runyan: i reserve. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from indiana. mr. visclosky: i rise to claim time in opposition to the gentleman's amendment. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. visclosky: i appreciate the recognition and certainly at the outset, compliment the gentleman for his concern about the kc-10 and for his remarks about the performance of the aircraft as well as the value to our country. that is not in dispute and that certainly is not the reason i'm on my feet now. but the amendment, i believe, would preserve a specific element in-depth of defense's force structure. the practice of the committee and in our bill, has been to avoid protection of specific weapons systems or bases and to leave the department flexibility as far as a path going forward, particularly as far as restructuring units as well as retirement of programs. this language does not comport to the general concepts of this bill. i would also point out that issues similar to this relative to a transfer of an airlift wing t

runyan: thank you, mr. chairman. my amendment moves $6 million to the air force other procurement to provide much-needed joint training platform and facility upgrades. more specifically, the funding is aimed at supporting upgrades to joint training and training development facilities at air force installations. the offset for this amendment reduces this amendment allocated to the office of secretary of defense. over the last decade, many of the service branches have procured various training and infrastructure that are in desperate need of repair. these are not expensive upgrades and will preserve the shelf life of some of the most state-of-the-art training systems in the united states military. my amendment seeks to increase the air force procurement funding to provide for critical upgrades to these unfunded systems, technologies and training infrastructure. we have made great investments in our training aids and support systems to ensure our service members are combat ready and proficient. at a low cost for high va

varella for his testimony from dav. >> thank you, chairman runyan.good afternoon, ranking member titus, members of the subcommittee. dav appreciates the opportunity to testify at this hearing, service members who are participate anything the wdd or the quick start programs. my own remarks will address three issues we find particularly important. first, time frames and benchmarks established within the ides program. the ides program was constructed with the can'tation of service members reaching finality within 295 days, and we will highlight several critical point along this transition path. proposed rating decisions are required to be issued within 15 days of receiving notification that a service member has been deemed unfit for duty. dav service officers in the field do report delays in the proposed rating process in some areas ranging anywhere from three to six months. once separated from service and now considered a veteran, their disability compensation payments are expected to begin within 30 days of discharge. dav service officers have reporte

secretary sloan gibson toured the hospital with congressman pat meehan, john runyan, gibson promised to take action to make sure to get the care and services they deserve. philadelphia va hospital recently created a hundred new appointments, to expand access by adding weekend and evening hours. >>> today, capitol hill hearing will focus on the irs. and continuing a third day of investigations and interrogations. irs commissioner seen here, was grilled by lawmakers for a second time since friday about lost e-mails. irs officials say two years worth of e-mails connect to former administrators lewis learner before lost due you to a computer malfunction. her e-mails are viewed in critical as in connection to the congressional investigation in the irs accused of harshly scrutinizing tea party groups, seeking tax exempt status. >>> meantime secretary of state john kerry is spending second day in bag dade and is prepared to take military action even if baghdad delays mythical reforms. kerry met with nor i al-maliki urging him to give more power to opponent. he affirmed washington's commitme

jon runyan who sits on the veterans of fares committee and pat meehan are touring philadelphia's va medicalt center. they are also meeting at this hour with va secretary sloan gibson. >> a gas explosion rocks a new jersey neighborhood and kills one person. but out of tragedy a community comes together. victims from that explosion received a generous donation thanks to a school and a church that operates on the philosophy of love thigh neighbor. the images are still startling. on march 4th an explosion damaged 55 homes and killed a woman in the south fork complex in ewing township. many residents in this community lost everything. today some of the houses are still boarded up. but this community responded. today the incarnation sane james catholic school presented $5,000 worth of gift cards to help some of the victims. >> it gives us a lot of joy by helping and extending our hand to the needy and the people who are in need of our attention and help more than helping or giving some money or gift cards it's more than creating something in us culture of love. >> reporter: the school almost clos

secretary sloan gibson toured the hospital with congressman patrick meehan and john runyan, gibson promised to take action to make sure vets get the care and services they deserve. congress mal meehan says that is an important step. >> he talk about specifically making available care outside of the va system where it is necessary and where it needs to be ton to create timely and responsive, you and i think those are good signs. >> philadelphia va hospital recently created 100 new appointment slots to expand access by adding weekend and evening hours. >>> 5:10 the time. we have breaking news out of nigeria. witnesses say extremist have abduct 60 more girls and woman. thirty-one boys, in northeast nigeria. we will stay on top of this and bring you very latest and it comes in. boko hard ram abduct hundreds have of young laid business a month ago. >>> great white shark, was spotted in south jersey this weekend. >> we first showed you this yesterday, there was a fisherman from avalon steve clark, he comes face-to-face with all those teeth off the coast of cape may on saturday. they spotted a 28-

secretary sloan gibson toward the hospital along with congressman patrick meehan and jon runyan. gibson promised to take action to make sure vets get the care and services they deserve. congressman meehan says, that's an important step. >> he talked about specifically making available care outside of the va system where it's necessary and where it needs to be done to create timely and responsive, you know, care for the veterans so i think those are good signs. >> the philadelphia va hospital recently created 100 new appointment slots to expand access by adding weekend and evening hours. >>> and now to the crisis in iraq. secretary of state john kerry is in baghdad and warning the united states is prepared to take military action even if baghdad delays political reform. kerry met with iraq's prime minister today urging him to give more political power to political opponents. he also met with other iraqi leaders a firming washington's commitment to iraq's security. sectarian violence is making this the most dangerous time in iraq since the withdrawal of american troops back in 2011

