later, beto o'rourke.e will be right back. ♪ depth,ay on book tv's in ron paul has written more than a dozen books on politics and history with his latest on america's education system. he takes your calls, e-mails and tweets live for three hours. tune in next month for mary frances berry. joe discusses court sessions past and present -- joan discusses court sessions past and present. in september, arthur brooks. television for serious readers. for over 35 years, c-span brings public affairs events from washington directly to you. putting you in the room at congressional hearings, white house events, briefings and conferences. and offering complete, gavel-to-gavel coverage of the u.s. house, all as a public service of private industry. we are c-span, created by the cable tv industry 35 years ago and brought to as a public service by your local cable or satellite provider. watch as an hd, like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. .uest joins user wicker's now. you were a senior member of the senate arms

congresswoman blackburn, congresswoman edwards, congressman o'rourke, congressman chuck, thanks.mpared to. so get out there, and get the best price guaranteed. find it for less and we'll match it and give you $50 toward your next trip. expedia. find yours. that's keeping you from the healthcare you deserve.. at humana, we believe if healthcare changes, if frustration and paperwork decrease... the gap begins to close. so let's simplify things. let's close the gap between people and care. c'mon, you want heartburn? when your favorite food starts a fight, fight back fast, with tums. heartburn relief that neutralizes acid on contact. and goes to work in seconds. ♪ tum, tum tum tum... tums! if your denture moves, it can irritate your gums. try fixodent plus gum care. it helps stop denture movement and prevents gum irritation. fixodent. and forget it. >>> thank you so much for watching "state of the union." i'm candy crowley in washington. please be sure to watch us each week at this time or set your dvr so you don't miss a moment. fareed zakaria is next with "gps" after a check of the

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joining me now, congressman beto o'rourke, democrat from texas.essman o'rourke, governor perry says border patrol is too occupied and overwhelmed dealing with the children and dealing with their moms so the guard is going to backfill the role of standing forward to make sure criminals and bad guys don't run over the border. what's so wrong about that? >> you know, the border patrol are doing an excellent job in texas and don't need the national guard. the border between the u.s. and mexico and texas has never been safer. i know a lot of people don't want to believe that, but if you look at the numbers, in 2000 we had 1.6 million apprehensions. last year we had a little over 400,000. i rep the safest city in america today, el paso, texas, largest truly binational city on the u.s./mexico border. and if it's these kids the governor is scared about, in june we had about 350 kids trying to enter the u.s. on average, per day. as of last week, the number is down to 150. so any way you want to look at this, whether it's the amount that we're spending on t

joining me now, congressman beto o'rourke of texas, represents the border town of el paso. congressman o'rourke, your reaction to the new bill that's being introduced by your republican colleagues, among them darrell issa, duncan hunter, that would essentially create an expedited process in which children from honduras, el salvador, guatemala, would be deported right away with no hearing for asylum. >> this is absolutely the wrong way to respond to this crisis. we've been hearing firsthand accounts and reading story after story of kids like anthony, age 13, in honduras, and one who goes missing, his 7-year-old brother, kenneth, goes looking for him. days later they're found dead, tortured, beaten along with five other kids. and the story is repeated over and over again. these aren't kids exploiting a loophole. these are kids fleeing a very desperate, very violent, and very deadly situation. i think we need to do everything within the power of this country to see these kids through this difficult time, not speed their deportation back to instability and potentially death, an

o'rourke? >> let's see, which of these mics?l, i'm, i've got to take a slightly more negative view. [laughter] we've got, one of our worst problems with this is we can't vote our way out of it. and the reason we can't, we can't vote our way out of it, is because of what's called public choice economics. everybody wants to get paid. it's just not everybody wants to get paid in the same medium. sensible people like i would imagine most of the people in this room like to get paid in money. nothing wrong with that. money's perfectly neutral. it can be used for good, it can be used for evil, it can be used for things that are perfectly neutral. but there are people out there that want to be paid in another way. maybe they want fame, and maybe they want saint hood, maybe they want self-esteem. but most dangerous among them is people who want to be paid in power. and if you draw a venn diagram of politicians and people who want to be paid in power -- [laughter] there ain't no part of the politician circle that in any way gets outside t

