mr. gibson says 18 veterans died while waiting for care in phoenix and says if their deaths are tied to delays or bogus lists, the agency will discipline those involved. >>> the spotlight is on west coast rock star, talking about california chrome at belmont stakes. and a victory today would make chrome the first to win the triple crown since affirmed won at the belmont by a nose, yes, a nose, in 1978. that was 36 years ago. molly line is live at the belmont racetrack with a great hat and great news for us today. give us the goods, molly. >> absolutely. it's been a great crowd here today. we had a chance, speaking of rock stars of races, we had a chance to speak with a national rock star, richie sambora, the guitarist for bon jovi. he says he loves the ponies and he, too, would like to see a triple crown winner tonight. take a listen. >> i hope so, yeah, i'm feeling good about it. i have a good feeling about it. i'm a chromey. >> there's a growing crowd here. they're coming in from all hoefr the country. so many hoping to see california chrome become just the 12th horse in history to win the t

mr. gibson, that is that this chaos . >> really? these guys are this stupid?on't think so, i think they're like a sly fox, they're the smartest guys in the room. they're deceptive and destructive but smarter than the average bear. lou: and to that point -- go ahead. >> yes and no, but you got to remember that obama a-team is off the field. gibbs, axelrod, all the guys are gone, there's a b-team and the boss is up to 170 rounds of golf. i'm not sure they're all that smart. not sure i'm willing to give them credit for being that smart. lou: how smart do you have to be if you don't obey the law, you don't worry one little bit about destroying, it appears, e-mail after e-mail on government servers. you simply tell congress you're not going to reply and stonewall across every one of these scandals. whether it's benghazi, whether it's the va, whether it's the irs spying on journalists, fast and furious. the list goes on and on, it's unthinkable here that we would have -- half of these would not have been possible. >> they've learned to cover. yeah, well, i've learne

mr. gibson, mr. fowler, thank you for joining us, we appreciate it. >> thank you so much.hley: okay, who knew that a tiny square of very old red paper could fetch you 9.5 million bucks. john probably did. the record setting price paid for a rare postage stamp from a 19th century british colony in south america. the fourth time the stamp has broken the record for a single stamp. back in 1980 heir to the dupont chemical fortune paid $945,000 to tad to his collection. how nice. >>> coming up next, general motors ceo mary barra telling congress there will be no limits placed on the compensation fun by those affected by faulty ignition switches, but will that be enough to overcome the negative percep keeping a billion customers a year flying, means keeping seven billion transactions flowing. and when weather hits, it's data mayhem. but airlines running hp end-to-end solutions are always calm during a storm. so if your business deals with the unexpected, hp big data and cloud solutions make sure you always know what's coming - and are ready for it. make it matter. when folks thi

mr. gibson: i thank my friend -- the chair: the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. gibson: i thank my friend and colleague and thank you, madam chair. madam chair, if another country gave arms to a rebel group or another country for the express purpose of attacking our country, we would view that act as an act of war. and -- but for some reason we don't hold ourselves to that same standard. if it is the intent of the administration to give arms to any group, then under our constitution the administration must first come here and debate it on the floor and get authorization from the people's representatives. and so, madam chair, i oppose us getting involved in the syrian civil war. i believe that there's more that we can do diplomatically to isolate the assad regime. i don't think giving arms to any rebel group is in our best . terest but most certainly if that's ever to occur, there first has to be an authorization. so i urge my colleagues to support this amendment. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek rec

mr. gibson, you are recognized for your testimony. >> thank you. i would like to thank the congressman for inviting me to speak today. in 2011 while training to deploy to afghanistan, i received a severe back injury. by the time it received at the site in fort worth, texas, i was confined to a wheelchair earning me the nickname the wheelchair soldier. days later, i was prescribed a cocktail of drugs to allow me to walk but without excruciating pain. plus and the warrior transition program, it required surgical intervention. before my back surgery could be performed, i required a procedure to treat uterine fibers. i did not receive a follow-up gynecological appointment. i was determined to be medically unfit to serve. received a 20% disability rating . and received separation pay. within days of filing paperwork agree to the rating and i needed a hysterectomy. i want to be clear my head i received a follow-up to the original gynecological procedure, my hysterectomy would've been performed a year earlier and my disability rating would have been 70%.

