coffman: thank you. you have five minutes. mr. tresmaine: thank you.am here with you today to testify about the unacceptable vicious, ongoing retaliation against our health care system where the director became the first senior executive service member in history fired for neglect of duty. the chief of staff under investigation was on paid leave for six months. the disingenuous claims of improvement there remains an atmosphere of retaliation. we were to seasoned and experienced -- too seasoned and experienced. we i didn't of wide manipulations and illegal higher her -- we [indiscernible] fraud and breakdown of human resources, we quickly concluded he would not support our efforts to whole stuff accountable. -- staff accountable. we were forwarded e-mails. alerting him to critical manipulations from the staff position. publicly claiming to no prior knowledge of no scheduling manipulations and we became concerned about his integrity. on june 11, we raised it. we also informed we had been contacted by representative martha roby about her face-to-face. imm

coffman: you are recognized for five minutes. chris i appreciate you holding this hearing and i wish you were not necessary. i wish listing the types of changes that we wouldn't be sitting here. i want to follow up on what thing that was just mention and i think it was the travel by the secretary and other top of v.a. leaders. this can be a question for ms. flanz as she makes reference to visiting with whistleblowers. has the current secretary visited the l.a. facility? did he meet with the doctor? ms. lerner: i do not know. dr. head: i was prevented from meeting with the secretary. i was told my id badge was -- there was a problem with my badge. i went to human resources. rep. huelskamp: say that again? dr. head: i was told you had to have an updated card and mine had expired and i would not be allowed to see the secretary. rep. huelskamp: did that happen when you were before the congressional committee? dr. head: it could have. i was instructed to get that taken care of. i went to human resources. when i went to resolve the iss

. >> thank you, chairman coffman ranking member kuster, and members of the committee.va exists to serve veterans. that service takes place in interactions between veterans and front line va employees. doctors and nurses claims processors, cemetery workers and countless others upon whom va depends to serve veterans with the dignity, compassion and dedication they deserve. we depend on those same employees to have the moral courage to help us serve veterans and taxpayers better by helping to make our processes and policies better, safer, more effective, and nor efficient. the department's responsibility to protect whistleblowers is an integral part of an obligation to provide safe high-quality health care and other benefits to veterans in legally compliant and fiscally responsible ways. it is important to keep in mind the underlying purpose of the whistleblower protection rules is to encourage candid disclosure of information so problems can be quickly identified and corrected. va is fully committed to correcting problems in va programs and to ensuring fair treatment for

. >> thank you, chairman coffman, ranking member kuster, and members of the committee. va exists to serve veterans. that service takes place in interactions between veterans and front line va employees. doctors and nurses claims processors, cemetery workers and countless others upon whom va depends to serve veterans with the dignity, compassion and dedication they deserve. we depend on those same employees to have the moral courage to help us serve veterans and taxpayers better by helping to make our processes and policies better, safer, more effective, and nor efficient.m efficient.o efficient.r efficient.e efficient. the department's responsibility to protect whistleblowers is an integral part of an obligation to provide safe, high-quality health care and other benefits to veterans in legally compliant and fiscally responsible ways. it is important to keep in mind the underlying purpose of the whistleblower protection rules is to encourage candid disclosure of information so problems can be quickly identified and corrected. va is fully committed to correcting problems

people in coffman to -- in that men do -- people in kathmandu. the forest people -- the poorest people -- nepal is a fantastic country. beautiful people. really nice people. the rescue worldwide is taking place and i do hope, of course nobody knows how long it will take, it will be later than sooner, the situation will get -- not normal, but fair. laila: peter habeler mountaineering legend. thank you very much for sharing your thoughts with us. brian: in other news today european leaders say they will not be sending peacekeeping troops to eastern ukraine. laila: the response comes as eu commission president jean-claude juncker and the european council president were in kiev for a summit with top ukrainian officials. despite denying peacekeeping assistance, the top eu diplomats did promise president petro poroshenko's government a boost in humanitarian aid. while staying with eastern ukraine, there are reports here in germany that berlin was well aware of the risks of flying over the region when passenger flight mh-1 was down -- mh-17 was downed l

