mr. brown: thanks, mr. president. i semiconductor to vitiate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. brow. mr. brown: and i ask unanimous consent to speak in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: i have got an number of calls in recent weeks -- we all have -- about what's happened at the veterans administration. when i -- over the july 4 week back in ohio i heard from lots of veterans at round tables in communities all over the state, from steubenville to dayton and lots of places in between. what are we going to do about the v.a.? i heard outrage, i head disillusionment with the v.a. there's outrage about a system charged with caring for those who defend our nation and falls short. there is frustration, disillusionment, the wayer our - the way our verptses ar veterang so long. but i also saw letters in the newspapers and had conversations with veteran whose defended and bragged about the service they are getting, the care they are getting, wh

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check it out. >> mr. brown. >> yes -- >> we reharesed it just like you told us.. did i say change the part? huh? fellas, does it sound good? >> yeah. >> does it feel good? >> yeah. >> gods made your ears. you didn't make them. you don't argue with gods ears. if it sound good and it feel good, then it's musical. so play it like i say play it. >> jimmy yeah, you tell them what's up. [ cheers and applause ] my thanks to chadwick boseman. go see him as mr. james brown in "get on up" in theaters friday. jenny lewis performs after the break. stick around, everybody. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ taco bell brought back some old friends... so good to be back. ...to check out our new breakfast burrito. wow. mmm, mmm, mmm. this is legit. it's grilled... it's even pretty. we just say 'it's good' down in louisiana. [laughter] would you get a burrito from a burger place? ♪ you don't go to a sushi bar and order spaghetti. good point, ronald. stick with the people who know burritos. taco bell's new grilled breakfast burritos, bacon, sausage or potato for $1.29 each. [bong!] degree

mr. brown, thank you. mr. hall. >> i think this is a very interesting hearing mr. chairman. i thank you. i've learned a lot about arrogance. i agree with mr. collins. i think dizzy dean always said it ain't bragging if you could do it. i've always heard that the professor asked one of his students did he know the difference between ignorance and apr ap apathy. he's attempting to do what all of us are doing. trying to get you to tell us the truth and do what you say you're going to do. i thank you for holding this hearing mr. chairman. it's controversial propose that raises a lot of questions about rules potential impact on property openers, on businesses, states, and i want to examine some of these as long as i have the time. first i'd like to submit a letter in resolution for the record from the morris county commissioner's court in my district. morris county judge linda murkris writes that morris county is agains at any action the epa that would infringe upon the sovereignty of texas to appropriately regulate water for the state of texas. she continues if adopts this could

was mr. brown here? mr. brown, you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and i want you to know i was here before the chairman. i have been on this committee for 22 years, in fact, when i came, jesse brown was the secretary, and his motto was putting veterans first. and i have been through all of the secretaries. and you know, some of them left a lot to be desired, and some -- but the point of the matter is that i understand that v.a. has changed over the period of time. and at one time, we were serving a certain kind of veteran. now, we have expanded to the veterans. i don't want to say they're sicker. their conditions are different because of the war. they have come back with different ailments. how can you plan for that? because they want their services at the v.a. i want to make sure that the v.a. is there for them. and it's a lot more complicated than what we're saying. because like you said, they have ten additional things as opposed to at one time, it was a lot more simple than it is now. >> we have an actuarial model to forecast. part of t

mr. brown: i yield the floor to the -- my distinguished friend from georgia. mr. isakson: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from georgia. mr. isakson: i ask unanimous consent to address the senate for up to five minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. isakson: i want to commend chairman sanders for his leadership. last night at 9:30, i came back to the capitol and executed a conference agreement. and ranking member richard burr worked very hard, pulled together desperate factions to address the needs of our veterans in a bill that will be a tool kit for robert mcdonald who i hope will be unanimously approved as the next secretary of the v.a. under the president's cabinet. i rise to talk about mr. mcdonald. before i do, i want to talk about that conference report. our veterans have been abused in the last 10-12 years because of veterans' medical services that have not performed the services they need to perform for our veterans in america. one of the reasons they did is general shinseki, admiral shinseki who was the former secretary

