous material. this meeting is adjourned. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

"washington journal" is live with your phone calls at 7:00 a.m. eastern time on c-span.

>> always to the right and almost always in the right. >> film makers robert gordon and morgan nelve talk about their documentary best of enemies. over war, politics god, and sex. >> there's not someone in there ear very unlike today. today i believe there's someone saying the numbers are dwindling, talk about topic number two. whereas, then, i don't think that was the norm in tv at the time. and i don't think these guys needed as morgan said, they didn't need that >> and howard k. smith was the

moderator who was a distinguished news man who i think was embarrassed by this. he was moderating but he disappears for sometimes five or more minutes at a time. today you wouldn't have a moderator not jumping in every 30 seconds. so really, everybody just stood back and let the fire burn. >> every morning "washington journal" is live with officials policy makers and journalists and your comments.

legs>> water discusses his economic plan is acknowledgment is governor -- accomplishments as governor of wisconsin. this is an hour. >> very good. >> how are you doing? scott walker: good to see you. >> best representative in the land. >> feeling the same way? scott walker: it is good to be here. >> i am so happy. scott walker: this will be fun. [indiscernible] scott walker: wow.

that's great. this is my wife, tonette. these are my sons. >> nice to meet you. scott walker: these are my nieces. this is my brother and sister-in-law who were driving the car behind us. they have a winnebago. >> i am having a little party afterwards. you should come over. yeah. all right. well, -- scott walker: i went before the crowd 40 years ago. that's me, that's my brother.

we got an iowa flag. city hall didn't have a state flag. study of the lines from the photo in there. i got them in there. yeah. crashing into the pillar, right? [indiscernible] scott walker: only thing better would being out on the road. important to be out there. >> what is going on? >> nice to meet you. nice to meet you. scott walker: that is my wife tonette. >> very good. this is wonderful. great to have you. scott walker: it was great. we had a blast. i compete with my staff and assistance.

i didn't want much, i had i had 17,000 steps and there was the vibration. i tie it onto the rim and i would be all set. >> we are glad to have you here. scott walker: thank you. it is fun doing things around the country. >> yeah. >> the sound of the harley. he already claimed that one. >> yeah. i will rev it up for you a little. scott walker: got to rev it up a little bit. >> the one thing i do not do is sit on the back, right? >> thank you. good to see you.

scott walker: good to see you. >> i have in-laws in wisconsin. scott walker: where? >> green bay. scott walker: sure. >> we keep seeing packers fans all over the place. scott walker: yeah. all over the place. >> i believe it. scott walker: we get every spot. thank you so much. >> just retired. yeah. scott walker: we are doing the full grassroots, we are going to all 99 counties. all right. >> thank you. scott walker: all right. good. good to see you. >> hi. scott walker: where you from?

>> southtown. scott walker: nice. >> could be a lot lower. >> welcome. >> this is really close to my neighborhood. it is really good. scott walker: i tried to be. scott walker: i'm the last one out on council bluffs. after that, we are going to marshalltown. we are doing all 99. we are doing them all. >> you have a great crowd here. you can feel the energy.

>> it is going to be good. scott walker: good to see you. thanks for joining us. >> good to meet you. >> good to see you. >> yeah. >> tremendous. >> all right. [indiscernible] scott walker: hi, guys. good to see you. yeah. good to see you. good to see you. thanks for being with us. thank you very much. glad you could be here. good to see you.

yeah. i was in las vegas. somebody brought me a baby named, "reagan." good to see you. how are you? >> thank you for supplying life. >> can you smile? >> just looking around. it looks like poppa. >> i have followed walker's career. i'm proud to say that i am one of the first representatives in the house to sign onto the campaign and endorse him.

after seeing the things he went through as governor, he promised to bring fiscal reform and get wisconsin back on the right track. when he took over, the state was $3.6 billion in debt. he turned it around and closed the gap. they had a rainy day fund and then lowered taxes while doing this. he has a great resume and this is the person in that we need in the white house. and, so, when the governor talked to me a couple of times -- i met him twice now -- and he asked me if i would support his campaign, i said i would. getting to know him a little bit and talking to him a couple of times, i made the right choice.

