i loved it. >> having abandoned his family for gang life, kirkpatrick turned to other crimes.when we met him, he was serving his second prison term, eight years for burglary. >> i know right from wrong. i'm not a stupid individual. i might make stupid decisions, but i'm not a stupid individual. >> during his time in prison, kirkpatrick still had his gang to fall back on, but like his biological family, he eventually left his gang family, though not totally on his own accord. >> i was holding contraband, and i was holding something, and i lost it. yeah. i had lost it. >> any specific enemies, names, numbers? >> no. >> kirkpatrick explained the contraband was a packet of gang information including a roster of current members. when he realized it was gone, he was afraid the gang might order a hit on him as punishment. >> i told the c.o., look, i got to go. he was like why? i said because i lost something i'm not supposed to. you need to get me out of here before something more serious happens. >> kirkpatrick turned his back on his gang. he requested a move to protective custody.

ranking member kirkpatrick. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. fugate, one of the things that our committee has been focused on is creating and making sure there's a seamless transfer of records from dod to va. so that there's no gap at all in the records that a doctor might see. the day that you transition out of the department of defense. so i'm curious, did walter reed have the department of defense records but just not look through them? can you just explain that to me? >> walter reed had my medical records, and it was at the va that i had the complications. it was the transfer between walter reed and the va. >> so did the va have your department of defense records? >> my first meeting with my doctor at the va was surprising. my father drove me three hours to get to the facility. we lived at the time in the appalachian mountains of eastern kentucky. once we got to the meeting, the doctor came and sat with me, and the nurse brought in my records which was a big, heavy stack of records. i couldn't see them. but i heard the thump. and and he sai

. >> thank you, ranking member kirkpatrick. mr. jules camp, you have five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. it seems like i was here a few minutes ago, and i do appreciate having more time to discuss these. i appreciate the testimony. my name is tim jules camp. mr. fugate, i hope i pronounced your name correctly. mine is often misspelled as well. a little follow-up on your particular situation one thing i've seen lacking in my few years of congress is accountability. systems do fail, people do fail. i'm curious with your particular situation, you described it in your testimony, in written and oral testimony. has the va followed up with you after the fact and determined, yes, this is where we failed in this system? i mean, i see a number of things, obviously electronic medical records didn't happen and i'll have a follow up question for mr. mini and other items in that vein. did the va ever contact you after this or after your testimony and say, hey, this is where we failed? this is the doctor. this is where the system failed for

david kirkpatrick had the same effect.s this all part of their transition from start up to publicly traded company. >> it is their transition from relatively small business to a massive pop service for everybody. itsh it has to become given public nature and the expectations of investors. a much more is difficult process than most investors thought about. it is not going that well. >> this is just come back to what everybody was talking about to begin with? people just are not using twitter. they do not understand. my mom does not know how to sign up. she gets facebook, but not twitter. not many people do. >> i would say the same thing. everyone at this table uses it, i'm sure. very aggressively. we understand that. are third cousins probably do not. none of my three siblings have ever used twitter. it is really hard to use. the problem is that, its users are passionately devoted to it. we insist there's nothing wrong with that. if you change too much, they would be upset. >> i just read the george clooney is engaged on tw

ranking member kirkpatrick. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. fugate, one of the things that our committee has been focused on is creating, making sure there's a seamless transfer of records from d.o.d. to va so that there's no gap at all in the records that a doctor might see the day that you transfer out of the department of defense. i'm curious, did walter reed have the department of defense records and just not look through them? can you just explain to me? >> walter reed had my medical records and it was at the va that i had the complications. it was the transfer between walter reed and the va. >> so did the va have your department of defense records? >> my first meeting with my doctor at the va was surprising. my father drove me three hours to get to the facility, at the time lived in the appalachian mountains of eastern kentucky. once we got to the meeting, the doctor came and sat with me. and the nurse brought in my records, which was a big, heavy stack of records. i couldn't see them. but i heard the thump and he said there was somethin

kirkpatrick: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in support of a motion to i in-- to ininstruct the conferees and ask that the conferees agree to the senate endments to h.r. 3230, the veterans' access to care through choice, accountability and transparency act of 2014. i also ask that the conferees work with urgency to resolve the differences between the house and senate bills. veterans cannot continue to wait, they have already waited too long. we have a duty to do our job and act now. introduced h.r. 4841, the companion legislation to this senate-passed legislation, because it addresses several of the issues that currently plague the v.a. health care system. this bill, sponsored by senators sanders and mccain, is good for veterans in my district, in arizona, and veterans across this country. it contains provisions that are nearly identical to the house-passed legislation that i supported, including the expansion of non-v.a. care to veterans that cannot get timely appointments and granting the v.a.'s secretary the auth

