the v.a. audit that came out this week showed, for example, how hard veterans in my home state of oregon have been hit. more than 3,000 oregon veterans couldn't be seen by a doctor within 90 days at the portland v.a. facility. nearly 3,500 faced the same wait times at the roseburg v.a. facility. many oregon veterans who rely on the boise and walla walla facilities got similar treatment. and investigation -- an investigation, moreover, is underway to determine how things deteriorated and deteriorated so rapidly. it's pretty obvious that these kinds of findings, madam president, are inexcusable and they are unconscionable, and veterans deserve the best, and senators sanders and mccain deserve credit for working in a bipartisan way, a way that is too rare here in washington, d.c., to address this challenge. it is never easy to work in a bipartisan way, and i commend them. i want to also raise today one part of the bill that i believe has to be resolved and can be resolved before the legislation g

trust between the v.a. and our veterans, the trust between the v.a. and me, the v.a. and the men that i served with and four is broken. it's broken and needs to be fixed. we have the first up to fix it with the bill that jeff miller brought forward. we will work as hard as we can to do that. thank you. >> i'm from arizona fifth congressional district, right in the epicenter of this great tragedy, this debacle. last week, i held in my office a meeting with about 100 did the. i heard horror story after horror story. one guy talk to me about how the intervention of our office saved his eyesight. then i said to the crowd numerous times that we have had to intervene, hundreds of times, since i've been back in office. we've had to intervene for veterans because they were either turned down, denied, or postponed by the v.a. in phoenix. it should not take the congressman getting involved for a veteran to be able to get an appointment. we got a standing ovation on that one because they all believe that is where things should be. this is beyond a tragedy. besides the management

ongoing audits by the v.a. and the v.a. office of inspector general reveal systemic problems with wait times, with the scheduling process and with the honesty and integrity of the system. those responsible for this disaster must be held accountable. many dedicated v.a. employees, many of them veterans themselves, work tirelessly to provide the best care to our veterans. but they are limited by this broken system which is failing millions of our veterans. the first priority of the v.a. and congress must be to provide our veterans the care they need. this challenge does not need a democratic or a republican response, it demands an american response. and i appreciate the bipartisan leadership and work of chairman miller and ranking member michaud. in fact, i co-sponsored and voted for both of chairman miller's bills. i supported bipartisan legislation to give the secretary of the v.a. greater ability to hold underperforming senior executives accountable and to fire managers like those in phoenix who manipulated wait times and

if v.a. firms are not doing their jobs and deliberately trying to conceal how poorly they're doing their jobs, they should be fired. most people have been surprised that you even need a law to make this possible, because it's common sense in practically every other workplace in america. it sends a terrible message to our veterans, taxpayers and the vast majority of employees who are doing a good job to let incompetent officials get away with poor performance. worst of all, poor performance at the v.a. doesn't just hurt employees more real, it engangers the lives of veterans. i'm hoping with all the issues were dealing with that this particular measure won't become a sticking point. i'm hoping that the final bill ultimately enshursz that going forward incompetent will be dealt with fairly but swiftly. in closing let me say that american veterans deserve our administration and appreciation for all they have done to defend or country and interests abroad. the most tangible way we can do this is

v.a.'s grant per diem program, our supportive program for veteran's families, are the engines for housing first. we cannot end homelessness without these programs. over 45,000 veterans and their families have homes to live in. my thanks to the secretary and all the good folks for their generous partnership in that program. keep that coming. [applause] last year, community partners afforded by a grant provided temporary housing to over 45,000 veterans, and nearly 14,000 of them were spared further homelessness by moving straight to permanent housing elsewhere, some with the assistance of vouchers. they assisted over 60,000 veterans and family members last fiscal year, including more than 20,000 individuals under 18. 79% of homeless veterans' families found permanent housing. v.a.'s benefits administration has a similar program to help veterans who have defaulted on their v.a. insured mortgage loans. last year, 74,000 veterans defaulted and were kept from foreclosure and eviction because the

if v.a. firms are not doing their jobs and deliberately trying to conceal how poorly they're doing their jobs, they should be fired. most people have been surprised that you even need a law to make this possible, because it's common sense in practically every other workplace in america. it sends a terrible message to our veterans, taxpayers and the vast majority of employees who are doing a good job to let incompetent officials get away with poor performance. worst of all, poor performance at the v.a. doesn't just hurt employees more real, it engangers the lives of veterans. i'm hoping with all the issues were dealing with that this particular measure won't become a sticking point. i'm hoping that the final bill ultimately enshursz that going forward incompetent will be dealt with fairly but swiftly. in closing let me say that american veterans deserve our administration and appreciation for all they have done to defend or country and interests abroad. the most tangible way we can do this is

