mr. kirk: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois, without objection. mr. kirk: mr. president, i rise to memorialize the life of my washington, d.c., scheduler who passed away yesterday, lisa redonia. this is a picture of her. i am going to give these remarks as if i am talking to lisa because this blow was such a severe one that we suffered yesterday. i would say that lisa redonia was one of the brightest lights of my washington, d.c., office. she was so -- she was such a strong supporter of mine, even stronger than myself. that lisa was a die-hard white sox fan. she even had a white sox logo tattoo on her -- on her ankle. that we will miss her so very dearly. lisa, i will tell you that this loss is -- sorry, mr. president. i get very emotional about this death that just happened yesterday, to memorialize lisa who was so much like her mother, state senator christine redonia of lamont. dedicated to the service of the

. >> mr. kirk ps. 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

mr. boulware embodies the kirk sticks of a nominee who is prepared to serve and that he will make an excellent district court judge for the state of nevada. after sitting down with him and discussing his nomination at length, i found him to be an extremely impressive nominee. a graduate of harvard university, mr. boulware went on to earn his law degree from columbia university. he currently serves as assistant federal public defender for the district of nevada in las vegas. he also has extensive experience arguing before the ninth court circuit of appeals. this trial experience coupled with his impressive academic accomplishments while clerking for the u.s. district courts will serve him well on the bench. outside of his professional duties he currently serves his local school system as a member of the superintendent's educational opportunity advisory committee. i'm clad glad to see the senate moving forward with this nomination, look forward to voting to confirm mr. boulware's nomination to the federal bench in nevada. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the

kirk patic. the speaker: the gentlewoman is recognized for three minutes. mrs. kirkpatrick: i rise in support of h.r. 4841, the bill i introduced to overhaul the v.a. the senate has passed this legislation and now we must act swiftly and pass the veterans' access to care through choice, accountability, and transparency act of 2014 without delay. over the past several weeks, the house veterans' affairs committee has held hearing after hearing on the multitude of issues that plague the v.a. these hearings have covered everything from the gaming strategies to hide long patient wait times and boe news received by v.a. executives to capacity problems in the v.a. health system and outdated appointment schedules software. . these hearings clearly demonstrate that the v.a. needs an overhaul, and h.r. 4841 seeks to accomplish this. our veterans have sacrificed so much for us. we have a moral obligation to ensure that sweeping reforms are implemented across the v.a., making it an organization that exists with one purpose -- to serve our veterans. as lawmakers we cannot ad