mr. gibson and mr. vargas are all hardworking members, democrats and bun republicans on the ag committee. this shows you how wonderful the legislative process can be. i earncy tissue i certainly want to recognize our ranking member who brought this concern in her opening remarks. and this helps to tighten and i think make a better bill because what it will do is that it will address the concerns that ms. waters raised and that would be that improved cost benefits provision would lead to unnecessary lit gation. what -- litigation. what ms. delbene and mr. vargas and mr. gibson have done, it narrows the potential avenues for lit gigs on the cftc's cost benefit analysis but still allows the consideration of the points of analysis to take place. i want to commend ms. delbene and mr. gibson and mr. vargas for a very good amendment and yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentlelady from washington yields back. all time having been yielded back, the question is on the a

mr. gibson was stopped in the hallway and a patient asked him the same question i did?have responded the same way to a veteran in a wheelchair? i don't believe he knew i was a veteran myself, but his response should have been much more professional regardless of the situation. >> you're the one and i'm the one and kathleen, you're the one funding this. for his loyalty to be to his employees rather to the public he supposedly serves is really telling. kathleen, thank you for joining us this morning. i appreciate your light on this situation. >> thank you. >>> coming up, why a daughter's most important relationship is with her dad and how it shapes her to life. stay tuned for that. dysfunction get in your way? talk to your doctor about viagra. ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. side effects include headache, flushing, upset stomach, and abnormal vision. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. stop tak

mr. nabors and acting director sloan gibson did not pull any punches on this. >> the review says the v.a.should prepare to change for the population including women and a growing number of older vets. president obama ordered the review last month just days before secretary eric shinseki resigned. >>> let's head to daytona beach, florida, where a jury has award 2d$.6 million to a woman who sued after she was run over by a lifeguard vehicle. the woman from kansas was sun bathing on vacation when a beach patrol truck rolled over her head. while motor vehicles are allowed on the beach, the victim testified she's in constant pain and suffers from facial paralysis plus hearing loss. the jury came back after three hours. >> nasa has successfully recovered a flying saucer during a test flight. it's testing technology to possibly be used to land on mars. the parachute on the disk-shaped vehicle did not fully open before splashing down in the ocean but nasa is still calling the mission a success. it with us traveling four times the speed of sound. the next test for the new technology will take plac

mr. neighbors and acting director sloan gibson did not pull any punches on this. >> the review also says that the v.a. must prepare for a changing veteran population that including women, a rise in mental health care needs, and a growing number of older vets. president obama ordered the review last month days before architecture shinseki resigned. >>> president obama will be busy this week before the holiday. he'll be asking congress for more than $2 billion for help with the immigrant children. according to a white house official the president will send a letter to congress tomorrow but the details of that letter and the emergency funds he's asking for won't come up till after the lawmakers return from their holiday recess on july 7th. president obama will also ask that the homeland security department be given the authority too fast track screenings and deportations of all immigrant children traveling without their parents. >>> tomorrow we're expecting to learn the terms of general motors plan to pay victims for crashes caused by bad ignition switches. the automaker's ceo mary barra sa

mr. nabors and acting director sloan gibson did not pull any punches on this. >> reporter: the reports' key finding, the v.a.'s goal of scheduling patients for treatment within 14 days is arbitrary, ill-defined and misunderstood. and that may have incentivized inappropriate actions by va personnel to hide the treatment delays. the report also says the va has technology that's outdated and a shortage of doctors and other health care professionals. tom tarantino of the iraq and afghanistan veterans of america says the president needs to do a better job of coordinating with veterans. >> this report didn't need to be written, because we could have told the president all of this stuff going back years. and so it's a shame that he's not chosen to use this resource that he has available to him. >> reporter: the report proposes a number of reforms, including increasing transparency and overhauling the entire structure. an agenda the new v.a. secretary will be expected to implement quickly. what will the president be looking for in the new chief? >> someone who is a strong manager, someone who has e

mr. neighbors and act acting director savings and loan gibson did not pull any punches on this. >> neighbors also says the v.a. must prepare for a changing veteran population. in all, massive changes to come to the country's largest health care system. a long list of fixes, the new v.a. secretary will be expected to implement and soon. >> a controversial new arizona law is being praised by some as a layer of protection against deadly rampages. that law allows at-risk individuals to mental health centers with a court order. it was inspired by gabrie gabriel giffords that led several other people dead. >> we do know that we've intervened where potentlly there could be violent acts perpetrated. >> some say if california had similar legislation, it might have prevented the santa barbara rampage. >> facebook conducted an experiment back in 2012. they wanted to see how users' posts impact other people. so the company changed news feeds to highlight positive or negative messages. they found out that positive posts lead to more positive posts and vice versa. it sort of continues. facebook was able t

