should the leader of the ,epartment, a retired general shinseki be fired? >> no. the da is a huge institution -- va is a huge institution. everyone here has heard about the claims backlog. thatpeople do not know is under bush we did claims by paper. an individual veterans could file this, multiply that by thousands of veterans. i remember talking to eric since when he was first hired. and he was saying at the end of five years we will have those claims down to 125 days with 90 per -- 90% accuracy. since he has been in office we have reduce that b 24%y. think also of the wars in iraq and afghanistan, we have a huge increase of evil coming into the ba -- of people coming into the va. if you talk to the veterans organizations, we held a hearing last week. veteransst organizations in the america, we asked if it is good quality health care, and without exception they said it is and it is getting better. i have criticisms options of hope we, and i will address that. [indiscernible] >> should federal workers be allowed to be able more easily dismissed? where is the blame

it is my honor to introduce to you mickey cross and 11 members of the new york city fire epartment andpolice department. all of them had been trapped together. god bless them and god bless america. [applause] >> we were trapped way down inside a dark hole, and after a while we saw the small beam of light about 30 feet above us. it was sunlight, and it had broken through the smoke, and even though it only lasted for a little while, it was enough to let us know there was an opening. it turned out the rescue workers could see it, too. they finally came towards us. they could not believe we had survived and we had broken out on our own. they continued to look for other suppliers. they had 14 of us trapped in a stairwell, tried to stay alive, searching for a way out. miraculously, we survived. once we got out we saw complete devastation. the whole trade center was gone. all you could see were huge pieces of twisted steel and fires everywhere, nd workers, never giving up on finding people. after our rescue, many of us he joined the rescue and recovery teams at ground zero to do for others wh

only has the president asserted that there is, quote, a smidgen inof corruption but leaks from the epartment of justice have indicated that no one will be prosecuted. that's not surprising as a top donor to the president's role gn is playing a key in their investigation, potentially compromising any semblance of independence and justice. independent, non partisan needed role cutor is in their to ensure a fair investigation this americans can trust. mr. speaker, the american people deserve to know the full context are taken.e actions as 2010, leaders were urging the irs to take action against conservative groups. why was the decision ade to take action against them? the american people, miss deserve employers answers. they deserve accountability. know that this no never happen again matter what your political persuasion

guests should the leader of the ,epartment, eric shinseki vietnam veteran, resign or be fired? >> no. is that the v.a. is a huge institution. it does a lot of very important work. i think everybody here has heard about the claims backlog. you people don't know is know how we did claims? we did claims by paper. havedividual veteran could filed this. our member talking to shinseki when he was first nominated and he said he was going to convert that system to an electronic system and at the end of five we will have those claims down to 125 days. today they have cut the backlog to half the time. they're on their way to fulfilling that goal. false.absolutely he's giving inaccurate numbers. when shinseki went into office there were veterans in that that log. not 290at backlog it is 3300 to veterans in that backlog. bernie sanders is talking about a backlog that he created. veteranswas 630 3589 in march of 2013. he had over 600,000 veterans in that backlog. if you are going to give credit to a man for cutting a backlog he created, it is a false argument. 97% of those claims are being

i heard job was to help monitor that situation as well even though they work for the state epartment.e also worked to help plan for any activities that might be developing in that particular area. we worked with a group to help with the eod, for example, in one of the areas, and help to provide some of the watch and can vacation when other senior u.s. officials visited the country. >> how would that differ in a normal protocol under military urisdiction? >> how would that differ under normal protocol for military jurisdiction? >> we, as the jtf deputy commander -- >> does it change the chain of command any? >> that's the point i was getting too. bsolutely. the ssd teamworks for the department of state, and there were no other forces on the ground specifically that we long to us -- belonged to us. >> in your testimony that the state department was in the lead, as we just confirmed, for the effort to get back libya on its feet, one of the things that has been encountered in the investigation of the state department conduct in libya is the overwhelming normalization, whether it be the at

it does not only extend to cases where a powerful federal epartment has deprived itizens, rather we must be equally vigilant who have aserd her rights under the fifth amendment. no person should be compelled to against him or herself without due process of law. a system where innocent until proven guilty lies at the of our protections, miss learner's innocence, 36 words, enough of vis it's rights. in the face of supreme court vast body of a legal expert opinion holding that mr. learner did not wave fifth amendment privilege by this sing her innocence, is a contempt proceeding without the members of our own committee the opportunity for testimony. as held by the smith court in 1949 in versus united states, testimony infurred.be lightly reasonable ndulge presumption against finding a testimonial wave. has chosen contempt against miss learner after an offer from her attorney so his client could provide the testimony that sides of this aisle have been asking. legally flawed contempt bring us no closer the partisan ct manner in which this $14 million investigation so far has been conducted to