he is a great guy. he is a leader. he would be a great president. the governor, in his spare time, which he has little of, i know that. he works hard in madison and is still working to keep wisconsin on the right track. he believes the principles in wisconsin would be a good model for the nation and i agree with him. i think he has the right thing going right now. without further ado, i want to introduce the 45th governor wisconsin, scott walker. scott walker: thank you. thanks. [applause] scott walker: thank you. thank you very much. after the introduction like that being one of the early leaders and the representative is the best of the best. we appreciate it.

great job of hosting. a lot of people are here and we appreciate you joining with us. i like to say two quick things on a serious note. i would like to pause for a moment of prayer to think about -- the other day -- a couple of days ago -- i talked to bill in tennessee. that day alone, we lost four marines in the horrible accident in tennessee and three individuals -- a marine, sailor, and an officer were shot. we have lost another. it is now five whose lives were taken. i think it is important for us to say a prayer for those families and loved ones, as well as all the other men and women who continue to serve today in harm's way here and around the world. can we just pause and pray for them?

thank you. and, one other the thing i want to say, earlier today, i make a practice of not commenting on the positions of other republicans. my view is that i would share what i am for. i have been asked a bit about what i think about this candidate or that candidate and i say, they speak for themselves. on policy, they can talk for themselves. today, one of the candidates made a comment about john mccain. say what you want about his politics, one way or another. but let me be fundamentally clear that john mccain is american hero and i will denounce anyone who speaks ill of someone who has been a prisoner of war. not just john mccain. but anyone else like that, we need to stand up and defend them. i will make an exception for someone who goes personal on someone from our military. i will always defend the veterans, regardless of the politics.

[applause] scott walker: i am glad to be here today and it is nice to be at a harley dealership. i actually ride a 2000 three rd king. -- 2003 road king. i had a lot of fun. joanie and i had a lot of fun. we need to ride as much as we can. if i win, i might not be riding for eight years. i want to get as much writing -- riding as i can. we are criss-crossing the country and having fun. i have my wife, tonette. my two sons, matt and alex. we have a winnebago and we are criss-crossing the state. we were playing games with my nieces isabella and have a are

here. a great time. i love times like this in the winnebago. we are doing the full grassley. just like senator grassley and senator ernst and my friend, we are doing all 99 counties. we are making a play to win in the caucuses, and going ahead and winning in november in 2016. a path to the republican presidency goes through the midwest. that involves iowa, michigan ohio, pennsylvania. for us, it is imperative to win. we are here to do well in the caucuses as well as to come back and do well in november 2016. you will see a lot of us. we will have a lot of fun here. we love going through the counties. monday, we made the big announcement as to our intentions and now, we can officially say in iowa, that i am scott walker, running for president, and i am asking for your vote. i am asking for your vote. [applause]

scott walker: i was talking about veterans and i mentioned a few veterans from world war i and world war ii who lived up the block for me and a vietnam veteran who had an influence. i am reminded of them and others around the country. they remind me that america is a can-do kind of country that has a government in washington they can't quite seem to get the job done. i have good news. it is not too late. help is on the way. we can make the country great again and that is exactly what i'm going to do. [applause] scott walker: to do that, we need the kind of leadership that is new, fresh, gets things done. that is what we did across the mississippi. we got things done in wisconsin.

a blue state. since i have been governor, we took on the unions. 100,000 protesters occupied the capital. they did a recall. we didn't back down, we weren't intimidated. if we can take them on there, we can take them on anywhere. [applause] scott walker: we look at that and say, we lower taxes on individuals, employers, farmers, property owners, and taxes are lower in my state than they were four years ago. in the last budget i just signed a week ago, they will be lower in 2016 in than 2010. how many governors can say that across america? we did lawsuit reform and regulatory reform. we defunded planned parenthood and passed pro-life legislation. [applause]

we enacted castle doctrine and conceal carry. so that law-abiding citizens can protect themselves, their family, and their property. now, we have a law that says that you have to have photo id to vote in my state. [applause] scott walker: so i say, if it can work in a blue state like wisconsin, it can work anywhere in america. whether it is traveling across the state, i hear they are tired about politicians who say they are against things. americans want to vote for something and someone. let me spend a couple minutes telling you what i am for. i am for reform, growth, safety. i am for transferring power out

of washington and putting it in the hands of taxpayers. that is real reform. i am for a better economy that allows everybody live a piece of the american dream. that is progrowth. i am for protecting your children and grandchildren from radical terrorism. that is true safety. [applause] scott walker: so, reform, growth, safety. i will tell you why i am for real reform in washington. we had reforms that took power out of big government spenders and put it into the hands of the hard-working taxpayers. because governments are working better and people are doing better. in washington, they seem to think that they measure success by how many people are dependent