o'rourke, five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i also would like to thank the panelists for their testimony today and their service to our veterans throughout the country, and as i represent the veterans in el paso, i would also like to thank before plbrit aain who se a command center there, and most importantly in talking with veterans, it was very successful. so i want to thank you. i want to thank dr. mccarthy. she mentioned the mobile vet center and other resources that are being directed to el paso, all of which i think should tell us that we had a problem in el paso that we're now be lalatedl trying to correct and fix. and during that time when especially access to mental health care was so problematic, i had the opportunity to meet a young veteran named nick damico and his mom bonnie who came to a town hall meeting of mine. and nick was having a hard time accessing mental health care services at the el paso va and shared that with me and my team, but also was there to hear veterans who served as far back as korea and vietna

o'rourke if you don't mind, sir.it's a loaded question, i realize, but a loaded response would be fine. [laughter] >> i was just going to say, this is an issue of child protection, and that's first and foremost what we should be looking at and where they're coming from and which -- who we treat, you know, in what way, i mean, i think we need to just go back down to the basics, and it's really very simple. >> thank you. yes. >> i would just add that if we do change the system and have central american kids treated the same way as kids from contiguous countries, you will be seeing kids who are sent back who have legitimate asylum claims and trafficking claims, and we do not want to see that. >> [inaudible] >> i would just like to add to what my colleagues have said with a question in terms of, you know, what are we sending these kids back to given the endemic levels of violence and poverty that we see in central america today. >> yeah. that's, that's my own confusion. i don't want feel that i have the intuitive powers

. >> that was texas rep beto o'rourke talking about the border crisis with chris hayes. >>> now, henry kissinger is reportedly resting comfortably after heart surgery yesterday. 91-year-old had an aortic valve replaced, according to new york presbyterian hospital. kissinger was secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 during the nixon and ford administrations. >>> former democratic congressman alan grayson wants to raise the minimum wage for federal government workers. he's proposing an amendment to a house spending bill. a roll call vote on the amendment is scheduled for later today, and it could mean republicans could be forced on go on record as opposing a living wage for federal employees. >>> republicans are expected to offer a birth control bill today. senators mitch mcconnell and kelly ayotte say the legislation would require employers to allow women to buy their own birth control. well, this bill isn't expected to do much, because women can already legally access contraceptives approved by the fda. >>> gop congressman rich nugent of florida is calling the unaccompanied children cro

o'rourke, five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i also would like to thank the panelists for their testimony today and their service to our veterans throughout the country, and as i represent the veterans in el paso, i would also like to thank before plbrit aain who se a command center there, and most importantly in talking with veterans, it was very successful. so i want to thank you. i want to thank dr. mccarthy. she mentioned the mobile vet center and other resources that are being directed to el paso, all of which i think should tell us that we had a problem in el paso that we're now be lalatedl trying to correct and fix. and during that time when especially access to mental health care was so problematic, i had the opportunity to meet a young veteran named nick damico and his mom bonnie who came to a town hall meeting of mine. and nick was having a hard time accessing mental health care services at the el paso va and shared that with me and my team, but also was there to hear veterans who served as far back as korea and vietna

o'rourke said, this is how democracy can work best. this idea of wringing our hands of who could have anticipated this. really? this bill was started in 2007. here we sit in 2014. keep the faith. we have to. again, i would say this. the cameras, tv, stuff that's there, whatever, none of it means a damn thing. if we don't get results this time, shame on us because here's the thing. i'm not going to get to meet daniel or brian. you've got the right guys up, the right commitment from the public. now it's going to be, can we do it. with that i yield back. >> thank you. >> i, too, would like to thank you for your courage being here today. please know that your efforts today will make a difference at the va. i want to thank you. mr. and mrs. somers, i want to thank you for that 15-page primer there. i appreciate you all taking the effort to put together a document like that. mr. and mrs. selke, i was disturbed by the comments you found that the environment of the houston va was stressful. could you elaborate on that? what specifically led to