. >> senator coffman of arkansas is one of the many intellectual giants in the legislative bodies andrecently announced we do have a great deal to fear from iran because they control tehran. >> we should add you will discover senator coffman who even graduated from harvard is positioning himself to be the foreign-policy specialist of the republican party taking the mantle of mccain and graham. he has other interesting warnings i don't know how much he followed his career but when he was running for the senate in arkansas, he warned the citizens of arkansas that the mexican drug cartels are linked to isis and joined together they are working to send the terrorists across the border into the united states where they can kill citizens of arkansas and of course all of this is the fault of president obama leading an open border into salon. >> if that's true we should move the clock to two minutes to midnight. the election in israel. netanyahu on his third consecutive term and the cofounder says that in yahoo! is good for the palestinians because he is very clear that no palestinian state,

coffman and all other members for inviting me again to i think a very important meeting. since my last testimony july 2014, when i returned back to west l.a. v.a. hospital in my position as associate director, my leadership -- my direct leader was essentially resigned resigned -- basically was assigned to a chief of staff outside of west los angeles to long beach hospital, who i've never met and still have never met. i started to notice that my patience were reassigned mid therapy to other surgeons. when i asked this, the chief of staff said, "if you don't like it, take it to congress. there is nothing they can do to me." i reported the statement to congress and also the office of special counsel. following that, i was presented to go into the operating room when i had a patient under anesthesia. i was told my credentials had been revoked to go in the operating room. when i asked that an hour later they were told, oops, we made a mistake. it's okay. unfortunately veterans and other hospital officials overheard that conversation. i have essentially been removed from my off

it's really tragic congressman coffman, thank you for coming on the show. >> thank you.oming up big banks offering dismal results why the mutual funds aren't living up to the hype. >>> next the senate bill passed on the iran nuclear deal. peter barnes will tell us what it's all about. ♪ help an oil company overcome minus 47 degree temps, 5 foot ice, and 16 foot waves, to safely keep crude oil flowing 365 days a year. when emerson takes up the challenge it's never been done before simply becomes consider it solved. emerson. the pursuit of healthier. it begins from the second we're born. after all, healthier doesn't happen all by itself. it needs to be earned... every day... using wellness to keep away illness... and believing that a single life can be made better by millions of others. healthier takes somebody who can power modern health care... by connecting every single part of it. for as the world keeps on searching for healthier... we're here to make healthier happen. optum. healthier is here. ♪ gerri: welcome back to the willis report. in a moment, more on the deal t

for mickey rouly and his partner lou coffman, their business is in a prime position for followers. they'll come hungry. now it's a matter of making it all work. >> there's so much to consider. getting staff in. we're actually talking to the building and the building's fitness center about making their showers available so we can have staff on blow-up mattresses in house to work. >> our initial strategy was five-night stay nonrefundable, prepaid, the whole nine. >> the embassy suites in center city which is now sold out, can demand well over $500 a night. the hotel is the only one within 500 feet of the basilica. and every room has a balcony. its close proximity to the action means traditional guests won't be the only ones occupying the hotel. >> all the rooftops will be you know secured with the secret service. >> reporter: because the streets around the hotel will be shut down embassy suites is warning guests, don't drive. >> we're saying, don't bring your car. >> because driving will be difficult if not impossible, people here to see the pope will rely heavily on septa. i'll be t