mr. eric jenkins who is here with the national va council, ms. debra gibson is here and is an individual service and she'll be introduced shortly. mr. geraldo avela, with the american legion and mr. paul valero, and mr. one final point, all of the witnesses are present. i must advise pursuant to title 18 of the united states code section 1001, known as the false statement act, this is a crime to knowingly give false statements in federal jurisdiction including a congressional hearing. with that acknowledge, thank you all for being with us today. i yield to the ranking member ms. titus for her opening statement. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for holding this hearing today. thank you for coming to provide us with needed information. today we are looking at the performance of programs that v.a. and d.o.d. utilized for determining fit for duty the status for ill or injured service members as well as programs designed to expedite the adjudication of claims. particularly we are going to focus on integrated disability evaluation system, ides that benefits de

mr. nabors and acting director sloan gibson did not pull any punches on this. >> the review also says they must prepare for a changing veteran population that including women and prepare for a rise in health care needs and a growing number. it was revealed a few days before eric shinseki resigned. >>> president obama is asking for $2 billion to deal with the immigrant children illegally crossing the u.s./mexico border. accords to a white house official the president will send a letter to them tomorrow but the details of the emergency funds won't come until they return from their holiday resense. he eels also ask that they be given the authority to fast tract screenings for all of those traveling without their parents. >>> general motors will soon be making payments to the families of crash victims, but gm won't have a say in how much money that they'll have to pay. we'll explain after the break. >>> what are we making? >> fried meat balls. we have ground pork and ground beef. right now we're just going to make a small batch of this, frying off the meat. the mashed potato gives it the silky

mr. chairman. i would just say first, miss gibson, my colleague was right. yours is a powerful and eloquent voice for a change. i thank you very much for being here. i would just ask you if at any point during the process were you asked by anybody or did you take a survey about how it was working, what could have been done better if you were satisfied? did you feel like anybody was asking for your feedback? >> yes, ma'am, i do. the issue with the survey is i have some familiarity with surveys and when you survey people makes a difference in what their response will be. so, for example, if you survey a service member who has recently entered the ides process and they are within that first 30-day window, their comment about the va or about the system is not going to be negative at all because thai only participated in the process for 30 days. if, however, you survey that same service member say, for example, within six months of them exiting the service when they had an opportunity to sort of reflect back upon when or what happened to them, i think that the nu

gibson. [applause] >> thank you, mr. mayor.ending veteran homelessness is one of the a's three agency priority goals. under the circumstances i would be remiss if i did not at least mention one other goal we have and that it's improving veteran access to ba care and service. service.e adnnd [applause] as the president has directed, to getmoving immediately veterans off of wait list and into clinics and taking action to fix the systemic problems that allowed the unacceptable waits to occur. we demonstrated in the past the ability to tackle tough packages -- have challenges and we are on our way to eliminating the turn homelessness. but that last tough challenge we cannot do on our own. it is a challenge that requires close collaboration between andral, state and federal community groups. ba and hud may have resources but we depend on over 4000 partners to extend service to -- services to homeless veterans. last year more than 40 5000 veterans and family members were housed using hud vouchers. more than 60,000 were saved from evi

gibson. [applause] >> thank you mr. mayor. ending veteran homelessness is one of va's three agency priorities. under the circumstances i would remiss if i did mention one other goal that we have and that's improving veteran access to va care and service. [applause] as the president has directed we are moving immediately to get veterans off of weightless in the two clinics. we are taking action to fix the systemic actions that allow these unacceptable waits to occur. we demonstrate in the past our ability to tackle tough challenges. we have automated claims processing cleared have the backlog and on our way to elmo emanating veteran homelessness. with that last tough challenge we can't do on our own. it's a challenge that requires close collaboration among federal state and local governments and community groups va and hud may have resources that we depend on over 4000 partners to extend services to homeless veterans. last year thanks to those partners more than 45 tausan veterans and family members were housed using -- more th

gibson is at the helm temporarily. >> the challenge is getting veterans into the door, particularly for their first appointment in some cases. >> mr. obama says once vets get to see a doctor they are usually happy with their care but getting to see a doctor appears to have gotten more difficult when congress made the v.a. a medical care entitlement instead of a treatment facility for service-related injuries. >> if they want to do that it's going to take a lot more facilities and more money. >> vermont senator bernie sanders would add 27 v.a. facilities in 18 states. the white house says a dozen years of war have added 2 million vets. they may not be the ones who are putting the real strain on the system. >> the vast majority of the new veterans that are being enroll in the system are in fact older veterans from korea and vietnam with aging issues. >> congressman miller says they don't have to be treated at v.a. hospitals. the v.a. already spends billions on private care. several republican senators will unveil a plan this week to give vets more flexibility by spending millions more. >>> still ahead, a closer look at the terror su