let me finish by quoting ambassador jean kirkpatrick whom i quote in my article. by the way, it's my privilege to know jean kirkpatrick fairly well, and one thing that she returned to again and again and again was something she had learned from one of her mentors, the political scientist at yale, harold laswell. and she often repeated this, and i've never forgotten it. she said when you're designing a constitution, imagine that your worst enemies are in power, and she applied this to rules for world order, and i think one of things we've done is we've designed a constitution that empowers the temporarily dominant nation, the united states and we have not thought about what this means for us in the future when we may no longer have that position of dominance. but what i want to quote is from kirkpatrick's fall 1990 article in "the national interest" entitled "a normal country in a normal time." she wrote, the united states performed heroically in a time term when heroism was required. altruistically during a time when freedom was endangered. it is now time for the

. >> rose: david kirkpatrick writing in the "new york times" says journalists for al jazeera englishanguage newspaper, english language network note that heights -- keurnlg is more neutral than the brotherhood but the journalists sentenced on monday appeared to be caught up on the campaign against al jazeera as whole. does that resonate with you? >> again, i can only speak for al jazeera english, i don't work for al jazeera arabic. i do not only personnel for al jazeera still in december for our guys, the al jazeera offices closed, they had to pull out. there had been threats against them. you know, we were the only ones still in town, if you'd like. so if they were looking to round anybody up then maybe that's why they looked for us. you know. maybe we are bearing the brunt of this but david kirkpatrick is right, we do try to steer a very straight line down the middle. that is the way we report. and in courts, they had to recognize we're al jazeera english. now some of the expert witnesses were brought in didn't know the difference. they didn't know there were different channels in

thank you so much. >> thank you very much, miss kirkpatrick. we have one hearing that will be coming up in several weeks that will be specifically geared towards the vso and it's at that particular hearing that we will invite the secretary to be here to hear their recommendations as well. dr. reese? >> miss custer? >> joe o'rourke? anybody else? mr. wells. sorry. you're recognized. five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you both for being here and listening to the testimony. i appreciate where you're at. i sat here almost in the exact same seat for 7 1/2 years. just like you with the vsos and the va as partners and advocates to get this right for veterans, but i'm going to come back to -- and i oftentimes in those years preface it that i'm your staunchest supporter but i'll be your harshest critic when it needs to be. dr. clancy, mr. owe rushing,'rot it up. this is the time to think fundamental change. this is the time to think big. i found it interesting that you focused, dr. clancy, on the triage which of course needs to be done with

kirkpatrick, you're recognized for five minutes. >> i'm encouraged you're looking to industry to help solve this problem. i sent a letter to the president last week recommending that be done. we know there are organizations that do massive scheduling and they do it right and they do it well. and we want that to be available to our veterans. so thank you for that. my first question actually is to you, dr. draper. but i'd like the whole panel to address this if they could. i represent a very, very large rural district in arizona. they have four care facilities. and dr. draper, you said that there is not consistency among the various centers. i wonder if you could identify for our committee the top three reasons for that inconsistency, and what we can do to make sure this is the best health care delivery system available for our veterans. >> part of it is, as i talked about in my oral comments, ambiguous policies. i'll go back to the wait times, and -- not the wait times, the canceling of appointments and no-show. the policy is very ambiguous. what you find is there's -- each facility de

kathleen kirkpatrick, our esteemed state historic preservation officer. if you would like to ask a question, the microphone right here is available. >> i want to acknowledge how thought-provoking your presentation was. i have to confess i'm struggling a little bit with it. i, of course, was going to remark on the wonderful emerging area of consideration of large cultural landscapes. i think that's an important evolution of the last 10-15 years, borne by consideration for indigenous landscapes or battlefields, etc. merged that should be into the register is something i struggle with. to whether weback are better served by perhaps treating heritage areas, large cultural landscapes, etc. as different tools, of equal importance as the register perhaps for preservation. many of us see with the register itself is that in our proper zeal to have it be inclusive, it has perhaps become a less powerful tool for your words like "selectivity." what was the other word that you used? we have perhaps reached a point where, when you talk about one million listings, that