mr. brown is visiting for four days of talks on trade and the environment. ddressed the immigration problem last week, saying california is prepared to do its part to help. >>> kit is in san jose where officials hope to bring in hundreds of child my grants. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. supervisor dave cortez is comparing his plan to the vietnam plan. it's simulated tens of thousands of families, including my own, to life here in america. the pictures from border holding facilities are heartbreaking. tens of thousands of kids from south america who made the trip without their parents hoping to escape. now there is nowhere for them to go. >> reporter: santa clara county supervisor dave cortez talked about his hope to bring up to 1500 of the kids here. >> we have a strong legacy of dealing with that in santa clara county. after the fall of saigon we were able to assimilate people. >> one possibility, a sort of exchange student model. >> we are banking on the fact that the federal government is going to make those monies available to help us su

mr. browns visit fog four days for talks on trade and the environment, and today's meeting is a late addition to the agenda. he said california is prepared to do its part to help. there are also new efforts to tackle immigration at the local level. kpix is in san jose where santa clara officials hope to bring hundreds of child my grants to the south bay. >> reporter: supervisor dave courts is comparing his plan to the vietnamese ref knew gee resettlement program. he said that it worked then and it can work now. >> the exhibits from border holding facilities are heartbreaking. tens of thousands of kids from south america who made the trip without their parents hoping to escape poverty and violence in their homeland. >> it is going to fall on the big cities and big counties. that is typically the situation. >> reporter: santa clara county supervisor spoke sunday morning about his hope to bring up to 1500 of those kids here while they wait if a court date i can't we have a strong legssive figuring

and then the patient team of mr. brown came along and said that yes you can do it in another person. >> they are concerned by another challenge. they worry that suppressing hiv in the body existing antiretroviral medicines can cause a resistance to the drug we have. >> if we are throwing these drugs to everybody and whether they are used correctly or not we are going to end one multi-resistant viruses which are now appearing. >> scientists are already beginning to control the virus we know about. approach to a cure and to managing to 2.1 million people on the planet newly i in newly d each year. jacob ward, al jazeera, san francisco. >> a number of those on the way to the are conference were killed over eastern ukraine. >>> the united nations recently released a report saying hiv-aids could be contained by the year 2030. many people who have the disease are not even aware that they are infected. part of the reason of the drop of ne the disease in the united states, approved by the fda around a decade ago as a treatment dug

mr. brown, thank you. mr. holt. >> i think this is a very interesting hearing, mr. chairman. i think i've learned a lot about arrogance. i agree with mr. collins, and i think it's been said that it ain't bragging if you can do it, and the professor was asked if he knew the difference betweof arrogance, and i think he said he didn't care. i think i know what you're going through out there because you were recommended and she's a lady and trying to get you to do what all of us are doing, get you to tell us the truth and do what you say you're doing. this controversial proposal raise az ls a lot of questions rules and potential on property owners. first i'd like to read a letter for the record in my district. morse county judge said morse county is against any action by the epa and the army corps of engineers that would infringe upon the sovereignty of texas to appropriately regulate water in the state of texas, unquote. she continues, if adopted, this would increase a need for burdensome and costly committee requirements and infringe on property rights and circumvent the legisl

he goes to chicago and final assembly speaker toni atkins will be in charge for nine hours until mr. brown returns later that day . >>> coming up at eight, about the livermore soccer coach that used of reducing child and the populace for security, the dramatic video. what prompted the police to board a plane. >>> a raging wildfire that destroyed by phones and challenge firefighters are facing the control of claim. >>> temperatures much cooler than what we had yesterday and hide in london tonight i clouds coming back in the bay area and the changes on sunday coming up next. >>> don't wait for awesome... totino's pizza rolls... ...gets you there in just 60 seconds. ahhh! what is it? there are no marshmallows in this box of lucky charms! huh... weird... seriously? what? they're magically delicious it's being called the second fire. it has charged 1300 acres of bush more than a thousand people out of their homes. another 260 structures are threatened and residents say they are pretty white and. >> sheriff came to the door and said you have to evacuate. put it on the scale of one-to- one hundre