on the government. we should measure success by the opposite. how many people are no longer dependent on the government? we understand that true freedom and prosperity -- you can clap for that. [applause] scott walker: freedom and prosperity to not come from the mighty hand of the government, it comes from letting people control their own lives in their own destinies. prosperity comes from work. i grew up in a small town and my brother and i were born to a preacher. he was called to be a minister in colorado springs. that is where i was born in 1967. he was called to be a minister . my parents were called to a church called plainfield with a population of 450. one year later, my brother came

, he was born in waverly, iowa. you can tell hold this picture is i had to pull it out of the photobombing, it still has the glue lines from where you pull the plastic off any full picture off. i have a picture of my brother and i 40 years ago. our small town had an american flag in the state hall, but they didn't have in iowa state flag. we got the mayonnaise jar and got enough coins in the jar to buy the state flag and, my mom took a picture and he was much cuter than now. he is the guy on the left. i was a couple years older.

that is a great reminder and i moved to wisconsin and that is where david and i grew up. i think about the routes and my first job was washing dishes and i moved up to the big time and started flipping hamburgers at mcdonald's. when i started flipping burgers, my friend paul ryan, you may have heard of him, he was cooking hamburgers about 15 miles around the road. his manager told him he did not have the interpersonal skills to work the cash register. i wonder whether managers thinking today? i think about that and i think about my parents and my dad being a small-town preacher. my mom being a part-time secretary and bookkeeper at a little business in our town. my grandparents were farmers who did not have indoor plumbing.

until my mother went off to junior high school. my dad was a machinist and a -- my dads dad was a machinist at a factory in rockford illinois. if you work hard and you play by the rules, you can be anything you want. that is the american dream and that is worth fighting for. [applause] so, let me spend another minute to tell you why i am for a program of economic plan. -- a pro-growth economic plan. you see, there is a real contrast. i believe that the top-down , government knows best approach , we need a counter. we need to build the economy from the ground up.

as long as you do not hurt the safety of your neighbor, start your own career and build your home business. live your own life. that is freedom! the kind of freedom that is the cornerstone of the american dream! our plan has five simple things. create more jobs in the country and raise wages by repealing obamacare once and for all to put decisions back in the hands of patients and families. [applause] scott walker: we need to reign in the regulatory climate in the federal government. i am all for enforcing common sense. let's get rid of bureaucratic red tape. it hurts small business owners and farmers. you know it in the state and across the midwest. the federal government is a real burden. it is a blanket on the economy.

we need to lift it up. we need to put in place the all of the above energy policy. that levels the playing field for all energy sources. we are energy-rich. we can fuel the recovery on the right path. then, i say, let's find a way to get people the education and the qualifications to succeed. we can find careers that pay more. let the other side talk about how low wages are. we can give people the skills and education that they need to be successful in life. [applause] i am proud of the reforms would put in the state. we reformed public education and we provide more quality choices for families because i trust parents to make the right decisions for their children.

i want every child in america, no matter what the background or the zip code they come from, they deserve access to great education in the traditional public or the virtual or homeschooled environment. every child deserves access to a great education in america and i believe in a high standards. i believe those standards should be set at a local level. i do not believe in common core or a nationwide school board. we need to take power and send it back to our states and schools. it is more accountable to the american public. [applause] now, i have a dollar here. it is simple. where would you spend the dollar?

would you keep it in the school? most of us would keep it here. we would rather keep here with our kids schools or reconnection to see what's happening at hold people accountable for it. that is what we are talking about pushing the kind of reform. speaking of dollars, progrowth will help grow the economy and we need to lower the burden on the taxpayers so that you can keep more of the money. that is fundamentally important going forward. i know that we can do it because we did it in my state. $2 billion worth of tax relief. some people did me grief on why i focus so much attention on tax relief. it is simple. tonette and i love to shop in a place -- at a place called kohl's. i have told the story so many times, there was a funny segment