doctor o'rourke, you're recognized for -- mr. o'rourke, you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. let me begin by thanking you not only for being here but the amazing job you have done under two months as the acting secretary. you have been incredibly responsive. you have been transparent. you focused on issues of accountability. and i believe you have defined a vision for excellence, even in the first two minutes of your opening statement. my hope is that as we have a new secretary for the v.a., that you will still be part of this organization at the very highest level, continuing that very aggressive, ambitious push towards excellence and accountability, and changing this culture that all of us have been working on and talking about for so many months and some cases years now. let me quickly switch to el paso, and i realize it's parochial, but i hope it has some implications for others who have similar situations in their districts and for the system as a whole. you visited 13 facilities i believe, el paso

o'rourke. ms. newton. ms. jackson lee. mr. lowenthal. thesenyers and individuals have taken time and are here with us today. we are very appreciative. -- as people arrive, we will turn to them for them to -- if they have any questions for the witnesses or reaction to the testimony. with that, let me welcome you. brave, these three fine, courageous young people that are here with us today. dulce.begin with she is 15 years old and from one of allah -- from guatemala. she lives with her younger sisters, her mom, and stepdad. she groped without her parents. her father died when she was two years old and her mother traveled to the united states when she was young because she cannot support her two daughters as a single mom in guatemala. almost sexually abused by a man working on her uncle's house. when she was told what happened, she immediately left the u.s. to bring her daughters the safety. dulce also witnessed attempted murder of a woman who sold food door to door in her street. she was shot by a man right outside of her home. she saw the

o'rourke for five minutes. >> thank you mr. chairman and i would like to thank the panel is for their service and mr. goldstein the american legion and mr. britain to set up a command center to connect veterans there with health services like those we are talking about today as well's benefits and by every measure most important way in talking directly with veterans it was very successful so i want to thank you and i want to thank dr. mccarthy. she mentioned the mobile vet center and other resources that are being directed to el paso all of which i think should tell us that we have a problem in el paso that we are now belatedly trying to correct into six. during that time when especially access to mental health care was so problematic i had the opportunity to meet a young veteran named nick and his mom bonnie who came to a town hall meeting at mine. nick was having a hard time accessing mental health care services at the el paso va and shared that with me and my team but also with their to hear veterans who served as far back a

go ahead, you're on with thomas o'rourke. >> i've been in the va system for 44 years, i see the backlog in the va and treatment down in the houston va hospital. and it's just like the problem that once you get to see these doctors when you have issues. in my case i'm a cancer survivor. we cannot go to clinics once a month and jack up our annual conflict, we have to go through a care provider which in most cases is not our doctor. we have to make a final attempt and i've been told so many times in the last fooi years, let. a month goes by. and the situate. in a combat zone, half will still fight a war. but the aus over the years, they spent more time on their cell phones, jawing at each other, and they wait an hour, hour and a half, when you go up there, they make you feel like you're a nuisance to them. >> john, thank you for your service to our country, and it's nice to hear a voice from texas up here if washington, d.c. what you're talking about is the issue that i think is going to be the most difficult to resolve and won't be solved with additional resources. we can't pour money at

as tanya o'rourke reports, what perfect. a grieving father took to the internet as the work to help me remember my daughter without the to fit around here in the hospital. and to his surprise if his wish would come true and a number of ways. she died on july 10th now on the from a liver complications. the share of total of of that his daughter anax anyone to take the to the using photoshop. he and his wife for brought to tears if he wrote everyone has sean a lot of love and support from a number of changes. >>: five have stood this morning a deadly shootout between that drivers who'll one passage into ravitch i did this morning. >>: to bear grabbers l 1 hostages dead in one engine. this humidity is not near what it was suggested in. the so widespread clouds. this weekend looks fantastic will look to be in the '80s. here's a we're expecting later this afternoon a little bit cooler today and that only gets caught up to 81 degrees. and the south bay mid- 60s to downtown san francisco will be that will backfir 15th >>: here the

