mr. o'rourke. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and i will say that mr. griffin and dr.chard griffin, by that criteria you have described your using to reach your conclusion i understand where you're coming from. i think that it is a rather narrow legalistic interpretation of data. i understand and think you made it very clear. i accept within those constraints would you conclude. common sense tells me from cases i have seen in my district that there is a cause and effect relationship between care that is delayed and is up being care that is denied that affects the veterans that spirit i use the example before with all due respect to the families. they have shared their story with me. it is for a purpose. you know, vic the mego have been trying to get health care and was unable to for entreated ptsd after attending -- after not being able to and attending one of my town halls where veteran actor veterans set up and said have also not been able to get income he was driving, and is not related the story to me that he was driving home that night. some of these guys are much

mr. o'rourke. you're recognized. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. secretary, i want to join my colleagues in thanking you for your service and taking on this very difficult but not impossible task of bringing the va back up to writ should be. i want to thank you for meeting with me and just from that meeting, and some of the issues we discussed and your followup to those items, including anid e-mail today from dr. clancy, i think that speaks very well of your ownership of these issues, your attitude of accountability, and some of things we'll have to look forward to on the bigger issues confronting the va. i also appreciate your commitment in our meeting to ensure that el paso, which is currently, would argue, one of the worst if not the worst, operations in the va, becomes the model. i think you have no greater opportunity to demonstrate straight turn around than in el paso. i want to make a large point about the system and get your response. following what we learned about el paso, despite our assurances from the va to the contrary, that we were

mr. o'rourke. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and i'll say that mr. griffin and dr. day, i think by the criteria that you have described to us that you are using to reach your conclusions, i understand where you're coming from, and i think it is a rather narrow legalistic interpretation of data, but i understand it and i think you've made that very clear today. and so i accept within those constraints what you've concluded. but common sense tells me just from cases i've seen in my district that there is a cause and effect relationship between care that is delayed that ends up being care that is denied that end up in veterans dying. and i've used this example before, with all due dew respect to the family, but they've shared their story with me and i think it's for a purpose. you know, nick di mee coe had been trying to get mental health care at the el paso vha, was unavailable to for untreated ptsd, and after attending -- after not being able to and attending one of my town halls where veteran after veteran stood up and said i have also not been able to get in, he wa

mr. o'rourke. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for two minutes. mr. o'rourke: i thank the the gentleman for his leadership and the chairman on this very difficult issue. i want to make one point clear to my colleagues. we are essentially declaring war through an amendment to a budget resolution. let's make no mistake. we are not simply training rebels in another country, saudi arabia, which, by the way, has been the most successful exporter of extremism and extremists in the world. we will reinsert those trained and equipped rebels back into their nd we will then be air force. we will be a co-belligerent part in a war. we need to do this with our eyes wide open, as my colleague just said, only with the power vested in congress through the u.s. constitution. the logical conclusion of our participation in this war is successful is to depose the assad regime and replace it with one of our own making in concert with these rebels. that will be the third country in 13 years whose regime we have deposed and whose government we have replaced with one of our ow

mr. o'rourke. >> thank you, mr. chairman. for holding this hearing and i join my colleagues who said earlier there is perhaps no way the american public can know everything that each of you in the men and women who work what you have done to protect this country. nonetheless the ou i think sonoita drama colleagues and letting you know how much we appreciated. secretary johnson, i appreciate you setting the record straight on terrorist threats to the homeland from our border with mexico. and i could not agree more with you that despite our success by far, that there have not been any terrorist plots connected to the southern border, but there's no evidence that isis is preparing to infiltrate the united states of the southern border. i couldn't agree more with you this is something we need to remain vigilant against, continue to use all of our resources as warranted by the threat that exists based on the evidence we find. i also appreciate you answering my colleagues question about whether we have sufficient resources on the s