on jimmy fallon. i'm nothing but consistent. if i go to kohl's i go to the rack that says it is $29.99. and then we pull out the insert the get you the extra discount. maybe if i remember to get the mailer, 15%-20% or, if i am lucky, %30. i know who shop the kohl's, i see the nonce. we give them the coupons and at the last minute, tonette pulls out the kohl's cash and it is like we are getting paid for the shirt. it feels like it. how does a midwestern company like this make money? they make it off of volume. they can charge a higher price and fewer people can afford it

or they could they can lower the base. the government could charge higher rates in a few people could afford it. or, we could lower the rates and have more people participate. years ago, that worked with ronald reagan. they called it the laffer curve. today, i call it the kohl's curve. i believe you can spend your hard-earned money better than the federal government. [applause] the third thing is, to prosper, we need to live in a safe and stable world. the commander in chief has a sacred duty to defend the american people. the best president when it came to national security was a governor from california who

rebuilt the military, stood up for our allies and without apology. we stood for strong american values, and that led to one of the most peaceful times in modern american history. we can do it again. under obama-clinton, america leads from behind and we head towards disaster. the president draws lines in the sand and allows them to get crossed. he calls isis "the jv squad." he calls yemen a success story. iran a place we can do business with. we tied ribbons around the tree in the late 70's, during the 444 when iran held 52 americans hostage.

iran has not changed much since then. iran is not a country we should be doing business with and i will terminate a bad deal with iran, reinstate sanctions, and convince our allies to do the same. [applause] scott walker: on top of all that, at the state of the union, you heard him say -- proclaim -- that the greatest threat to future generations was climate change. climate change. mr. president, i respectfully disagree. the greatest threat is radical islamic terrorism and we need to do something about it. [applause] we can start by lifting the

political restrictions on the military personnel in iraq so they can reclaim the territory taken by isis. on behalf of your children in mind, i would rather take the fight to them than wait for them to bring the fight to us. we need to ignore knowledge -- acknowlege israel and start treating them like an ally. [applause] scott walker: we need to stop the aggression of russia. putin believes that you probe with bayonets. if you find mush, you push. if you find steel, you stop. under obama and clinton vladimir putin has found year after year of mush. we need to have a foreign policy

that puts steel in front of the enemies. we need to stop cyber attacks in slow the advances in international waters. we need to speak out about the abysmal human rights record. we need to secure the border enforce the laws, stand up for a legal immigration system that puts priority on american working families and wages in a way that improves the economy. [applause] scott walker: we need to give our men and women in uniform the resources that they need not just to keep a safe abroad. we need to give them the ability to protect themselves here. we need to give them quality health care that they deserve. [applause] scott walker: the best way to

honor them is by fighting to win. there will be times -- that is right. this is important. this is important. the goal should be peace. it should be peace through strength. there will be times where america must fight. if we must, america's fighting to win. the rest of the world must know there is no greater friend or worst enemy than the united states of america. so, there are pretty big challenges for this president . domestically, economically, it is where we stand in the world. i am an optimist. i love america. i love the american spirit.

i love the american people. i believe you love america, or you wouldn't be here. i know time is not too late. i know we can turn things around. we need the right leadership in washington to make that happen. we have a tremendous opportunity. you were going to have to look at that field. not going to speak and will the others individually, but i'm going to tell you there's a difference in this election. there are two groups out there. there are fighters and there are winners. there are many in washington who have been fighting and have not won the fight. they are winners. people have been elected and reelected. but they have not consistently fought the good fights. i would submit to you that there is only one candidate in the republican field who is

consistently fighting and winning. not just three elections in four years in a blue state that hasn't gone republican for president since 1984. it is someone who has won common sense fights. if you want someone who will fight and win for you and america, i am the candidates going forward and i ask you to caucus for me, i ask you to support us, and i asked you for your vote in november if i'm your nominee. people ask me all the time, why are you running? why are you running? i have two simple reasons. matt and alex, my boys. they are the reason why i decided to run for governor. i knew it would be tough and i thankful that was the reason

that i ran. when we got death threats and faced the number one target, it would not have been worth it. i know that i want them to grow up in a state that are than i grew up in. i'm proud to tell you, because we stood firm and we did what we said we were going to do, our state is better because of it. their life and future generations will benefit from it. today in america, i'm worried about half they are headed on others in their generation as well. the reason i am running is simple and it is because of matt and alex. it's because of my nieces, and it is because of your children and grandchildren. and all those others yet to be born. i know like you know that we want the children to inherit a better america. i know that it is not too late. it cannot be too late. with your help, working together, we will not only win

the election, we will take the country down the right path. may god bless you and the united states of america. thank you. thank you. [applause] >> you have my vote. you have my vote. >> thank you. >> you have my vote. >> [indiscernible] you?>> seven. scott walker: thank you for your service. >> my family really enjoys you. >> are brought the kids and grand -- i brought the kids and grandchildren. scott walker: i am so glad.

