mr. flores. >> next speaker >> thank you, supervisors i'm jean cotter i want to acknowledge my colleagues bryan who's working on for the mason and billy hall and others. and the transition that a job with stability and benefits can have on a family and on a community. this is an important program since 2008 we have had a coalition that has stood strong in favor of go sf and environmental justice and economic justice, the reentry council, members and visits and people across a board spectrum of backgrounds are coming together to support a program that is actually having a huge impact in san francisco. no place else in the world am i aware of environmental justice activist aligning r with clean techs and construction folks and aligning with the sierra club to reach out and support folks to get them into jobs. i love what i do and the impact that i see. i love that i can work with a graduate of john o'connell and see him stay here and live in a city that he loves and works with other people to teach them how to do sloofr solar on an iconic building like mason that will benefit. i thank you f

mr. flores: i yield 60 seconds to the gentleman from washington. e chair: the gentleman from washington is recognized for one minute. mr. hastings: i thank the gentleman for yielding. i just want to make this point that the gentleman from texas pointed out. what we are saying essentially in the underlying bill is we're not going to fund an executive order. now, let's think about that. an executive order that has no statutory authority. in many ways this is one of the examples of this administration, i think, far overstepping its ability to faithfully execute the laws of the land. this may be one of those examples, that the speaker was alluding to yesterday when he suggested there may be a lawsuit coming from the u.s. house because there is no statutory authority for the national ocean policy. what i find so interesting when my friends on the other side of the aisle argue about how important a national ocean policy is, when they controlled the house, senate and presidency in the first two terms of this president's term, they did nothing with the nati

mr. flores: thank you, madam chair. the opposition doesn't understand my amendment. this does nothing to restrict the department of defense from buying green fuel, biofuel or any other kind of fuel. what it does do is prevent the situation where the refinery in the gentleman's district, it turns out to start using canadian oil sands crude as one of their feed stocks, from preventing that refinery from not being able to sell its fuel to the military. the gentleman's sergeant exactly backwards. this allows the military to buy the fuel from whatever source, whether it's biofuels, conventional sources or some other coal to liquid source or canadian oil sands source. it gives them the greatest opportunity at the cheapest cost to buy the fuels to allow our war fighters to worry about taking care of defending this country and not worrying about where the source of the fuel comes from. thank you and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from indiana yields back. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from texas. those in favor s

mr. flores: thank you, mr. speaker.also thank gentlemen from south carolina and texas for support of this bill. i rise in support of h.r. 4199 would name the waco department of veterans affairs medical center after petty officer doris miller. he was the first african-american to be awarded the navy cross. petty officer miller, better own by his nickname dorie of waco, texas, served from 1939 to 1943 and was most renowned for his heroic attacks during the japanese attack on pearl harbor. on that day, while serving as a mess attendant on the battleship west virginia when the attack started. during the attack and under enemy fire, miller aided mortally -- manning a .50 caliber aircraft machine gun. he returned fire upon the enemy until he was out of ammunition, reportedly shooting down one to three enemy planes. in the final moments before the u.s.s. west virginia sank, miller continued his heroism by continuing many of his shipmates to safety and saving many in the process. the story of petty officer miller's bravery is a

mr. flores. m ms. titus. >> over the past week we've had a lot of discussion about how to integrate metrics into evaluating the system. we keep hearing metrics this, metrics that. then just recently the v.a. said they're dropping the metric of 14 days as a way to measure the scheduling appointments because that was unrealistic. now they've changed it to 30 days. i know we can't abandon performance metrics. but when i talked to the people at the las vegas hospital and they go into all these details, then they tell me, but this doesn't really measure what we're doing because it doesn't count the first appointment that they have when they come in on the very same day. so it's not an accurate reflection. i wonder if we're not suffering from the ecological fallacy. we just can't see the forest for the trees. do you have some suggestion about how we better use metrics or we get rid of some metrics or how we can do evaluation better? anybody? >> yeah. you know, in our industry, we tend to be gluttons for puni

mr. flores. m ms. titus. >> over the past week we've had a lot of discussion about how to integrate metrics into evaluating the system. we keep hearing metrics this, metrics that. then just recently the v.a. said they're dropping the metric of 14 days as a way to measure the scheduling appointments because that was unrealistic. now they've changed it to 30 days. i know we can't abandon performance metrics. but when i talked to the people at the las vegas hospital and they go into all these details, then they tell me, but this doesn't really measure what we're doing because it doesn't count the first appointment that they have when they come in on the very same day. so it's not an accurate reflection. i wonder if we're not suffering from the ecological fallacy. we just can't see the forest for the trees. do you have some suggestion about how we better use metrics or we get rid of some metrics or how we can do evaluation better? anybody? >> yeah. you know, in our industry, we tend to be gluttons for puni