runyan, you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. it's really two observations and i want to say there's probably not a lot of people in the basis of all what all these discussions were having. i don't think there's a lot of people on this committee that really have much faith in a lot of the metrics that we use va wide. because i know we all go through, whether it's her health centers or our regional offices, and are totally confused by any metric they throw at us. and to be able to award performance awards off of those type of metrics are mind numbing to me. and to go back to what doctor roe really said, and i think he testified to it, you are setting out the template that the secretary setting out a template, how low is that bar really? obviously, in my past career, we have performance incentives all the time. we had several tiers of it. we would have two categories, would be likely to be earned and unlikely to be earned, and it would actually count against the salary cap of that team. it wasn't either all in or all out. they were

. -- did run for guest: jon runyan's. a primary from the right. in southern districts, you have a lot of that. they are tea party. it is hard to put a label on everything. you're finding more primary challenges than you would find in normal cycles at this way. it forces members to take a hard look at themselves. incumbents, we hate primaries. we think we ought to be given the job by the party because we have been doing a good job. it gets you back in touch with constituencies, back in touch with your voters, causing you to re-examine some thought. they can be pretty healthy at this point. most he party challengers have not gone anywhere. -- heic cantor upset i was the most conservative member of the house leadership. you're leaving more moderate members along. -- alone. thate seeing a lot of around the country. it is the sign of a dynamic hearty trying to come to grips with itself. it is feeling outcast and wanting to be in on government or this stuff will get reconciled sooner or later you're that is historically what happens there it we will he

representative runyan, you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. really to observations, and i want to say there are probably not a lot of people on the basis of their discussions we're having, i don't think there are a lot of people on this committee that really have much faith in a lot of the mattress that we use va-wide because i know that we all go through, whether it is house centers or regional offices and are totally confused by any metric they throw us. then to be able to award performance awards of of those type of metrics are mind-numbing to me. and to go back to what representative roe said, and i think you testified to it, you are setting out a template that that secretary is setting out. how low is that are really? obviously in my past career we had performance incentives all the time. we had several tiers of it. we would -- we would have two categories, likely to be earned and on likely to be earned, and it would actually count against the salary cap of that team. it was not either all and were all out. there were tears to it. but i j

runyan. >> thank you, mr. chairman, for holding this hearing. with the release of the department of the va axis audit and interim inspector general's report, it is clear there is a systemic failure of responsibilities. widespread misconduct and cover-ups that led to the deficiencies in scheduling, resulting in lengthy wait times and veterans dying waiting for care. the veterans in my district and across our nation deserve better. i demand that the new leadership of the va put an immediate and decisive end to this severe misconduct and hold those responsible accountable for their actions. which we have discussed today, a criminal investigation is needed to remove individuals who knowingly prevented veterans from obtaining the timely health care they needed and resulted in harm or death. a criminal investigation will put an end to this wrongdoing, will change culture, and now, and for the future. currently there are over 1,500 veterans that utilize the loma linda health care system. many of which live in my district. they are either waiting over 9

runyan had to leave. profession football player had an agent, the agent negotiated for them. the owner has a general manager or somebody that negotiated for him. but at the end of the day, it's the football team negotiating with the player even though the player and the football team aren't there. it's other people negotiating that. so are they part of the taliban? what's the relationship? >> to tell you the truth, you're out of my area and this is something that the intelligence committee folks could address better. >> i am too. i'm not an attorney. i'm just asking the question. >> i want to commend you for your effort to set the tone of this hearing which i think most members have adhered to. i want to thank you for that. this is the way that -- this is the tone that we should have in this hearing. because this is a hearing. secretary hagel, i'm apologizing to you for not being able to repeat your first answer to the question about whether or not we negotiated with terrorists. it's clear that we did not do so. and i want to ask you some questions. mr. preston, you're the at

. >> good afternoon, chairman r runyan. members of the committee. on behalf of the national commander and the 2.4 members of the american legion i want to thank you for bringing attention to america's transition service members. i think it's especially important that you're paying close attention to the words of the veterans service organizations. veterans service organizations such as the american legion bring experience to the claims process and are critical stakeholders who can help the government meet the obligation to the veteran. the va has recognized this on the civilian side of the dividing line of service and through the programs of fully developed claims initiative to capitalize on the partnership to improve the claims process and help veterans get the disability benefits they earned through their sacrifice in a more timely fashion. in my current position as medical board and fiscal board representative, i have the privilege of assisting service members who might not able to continue their military career due to a medical condition. these

. -- did run for guest: jon runyan's. a primary from the right.outhern districts, you have a lot of that. they are tea party. it is hard to put a label on everything. you're finding more primary challenges than you would find in normal cycles at this way. it forces members to take a hard look at themselves. incumbents, we hate primaries. we think we ought to be given the job by the party because we have been doing a good job. it gets you back in touch with constituencies, back in touch with your voters, causing you to re-examine some thought. they can be pretty healthy at this point. most he party challengers have not gone anywhere. -- heic cantor upset i was the most conservative member of the house leadership. you're leaving more moderate members along. -- alone. thate seeing a lot of around the country. it is the sign of a dynamic hearty trying to come to grips with itself. it is feeling outcast and wanting to be in on government or this stuff will get reconciled sooner or later you're that is historically what happens there it we will he more