benishek. i'll continue working with the committee to ensure that no veteran feels trapped like sergeant somers did and all our veterans have access to appropriate mental health care. my state, arizona, is ground zero for the v.a.'s failure to take care of our veterans. it's been over a year since we learned about the veterans at the phoenix v.a. hospital who were kept on secret waiting lastes, forced to wait months, ep years before seing a doctor, unable to access the care they needed. . these revelations were shocking and sickening. arizona veterans died while waiting for care. that's absolutely unacceptable and frankly it's un-american. so in arizona we took immediate action when we learned from brave whistle blowers about this tragedy. not waiting for the vehicles phoenix vicks a. to fix their problems, we came together as a community to make sure veterans got the access to care they needed. since last summer we held six veteran clinics helping vellrans and their families get access to the