david kirkpatrick is right. we try to stay down the middle. that is the way we report.n court, they had to recognize we are al jazeera english. some of the experts broad and didn't even know the difference. they were brought in as experts per they were supposed to be saying who did what and who said what. it was a travesty of justice to think that these people put forward any evidence that any way prove the charges against them. >> where do we go from here? >> we have our journalists in jail. we now, our mission is to rally the whole world to free our journalist. >> you look at the statement of the secretary of state and the foreign minister of australia. you seem to have strong statement coming from them. >> it is a strong statement. we need to rally the whole media. first of all, it is fundamental. this is a crime against the media. this is not a crime only against al jazeera. al jazeera journalist the been in jail. any media outlet they suffer the same consequence. albany to do, we need to put more pressure on egypt. we need all organizations, all the government to k

kirkpatrick of arizona from june 18-20. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. he request is granted. the chair will entertain requests for one-minute peeches. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 3, 2013, the gentleman from texas, mr. gohmert, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the ajority leader. mr. gohmert: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to express my appreciation to the appropriations committee for the appropriations process. i think we're all better when we have open amendments. and have a chance to have everybody have input. it's a nasty process but it is a good way to do it. because input is important. because when you don't listen o proper input, you can end up the a judgment as did pell tear case where a juvenile court judge in massachusetts her way custody from a victory finally judge ay as the court, joseph johnsonton, wrote in his ruling, that effective wednesday, june 18, 2014, care and protection petition is dismissed in custody of justina is returned to her parents, lou and linda. but the first sta

kirkpatrick, yo recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and i want to thank you and mr. mishu for continuing to have these hearings. i don't feel like we've gotten to the bottom of this. mr. lynch, you've been here a number of times, and toipt foi focus on the scheduling delays. that's the problem we're trying to get to the bottom of. the committee heard there are five reasons for scheduling delays, that there was an unexpected surge of new patients. there was not enough funding, obsolete facilities and obsolete technology, a lack of patient extenders in personnel, a lack of consistent policy across the system. but that just further describes a problem. and my question is, why? why did the va not anticipate a surge in new patients? we know that we have an aging population. why did the va not have funding when we've given them all the funding they've requested. we're starting to think as a committee that this is a systemic problem, but we're still not getting to the bottom of the why. can you answer that for me? >> i think part of

. >> kirkpatrick from "the new york times" is the guy who is claiming that he had a reporter there thehazi. he's claiming that his sources were talking to this guy. i think there's a lot more to come out. what, exactly happened, and why was "the new york times" there. why did they get pictures that seemingly are not at the right time? i think there's a lot of questions about that. and why were they allowed to interview this guy is and then for 2 1/2 years, really, no one was able to talk to him, and suddenly, we got him. i hope, kimberly, i hope the answer is, our intelligence agencies were watching him and getting a whole lot of information before they grabbed him. i'm not so sure that we have a strategy right now that could confirm that. >> i'm not so sure they do have a strategy. i don't think they they knew what to do. but they kept him on a boat and gave him a nice tour for two weeks. not sure what they got out of it. but sure hope you're right. but they were watching him, and who his contacts and associates were, but there is more good to come. we like to be an optimist here. ric

huntington arguing for hearn primacy and jeane kirkpatrick calling for the united states to become anrdinary country again. as it happens and unfortunately as i will argue, the essay that turned out to be mothers prescient -- most prescient at least in terms of outlining what would become the new consensus was by charles krauthammer and was published in "foreign affairs" in 191, "the unipolar moment," with krauthammer speaking for what was then a wing of the here yo conservatives. at the time, i considered myself a neoconservative, and there were a number of neoconservatives including kirkpatrick and moynihan who wanted a much more of a retrenchment in u.s. foreign policy. but krauthammer spoke for what has emerged as the dominant consensus in u.s. foreign policy. he argued that the united states at the end of the cold war was the sole superpower, that the u.s. had such enormous advantages compared to all other great powers in the world that it was ridiculous to act with excessive restraint which was underestimating our own strength. and he made an argument which is repeated to this d

attacks has also been an obsession of the world of #benghazi and today in "the new york times" david kirkpatrick, multiple sources of information on that subject, brings a new scoop on the motivation of the alleged ringleader who was captured and in is custody today. what he, khattala, did in the period before the attack has remained unclear but mr. abu khaftala told other libyans in private conversations during the night of attack he was moved to attack the diplomatic mission to take revenge for an insult to islam in an american made video. it's precisely what susan rice and the white house said in the wake of the attack. in other words, they were exactly correct about the motivations for the attack. one of the many reported facts on the ground that never seemed to penetrate the #benghazi bubble. as for the #benghazi fox news hillary clinton interview, all those who knew what, when questions were asked and hillary answered them all again as well as highlighting the effort that really mattered. >> what we try to do in this country, and i think what was made abundantly clear by this latest effort