mr. o'rourke. >> thank you, mr. chairman, for holding this hearing. i join my colleagues who said earlier that there's perhaps no way that the american public can know everything that each of you and the men and women who work with you have done to protect this country. none the less we owe you our thanks and i want to join my colleagues in letting you know how much we appreciate it. secretary johnson, i appreciate you setting the record straight on terrorist threats to the homeland from our border with mexico. i could not agree more with you that despite our success thus far, that there have not been any terrorist plots connected to the southern border. there's no evidence that isis is preparing to infiltrate the united states. i couldn't agree more with you this is something we need to remain vigilant against, continue to guard against. continue to use all of our resources as warranted by the threat that exists based on the evidence that we find. i also appreciate you answering my colleagues' question about whether or not we have sufficient resource

mr. o'rourke. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i will say that mr. griffin and dr. daigh, i think by the criteria that you have described to us that you're using to reach your conclusions, i understand where you're coming from. i think it is a rather narrow legalistic interpretation of data. i understand i think you made that very clear today. so i accept within those constraints what you have concluded. but common sense tells me just in case i've seen in my district that there is a cause and effect relationship between care that is delayed and in something care that is denied that ends up with veterans dying. i've used this example before come with all due respect to the family, but they have share their story with me and i think it's more a purpose. nick d'amico been trying to get mental health care at the el paso vha was unable to for untreated ptsd. after not being able to attend one of my town halls, i also not been able to get in. he was driving home and his mom relayed the story to me that he was driving home that night with her and said, some of these guys a

mr. o'rourke, very briefly. >> you don't have to yield to him. i'll recognize him. >> when i asked about a connection to known terrorist plots and the u.s./mexico border, mentioned the iran terror plot to assassinate somebody here in washington, d.c., there is, in fact, from everything that i know about this, absolutely no connection to the border. in fact, the plotter was interdicted at jfk airport where he was arrested due to our coordination with government of mexico. the person he thought he was dealing was actually a dea agent posing as a cartel member. the border was never exploited. while i think this is a serious issue, one which we must remain vigilant, there is no connection to the border. i invite anyone, especially those who have the subject matter expertise to tell me if i am wrong. my understanding is the border is as secure as it has ever been and we do not have any terror plots tied to the border. doesn't mean there might not be some, shouldn't guard against it, but let's deal with the facts. >> i thank the gentleman for his comme

mr. o'rourke said. that the report did not substantively influence your statements. the office is in my district. i hear constituent concerns, complaints, and governments about the i.g. the way other members don't. i know words matter. your statement that you cannot conclusively assert the lack of timely care caused the death of veterans certainly is an accurate statement based on your analytical model. can you also conclusively assert wheat lists did not contribute to the deaths of veterans? did you say that in the report? not? let me go through this. this is very important. >> this is why not. we put in the stories of all these people we thought did not get proper care. it was my assumption that by reading this stories -- these stories, you could understand where the weights were and drive to your own conclusions. >> you made a powerful statement based on inadequate local -- analytical model not requesting on the other side of the equation. for six months, we have been investigating the deaths of veterans. i.g. words matter. we challenge a pointy words all the time

mr. o'rourke, you are recognized. >> i want to join my colleagues in thanking you for your task of bringing the v.a. back to where it should be. a lot of thank you for meeting with me. meeting and the issues we discussed and your follow-up to those items, including an e-mail to dr. clancy. it speaks very well of your ownership of these issues, your attitude of accountability, and some of the things that we will have to look forward to on the bigger issues confronting the v.a. i appreciate your commitment in our meeting to ensure that el paso which is one of the worst, if not the worst operations in the v.a., becomes the model. you have no greater opportunity to present turnaround. show the example in el paso and get your response. following what we learned in el paso, despite the assurances to the contrary, we learned that veterans cannot see medical care. the average appointment was scheduled and canceled at least once. only have the audit in the spring, we learned we were the worst in terms of seeing a doctor or provider. second-worst for specialty care. we have that attention. had $5.2 m

mr. o'rourke, very briefly. >> you don't have to yield to him. i'll recognize him. >> when i asked about a connection to known terrorist plots and the u.s./mexico border, mentioned the iran terror plot to assassinate somebody here in washington, d.c., there is, in fact, from everything that i know about this, absolutely no connection to the border. in fact, the plotter was interdicted at jfk airport where he was arrested due to our coordination with government of mexico. the person he thought he was dealing was actually a dea agent posing as a cartel member. the border was never exploited. while i think this is a serious issue, one which we must remain vigilant, there is no connection to the border. i invite anyone, especially those who have the subject matter expertise to tell me if i am wrong. my understanding is the border is as secure as it has ever been and we do not have any terror plots tied to the border. doesn't mean there might not be some, shouldn't guard against it, but let's deal with the facts. >> i thank the gentleman for his comme

mr. o'rourke, very briefly. >> you don't have to yield to him. i'll recognize him. >> when i asked about a connection to known terrorist plots and the u.s./mexico border, mentioned the iran terror plot to assassinate somebody here in washington, d.c., there is, in fact, from everything that i know about this, absolutely no connection to the border. in fact, the plotter was interdicted at jfk airport where he was arrested due to our coordination with government of mexico. the person he thought he was dealing was actually a dea agent posing as a cartel member. the border was never exploited. while i think this is a serious issue, one which we must remain vigilant, there is no connection to the border. i invite anyone, especially those who have the subject matter expertise to tell me if i am wrong. my understanding is the border is as secure as it has ever been and we do not have any terror plots tied to the border. doesn't mean there might not be some, shouldn't guard against it, but let's deal with the facts. >> i thank the gentleman for his comme

mr. o'rourke. >> you don't have to yield. i recognize atonement. >> my colleagues and friends from south carolina when i asked about a connection to known terrorist plots and the u.s.-mexico border mention the iran terror plot to assassinate somebody here in washington d.c.. there is in fact from everything i know about this absolutely no connection to the border. in fact the plotter was interdicted at jfk airport where he was arrested due to our coordination with the government of mexico. the person with him he thought he was dealing was actually a dea agent posing as a cartel member. the border was never exploited and while i think this is a serious issue and again one against which we must remain vigilant there is no connection to the border. i invite anyone and especially those who have subject matter expertise to tell me if i'm wrong that by understanding is that the border is as secure as it has ever been and we do not have been a known terror plots tie to the border. it doesn't mean there might not be something and we

mr. o'rourke. >> thank you. i want to join my colleagues and thank you for taking on this service and this difficult but not impossible task of bringing the va back up to where it should be. i want to thank you for meeting with me. and just from that meeting and some of the issues we discussed in your follow up to those items, including an e-mail today from dr. clancy, i think that speaks very well of your ownership of these issues, your attitude of accountability and some of the things that we will have to look forward to on the bigger issues confronting the va. i also appreciate your commitment in our meeting to ensure that el paso, which is currently, i would argue, one of the worst if not the worst operations in the va, becomes the model. you have no greater opportunity to demonstrate turn around than you do in el paso. i wanted to use the example in el paso to make a larger point about the system and get your response. following what we learned about el paso, despite our assurances from the va to the countr

mr. o'rourke. >> thank you, mr. chairman, for holding this hearing. i join my colleagues who said earlier that there's perhaps no way that the american public can know everything that each of you and the men and women who work with you have done to protect this country. none the less we owe you our thanks and i want to join my colleagues in letting you know how much we appreciate it. secretary johnson, i appreciate you setting the record straight on terrorist threats to the homeland from our border with mexico. i could not agree more with you that despite our success thus far, that there have not been any terrorist plots connected to the southern border. there's no evidence that isis is preparing to infiltrate the united states. i couldn't agree more with you this is something we need to remain vigilant against, continue to guard against. continue to use all of our resources as warranted by the threat that exists based on the evidence that we find. i also appreciate you answering my colleagues' question about whether or not we have sufficient resource