shulkin: -- 100-0? v.a. sec. shulkin: that is her true. i think it shows how the country feels about veterans. this is not a partisan issue. congress reflects that. it did not surprise me that this was an area that we were going to have unanimous support on. at the fivea look bills we have gone through congress so far, they have largely been done with almost unanimous support. certainly strong bipartisan support on all cases. that is something that i think really speaks highly of congress and speaks highly of the president's leadership on these issues. host: how did you come about with this job, first with president obama? was readingulkin: i about the crisis in the newspaper and on tv and saying, -- this is a national embarrassment and we are letting our veterans down and i wish i could do something. my phone rang and there was someone from the white house saying, this is your chance to do something. i just did not feel i have the option to say no, so i immediately said how can i help? that is how i ended up. i think most people would hav

secretary of shulkin -- secretary shulkin also told me that if too much is left to the regulation process, quote, the v.a. will keep things the way they are now. that things won't change. this is a recognition of the bureaucracy that he manages, and it's a recognition of that bureaucracy's refusal to change. refusal to change, unfortunately, is what got us to the 2014 scandal exhibited particularly in phoenix that revealed nationwide system failures and resulted in the death of veterans. it's also is evidence by refusal to change that showed the number of times we had a crisis in which the v.a. has run out of money to pay for the choice program. and again coming to us at the 1 1th hour telling us they need help financially to keep the choice program going. and it's a reason that today we can't tell you how much money is needed or when the current resources will expire. i just don't want us to miss the opportunity to do something more than simply reauthorize the choice program. i want to use this opportunity to create a system that not only works for veterans but modernizes and transforms

justs secretary shulkin arrived. us, we thank you for being here. and just before the finale with " -- bless america [applause] -- ♪ >> ♪ god bless america land that i love stand beside her and guide her through the night with the light from above from the mountains to the prairies to the oceans white with foam god bless america my home sweet home god bless america my home sweet home god bless america land that i love stand beside her and guide her through the night with the light that i love from the mountains to the prairies to the oceans white with foam god bless america my home sweet home god bless america ♪ home sweet home ♪ >> all right. thank you very much everyone. you a happysh hanukkah. lattes and donuts at the front right corner. -- lots case and doughnuts -- latkes and doughnuts at the right front corner. thank you very much and have a safe ride home. the c-span buses traveling across the country on our 50 capitals tour. we recently stopped in tallahassee, florida, asking folks what the most important iss

secretary shulkin just arrived.you for being here. and just before the finale with "god bless america" -- [applause] -- ♪ ♪ ♪ >> ♪ god bless america land that i love stand beside her and guide her through the night with the light from above from the mountains to the prairies to the oceans white with foam god bless america my home sweet home god bless america my home sweet home god bless america land that i love stand beside her and guide her through the night with the light that i love from the mountains to the prairies to the oceans white with foam god bless america my home sweet home god bless america my home sweet home ♪ >> all right. thank you very much everyone. thank you very much everyone. i want to wish you a happy hanukkah. latkes and doughnuts at the right front corner. thank you very much and have a safe ride home. boy is it windy. announcer: on "newsmakers," and member of the tax will billrence committee -- tax conference committee talks about measures and why democrats oppose it. "newsmakers" on cspan.

thank you for your patience. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> just before we conclude, just two points, one secretary shulkin you of the night before the finale and "god bless america a round of applause for the rabbi for pulling this altogether. [applause] ♪ god bless america land that i love stand beside her and guide her mountains to the prairies to the ocean home sweetmerica, my home , my home sweetca home god bless america land that i love. her and guide her through the night with the light from above through the mountains to the prairies white with foam home sweetmerica, my home america, my home sweet ♪me >> thank you very much, everyone. i want to wish you a happy hanukkah. because and donuts at the far right corner. have a safe drive home, boy is it windy. thank you, secretary schultz. thank you for coming and being with us. >> on "newsmakers" sander levin talks about the provisions in the tax bill. why democrats oppose the measure and other issues facing congress. at 10:00s, tomorrow a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. everest and probably knew more about more things -- jefferson probably knew mor

well as secretary mnuchin and secretary shulkin, i also want to thank our incredible first lady milani a -- our incredible first lady milani a. she has worked hard to make the white house a special place for this joyous season. we have done this so many evenings and i think we set a record two nights ago, we shook hands for three hours and 25 minutes. that was not fun, even though i love the people. i am also proud that my beautiful grandchildren have joined us tonight. [applause] right here as we celebrate with all of you the sacred traditions that they observe each year at home. this evening we gather to celebrate the story that is told in jewish homes across the country and all over the world, a story that began more than .000 years ago a tyrant made practicing the byish faith punishable death. he desecrated the jewish temple and including the holy of holies. a small band of jewish patriots rose up and defeated a mighty army and soon reclaimed their freedom. maccabees did the not end there as they prepared to rededicate the temple, they found only enough oil to light the lamp for a