v.a.. it on c-span3 and radio. let's hear from boston. henry is a medicaid applicant. go ahead. meet your television or radio and go ahead with your comment. caller: i am calling in regards to the lady that called and mentioned they were trying to force her. the one in texas. i think she was missing the point because medicaid part a or b, they do not pay everything. they may have been trying to get her to enroll in the supplementary plan. b would bert a and the first prayer. -- payor. keeping track of a lot so we will give her a chance. guest: thank you. what henry is talking about is a medigap plan. these are offered through companies like aarp are touring with united health care and others. this covers the co-pay several of the guests have mentioned. it is true medicaid does not cover everything. they do require deductibles and co-pays. host: one more call. caller: i just want to say i won't -- i would be dead if i lived in florida. a year ago i was diagnosed with cancer. if i would've t

and that if the v.a. -- we can't -- the v.a. is unique, but we can't say -- we can't be terminal about its uniqueness. that we have to look to better outcomes. >> mm-hmm. >> so is there anything about the v.a. medical system -- i'm not quite sure how to ask this, because i agree with your assessment, but that is unique? that we don't have another place to look to for best practices? >> i just think we have to get beyond that as the question that would be asked from internally. the single most improved hospital in the united states of america is trinitybirmingham, a. they're in a 40 to 50-year-old physical plant. they don't have private rooms. they have a call light system. when it rains to the patient rooms it rings to the pbx operator of the hospital. they ring the nurse's station. they've decreased call light time in excess of 60% to 70% with the hand that's dealt them. >> thank you. i yield back. >> mr. flores, you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i thank all the witnesses for being here today. dr.

and that if the v.a. -- we can't -- the v.a. is unique, but we can't say -- we can't be terminal about its uniqueness. that we have to look to better outcomes. >> mm-hmm. >> so is there anything about the v.a. medical system -- i'm not quite sure how to ask this, because i agree with your assessment, but that is unique? that we don't have another place to look to for best practices? >> i just think we have to get beyond that as the question that would be asked from internally. the single most improved hospital in the united states of america is trinitybirmingham, a. they're in a 40 to 50-year-old physical plant. they don't have private rooms. they have a call light system. when it rains to the patient rooms it rings to the pbx operator of the hospital. they ring the nurse's station. they've decreased call light time in excess of 60% to 70% with the hand that's dealt them. >> thank you. i yield back. >> mr. flores, you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i thank all the witnesses for being here today. dr.

v.a. facilities. >> with a subpoena on that particular issue, so we will not be having the business meeting that we originally had noticed and talked to everybody on the committee and i appreciate it. good evening. iowa tonight welcome you again to tonight 's hearing, oversigh hearing on data manipulation and actos to v.a. health care, testimony from gao, the i.g. and v.a. and tonight we are going to address ongoing issues of systemic wait times, manipulation that occurs throughout the veterans health administration and negatively impacts the veterans that we serve and the health care that they should be provided. v.a. wait time answer scheduling issues have been the subject of numerous investigations by the committee for many years. we have many outstanding requests for information, and have held hearings to address the problems within v.a. that have led to veterans waiting so long for needed care. the v.a.'s office and inspector general has also repeatedly warned the v.a. about its subst

the former v.a. doctor -- as a former v.a. doctor, i pledge to you that the v.a. that emermings from this process will be leaner, smarter and far more responsive to the needs of our veterans. we know 35 veterans have died while await caring in the phoenix area alone. we know the recent deaths of at least 23 veterans have been linked to delayed v. ample medical care. the time for excuses is over. the time for action is now. i support and i urge all my colleagues to support h.r. 4810. i yield back the remainder of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida reserves. the gentleman from maine. mr. michaud: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from texas, dr. cuellar. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. cuellar: i want to thank my good friend, the chairman, for the great work e and his staff have been doing and certainly the ranking member and the staff that have work so hard along with the members to get this piece of legislation. i've always said, as my fellow colleagues have said, that when one of our men and women go out and