[indiscernible] scott walker: i am so glad. >> you have got me. >> matching it up. >> my son is a marine.

scott walker: thank you. thank you. i will pray for you. >> thank you. scott walker: glad to be out. thank you. >> nice to see you. scott walker: good to see you. what's your name? you start kindergarten next year? how old are you? >> seven. scott walker: seven. that is pretty cool. going into the second grade.

thank you. thank you. >> [indiscernible] scott walker: we want to try and turn this country in the right direction. >> are you answering questions? what you going to do on immigration for the people who already here? i understand securing the borders. everyone is saying that. what about the people who are already here? scott walker: we continue to secure the border and start enforcing the law. we can start dealing with that afterwards. so many folks in the media want

to deal with that issue first. then, the next president and the next congress can deal with that in that order. you can visit scott walker.com and check out all the issues. >> do my to fight get a picture -- do you mind if i get a picture? scott walker: no problem. we love it. next is andy. >> thank you so much. scott walker: thank you. good to see you. >> [indiscernible] scott walker: the picture is out

in front of the parsonage. that's right in the backyard. 218 would be on the other side. will be back there on sunday. >> one of the folks in our church has a farm over there. scott walker: it was a long time ago, i moved in 1977. >> can we get a picture? >> i hope we can do something with that supreme court? scott walker: when you put people in place, as the governor, i do that. we need someone who understands the law and someone who

understands the proper role of the judiciary. no more. [indiscernible] >> hi, governor. can i get a picture? >> we will do anything to get you elected. scott walker: the cyclones have been messing me up. i had been going to the final four, they must my bracket up. -- they messed my bracket up. >> thank you. scott walker: ira berlin wisconsin wasn't so good at football. >> my brother played for hayden

right. scott walker: that's the big ten. that's pretty awesome. my dad went to the first baptist church on 218. >> i know all about that. >> we have a daughter living in milwaukee. scott walker: where she in milwaukee? >> in mac one -- mequon. scott walker: all right. >> you have my vote. scott walker: thank you. i appreciate that very much. >> thank you.

scott walker: you are sweet thanks for coming out. >> [indiscernible] scott walker: market access is what it is all about. thank you for your service. what branch? scott walker: air force. great. i will see later.

[indiscernible] >> i'm on the city council, i appreciate you remembering the small towns in iowa. scott walker: i grew up in a very small town. >> it is very similar. thank you. thank you very much. good to meet you. scott walker: [laughter] you are sweet, thank you. tell because we're for it.

good to see you guys. i come out and do our co-op. the whole bit. >> we appreciate you. scott walker: level the playing field, let the market drive. they're going to do good stuff. less to send to those folks overseas. >> they want you to be a honey badger. remember? scott walker: i know. i know. >> that was my daughter the guy in the picture. scott walker: i still hear from one of the guys in tucson, arizona now. >> you get that story out there.

[indiscernible] >> what are your thoughts on reducing corporate tax rates? scott walker: i didn't mention that. i think if we make it competitive again, we can bring more jobs back from overseas. it's a populist message. >> isn't a little bit of tax better than no tax? scott walker: if you made it competitive. so many jobs were lost over the last couple of decades. that would be major incentive. >> thank you. scott walker: i like your shirt. >> i love what you have done with wisconsin. it's been great, i moved back up there at the end of may. i'm in transition.

do it for the country. can i get a picture? scott walker: sure. >> thank you. nice to meet you. scott walker: good to see you. thank you. working hard. we appreciate all the help we can get. >> the official photographer. >> can i photobomb? scott walker: thanks for the support, i appreciate it. you met my wife?

>> you don't have to worry about a handshake. we had a daughter go to graduate school in madison. i thought it was terrible what they did. scott walker: thankfully we cleaned it up pretty good now. >> didn't have to worry about it. scott walker: a little different over there. >> hang in there. scott walker: good to see you. >> we were in the senate. scott walker: that's right, we came through. we went through with them. >> we're going to support you wholeheartedly and we are going to welcome you to come. scott walker: i love that you wore the harley gear.