yes, yes, mr. brown.at's not right. not right." i said, "no, james, that's not right." and i went into the budget rent-a-car office and i went to the manager and i said, "excuse me, sir, do you realize that man out there who wants to rent that mercedes is james brown, the godfather of soul, the hardest working man in show business the man who sang 'please, please me,' 'i'll go crazy,' 'cold sweat,' you go to the give him some kind of a a break on that car. i mean, he is like royalty. can you give him a break?" he says, "well, all right. i'll come down, i will give him a break, below 40 bucks." thank you very much i walked out, said, "james, i got that done for you." "thank you, danny, i knew you would." [ applause ] and then murray -- murray's there and murray, he had -- and james was right there at budget rent-a-car with a jumpsuit that went down to his navel. [ laughter ] and murray starts to do the honker or carl from "caddyshack" -- we used to call it the honker at second city. hey, boy, that's pretty

was mr. brown here? mr. brown, you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and i want you to know i was here before the chairman. i have been on this committee for 22 years, in fact, when i came, jesse brown was the secretary, and his motto was putting veterans first. and i have been through all of the secretaries. and you know, some of them left a lot to be desired, and some -- but the point of the matter is that i understand that v.a. has changed over the period of time. and at one time, we were serving a certain kind of veteran. now, we have expanded to the veterans. i don't want to say they're sicker. their conditions are different because of the war. they have come back with different ailments. how can you plan for that? because they want their services at the v.a. i want to make sure that the v.a. is there for them. and it's a lot more complicated than what we're saying. because like you said, they have ten additional things as opposed to at one time, it was a lot more simple than it is now. >> we have an actuarial model to forecast. part of t

mr. danger brown's $10 potato salad has brought in over $44,000. the 31-year-old software company co-owner said he has not gotten much sleep. one reason is because the fundraising campaign still has another three weeks. brown is already plan to go rent out a party hall and, quote, sobriety the whole internet to the potato salad party. he's pledge to go boost the potato product with better mayonnaise and a chef. if you like potato salad and you plan to be in town, take note. a feast is coming. that is our show for today. i'm david shuster in for ali velshi. for everyone here in "real money" and the feast we've been having all this week thanks for joining us. have a great week, and we'll see you back here tomorrow. >> good evening to you, and welcome to aljazeera america. i'm morgan bradford, live in new york city. the cycle of violence. israel and hamas trade rockets and airstrikes as the crisis heats up. and crisis at home, president obama asking for billions of dollars to clampdown at the border. >>> and russia's president swipes credit cards numb

mr. lawson got a brown field grant for the hunters point shipyard he administered $20 million for the construction of the first new building on the hunters point shipyard including an incubator he accepted on behalf of the project team the award from the northern california of the planning association for the projects environmental impact report and in 2011 he submitted a white paper easterner the projects designation as anyone of the best investment in the united states he worked closely with the eir staff to help with the financing. in 2013 he was promoted he managed community process balancing the public needs and the capital negotiations with strategies and seeking project financing and insuring good financial practices he led the candle stick streetscape and had the replacement unit of the development he helped with two with o 3 new parks and hotels. mr. lawson participated at 2 hundred and 50 workshops held on every aspect and those railroad for about the board of supervisors and agency he the ocii commission and other city commissions the hunters point shipyard advisory committee and the ba

mr. lawson got a brown field grant for the hunters point shipyard he administered $20 million for the construction of the first new building on the hunters point shipyard including an incubator he accepted on behalf of the project team the award from the northern california of the planning association for the projects environmental impact report and in 2011 he submitted a white paper easterner the projects designation as anyone of the best investment in the united states he worked closely with the eir staff to help with the financing. in 2013 he was promoted he managed community process balancing the public needs and the capital negotiations with strategies and seeking project financing and insuring good financial practices he led the cand

. >> if i could weigh in on that and let mr. brownng vladmir putin has said this airplane disaster would not have happened if kiev had not renewed its military operation against the rebels in eastern ukraine. if you think through the logic of that statement, it's almost an implication of the separatists on the ground having shot down this plane, now we know that nbc news has confirmed the plane has shot down. the u.s. that change your position at all, sir? >> no, we are guessing whether it's an accident or not. it is all based on a major strategic error over crimea. that's a much longer story. you can expect more russian misinformation like this. >> i apologize, we have a minute left, your thoughts on the ground incursion by the israelis into gaza right now? >> look the last ten days you had a situation where 6 million forces of citizens are under rocket fire. they tried with the egyptians, which was dismissed by hamas. literally, you have a situation here where the ibs, the israeli government had no choice. this was coming for a long