o'rourke said, this is how democracy can work best. this idea of wringing our hands of who could have anticipated this. really? this bill was started in 2007. here we sit in 2014. keep the faith. we have to. again, i would say this. the cameras, tv, stuff that's there, whatever, none of it means a damn thing. if we don't get results this time, shame on us because here's the thing. i'm not going to get to meet daniel or brian. you've got the right guys up, the right commitment from the public. now it's going to be, can we do it. with that i yield back. >> thank you. >> i, too, would like to thank you for your courage being here today. please know that your efforts today will make a difference at the va. i want to thank you. mr. and mrs. somers, i want to thank you for that 15-page primer there. i appreciate you all taking the effort to put together a document like that. mr. and mrs. selke, i was disturbed by the comments you found that the environment of the houston va was stressful. could you elaborate on that? what specifically led to

o'rourke, for five minutes. >> thank you. i would like to join my colleagues in thanking you and telling you that what you have shared with us today is so powerful. yourant renschler, story, the story of brian and clay and daniel, i hope will force us and the administration and this country to treat this issue with the respect it deserves, with the attention it deserves, and to get the results our veterans deserve. beyond the power of the stories, which are just -- it's hard to put into words, the effect they are having on me and my colleagues on this committee. you have also come to the table with solutions and proposals to improve the system. i love the idea that we think about the v.a. restricting responsibilities to becoming a center of excellence for war related injuries. i have not thought about that for, -- before, and i would love to hear from other organizations. but i love your thinking about a big idea to transform a system that is obviously not working today and has not worked for a very long time, from everything

yesterday, i joined representatives titus and o'rourke, fellow members of the house veterans affairs committee in introducing legislation that would increase the number that number of residency slots at v.a. medical facilities by 2000. i hope that this committee's final legislation will include modified language from the senate amendment section on health care provider recruitment and appointment based on the o'rourke bill. we musz must ensure that's interoperable within the v.a. system. we must encourage that interof rabblety. we know the disconnect by the d.o.d. and the electronic health care systems. thank you, mr. chairman. i yield back. >> thank you, senator murray. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i believe that when it comes to caring for our nation's heroes, we can't accept anything less than excellence. i'm very frustrated to be here, once again, talking about these deeply disturbing issues and allegations. it is extremely disappointing that the department has repeatedly fail today address wait times for health care. gail and the inspector general have reported on these

o'rourke said, this is how democracy can work best. this idea of wringing our hands of who could have anticipated this. really? this bill was started in 2007. here we sit in 2014. keep the faith. we have to. again, i would say this. the cameras, tv, stuff that's there, whatever, none of it means a damn thing. if we don't get results this time, shame on us because here's the thing. i'm not going to get to meet daniel or brian. you've got the right guys up, the right commitment from the public. now it's going to be, can we do it. with that i yield back. >> thank you. >> i, too, would like to thank you for your courage being here today. please know that your efforts today will make a difference at the va. i want to thank you. mr. and mrs. somers, i want to thank you for that 15-page primer there. i appreciate you all taking the effort to put together a document like that. mr. and mrs. selke, i was disturbed by the comments you found that the environment of the houston va was stressful. could you elaborate on that? what specifically led to

texas democratic congressman, beto o'rourke will weigh in on that legislation. later anthony carnevale will discuss workforce training programs. washington journal live each morning at 7:00 eastern on c-span. >>> sunday on book tv's in depth, former republican congressman from texas and presidential candidate ron paul has written more than a dozen books on politics and history with his latest on school resks. join the conversation as he takes your calls, emails and tweets live for three hours sunday august 3rd at noon eastern and tune in next month for author, historian and activist, mary francis barry. in october joan biskupic discusses court decisions. michael korda in november. and arthur brooks in december. in depth on c-span's book tv for serious readers. >>> the washington fellowship for young african leaders heard from president obama monday at a summit in washington, d.c. the fellowship includes hundreds of promising leaders from s sub-saharan africa. this is an hour. >> to introduce the president of the united states, please welcome washington fellow, f