i still stick with the exhaustive report that david kirkpatrick did in the "new york times" about six months ago where he found that the video was in fact pretty crucial to the motivations of the people who did carry out that attack. and i see that khatallah, in custody now, says that the video may have played a role. so you know, i think we'll find something out about this from him, from his trial, and we'll find something out about it i suppose from these hearings that the house republicans want to hold. but we're never going to find out anything, joy, that's going to be absolutely 100% proof positive that's going to satisfy you know who. >> and what's interesting is you characterize sort of the response to this arrest as kind of disappointment and the sort of letdown that now the guy's in custody sort of the wind is kind of out of people's sails. and i kind of feel the same way about that report about the video because this did come out in december. it was reiterated in the "new york times" yesterday. that you know, what guys? turns out susan rice didn't make that up. that was the

kirkpatrick's statements be entered into the record as well as association letter that we received on april 19, or june 19. >> without objection. >> thank you spent thank you, everyone for being with sure today. thank you, ms. farrisee, for being here today. this hearing is adjourned. >> thank you. [inaudible conversations] >> and f. on transparency and freedom of information, and i think my colleagues in journalism would get a similar grade whether they are liberal or conservative. the freedom of information process has become a joke but it was already well on its way prior to the obama administration but this administration has perfected the stall, the delay, the redaction, the excuses. and really it's shocking because i feel very strongly information that they withhold and protect many times belongs to the public. we own it but there's no sense of that when you ask for it. they covet it as if you are a private corporation defending their trade secrets rather than understanding that what they hold this information on our behalf. >> investigative reporter should sharyl attkisson on t

kirkpatrick: the senate overwhelmingly agreed that these reforms are necessary. and now the house must act without delay to make these sweeping reforms law. thank you, madam speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. burgess: madam speaker, i yield myself one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. burgess: the fact of the matter is that the conference committee is meeting on this very issue. in fact, they are having their first meeting this afternoon. the issue is access, the issues of accountability for v.a. personnel who have not held themselves to high standards. those are provision that is have already passed the floor of this house. some on suspension and some under a rule. these bills are before the conference committee with the senate. it is appropriate that they be acted upon expeditiously, but in no way does defeating the previous question enhance that flexibility or the a pidity with which thos

congresswoman kirkpatrick. thank you, chair sanders and miller. i want to thank our senior senator mccain for his hard work on this issue. my colleagues on the house veterans affairs committee have heard about so many issue that is plague the v.a. in hearing after hearing. the latest report from the office of special counsel, the reports of additional cover-ups in the phoenix v.a., and reports of retaliation against whistle-blowers are damning. and only increase the urgency for this committee to act quickly and adopt a version of the senate's expansive reform legislation. we can address these issues now by agrees to an expansive reform rather than piecemeal legislation that only addresses some of the problems. we can enact comprehensive legislation that does more. sweeping reform of the v.a. can start today. last night i asked our v.a. witness if the v.a. was capable of innovation. they want yes. we must demand innovation in the v.a. by passing comprehensive reforming. we can solve the patient access problem, stop the deceptive appointment schedul

. >> miss kirkpatrick, you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want thank you and ranking member michaud for continuing to have these hearings. i feel like we're not getting to the bottom of this. and dr. lynch, we've had a number of hearings. you've been hear a number of times. and we've heard that -- i just want to focus on the scheduling delays. that's the problem that we're trying to get to the bottom of. this committee has heard there's five reasons for this scheduling delays, that there was an unexpected surge of new patients. there was not enough funding. obsolete facilities. obsolete technology. a lack of patient extenders and personnel. a lack of consistent policy across the system. but that just further describes a problem, and my question is, why? why did the va not anticipate a surge in new patients? we know we have an ageing population. why did the va not have enough funding when we've given them all the funding that they've requested. so, you know, we're starting to think as a committee that this is a systemic problem, but we're s