v.a. secretary shinseki resigned. so do i feel better? no. wiring back our dead veterans? no. will it bring soleace to their families? no. not to worry. the president is on it. he'll make everyone accountable. he will take away their 2014 bonuses. really? god help us. yet the president bemoans that shinseki resigned because he is, quote, a champion of veterans. quote, a very good man. well, mr. president, with all due respect, you're wrong. a good man would have said mr. president, our soldiers are not just dying in foreign countries. they are dying here in america. a champion of veterans would have said, mr. president, our soldiers are not dying on the battlefield but in our union-run veterans hospitals. what is that? shinseki didn't know? that's hog wash and you know it. the law required shinseki to receive those i.g. reports. 51 of them. the government accountability office, the i.g., the american legion, the press, and veterans themselves for years raised the issue of long wait time. w

v.a. saw were cuts to in 2008 bush proposed cuts to v.a. a $612 paul ryan proposed billion cut to the v.a. that would have taken 1.3 million that's -- million vets out of v.a. do you hear that in the media? nope. host: your thoughts on the history doris was talking about. guest: the funding question is a difficult one because there are reasons to say there is not enough funding at the v.a., that there are issues with funding, but in a lot of ways to budget has grown. it has not necessarily been declining. or notstion is whether it has been growing enough to keep up with this continued continued demand. and whether or not the money is being used advantageously and being used well, actually helping veterans as opposed to just building a bureaucracy that doesn't get anything done or help those veterans. it is a matter of funding but it thatso a matter of using funding well. host: off of twitter -- whose loan tips in the echo guest: -- who is sloan gibson? infantry is a former officer who was a banker for a couple of decades and then he way he

the v.a. office of inspector general issued an that confirmed appointment scheduling manipulation discovered by this thatttee and substantiated significant delays and access to care have negatively impacted the quality of care at the phoenix of the a medical center. though it has indicated it has in -- it has expanded its investigation in open cases regarding 42 v.a. medical founds, the oig clearly inappropriate scheduling practices are systemic throughout the v.a.. it is all the more urgent for v.a. to come clean and fully comply with our subpoena. veterans health is at stake. i will not stand for a department cover-up. further, to fulfill our congressional oversight duties is absolutely essential to receive the documents that we have requested from the department of veterans affairs. the scope of the subpoena was very narrow. tailored tociently provide a reasonable time to produce the documents in full. the subpoena simply demanded betweenon of e-mails the ninth of april and eighth of may re

v.a.was nonresponsive to whistleblower complaints on multiple occasions. this hearing is a little more than two hours. >> ultimately, to improve access to care for veteran patients who have been facing unacceptably long wait times at v.a. facilities across the country. it important to those efforts is the status of v.a.'s accelerating access to health care initiative very was launched in late may in response to the department's current wait time crisis and information released last thursday suggests, in court nation with the v.a.'s other efforts, have led to the scheduling of approximately 200,000 appointments from may 15-june 1. information suggesting that last thursday, in coordination tw the other efforts has leds to 200,000 point nous. >>> i to have concerns about the effort to date. one of the con essentials is the continued lark of information that skong has received about the nishlgtive. >> making this in a long list of examples of va failing to act in an open and trarns parent matt

i agree that we don't want to fix the v.a. quickly and it is a decades' long problem, and it is going to require a substantial fix, charles, that does not mean closing down the v.a. and turning it over to the private care. i think that where you and i will agree, we should utilize the market and use some of the people. >> and what gives you any confidence that a administration where what happened in iraq occ occurred right under their nose? i mean, this is really bad, really bad stuff going on there. >> and charlie, charlie -- >> and it blew up there in the country, and -- >> no, it is not. half of the country right now is taken over by terrorists right under the nose of the administration, and what gives you the confidence that th administration can handle it? >> well, not to mention the administration before it. >> and well, you are arguing about being in the war or not, but once we were there, and this administration under their nose, there is a caliphate in iran and iraq and what makes you believe if they cannot handle tha

v.a. facilities across the country. it important to those efforts is the status of v.a.'s accelerating access to health care initiative very was launched in late may in response to the department's current wait time crisis and information ,eleased last thursday suggests in court nation with the v.a.'s other efforts, have led to the scheduling of approximately from mayppointments 15-june 1. i'm glad to see the department seems to be taking its access failure seriously, is taking steps to improve the timeliness of care for veteran patients. i do have serious concerns about v.a.'s efforts to date. one of my concerns is the continued lack of detailed information that congress has received about the initiative. this makes it another in a long and continually increasing list of examples of v.a. failing to act in an open and transparent manner. the committee requested a briefing from the department on the accelerating access to care initiative on june the second. i followed up this request with a

v.a. >> and president obama announced plans to pull all united states troops from afghanistan by the end of 2016. our sunday panels weighs in. all right now. on fox news sunday. >> hello again from fox news in washington. we will get to hillary clinton's new book and what it means for 2016 in a moment but first some breaking news. the only american p.o.w. from afghanistan has been turned over and is in germany. sergeant bergdahl has been turned over in exchange for five detainees from guantanamo bay. jennifer? >> the sergeant is seen by a team of military medical specialists in germany. he has not spoken to his parents and intelligence officials are trying to figure out what they can with his time with the taliban. >> he wasn't forgotten by his country because the united states of america does not ever leave our meb men and women in uniform behind. >> only very few knew of the operation. we did not want to jeopardize any leaks. >> bergdahl cried when he was on the united states helicopter.