. >> mr. brown, you are recognized for five minutes. >> thank you. first before i begin my questions i just want to say on this note that was found in the bathroom, i hope no one ever loses their job for a note in the bathroom on a pad. and i don't think anyone has any business reading somebody's pad in the bathroom. that is the first thing. now, to ms. hickey. i am impressed with the amount of how we've been able to expedite the veterans process. not only for the veterans, but for the families. and can you explain the process. because it seems like part of the problem is that you go into a new system to help expedite it, and it seems as if it is a problem with you trying to improve the system. >> congresswoman, i know from having done work and changed environments that everybody adjusts differently. i'm sensitive to that. but i don't know any ore federal agency -- and i did work in commercial industry for a while -- nor a commercial company that has fundly taken a paper bound process in less than 18 systems, built a system, done a billion images nea

. >> mr. brown. >> before i start my time. i have unanimous consent request. administrative perciasepe made a comment that agriculture and business are in favor of this new rule. i've got two letters, one from gary black, our georgia commissioner of agriculture from department of agriculture in georgia opposing this rule as it has been presented. the other one is from chris clark, who is the president and ceo of the georgia chamber of commerce, again, opposing this rule. i ask unanimous consent that these be entered into the record. >> with that objection, so ordered. >> since i haven't started my question, please restore my time. i'd appreciate that. administrator perciasepe, i have to hand it to you, in four terms of congress, you're one of the very best witnesses i've ever seen at filibustering a question and not answering. it's not only to republicans but it's democrats also. now the chairman showed you a map, the connectivity report map. you made a statement that you already had control over all of that property. is that correct yes or no? >> we do not co

was mr. brown here? you're recognized for five minutes. >> i want you to know i was here before the chairman. [laughter] as you know i've been on the committee for 22 years jessie gibran was the secretary and his model was putting veterans first and i've been through all of the secretaries. and some of them left a lot to be desired and some -- but the point of the matter is. at one time we were certain of the count of the veterans. now we have expanded it to the veterans. i don't want to say that they are sicker but the conditions are different because of the war they come back with different ailments. they want the services at the va. i want to make sure that the va is there for them. and it's a lot more complicated than what we are saying because they will have ten additional things as opposed to the one time it was made a lot more simple than it is now. >> we have an actuarial model that we use to forecast. part of that looks at the past practice and forecast the future. the best part of it that i thi

browns. josh gordon already facing a suspension for the least a year under the league's drug policy pending appeal he just got himself into even mriver was arrested for dwi around 3:00 a.m. this morning. not a good sign for mr. gordon. the world cup quarter finals continued today with argentina and belgium in brazil. in the eighth minute off the deflection here. the ball lands on the foot of gone sol low who blasts it in for the goal. argentina take the one-nil lead. he's very excited about that. now last chance for belgium in the knifeth minute. but the shot it goes just wide and argentina holds on to 11-nil and advance to the sem semi fin. >> gorgeous day at wimbledon for the women's singles final. the championship point here. katism va back with the backhand win for wimbledon. she wins there so big day in sports. the phillies they just couldn't do it. >> they couldn't statue out win again. everybody is shocked. >> the return of nerlins noel that was huge today. that was big for him. >> that high top haircut. >> that's coming back. >> join us tonight after the game because this guy here is captured on video stealing an american

mr. mcdonald. brown? >> thanks, it's an honor to be here with my friend rob portman bob mcdonald to be the new secretary of the veterans administration. that, i'md to do also, i think it appropriate to ohioan and-time second of the v.a., one of the v.a. hospitals was in day ton ohio, and we have a long reputation for caring for veterans. we understand, there are veterans last year, and i assume roughly the same number this year, in the care system that have gotten care, some 85 million patient visits and the responsibility that soon i hope soon to be secretary assume is great. we know he's qualified as the chairman said. when the president of the united states asked mr. mcdonald to be the secretary in the v.a., we as ahis qualifications graduate of west point, as a u.s. army captain, and as a the most one of successful large corporations in with thousands and thousands of employees, and millions of customers all over world. so we know he's qualified to do this. we also know the problems we've v.a.in the t