and he has -- shulkin.and he has delivered time and time again working for our veteran, helping to work with us together, and i look forward to next year as we bring a close to the care act and pass it, to moving forward with the new things we need to pay attention to. i look forward to working with senator tester from montana and the members of the democratic party and the republican party and our committee. we're veterans first. we're americans first. god bless our veterans. may god bless the united states of america. i yield to senator tester. mr. tester: thank you. mr. chairman. the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. tester: i want to thank senator isakson for his words. i want to thank the chairman of today's senate currently sitting in the chair for his work on the veterans affairs committee. i want to talk a little bit about chairman isakson before i talk about the care act. over the last year, i've been able to work with a great man from georgia who has done great work. you know, whe

in fact, i'd like to submit a letter for the record secretary shulkin sent me earlier this month. in this letter he explicitly stated without additional funding before the end of the year there will be dramatic impact on the ability of the veterans affairs department to provide care for veterans. a vote against the continuing resolution is a vote against funding medical care for our nation's heroes. the secretary's message is clear, mr. speaker. i urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting an additional $2.1 billion for the choice program. with that, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. yields back. the gentleman from new jersey reserves. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. ms. lee wee: mr. speaker, i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from california, a member of the appropriations committee, ms. lee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized for two minutes. ms. lee: thank you very much. i want to thank the gentlewoman for yielding and also once

shulkin: there has been no greater professional satisfaction them what i have had. i have had a fortunate career doing great things. there is no doubt that this is the most important thing that i have worked on in my career and i consider it a tremendous privilege to come to work every day. i will continue to give it my all and make sure we are doing the right thing for our veterans. host: we thank you for your time. for our profile interview series, we also spoke with housing and urban development secretary ben carson, who talked about growing up in detroit. his decision to come a doctor, and his new role in government. this is just over half an hour. host: secretary ben carson, i want to talk about your job at your other title is dr. ben carson. why did you decide to pursue a career in medicine? hud sec. carson: as a youngster i used to hear the stories in church about missionary doctors. they seem to me like the most noble people on the face of the earth, going to all kinds of places at great personal risk, to bring mental, physical and spiritual healing to peopl

david shulkin, our secretary, he has done a great job. the v.a. was a mess. some parts of our country. hey, they left me with north korea. they left me with a mess in the middle east. they left me with afghanistan which was a disaster. made a lot of progress in afghanistan just like we had with getting isis out of iraq. isis out of syria. knocking the hell out of them. [applause] they left me with a mess. but we are cleaning up the mess. we are cleaning it up. and with time we will have it spinning like a top. for decades, veterans have asked for a law to hold corrupt and incompetent employees at the v.a. accountable. but it never happened. then we got it done. this piece of legislation for decades. you couldn't fire anybody at the v.a. if they were saist. horrible people. you couldn't fire anybody. now we look at them. they're no good. we say you're fired, get out of here. [cheers and applause] >> i must tell you i can't believe that arnold schwarzenegger bombed so badly on the apprentice. my poor beautiful show. it was so successful. get a big movie star an

shulkin and governor christie and patrick kennedy who has been , a great advocate about mental health in this country. we took a trip to the va in cleveland. we have to blame also the porous border. the president quoted a statistic about drug demand. he and the first lady are taking on major policy issues together, and i hope the country memorized every word, because they are action,all of us to their calling all of us to get involved. the president made clear that there is drug demand and drug supply. he said 90% of the heroin in this country is coming from the southern border. we know we have a fentanyl, learn that word, please americans. we have a problem in this country. the baltimore sun ran an article that fentanyl is a bigger killer than homicides in the city of baltimore. i talked to governors who tell us they -- i talk to governors who tell us they cannot keep up with the fentanyl explosion in their states, fentanyl is being laced and into the drug 50 times the potency of morphine. young adults are working out for two or three hours a day, they will not put a french fry in th

david shulkin, our second, hat done a great job. the va was a mess. so many parts of our country.ey, they left me with north korea. they left me with a mess in the middle east. they left me with afghanistan, which is -- was a disaster. we're making a lot of progress in afghanistan, just like we have with getting isis out of iraq, getting isis out of syria. knocking the hell out of them. they left me with a mess. but we're cleaning up the mess. we're cleaning it up. and with we'll have it spinning like a top. for decade veterans have asked for a law to hold corrupt and incompetent employees at the v.a. accountable, but never happened. then we got it done. this piece of legislation for decades they've wanted. you couldn't fire anybody at the va. if they were sadists, open people, wouldn't show up to work, you can't fire anybody. now we look at them, they're no good, we say, you're fired. get out of here. [cheers and applause] and i must tell you, i can't believe that arnold schwarzenegger bombed so badly on "the apprentice." my poor, beautiful show. it was so successful. get a big m