. >> congressman o'rourke of el paso. that can is the all in" for this evening. "the rachel maddow show" begins now. >>> thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. this is frederick engels. he is german pep lived in the 1800s. this is the more familiar carl marks. we have carl marks? also german. also lived in the 1800s. and together, these two men, these two very, very hairy men, published the communist manifesto in 1848. 70 years later, their idea of communism would spin into the inspiration for the russian revolution of 1917. where vladimir lennonled a revolt against the czar and the czarist government in russia. within five years of the bulshovik revolution, we had the u.s.s.r. come into being. that was 1922. and then communism basically had its heyday on earth thereafter. at one point or another in the 20th century, the list of countries that ran on a communist system of government was a really, really big list. right? the soviet union, yugoslavia, poland, romania, hungary, east germany, czechoslovakia, albania, bulgaria, right on our doorstep in the we

o'rourke -- takano, mr. to roarke, ms. chu has spoken, ms. jackson lee, ms. han, ms. barb are lee, mr. conyers and -- [inaudible] all these individuals have taken time and are here with us today, and we're very appreciative. as the panel -- [inaudible conversations] as people arrived, we will turn to them for them to if they have any questions of the witnesses or any reactions to the testimony. with that, let me welcome you and welcome these three fine, brave, courageous young people that are here with us today. let me begin with -- [inaudible] 15 years old, she's from guatemala. she lives on long island with her two younger sisters, her mom and step dad. she grew up for much of her youth in guatemala without her parents. her father died when she was just 2, and her mother traveled to the united states when she was young because she could not support her two daughter cans as a single -- daughters as a single mom in guatemala. she was almost sexually abused by a man working on her uncle's house. when she told her mom what happened, she immediately left for the u.s. to

beto o'rourke will also weigh in. we will discuss federal workforce training programs with anthony carnevale. journal" at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. years, c-span brings public affairs events directly to you, putting you in the room at congressional hearings, white house events, briefings and conferences and offering brief gavel-to-gavel coverage of the house, as a public service of private industry. we were created 35 years ago and brought to you as a public service by your local cable or satellite provider. like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. on the health care law and federal subsidies for insurance providers. this is an hour and a half. >> come to order. the chair will recognize himself for an opening statement. today's hearing is, once again, about protecting taxpayers and consumers from the consequences of the affordable care act, namely, a giveaway of taxpayer dollars to insurers under the aca and another round of planned cancellations in the group market. first, section 1342 of the affordable care

o'rourke: mr. speaker, allow me to address some of the concerns raised in the underlying bill concerning unaccompanied alien children. if our concern is with a secure border, you can talk to someone such as myself, who represents el paso, texas, the largest city in texas on the mexican border, which today is also the safest city not just in texas but in the entire united states, you can talk to other elected leaders, to the folks who actually live on the border, and you can look at the facts. apprehensions at the u.s.-mexico border are down nearly 70% over the last 15 years. in the year 2000 we had 1.6 million apprehensions. this last year, 420,000. even with this spike of refugees from central america, we are not expected to get to half a million this year. the border by the numbers is as secure as it has ever been. if your concern is with the welfare of these children once they enter this country, then i say let's increase the amount that we are spending with health and human services, which in t

near the end of the hearing congressman o'rourke asks ms. halliday and i quote one of the things he said in your opening comment that struck me was that some of the success may be comprised by data integrity issues. anything that secretary hickey has said tonight that alleviates those concerns that you raised in your opening statement. ms. halliday, simply responding, no. also on the issue of whether vba's quality metrics are reliable to the general accounting office provided this testimony and i quote. in prior work with document shortcomings in pas quality assurance activities and recently concerns have been raised about the lack of transparency related to the changes in the agency's national accuracy rate for disability claims unquote. quote in several basic areas they are not following general statistical procedures. doubtless this in their methodology translates to numbers that aren't accurate and aren't very helpful in terms of looking at trends over time in terms of performance accuracy and/or comparing opposites in terms of relative