gibson didn't like that. i was gaining more and more support. on television, i was on this guys show. show, comes on and bill of rights people. he said, mr. williams, there are good guys and they're bad guys. i'm standing there smiling. so, the whole thing turned around. at one point called me. the minister said amy up this escape so. he said, i'm going to have the hearing. i had my own notes. when you gather u.s. congressman. he had been told by malicious people, don't show up. i need him to get the information. i had been wrestling with this thing. i knew this stuff inside and outside. everything he threw at me, i threw right back at him, even on my side.there none of my staff showed up. i was there by myself. i was there after that. gibson said, i want you to resign. i said why? he said, because of the audit. i want time to answer and respond and get this thing out of the way and then i will leave . i had planned on leaving anyway. he said, no, you cannot do that. makel give you 30 days to up your mind. >> i collected all of the documents that i had, that i knew that i needed. someone was going to come after me with an indictment. whic

mr. mcdonald is a graduate of west point military academy. he served five years in the army jobre taking an entry level at the consumer goods company. if confirmed, he would replace v.a. secretary sloan gibson. "newsmakers with senator john thune." after that, speeches from last week'sn mississippi and new york primary races. congressman john dingell of michigan talking about his career and the state today'stisanship in politics. author danielth schulman. >> this week on "newsmakers" hill,g us from capitol south dakota senator john thune, chair of the republican conference, number three in leadership. in studio here, burgess everett the politico and neil with c.q. go ahead. >> senator, you're a member of finance committee and there's been a lot of talk with going toay trust fund reach a critical stage here in weeks.ing senator chuck schumer who is, of course, a democratic senator from new york a member of the leadership, and on the finance committee, has just said that recently it's iffy that there will be a deal done to avert a shortfall of the theway trust fund to find revenue to patch that hole. what's your view on the prospects that there's going to agreement before the middle of july w

mr. mcdonald is a graduate of west point military academy. he served five years in the army jobre taking an entry level at the consumer goods company. if confirmed, he would replace v.a. secretary sloan gibson. "newsmakers with senator john thune." after that, speeches from last week'sn mississippi and new york primary races. congressman john dingell of michigan talking about his career and the state today'stisanship in politics. author danielth schulman. >> this week on "newsmakers" hill,g us from capitol south dakota s

gibson about your testimony here today? >> brief, in passing, in the morning. >> no documentation of any of that communication? >> no, sir. >> mr. huff, who's your immediate supervisor? >> mr. mark hone. >> ok. did he have any conversation with mr. hone about your testimony here today? >> yes, sir. >> and what was the nature of that conversation or communication? >> to provide clear, accurate, and honest responses to your questions. >> you know, it's very troubling to me that we talk about accountability and making sure we know the facts here. but when you don't know the name of the people that actually did the destruction it seems like that would be the first thing when you went to phoenix you'd find out who did it. >> so congressman, my goal in going to phoenix was to understand the process. i knew that the inspector general was there. they were there to assess intent and to identify if there was responsibility or accountability for -- >> without names of people, how does that occur? how does -- don't you ask the person why did you destroy this evidence? these lists? why did you do it? >> these -- i did not speak to any of th

gibson has said we need to restore trust in the v.a. system and we must restore that one veteran at a time. our dedicated workforce over a third of whom are veterans are engaged. mr. chairman, thank you for your dedication to and your care for our nation's veterans. >> mr. griffin, you are recognized for five minutes. >> chairman miller, ranking member, and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify tonight, to discuss the interim results of the office of inspector general's work related to delays in care at the phoenix health care system. i'm accompanied by ms. linda halliday assistant inspector general for audits and evaluation. the issue of manipulation of wait list is not new to v.a. and since 2005, the oig has issued 18 reports that identified at both the national and local level deficiencies in scheduling resulting in lengthy wait times and a negative impact on patient care. we are using our combined expertise in audit, health care inspections, and criminal investigators to conduct a comprehensive review requiring an in-depth examination of many sources of information necessitating access to records and personnel both within and exte

gibson has said we need to restore trust in the v.a. system and we must restore that one veteran at a time. our dedicated workforce over a third of whom are veterans are engaged. mr. chairman, thank you for your dedication to and your care for our nation's veterans. >> mr. griffin, you are recognized for five minutes. >> chairman miller, ranking member, and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify tonight, to discuss the interim results of the office of inspector general's work related to delays in care at the phoenix health care system. i'm accompanied by ms. linda halliday assistant inspector general for audits and evaluation. the issue of manipulation of wait list is not new to v.a. and since 2005, the oig has issued 18 reports that identified at both the national and local level deficiencies in scheduling resulting in lengthy wait times and a negative impact on patient care. we are using our combined expertise in audit, health care inspections, and criminal investigators to conduct a comprehensive review requiring an in-depth examination of many sources of information necessitating access to records and personnel both within and exte