>> there's a really young guys here, i want to find out about you. you need to meet these guys. scott walker: come on in. thanks for coming out. >> can introduce you? scott walker: sure. scott walker: i'm envious. >> i'm envious of writing -- riding. >> thank you, governor. [indiscernible] scott walker: you have your gear on, i feel left out. but look. >> got it.

scott walker: are you going to buy something? i get points for my bikes. >> i got punchcards. i'm going to get $75 with a free stuff. scott walker: harley cash. >> good to see you again. scott walker: we were having a fun time with my nieces on the bus, playing this game called catchphrase, we had a blast. >> my wife wants to meet you. >> don't be afraid. scott walker: not at all. >> good. a lot of opportunity. scott walker: it's a name from the past, we are about as

anti-washington as you can get. >> i like what she's done. scott walker: anywhere in the world that she's played a role, it's more messed up today than it was. >> thanks for running. you have a long road ahead of you. thank you. >> we have a lot of people that don't even vote to defund the things they said they were going to. >> i want you to meet my dad. scott walker: good to see you. you are the best dad. , literally. >> [indiscernible] scott walker: years ago i asked

why my dad would do that and he said what kind of person would be that. >> it's very encouraging. we need to change. scott walker: thanks for joining us. >> high. . scott walker: i like this. >> thank you. scott walker: the husband and wife are owners. [indiscernible] >> absolutely.

can i get a picture? scott walker: sure. >> thank you. scott walker: good to see you. >> [indiscernible] scott walker: if she was riding the bike with me today, she wouldn't be. i'm wearing my steel toed, it's easier to kick. >> nice to meet you. i been following it, very proud of what you've done.

you been able to turn that state around. it's why that we are here today. scott walker: there are a lot of good people that want to know when you're tested, what do you do. >> many times. we look forward to having you. scott walker: [indiscernible] collects we will be there. -- >> will be there. scott walker: thank you. the big ten shot. >> i did an internship. longest serving governor. scott walker: i know i had a drink for that to celebrate.

>> [indiscernible] scott walker: sure. tomorrow we are going to be in marshall. but the church, we trying to wherever we are at. thank you. thanks for introducing us. >> governor, take care. scott walker: i appreciate it. >> thanks for coming, good to see you. scott walker: good crowd, enthused about it.

how are you? >> pretty good. indymedia. -- good to meet you. scott walker: be safe out there guys. >> you can just download them. scott walker: are we doing an interview? >> you promised me a picture. scott walker: al gore right here. >> started up, i don't care. awesome.

scott walker: you've got to do that right? here i go. i'm taking around the block. if the beautiful bike. >> 2003, we had two anniversaries. scott walker: feel good. thank you. >> thank you, so much. i really appreciate it. scott walker: they know, they watch out for the chroma.

see you guys. get your stuff together, we get you back. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> c-span is hosting the voters first form, an opportunity to hear from the republican candidates. all candidates and likely candidates have been invited to attend. it takes place august 3 in manchester, new hampshire. it will be live on c-span, on c-span radio, and at c-span.org. >> considered underrated by many historians, caroline harrison was an accomplished artist who took up china painting and carried that interest to the white house. establishing its china collection. she was interested in women's issues and helped raise funds for johns hopkins university on the condition that it women. and she was the first president

general of the daughters of the american revolution until she died in the white house from tuberculosis. caroline harrison, this sunday night at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span's original series, first ladies, influence and image, examining the public and private lives of the women who filled the position of first lady and their influence on the presidency. from martha washington to michelle obama. sunday at 8:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv on c-span3. >> today on c-span "washington journal," is next, live with your phone calls. followed by live coverage of the u.s. house. today, members work on beals -- bills on food safety and immigration. in 45 minutes we talked to carlos guerrero in the recent thaw in u.s. cuban relations and a multiyear spending bill. and brad sherman, of the

financial services committee on the fifth anniversary of the dodd frank financial relations. and dr. debra howery with the recent cdc report on heroin use that found increases in heroin related deaths. host: good morning and welcome to the "washington journal" on this thursday, july 23rd. john kerry and energy treasury will be before the committee will talk about the iran nuclear deal. they met behind closed doors with house lawmakers. c-span will be covering today's hearing at 10:00 a.m. eastern time on c-span3. we'll continue on veterans issues.