referring to the "huffington post" article that explains october 18, 2012 "the new york times" reporter kirkpatricknt hours with unhanded a hotel as he sat down and drink with the governments of libya a long do you share my frustration and the media can gain access but we cannot lay a glove on him? >> i am not sure i would express. >> assuming we haven't. >> i would not express it as frustration i have been in this business a long time i know journalist can get access that we can so that does not surprise me. >> mrs. clinton appeared before a senate hearing in response to one of the questions she said what difference does it make? it is my belief in the issue whether a skier or indirect or direct involvement with it does make a difference. do you concur? >> i take the benghazi matter very, very seriously. it is one i am very close to a and briefed on a regular basis putting a lot of work into and have made progress but the details i cannot talk about. >> i appreciate that. >>. >> i you cannot go into great detail with the passage of each day we're one step further removed that would not be pleasing

ask unanimous consent that miss kirkpatrick's name be entered into the record as well as the association letter we received on april 19th -- june 19th. >> without objection. >> thank you. >> thank you, everybody, for being here today. thank you miss farrisee for being here. this meeting is adjourned. >> an f on transparency and freedom of information, and i think my colleagues in journalism would give a similar grade whether they're liberal or conservative. the freedom of information process has become a joke. it was already well on its way. prior to the obama administration, but this administration has perfected the stall, the delay, the redactions, the discussions, and really it's shocking because i feel very strongly that the information that they withhold and protect many times belongs to the public. woken it. but there's no sense of that when you ask for it. they covet it as if they're a private corporation, defending their trade secrets, rather than understanding are what they hold is information they've gathered on our behalf. >> emmy award winning journalist sheryl at kissson on

kirkpatrick across the aisle who says that the system needs a complete revamp and restructurings because there is no accountability here. there is complacency. i like to associate myself with mr. ruiz is strongly recognize for the prosecution and would you, mr. griffin, for your comments about people not getting fired for not doing a job. frankly, i think we need leaders and hopefully we will get it, some leaders that will make people responsible and fire people than are not getting the job done because this culture of not being able to get the job done and it does not matter has got to stomped. i appreciate your comments. you kind of slid them and there. people need to get fired. we can make that happen despite the work rules and all the criticism that we get. we need to have a system that can fire the people that are not doing their job and to listen to people at the ground who have the comments. they talked about the simplest and that every private practice in the world does, called a patients a day or two before the bombing to confirm that they're coming. that va has not figured that

consent that miss kirkpatrick's statement being entered into the record as well as the association letter we received on april 19th -- june 19th. >> without objection. >> thank you. >> thank you, everybody, for being here today. thank you miss pharisees for being here. this meeting is adjourned.: are [inaudible conversations] >> the st. louis post dispatch announced it was dropping syndicated columnist george will from it pages after a controversial column he wrote about sexual assault on college campuses, calling its the supposed campus epidemic of rape and saying efforts to combat rape in hi words, make victimhood a cover vetted status that leads to -- >> george will, college has become the victims of progressivism, and i think the day we're recording the st. louis post dispatch announced they canceled your column. >> yes. this is my job. when dubious statistics become the basis of dubious and dangerous abandonment of due process, to step in and say, take a deep breath, everybody. what has happened is, the administration has said that one in five women in college experiences sexual assa

that is why i commend congresswoman kirkpatrick for introducing companion legislation to the sanders-mccain bill, to improve the quality of care within the v.a. our veterans should not have to endure excessive long waits, tolerate canceled appointments nd question quality of care. nor should the persons reporting these activities be punished. the legislation would increase access to care while also improving on the quality of care. and it is something that we can act upon today. thank you, mr. speaker, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? the gentleman from illinois is recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to honor the mccain county educator of the -- cane county educator of the year. for carol, teaching is in her blood. her grandfather was a principal and her aunt was a teacher in chicago public schools. carol has been an exemplary first grade teacher for decades who has touched many lives through her exceptional teaching skills and care for her students. she has serve

ask unanimous consent miss kirkpatrick's statement be entered into the record as well as association letter we received april 19th or june 19th. >> without objection. >> thank you. >> thank you, everybody, for being here today. thank you for being with us. this hearing is adjourned. >> thank you. >>> a discussion now on the global economic outlook. >>> over on the house floor, law makers continuing work on a $570 billion annual spending bill to fund the department of defense. just under $80 billion is currently included for the war in afghanistan. final vote on the bill is expected today. >>> also this morning, irs commissioner appearing before a house panel about potential missing e-mails in connection to an investigation into irs targeting of conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status. that entire hearing will re-air tonight 8:00 eastern on c-span. >>> this afternoon we are going to take you to the pentagon for a briefing with press secretary rear admiral john kirby. we expect to hear more about president obama's announcement yesterday that he will be sending 300 military a