but to get mr. brownhave to squint to imagine it was james sitting there? he had his voice and cadence and the way james spoke. this was not a duplication or impression. this is a fine young actor embodying a role as actors should do. >> that's a great team. octavia spencer playing his mom. >> i get to be in this cast, so privileged to be in this cast with these tremendous actors. it's something i can be proud of and tell my children they can show up to this one. >> let's switch gears a bit. we just came off the 30th anniversary of "ghostbusters" last month. >> we owned the city here. >> what's one of your fondest memories of that? >> we were stealing shots all over no permits or nothing. we were just walking along at the library. and people, they didn't know who we were. they weren't even reacting to us. >> normal new york. >> it was great and thought this is just going to be a great experience. then we went to madison avenue with the rigs on and it was pandemonium there. here we were with the packs and

mr. mcdonald. senator brown. >> thank you, mr. chairman. it's an honor to be here with my friend bob portman to introduce bob mcdonald to be the new secretary of the veterans administration. i'm honored to do that. i also think it's appropriate to have a long-time ohioan to be a secretary of the va, the first veterans hospital in dayton, ohio. we have a long tradition as the states you represent of caring for veterans. we understand, there are 6.5 million veterans in this last year and i assume roughly the same number this year, in the veterans health care system, that have gotten care, some 85 million patient visits. and the responsibility that soon i hope soon to be secretary mcdonald will assume is great. we know he's qualified as the chairman said. when the president of the united states asked mr. mcdonald to be the secretary of the va, we know his qualifications as a graduate of west point, a u.s. army captain and ceo of one of the most successful, large corporations in this country with thousands and thousands of employees and million

. >> brown: mr.oran, finally, i would be remiss in not asking about some reports that have been in the media especially from our colleagues at n.p.r. about excessive force used by border patrol agents, specifically about abuses of children, holding them in freezing rooms, verbal and psychological abuse. are those things happening? are you looking into those things? >> we are, but i -- in 17 years as a border patrol agent, i've never heard ourselves referred to as freezers, so that was new when i spoke to john burnet this weekend about this story. i believe as a border patrol agent, when you encounter a child, there's nothing that pulls at your heart strings more. border patrol agents know better than anyone else how dangerous the border is and to see a child coming across there's special by themselves definitely, as i said, pulls at the heart strings and brings out the compassion. to say border patrol agents are going out there and trying to make this situation more difficult for juveniles that are h

mr. chairman. i yield back. >> thank you. miss brown, you are recognized for five minutes. >> thank you. mr. soto, right here. i'm corinne brown. i am from florida. of course, i'm very familiar with the system in st. pete and you all processed most of the casework in florida, and it really has improved. we was having so much kickback, you know, we would process it and it wasn't going through so i think it's very important to have goals. how long did you work at this center in st. pete? >> four years. >> you worked there for four years. have you seen an improvement in the system in the four years? >> that's a difficult question to answer because -- >> well, what's the number of cases that you was processing? because, you know, for a long time we were having serious problems because you all process most of the cases in florida and we have a very high number of cases in florida. >> yes. i did some studies and part of those studies that i just mentioned, and essentially, we haven't corrected errors that have been occurring in the past three years, no matter what type of training we're doing, it's

mr. chairman, i yield back. >> ms. brown, you are recognized. >> ms. soto, i am from florida and i am florida with the system in st. pete and you process most of the case work in florida. it has improved. we were having kickback with processing it and it wasn't going through so i think it is very important to have goals. how long did you work at the center in st. pete? >> four years. >> you worked there for four years. have you seen improvement in the system in the four years? >> that is a difficult question to answer -- >> what is the number of cases you were processing? for a long time we were having serious problems because you all processed most of the cases in florida and we have a very high number of cases in florida. >> yes, i did studies and part of those studies that i just mentioned and essentially we have not corrected errors that have been occurring in the past three years no matter what type of training it isn't effective and we were repeating the same errors over and over. so i would say no, we have not improved to answer your question. >

