mr. arrington, you are recognized. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. o'rourke, let me just drive right in here. how many employees do you have who were hired for specific job duties, probably outlined in the posting, who are now spending 100% of their time on union activity, or official time? >> almost 500 employees who spend 100% of their time on something other than the job they were hired to do. how do you hold those people accountable? >> i believe the recent executive orders will require all employees to go back on -- 25% is the only allowable time. >> can you hold those employees accountable for doing a job they were hired to do if they're spending 100% of their time on union activity and not the taxpayer funded needed for serving our veterans job that they were hired to do. can you hold them accountable? >> with the implementation -- >> currently can you hold them accountable under the current construct? >> we weren't -- >> the answer is no. it's no. . let's get to it. it's no. i hope you change it. i had a law that we passed out of the committe

mr. arrington, and mr. o'rourke, for their bipartisan focus on this issue and the bipartisan way they have crafted this piece of legislation and moved it forward. this bill was generated out of feedback from our veteran service organization partners, vigorous oversight and includes a number of changes, expansion of changes as well as first steps to make it a larger transition effort. and ms. brownley's effort which eliminates the period of eligibility. currently veterans only have 12 years to utilize educational i reserve the balance of my time.tive service. this removes that deadline and anyone who qualifies to access those services in definitely. t includes mr. poe's veterans' act which includes educational assistance to students impacted by natural disasters. this is similar to the benefits provided to veterans whose schools close their doors to make sure they are not struggling. this would allow veterans to continue collecting their housing benefits even their school is closed and allows them to stop an

mr. arrington. rep. arrington: thank you, mr. higgins. i think it is the same thing. get it andbody can just read through it. you can have someone on "official time," which i believe his time spent on union activity, actually brought to congress. that is one of the issues or activities that has been applied, determined acceptable to union conferences, there are all sorts of things that i would , i am not saying there should not be union spirit i am takeg if you are hired to position and provide health services to a veteran and then lobbying% of your time for your union, going to conferences for your union -- i do not think it is acceptable, reasonable, or in the best interest of the public to i am trying to follow the law. i yield back to my colleague, mr. higgins. rep. higgins: thank you. mr. chairman, i think in the entrance of bipartisanship, we should consider a committee. we all care about the same thing. mr. o'rourke, thank you for being here. do you generally recognized, sir, that this is an era of reform in the v.a., that the v.a. has been a mess for decades?

mr. arrington. >> thank you mr. higgins. i think it is the same thing. i think we are trying to parse words up here, i think if you laid it out, and i wish i had it in front of me, i hope somebody can get it and just read through it. you can have somebody on quote official time which is i believe time spent on union activity, actually robbing congress. that is one of the issues or activities that have been applied and determined acceptable. they go to union conferences, there are all sorts of things that i would say it is union activity. i am not saying there shouldn't be unions. i'm saying you can't spend 100% of your time if you are hired to be a physician to take care and provide help services to a veteran, and then end up spending 100% of your time lobbying congress for your union, being at conferences for your union. i just don't think that is acceptable. i don't think it is reasonable, necessary or in the best interest of the public. i yield back to my colleague mr. hicks. >> thank you. mr. chairman, and the interest of our partisanship perhaps we

mr. arrington: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to thank my friend, the gentlelady from the cowboy state for yielding me time and mainly for her leadership on this issue to ensure that we as a country and as the leaders of this great nation fulfill our most important responsibility to provide for a common desms our constitutional first job to provide for the common defense. i'd add the -- to secure our liberty and the liberty of our posterity because there's no freedom without security. god bless you and thank you for leading the charge here. i rise to strongly encourage my colleagues to support this resolution -- h.res. 1010 expressing the sense of the house of representatives that the united states air force faces tremendous readiness challenges reflected in a shrinking and dilapidated aircraft fleet, insufficient personnel and dangerous levels of deferred maintenance, all of which are due, i think in large part i'd say, to budgetary uncertainty which impedes the air force's ability to meet our national security threats. m

mr. arrington. >> thank you mr. chairman for your leadership. it's been a pleasure to serve with my colleagues on this committee and it's nice to know there are group of legislators that will heed the call of the american people to do our job and get a budget that works where we can live within her means like every other american. the household business community the federal government is the only place i know that spends like there is a money tree at the treasury and there isn't. to my colleagues point this is a deferred tax. when a sovereign debt crisis occurs, it will it will change your trajectory. we'll recap it -- havoc on our country and our country's economy and it will leave bleak and abysmal set of circumstances for our kids and grandkids and we know what to do. we know the policies and i'm very pleased with the policies that we suggest as we lay out this blueprint like restoring the value in dignity of work and allowing people to come up and out of welfare and realize their greatest god-given potential. obviously as mr. gates said the