congresswoman kirkpatrick. thank you, chair sanders and miller. i want to thank our senior senator mccain for his hard work on this issue. my colleagues on the house veterans affairs committee have heard about so many issue that is plague the v.a. in hearing after hearing. the latest report from the office of special counsel, the reports of additional cover-ups in the phoenix v.a., and reports of retaliation against whistle-blowers are damning. and only increase the urgency for this committee to act quickly and adopt a version of the senate's expansive reform legislation. we can address these issues now by agrees to an expansive reform rather than piecemeal legislation that only addresses some of the problems. we can enact comprehensive legislation that does more. sweeping reform of the v.a. can start today. last night i asked our v.a. witness if the v.a. was capable of innovation. they want yes. we must demand innovation in the v.a. by passing comprehensive reforming. we can solve the patient access problem, stop the deceptive appointment schedul

congresswoman kirkpatrick. thank you, chair sanders and miller. i want to thank our senior senator mccain for his hard work on this issue. my colleagues on the house veterans affairs committee have heard about so many issue that is plague the v.a. in hearing after hearing. the latest report from the office of special counsel, the reports of additional cover-ups in the phoenix v.a., and reports of retaliation against whistle-blowers are damning. and only increase the urgency for this committee to act quickly and adopt a version of the senate's expansive reform legislation. we can address these issues now by agrees to an expansive reform rather than piecemeal legislation that only addresses some of the problems. we can enact comprehensive legislation that does more. sweeping reform of the v.a. can start today. last night i asked our v.a. witness if the v.a. was capable of innovation. they want yes. we must demand innovation in the v.a. by passing comprehensive reforming. we can solve the patient access problem, stop the deceptive appointment schedul

a "huffington post" article which states on october 18th, 2012, "new york times" reporter david kirkpatrick spent two hours with a guy named amal katula in a hotel sipping a strawberry frap. do you share my frustration, mr. director, in the media can gain access to this guy and we can't lay a glove on him? >> i'm not sure i would express it >> assuming we haven't laid a glove on him. thank you. >> i wouldn't express it as frustration because i've been in this business a long time and i know journalists can get access to people that we in law enforcement can't. so, frankly, it doesn't surprise me. >> i recall mrs. clinton appeared before a senate hearing in response to the questions by the senators. she said what difference does it make? it is my belief, mr. coble, that any issue, be it obscure, indirect, or directly involved with benghazi does, indeed, make some difference. do you concur >> i take the benghazi matter very, very seriously. it is one that i am very close to, briefed on on a regular basis. one we are putting a lot of work into and we made progress on, but, again, the details o

to a huffington post article which states on october 18, 2012 the, new york times reporter david kirkpatrick spent two hours with amall katula in a hotel sipping a strawberry frap. do you share my frustration, mr. are director that the media can gain access to this guy and we can't lay a glove on him? >> i'm not sure i would express it -- >> assuming we haven't laid a glove on him. that's my thinking. >> i have been in this business a long time. i know sometimes journalists get access to people we in law enforcement can't. so fanchinily it doesn't surprise me. >> i recall mrs. clinton appeared before a senate hearing in response to the questions by the senators. she said what difference does it make. any issue, be it obscure, indirect or directly involved does indeed make. some difference. do you concur? >> i take the benghazi matter very, very seriously. it is one that i am very close to, briefed on on a regular basis. we have made progress on it. but the details i can't talk about. >> i can appreciate that. >> it's something i take seriously. >> i can understand how you cannot go into grea

. >> miss kirkpatrick, you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman.i want thank you and ranking member michaud for continuing to have these hearings. i feel like we're not getting to the bottom of this. and dr. lynch, we've had a number of hearings. you've been hear a number of times. and we've heard that -- i just want to focus on the scheduling delays. that's the problem that we're trying to get to the bottom of. this committee has heard there's five reasons for this scheduling delays, that there was an unexpected surge of new patients. there was not enough funding. obsolete facilities. obsolete technology. a lack of patient extenders and personnel. a lack of consistent policy across the system. but that just further describes a problem, and my question is, why? why did the va not anticipate a surge in new patients? we know we have an ageing population. why did the va not have enough funding when we've given them all the funding that they've requested. so, you know, we're starting to think as a committee that this is a systemic problem, but we're st