mr. sin country to file this case in superior court he did that without our explicit permission. >> i want to read i something from the brown act section 54946.9. but i want to mention after the last meeting i put in a records request inform mr. sincroy that was provided to the commissioners before the placing last meeting i got copies of everything that's listed but one was withheld because of the subject to the attorney-client privilege asserting that the attorney-client privilege on the material that was provided to the commissioners afforded. this is what 549.6.9 says for purposes of this chapter all expressions of the lawyer client privilege other than those provided in this section are here we go abrogated. this section is the inclusive session of the attorney-client privilege for the privileges of having the closed session sessions but it says that anything that you get before the closed session meeting is a public record flu disclosureable if >> lawyers don't agree i'll be happy to have the debate. so let's suppose there is a decisiro

mr. sin country to file this case in superior court he did that without our explicit permission. >> i want to read i something from the brown act section 54946.9. but i want to mention after the last meeting i put in a records request inform mr. sincroy that was provided to the commissioners before the placing last meeting i got copies of everything that's listed but one was withheld because of the subject to the attorney-client privilege asserting that the attorney-client privilege on the material that was provided

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator grassley. senator brown. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i would talk for a moment about a question for you mr. stack, about earnings stripping. companies are using intercompany debt to lever up their u.s. subsidiary and duct interest up to 50% of pretax earnings, shifting profits to the lower tax country. the second element of this tax arbitrage is shifting intellectual property and attributed profits to tax havens. my question is what do we do right now to create a kind of temporary trip wire that will allow legitimate mergers but prevent those arbitrage-driven inversions? >> thank you senator. one of the reasons we singled out these anti-stripping proposals in our budget even without reform these things are going on now and going on particularly in cases where we have inversions. so whether it be interest stripping, making it harder to take intangibles out of the united states, changing the treatment of instruments that you can take a deduction here and have no income inclusion somewhere else we think these are all urgent needs that woul

brown. >> thank you, mr. chairman. we've heard my colleagues, weaver to media around the country very critical of the va come in many cases deserve. we've also seen some of this criticism directed at va employees generally, and i think it's important i do know you'll be dealing with some very serious morale issues. we had terrible morale problems as you and i talked about. that's improved dramatically because of some decisions the va me. i just want to always point out that 30% of the va or va employees are veterans, close to 100% of the va employees chose to serve veterans and how important morale is and how important it is that we recognize that most of those employers are doing a good job, and i know you understand that. let me ask a couple of questions that, a number of things. i hai have high regard for genel shinseki, your predecessor. in three things is working on that i was asked if he planned to continue. he identified himself, self-imposed a plan for any the backlog, an issue that everybody in this committee

brown stage, the white suit. >> reporter: he wore this. >> this was mr. boseman's number. i'm surprised it was intact. ne day in this. >> reporter: in later life, brown grabbed attention for his troubles with the law. >> the godfather of soul turned himself into police today. >> reporter: drugs and domestic abuse. >> charged with trying to kill his wife last week. >> james brown. >> reporter: you touched on some of the violence and the drugs in the film. but you didn't go deeply there. was that conscious? >> it was because, to be frank, that's the most horribly celebrated part of james' life with american culture. >> how are you all doing? >> good. >> what his real legacy is what he meant to the african-american race. i'm black and proud. ♪ say it loud ♪ i'm black and i'm proud >> reporter: ultimately, they ♪ say there's a lesson all of us can take from james brown. >> he was the architect of his destiny. and i think that's what is triumphant about his story. >> he had an idea of what he wanted to be and what he wanted to do. i think a lot of times, people don't feel like they have that power. >> repor

brown is they senior senator from ohio, the state where mr. mcdonald hails from. he and senator portman are going to introduce mr. mcdonald. >> angst, mr. chairman. it is an honor to introduce bob mcdonald. i am honored to do that. i also think it is appropriate -- one of the first veterans hospitals in the country was in dayton, ohio. understand there are 6.5 million veterans last year and i assume roughly the same number this year in the veterans health care system that have gotten care. some 85 million patient visits. the responsibility that i hope secretary mcdonald will assume is great. we know he is qualified. when the president asked mr. mcdonald to be the secretary of the v.a., we know his qualifications. ana graduate of west point, army captain and a ceo of one of the most successful corporations in this country with thousands of employees and millions of customers. we know he is qualified to do this. we also know the problems we have seen in the v.a. 10 years ago, we went to war. the government didn't envision the number or the severity of injuries that