coffman no. mr. walls? mr. walls votes aye. mr. o'rourke? mr. o'rourke votes aye. dr. heck? dr. heck votes no. mr. scott? mr. scott votes no. mr. brooks? mr. brooks votes no. mr. nugent? no. breeze gram in-- ms. gram? mr. multon? mr. multon votes aye. mr. burns? mr. burn votes no. mr. graves? mr. graves votes no. mr. knight? mr. knight votes no. mr. mccarther? mr. mccarther votes aye. mr. russell? mr. russell votes no. >> mr. chairman? excuse me while i chew my cookie. gentlemen from new jersey? >> how am i recorded? >> you are recorded no. >> i would like to be a yes. >> clerk report the tally. >> 34 aye votes and 29 no votes. >> the amendment is adopted. question now on 157-r1 by ms. spear. clerk will call the role. >> chairman? no. mr. smith? aye. mr. jones? mr. jones a yes. ms. sanchez? ms. sanchez, no. mr. brady? mr. brady no. mr. davis? ms. davis votes no. mr. wilson? mr. wilson votes no. mr. long? mr. long no. mr. larson? mr. larson votes no. mr. bishop? mr. bishop votes no. mr. cooper? mr. cooper aye. mr. turner? mr. turner votes no. mr. cline? mr. cline votes no. mr. co

coffman's and clean up this mess once and for all. it's critical that we send a message that business as usual cannot be tolerated. the v.a. branch responsible for these cost overruns and delays should not have jobs in the construction realm, much less receive performance bonuses. this amendment would see that the taxpayers do not pay performance bonuses to an office that has caused more harm than good. i urge adoption of this amendment mr. chairman, and i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. does any member wish to rise in opposition to this amendment? mr. bishop: i claim time in opposition although i do not oppose the gentleman's amendment. the chair: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. bishop: i think we're all very, very disturbed by what has happened with denver and we're also disturbed about the practices of the construction office. i just wanted to take this opportunity to maybe kind of clarify what has happened in response to try to mitt dwate gate the situa

coffman as far as whether or not the united states can actually be said for a police state. i'm wondering if perhaps because you work on an international level primarily your understanding of how that could apply to the u.s. might just not be nuanced in terms of we don't have to have all people subjugated under a police state for perhaps one group of people to be experiencing something completely different than the majority of the people in the country. so when you said that i was left wondering if mr. pitts might have a different view that perhaps the african-american community lives in a different united states than you do and that id. and that being a very legitimate way to approach this panel might make us go back to comment against i will reveal myself as a liberal, the fact i think this is a systemic problem, so being of the systemic type. i'm wondering if we are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy and i'm directing this to mr. pitts. you mentioned about how many more proportionally black people are arrested for crimes that statistically they are not involved in you kn

we're talking about ben coffman right after the break. take a look at oil prices. you after this break. financial noise financial noise financial noise >>> welcome back. to "squawk box." we've got media news. disney and imax signs a three-year deal to extend a partnership that covers including a new "star wars" movie. the release of movies from studios such as disney pixar, lucas film and mohar. >>> quirky is back. the platform teaming up to develop the headphones of form. the first with general electric. let's talk about the campaign with ben kaufman. he's founder and ceo of quirky. let's establish where you are for everybody. you're a crowdsourcing dewhere you help inventors who come up with cool ideas come up with backing? >> we're a community company. everyone hates consortium. we're a community company. we find the best products every week and turn them into consumer products. >> you're working with harmon with headphones of the future. >> we're working with harman with an evolution of how quirky sort of progressed. we started as a company people submitted ide

and last but not least, a big thank you to robert coffman in the robert coffman funded in the new yorkcommunity trust. but waste start off this discussion -- we still start office discussion this afternoon osha begin with the department of defense and see where we stand. we are very happy to hear from you people at first of all we'll hear from major general jacqueline van ovost who was serving as -- response affordable range of issues including some of these issues. general van ovost started her career in the u.s. air force. afterwards we'll hear from juliet beyler who is the director of officers and enlisted personnel management at the office of the secretary of defense, and prior to her current position was senior policy advisor in the office senator jim webb but she also has a 23 year career in the marine corps. so without further ado general van ovost, please take the floor floor. >> thank you and good afternoon. dr. oudraat, thank you. fellow security professionals thank you for inviting us here today to discuss the ground combat rule. as an air force pilot removing gender related