o'rourke for five minutes. >> thank you mr. chairman and i want to thank you and your organizations for helping me as a new member get up to speed and better represent el paso. your feedback on bills we will be voting on and bills we have offered what has been instrumental in improving the legislation we have been making on. i especially want to thank ms. jones and the american legion. as we were discovering how awful the crisis in el paso was about the gap in coverage and the wait time for disability claims and the wait time on appeals for disability claims and we are hoping to get some kind for sponsoring the va which since then has come. you and your organization stepped in to fill the gap literally set up a command center and saw hundreds of thousands of veterans that are connected them with benefits and connected them with care and i can't thank you enough for doing that. really appreciate what you are doing. let me follow-up on one of the achievements that the secretary cited and that i'm very grateful for which is removi

o'rourke: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to enter into the record the story of a 4-year-old honduran girl whose body was found in a nylon bag showing signs of torture. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. polis: i yield to the gentleman from florida, mr. garcia, for purposes of a unanimous consent request. mr. garcia: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to enter into the record the story of a 17-year-old guatemalan boy who received asylum because a gang killed his father and they were threatening him. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. polis: mr. speaker, i yield to the gentlelady from california, ms. lofgren, for purposes of a unanimous consent request. ms. lofgren: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to enter into the record the story of an 11-year-old salvadoran boy who was applying for asylum because he was threatened by gang members who killed his cousin and who suffered severe domestic abuse. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. as indicated

texas democratic congressman beto o'rourke will also weigh in on that v.a. legislation and immigration. later, anthony carn avolley of georgetown university will discuss federal workforce training programs. you can also join the conversation on facebook and twitter. washington journal, live each morning at 7:00 eastern on c-span. >> sunday on book tv's in depth. former republican congressman from texas and presidential candidate ron paul. he's written more than a dozen books on politics and history with his latest, the school revolution, on america's education system. join the conversation as he takes your calls, e-mails and tweets live. and tune in next month for o author, historian marion barry. we discuss court sessions past and present. michael corda is our guest in november, and in december, american enterprise institute president and noted musician, arthur brooks. in depth on c-span2's book tv. television for serious readers. >>> the house judiciary committee's over-criminalization task force recently looked at new criminal statutes enacted by congress

o'rourke. five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank you for being here and thank you and your organizations for me being as new member get up to speed for the veterans i serve in el paso. on bills we'll be voting on and bills we're offering, are instrumental. they improve the legislation we have been working on. i have been making better decisions for your feedback. i want to thank you. i especially want to thank miss jones and american legion as we were discovering about the awful the crisis in el paso and wait for disability claims and wait time on appeals for disability claims. we're hoping to get some kind after response from the va, which since then has come. you and your organization stepped in to if i the gap literally, set up a command center and saw hundreds and thousands of veterans there, connected them with benefits. connected them with care. i can not thank you enough for doing that. so, really, really appreciate what you're doing. let me follow up on, on one of the achievements that the secretary cited and

o'rourke from texas is recognized. >> thank you. i would also ask unanimous consent to submit statement from the first focus campaign for children regarding the issue facing migrant children and families. >> without objection, so ordered. >> mr. secretary, thank you for your testimony so far today. everything you've done so far to address the issue we are discussing in today's hearing, and i'd like to commend through you your director in el paso for ice, adrian mesias, your assistant director. there have been not unaccompanied alien children but migrant families transported from the rio grande valley to el paso. hundreds so far. more plane loads coming in this week. your team on the ground in el paso has been exceptional how they are handling and processing these families and how they are working with social service groups like annunciation house to make sure the children and families and security of our country are protected. thank you for that. i also want to, you and i discussed this privately, but i want to say publically that t

near the end of the hearing, congressman o'rourke asked ms. halladay, and i quote, one of the things you said in your opening comment that struck me that some of the success may be comprised by data integrity issues. anything secretary hickey said tonight that alleviates the concerns you said in your opening statement. ms. halladay simply responded no. also on the issue of whether vba's quality metrics are reliable, the general accounting office provided this testimony, and i quote. in the prior work, we have documented shortcomings in v.a.'s quality assurance activities and more recently, concerns have been raisedunts the lack of transpair aenls related to the changes in the agency's national accuracy rate for disability claims, unquote. quote, in several basic areas, there are not following -- they're not following general statistical procedures. that looseness in their methodology translates to numbers that aren't accurate and aren't helpful in looking at trends over time in terms of performance, accuracy rates and/or comparing terms of rel