mr. flores, you are recognized five minutes. >> thank you. mr. matkovsky, you referred to high performance facilities. is that correct? >> a high performing facility, yes. >> how many of those are in the vha system and roughly where are they >> we found them in different ways, sir. we found facilities that have a good handle on access, patient satisfaction, the acting secretary came back from his visit to san antonio and the e passion, the mission the drive,d the energy is palpable in some s of our facilities. i will tell you that in some case, entire networks we did not find facilities that had ome integrity issues worth us reviewing. in some networks, we only had be selected instance, both from an integrity perspective and a veteran focus perspective, we h have high performers who get the process right, schedule with integrity, report with accuracy, find resources where you need them. we have a number of them. high >> so we have these high performing facilities that have much better outcomes than the other facilities. what is it that makes it >

mr. flores, you are recognized five minutes. >> thank you, i thank witnesses for testifying today. mr. matkovsky, you referred to high performance facilities. is that correct? >> a high performing facility, yes. >> how many of those are in the vha system and roughly where are they? >> we found them in different ways, sir. we found facilities that have a good hand him on access, patient satisfaction, the acting secretary came back from his visit to san antonio and the passion, the mission the drive, the energy is palpable in some of our facilities. i will tell you that in some case, entire networks we did not find facilities that had integrity issues. in some network, we only had selected instance, both from an integrity perspective and a veteran focus perspective, we have high performers who get the process right schedule with integrity, report with accuracy, find resoushss where you need them. we have a number of them. >> so we have these high performing facilities that have much better outcomes than the other facilities. what is it that makes it different? >> culture and leadership.

mr. flores you're recognized. >> thank you, chairman. and thank you, panel. when the v.a.o.i.g. went to phoenix to look at what was actually happening there, they did what auditors do, they took a statistical sample of files to see what was reported and what was actual. the sample set was 226 veterans in this particular case. the original report from the phoenix v.a. facility was that these 226 veterans waited an average of 24 days for their first primary care appointment and only 43% waited more than 14 days. when the i.g. did their study of what actually happened on those same 226 cases they discovered they waited an average of 115 days with 84% waiting more than 15 days. based on what they found in that sample, you have to extrapolate that and assume that all of the appointment process is as broken as those 226 are. who is responsible for reporting fraudulent numbers to the v.a. central office? when you look at a v.h.a. facility, who in that facility is responsible for reporting those numbers up the chain so to speak? >> mr. congressman, i believe the responsibility for repor

flores. stun guns had failed to subdue the inmate five times earlier that day. >> if mr. sines had gotten his cuffs in front of him he could have used those cuffs to strangle either the civilian contractor or officer flores or someone else if he had gotten away. >> reporter: blood pours from sines, the officer tries to stop it but he soon dice. the blood exam shows he had steroids in his system. amazing how much a threat a man could pose in handcuffs. >>> even though officers flores no longer face criminal charges, the dead man's family could file civil case. has a not yet made a decision. >> all right, jonathan, thank you. >> tonight in our series guns around the world we look at the united states, the world leader in gun owner and in gun violence. all too familiar cycle of national sour searching and debate. how did this happen, what can we do to keep it from happening again, yet little changes. the cycle repeats itself. th just this past month, president obama vented his own frustration. >> we're the only developed country in the world where this happens. it happens not

if mr signs had the cuffs in front of him, he could have used them to strangle the civilian contractor or officer flores, or someone else that got in the way. >> blood poured from signs. the officer performed c.e.r. signs dies. the death ignited anger along the border city. signs was a body builder. the autopsy she had he had steroids and stimulants in his system, and said to be acting erratically. supporters find his death difficult to understand, wondering how much of a threat a man could pose, handcuffed. >>> there have been more than 60 mass shootings in the united states in the last three decades. after each, the u.s. has gone through a cycle of national soul-searching and debate - how did this happen, what can we do to keep it from happening. nothing changes. the cycle repeats. after a deadly rampage in loss las vegas, and a high school shooting president obama vented his own frustrationsism. >> we are the only developed country in the world where it happens. it happens not just one day a week, and it's a one day story. there's no place like this. a lot of people say it's a mental health problem.

flores requirements as necessary. >> time of the gentlewoman expired. chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia mr. forbes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. judd, you are here as i understand it, representing the border agents, is that true? >> that's correct. >> how many border agents would that be that you would represent? >> roughly 16,500. >> you were asked if the law changed and i think were answer was thought had not changed, is that correct? >> when it comes to the transportation of unaccompanied alien children. >> but you wouldn't deny that the an enforcement policies of this administration have changed, would you? >> the an enforcement policies have changed. >> mr. crane, you are representing the i.c.e. agents, is that correct? >> yes, sir. >> how many i.c.e. agents would you be representing? >> approximately 5,000, sir. >> are you familiar with whether or not homeland security secretary johnson conducted a town hall meeting at a dhs office in fairfax, virginia, on april 23, 2014 with i.c.e. agents and officers present? >> yes, sir. i have spoken with the officers that were present at the b