as well as secretary mnuchin, secretary shulkin. i also want to thank our incredible first lady, melania, he's with you all the way. she's work sod hard to make the white house a truly special place for this joyous season. we've done this so many evenings now and i think we set a record two nights ago, we shook hands for three hours and 25 minutes. that's not fun even though i love the people, that was not fun. i'm also proud that my beautiful grandchildren, arabella, joseph, and theodore have joined us tonight. right here. as we celebrate with all of you sacred traditions that they observe each year at home. this evening we fwather to celebrate the story that is told in jewish homes across the country and all over the world, a story that began more than ,000 years ago with a tyrant who made practicing the jewish faith punishable by death. he desecrated the jewish temple, including the holy of holies, but a small band of jewish patriots rose up, defeated a mighty army and soon reclaimed their freedom. but the miracle of the mack bee

david shulkin ordering guidelines be rewritten and review of anyone with a revokerred license.prime minister justin trudeau gets his way. get this. trudeau says he welcomes reformed terrorists back into his country. why? >> we know that actually someone who has engaged and turned away from that hateful ideology can be an extraordinarily powerful voice for preventing radicalization in future generations. >> one canadian group called project someone, received hundreds of thousands of dollars of federal funding to deradicalize jihadists through art and poetry. >>> "sesame street" getting big bucks to make syrian refugees for comfortable. ♪ the non-profit behind the children's tv show is getting a 100 million-dollar grant to create programing for syrian refugees children. sesame workshop, chosen as the program with the most promise of real progress towards solving a critical problem the our time. the show is expected to reach over nine million kids in the middle east. >>> my favorite story of the day. these parents get a a-plus. jake summers mom and dad giving his teachers a person

from the top vso and veteran advocates in the country and from the v.a., from secretary shulkin.for issues on what it is going to cost and some other political issues. just a couple weeks ago the hvac hearing got tied up in a tax debate during a veteran healthcare segment. it was a bit frustrating to see this happening. i could see that this is probably going to get passed within the next few months if we get the politics out of the way here. pete: that's the challenge. one of the democrats involved in the committee. his name is mark tacano a representative from california had this to say. we have either sound or a full screen. do we have it? roll it. >> this legislation is a referendum on the mistaken belief that the private sector is better equipped to care for our nation's veterans than specialized v.a. doctors. pete: he has long been an opponent of what others call reform. the idea vets shouldn't be stuck in the v.a. system. they should have the ability to go outside if the v.a. doesn't serve them. how do we put the veteran at the center as opposed to the system at the center

i along with ranking member walz and other committee members, our senate colleague secretary shulkin and others have been working tirelessly to transform the v. ample health care system into a modern, high-performing health care organization that our vet dreans serve. s. 1266 is in line with those efforts and would provide the v.a. an additional avenue to identify and resolve problems in the care our veterans receive in v.a. medical centers. i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill and reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. takano: thank you, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. takano: since 2014, the veterans affairs committee has held countless hearings focused on v. ample medical centers who were found to have covered up wait times or failed to consistently provide high quality care to veterans. many of these failures were brought to light by whistleblower allegations and were later substantiated by government ac

in fact, i'd like to submit a letter for the record secretary shulkin sent me earlier this month. in this letter he explicitly stated without additional funding before the end of the year there will be dramatic impact on the ability of the veterans affairs department to provide care for veterans. a vote against the continuing resolution is a vote against funding medical care for our nation's heroes. the secretary's message is clear, mr. speaker. i urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting an additional $2.1 billion for the choice program. with that, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. yields back. the gentleman from new jersey reserves. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. ms. lee wee: mr. speaker, i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from california, a member of the appropriations committee, ms. lee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized for two minutes. ms. lee: thank you very much. i want to thank the gentlewoman for yielding and also once

shulkin, thank you. we do appreciate it. merry christmas, sir. >> thank you.pet sound is, please. thank you. you are looking at microsoft at a new high, ladies and gentlemen. it is quite well known that i own a very small sliver of microsoft. that's my retirement money right there. >> your smile gets bigger each time. stuart: sports fans. 86.46, i could never imagine it reaching that level -- they're telling me to move on. be quiet, stu. [laughter] little success there. good. 86.46, i want to repeat that. >>> now this, the language changed in james comey's final statement on hillary probe. here's the change. two of them, actually. gross negligence changed to extremely careless. and in relation to the hackability of hillary's e-mail server, reasonably likely that it was hacked was changed to possible that it was hacked. that's a big difference. it eases up the legal pressure on hillary clinton, does it not? we have the author of this book, "drone warrior," brett velicovich. we'll get to drones in a second, but you were right in the middle of all of this because