>> badeaux o'rourke is from el paso. i mean, i don't know.i know he is a congressperson based in el paso texas and i believe he is pretty interested in it and we have had some back-and-forth so he is a u.s. congressperson. i know it has reached his desk or his ears and i imagine because he actually communicates with me about it, i imagine that hopefully it's been seen by other congresspeople as well. >> none of the arizona congresspeople? >> nun who have contacted me but i don't know. well thank you very much. i really appreciate it. [applause] >> "posterity" letters of great americans to their children draws on the correspondence of influential figures in the last 200 years of american history. dorie mccullough lawson provides biographical information on each of the writers of the 100 letter cited. in order to show the private family life of these public figures she added that divides the letters by themes such as love and struggle. included are letters written by fathers albert einstein william faulkner and george bush senior to their child

o'rourke come you recognize her five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. secretary, let me begin by thanking you not only for being here, but for the amazing job you have done in under two months as the act and secretary. you have been incredibly responsive and transparent. u.s. focused on issues of accountability and i believe you have defined a vision for excellent, even in the first two minutes of your opening statement. my hope is that as we have a new secretary for the va at the you will still be part of this work in nation at the very highest level, continuing that very aggressive and vicious push towards excellence and accountability in changing the culture that all of us have been working on and talking about incendiaries now. let me quickly switch to el paso and i realized this is parochial, but i hope it has some implications for others with similar situations in their districts and for the system as a whole. he visited 13 facilities. i believe el paso was one of them. the american legion also set up a command center affair with the last month. t

o'rourke, you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. to follow up on mr. huelskamp's statement, dr. mitchell, i couldn't help wondering during your testimony and in the answer to many of the questions that were asked of you as you detailed the ostracism that you endured, being shunted aside when you made problems for management, ending up in a position now where you say you're doing good but it wasn't the position you signed up for, and then i know you just clarified it but earlier saying you would recommend to somebody who is thinking about working for the va not now, not until we get accountability and oversight and protection for whistle-blowers, i couldn't help wondering why you stayed. >> i stayed for a couple reasons. one, the work is incredibly fulfilling and important. i went back to medical school specifically to be a va physician because i saw there was a great need. everyone who works at the va knows there are limitations. we're a federal department. there are limitations. the veterans are so grateful for the quality of care. you will see such a

o'rourke, you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i first want to join all my colleagues in thanking you all for your service, most importantly for what we're trying to tackle tonight, your testimony about what you've encountered within the vba and what it might take to turn it around and improve it, and i think your xhends about leadership, the culture, accountability, ensuring that the veteran is the focus of all the decisions that we make, the vba, all those points are well taken and they seem to resonate with feedback that we've received from other whistle-blowers from within vha and a sharper picture is starting to come into focus about what the problems are and what it might take and so much of it revolves around culture, and the environment within which you work. so i want to thank you for that, but i also have a chance to hear from you who are on the front lines of processing all these claims and the appeals that all these new claims are generating, and following on some other really good yes, sir about ideas or suggestions y

o'rourke, the entire homeland security committee staff for their hard work on working on this bill to make it not only one that hopefully will be a useful tool, but also one that will make a difference. it is estimated that there is no additional cost for providing this training, and yet the benefits will be great. tens of thousands of people are trafficked through the united states every year. 0% of whom are exploited sexually. 2/3 of them. women. more accurately, most of them little girls. we must stand together in a bipartisan way and i thank my colleague across the aisle for working with us and her leadership on this. but if we are successful, well, the word should not be if, but when we are successful, mr. speaker, we will have saved thousands of lives, we will have changed thousands of lives, and so it is with great humility that i ask my colleagues to come together and support this piece of legislation and with that, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from north carolina yields back. the gentlewoman from indiana reserves. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman f