ms. griffin there? >> i think that the vast majority of americans have multiple choices for how they communicate. and that interconnection is part of how the whole industry works. so completing calls is essential to any company to be able to sell service. and you see this on the wireless side. on the wireless side the government does not get involved, telling wireless companies how to connect and not connect. and interconnection happens in the free market there. there's no reason to think it wouldn't happen throughout the rest of the industry. >> thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. >> senator ayotte. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank all of you for being here. i just want to follow up on some of the points that senator johnson has made. so as i understand it, the purpose of the universal service run is really to build out capacity. it used to be hard lines. now we're looking at broadband because of what we're talking about today in terms of an ip transition, which makes sense in terms of techn

ms. griffin there? >> i think that the vast majority of americans have multiple choices for how they communicate. and that interconnection is part of how the whole industry works. so completing calls is essential to any company to be able to sell service. and you see this on the wireless side. on the wireless side the government does not get involved, telling wireless companies how to connect and not connect. and interconnection happens in the free market there. there's no reason to think it wouldn't happen throughout the rest of the industry. >> thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. >> senator ayotte. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank all of you for being here. i just want to follow up on some of the points that senator johnson has made. so as i understand it, the purpose of the universal service run is really to build out capacity. it used to be hard lines. now we're looking at broadband because of what we're talking about today in terms of an ip transition, which makes sense in terms of techn

ms. griffin, what implications the d.c. safety does circuit's net neutrality decision have for the transition to i.p. >> thank you. that court decision has tremendous implications for the phone network and the i.p. transition. lesson that we can take from it is that if the f.c.c. has put into the information service box in terms of its classifications, the one thing it can't do is make it act like the phone network and that becomes a huge problem when service we're talking about is the phone network. can't -- if the f.c.c. can't require carriers to complete every call and make that we have complete reliability in the phone network reclassifying these iivices as title telecommunications services, that's what it needs to do to authority.f of its >> ms. griffin, the chairman is wem florida but how should evaluate the results of at&t's i.p. trials in florida and alabama? success look like? >> i think successful trials have be trials that rigorously and objectively collected data that, on a of parameters, that's designed to info

ms. griffin. >> chairman pryor, ranking member wicker, and members of the subcommittee, thank you for inviting me to testify today. my name is jodie griffin and i'm a senior staff attorney at public knowledge, an organization that advocates for the public access to knowledge and open communication platforms. the phone the transition -- advantages for our nation. but we need to make sure these transitions result in a meaningful step forward for every person who depends on the network. americans trust the protections of the phone network. we conduct our business and personal recommendations a summit of the phone networks will just work because it always has. during emergencies we again call for help from police, firefighters and hospitals. in the rare instance that any part of the system breaks down, local, state and federal authorities intervene as if our lives depend on it. because they do. in january, in a unanimous bipartisan vote the federal communications commission recognize that our phone network policies must serve a certain basic enduring values. public safety and national security, un

griffin is accompanied by ms. linda halliday, assistant inspector for general audits for the department of veterans affairs. witnesses to stand, raise your right hand. do you solemnly swear, under penalty of perjury, that the testimony or about to provide is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? thank you very much please be seated. all of your complete written statements will be entered into the record. here tonight being and dr. draper, you are recognized for five minutes. >> chairman miller, ranking member may show -- member michaud. i appreciate the elegy to be here today to discuss the difficulty veterans are having obtaining medical care. in 2000 and 2001 we recorded problems with wait times in a v8 medical facilities. in 2012, we again reported problems, including the unreliability of wait times and the innocent -- inconsistent weight times. it impacted the timely delivery of care. examiningrently v.a.'s management of specialty consults, a type of medical appointments, and have maytified pr

griffin for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. ms. barra, we've talked about the compensation trust fund and you have indicated that mr. feinberg will set parameters, but you don't have those yet. he will determine who is eligible and he'll make the determination as to how much they're eligible for. is that correct? >> that's correct. >> and do you know if he's going to determine, is he looking just at -- because most people have focused just on the air bag deployment and your list of 13 that you know of at this point only includes air bag deployment issues. do you know if he's looking at other parameters? >> we have told him we want to make sure anybody who suffered harm, either loss to loved one or suffered serious physical injury because of the defect with the ignition switch, that they should be a part of the program. >> so you acknowledge that if you're traveling down the highway at a fairly good rate of speed, and all of a sudden your car cargos into a stall, you have to put it in neutral and restart it, that will be responsible

griffin for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. ms. barra, we've talked about the compensation trust fund and you have indicated that mr. feinberg will set parameters, but you don't have those yet. he will determine who is eligible and he'll make the determination as to how much they're eligible for. is that correct? >> that's correct. >> and do you know if he's going to determine, is he looking just at -- because most people have focused just on the air bag deployment and your list of 13 that you know of at this point only includes air bag deployment issues. do you know if he's looking at other parameters? >> we have told him we want to make sure anybody who suffered harm, either loss to loved one or suffered serious physical injury because of the defect with the ignition switch, that they should be a part of the program. >> so you acknowledge that if you're traveling down the highway at a fairly good rate of speed, and all of a sudden your car cargos into a stall, you have to put it in neutral and restart it, that will be responsible

griffin for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. ms. barra, we have talked a little bit about the compensation trust fund. you have indicated mr. feinberg is going to set parameters, but you do not have them yet. he is going to determine who is eligible and how much they are eligible for. is that correct? >> that is correct. >> do you know if he is going to determine -- most people have focused just on the airbag deployment. your list of 13 that you know of at this point only up -- only includes airbag deployment issues. you know if he is looking at other parameters? >> we are making sure anybody who lost a loved one because of a defect with the ignition switch, that they should be part of the program. >> so you acknowledge that if you are traveling down the highway at a good rate of speed, , ander it he 48 or 38 mph all of a sudden your car goes into a stall, or the ignition is going to be responsible for a number of the accidents that took ways, whether or not the airbags were deployed, and in fact even if the airbag not being deploye

. ♪ it's not unusual for catherine griffin to get this kind of greeting as she comes to work at the jail in harris county, texas and twice a week they open up to mss they call her to share stories of being tricked and then trapped in a life of sex trafficking. >> this man drove up and said do you want to make some money and i thought i'm desperate and no where else to go and threatened to kill me if i ever left. >> reporter: the experiences are similar, lured into prostitution as young girls and never allowed to keep the tens of thousands of dollars they made for the pimps and tears recalling the beating and the sheer amount of girls trapped with them. >> and shot and stuff like that. it was multiple girls like they were different ages and like effort, deliver colored skin and some did not speak english. >> reporter: they agree being arrested on charges unrelated to their trafficking was like being rescued, for the first time they say they feel no shame but only because of ms. kathy. she was once a backup singer for some of the biggest names in show businesses but she too got trapped and then trafficked herself. >> i've been there. i've done that