mr. chairman, thank you. >> senator brown. >> thank you, mr. chairman.ir, thank you for being here. these hearings often focus on when the fed will change its policies so financial markets will rally and wall street lenders can make money. too often we forget about the human side of these issues. as federal reserve chair you have worked to put a face on economic numbers. we appreciate that. last february you spoke of the toll on unemployed workers, quote, being simply terrible on the mental health of workers, on their marriages and children. it seems too many people around here still view unemployed workers as lazy, shiftless people who do not really want to work, and so we simply don't stepped -- extend programs like unemployment insurance. talk about the psychological effects that unemployment has on workers, why the psychology is so important, why it should matter to us, even a senator who goes to work in a suit every day and speaks with an upper class accent. >> well, i think many workers who lose jobs that they're attached to and depend on for their

senator sherry brown is the senior senator from ohio, the state where mr. mcdonald hails from. he and senator portman are going to introduce mr. mcdonald. >> thanks, mr. chairman. it is an honor to introduce bob mcdonald. i am honored to do that. i also think it is appropriate to have -- one of the first veterans hospitals in the country was in dayton, ohio. we understand there are 6.5 million veterans last year and i assume roughly the same number this year in the veterans health care system that have gotten care. some 85 million patient visits. the responsibility that i hope secretary mcdonald will assume is great. we know he is qualified. when the president asked mr. mcdonald to be the secretary of the v.a., we know his qualifications. as a graduate of west point, an army captain and a ceo of one of the most successful corporations in this country with thousands of employees and millions of customers. we know he is qualified to do this. we also know the problems we have seen in the v.a. 10 years ago, we went to war. the government didn't envision the number or the severity o

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator hatch. senator brown? >> thank you, mr. chairman. good to see you, ms. colvin. thank you for joining us. and first, i just wanted to exhort you to work hard in terms of improving and expanding ssa's communication with the general public. i do, as many of us do, i've done literally hundreds of roundtables and calls with senior groups, and various kinds of town halls, and i hear so many of the same myths about social security, about disability, about -- that, you know, it's not always going to be there, and all the things that people say. i urge you to do what you can to help answer those myths. we talked about that. you agree with that. but let me talk about a couple more serious things. a couple other more administrative things, if i could. my office got a copy of a memo from an administrative law judge in the office of disability adjudication review in new york. i ask unanimous consent that be entered into the record. >> without objection, it's so ordered. >> and from the chief administrative law judge that mandates the quota. >> so ordered. >> it conta

brown? >> thank you, mr. chairman. we've heard my colleagues, we've heard the media around the country very critical of the v.a., in many cases deserved. we've also seen some of the this criticism directed at v.a. employees generally, and i think it's important. i know you're going to be dealing with some very serious more re morale. that's included dramatic at some because of the decisions the v.a. made. i want to point out that 30% of the employees are veterans, and close to 100% of the employees chose to serve veterans and how important it is that we recognize moth of those employees are doing a good job. i know you understand that. let me ask a couple questions that on a number of things. i had high regard for general shinseki, your predecessor. he was -- three things that he was working on that i wanted to ask if you planned to continue. he identified himself -- a self-imposed plan for ending the backlog, an issue that everybody in this committee and both parties have spoken out on. we've seen major improvements t

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator grassley. senator brown. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i would talk for a moment about a question for you, mr. stack, about earnings stripping. companies are using intercompany debt to lever up their u.s. subsidiary and duct interest up to 50% of pretax earnings, shifting profits to the lower tax country. the second element of this tax arbitrage is shifting intellectual property and attributed profits to tax havens. my question is what do we do right now to create a kind of temporary trip wire that will allow legitimate mergers, but prevent those arbitrage-driven inversions? >> thank you, senator. one of the reasons we singled out these anti-stripping proposals in our budget, even without reform these things are going on now and going on particularly in cases where we have inversions. so whether it be interest stripping, making it harder to take intangibles out of the united states, changing the treatment of instruments that you can take a deduction here and have no income inclusion somewhere else, we think these are all urgent needs that