there is funding state .epartment and the embassies absolutely everything they're not supposed to be doing, spending our money. we need help out here, we need jobs. they will put jobs else through. i know why we can't take your money. . ey are not working host: og like to see in that job -- what would you like to see in that jobs bill? themr: i would like to see do something useful. we can do this. v.a. health care system is a sneak preview -- john is calling on our democrats line from brooklyn. good morning, john. you are on "washington journal." they neglected us, but i have an issue with these republicans. they cut all these funds. we get cut off. they have the jobs bill tied up. obama is trying to have more police. he is trying to hire more teachers. i am a disabled vet. they cut my funds. i get disability. republicans cut my money. i'm on food stamps. what is wrong with the republicans, man? thank you very much. host: that is john in brooklyn. this is charles krauthammer's themn this morning in washington post. g here is john boehner talking about the select committee. >> at a c

dollars, their budget is $7 billion, with a $121 million increase, that would take $2 million from the epartment of prison which is 1/350th of what the bureau of prisons gets to put that money into into the bureau that would have these people where they are incarcerated unjustly but give the money to the detcht justice where they can ascertain which individuals can be appropriately recommended for commutations and save money for society and reunite people with their loved ones and give them freedom. freedom which is so important in liberty. i he know some of the amendments have been talked about and they said, well, we don't want to put any of the people in the bure roaf prisons at risk. i would submit to you that by taking $2 million from the bureau of prisons and allowing more people to be recommended for commutations there will be less people in prison, less need for those personnel, and less likelihood of having any problems, but beyond that the bure roaf prisons would see to that that $2 million didn't come from areas where prison guards would be endangered. they could take that from person

for the record, there are close to 700 attorneys at the .epartment of veterans affairs >> thank you, mr. chairman. i sit here and i englishe a word 'the language that can describe how frustrated i am and that's an understatement. for 18 months and listen toed to the same kind of tonight ande heard we've sat here for 2 hours and 15 minutes, we've had 20 some ofple question the three you, and i know now two and a half hours later what you don't know. you actually traveled to arizona and you didn't meet with anybody anything to do with this directly. it was easter weekend, we plan.tand that you didn't meet with anybody that was directly involved from all the testimony of these 20 right here. if i was in your shoes, i would country this as a five-alarm fire and you're rushing to the keen and you're bringing mutual aid because the house is on fire and nobody is going to survive. to theit here and listen three of you and i'm thinking to myself the question i leave here and probably my colleagues what do you know? is that people died. so i guess the question i want on behalf of the families

guests should the leader of the ,epartment, eric shinseki vietnam veteran, resign or be fired? >> no. is that the v.a. is a huge institution. it does a lot of very important work. i think everybody here has heard about the claims backlog. you people don't know is know how we did claims? we did claims by paper. havedividual veteran could filed this. our member talking to shinseki when he was first nominated and he said he was going to convert that system to an electronic system and at the end of five we will have those claims down to 125 days. today they have cut the backlog to half the time. they're on their way to fulfilling that goal. false.absolutely he's giving inaccurate numbers. when shinseki went into office there were veterans in that that log. not 290at backlog it is 3300 to veterans in that backlog. bernie sanders is talking about a backlog that he created. veteranswas 630 3589 in march of 2013. he had over 600,000 veterans in that backlog. if you are going to give credit to a man for cutting a backlog he created, it is a false argument. 97% of those claims are being

the false way times improved performance ratings at the .epartment of veterans affairs the appropriateractices are systemic -- inappropriate practices are systemic. they now determine whether the delays led to patient deaths. here are the breakdowns you can find in the washington post this morning if you go to the opinion pages. an op-ed from eric shinseki "i'mlf. the headline, committed to restoring integrity." i've medially directed -- i immediately directed the veterans health administration to contact each of the 1700 veterans in phoenix. we're doing all we can to accelerate access to care throughout our system. i have challenged our leadership to ensure whether we are doing everything possible to schedule veterans for their appointments. toare redoubling our efforts restore integrity to our processes and earn veterans' trust. calling those systemic problems. he want to get your reaction to it. (202) 585-3880 for democrats. (202) 585-3881 for republicans. independents. for for veterans this morning, (202) 585-3883. inst call is from nick tennessee on our independent line. good morn