v.a. and the government accountability office. this part of the hearing is about 2.5 hours. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] today. that negates the need for us to move forward with a subpoena on that particular issue. we will not be having the we hads meeting originally noticed and talked to everybody here on the committee. i appreciate it. >> good evening, everybody. i want to welcome you again to tonight's hearing, entitled "oversight hearing on data manipulation and access to v.a., testimony from gao, dig, and v.a. here: v.a."ht, -- hear throughout the veterans administration and negative impacts the veterans and the health care that they should be provided. v.a. wait times and scheduling issues have been the object of many investigations for many years. of numerous investigations by the committee for many years. we have many outstanding requests for information, and have held hearings to address the proble

for the v.a. to do this kind of work and you're cutting the budget on them all the time and they have no money to work with? peoplenot go on asking without the tools to work with. it's a disgrace. we cut education -- host: is this just a money issue? caller: it's a money issue. you were asking for the administration to do something and there is no money. you don't have enough doctors or nurses, but you don't want to put any money in the budget. it is becoming evermore clear that the bas abuses were not -- v.a.'s abuses were not a one-off. it was perpetrated across the system recorded with hundreds of workers. criminal investigations seem richly deserved. zelda from georgia. father served in the vietnam war. he refused to give my mother the -- he was only getting $147 a month and they refused to give him his back pay from the time he had served. he gets nothing. he is unemployed. he is 87 years old and he has been fighting this thing for almost 50 years. host: what should be done about the current

so we have to improve the v.a. we do not want to dismantle it or privatize it. >> and senator, are you convinced that what unfolded and what happened in phoenix is an isolated incident and it is not a signature of the v.a.? >> it is not isolated.

v.a. and a new push underway in washington to finally trying to fix the situation that's been failing many of our nation's heroes for years now. one preliminary report from the office of the inspector general has found systemic problems at v.a. facilities lying about patient wait times, and at the hospital in phoenix where the whole scandal broke, the same report said some 1,700 veterans were at risk of being forgotten or lost because they were never included on the official wait list for medical appointments. v.a. secretary eric shinseki may be gone, he resign on friday, but lawmakers on both sides of the aisle agree that did not fix the problem or problems. a bill is in the works that could help. peter has the latest in washington tonight. >> front pages are packed with details about problems at v.a. hospitals and now lawmakers are looking to right the next part of the story. changes with the general's resignation hasn't created any changes. >> why should a veteran get in a van to get to

the v.a.'s role in the transition from service member to veteran with a particular focus on the integrated to stability evaluation system commonly known as ides. the quality of the ace components in the process. further, i would like to hear today about the quality of communication, both within the transitioning service members as well as between the department of defense and the department of veterans affairs in this process. first, while i understand that timelines are improving, we want to start off by making it clear why continuing improvements matter. i am frequently contacted by service members were frustrated with the process. they do not know how long it is going to take, when they will get answers, and they don't know when they can make plans for their future. i understand that the dod reports hide dissatisfaction from service members undergoing but is -- i understand that it may not be a top priority for the v.a. because the v.a. has chosen to put fairly exclusive focus on eliminatin

the v.a. -- host: does the v.a. keep their own statistics? guest: v.a.oes keep a tremendous amount of information. some of it is made public, but not the information that we obtain. it is a new metric that they have called sail. they keep that information confidential. congress has been trying to get their hands on it since last year. the v.a. has not turned it over. this creates a one star to five star metric. to determine the overall ranking. it is about 10 or 12 one star hospitals. 10 or 12 five-star hospitals. when someone walks into one of these clinics, they have no idea what they're dealing with. that thatsaid information is held by the v.a. but not released to congress? guest: the v.a. says it is a work in progress. kind of an untested methodology how they do this. it is sort of an internal benchmarking. congress says that these are public hospitals and we have a right to know. i think the v.a. is still testing it out. we'll have to see when a new secretary is nominated and confirmed, whether they feel that they have to bend to the will of congre

v.a.'s management of specialty consults, a type of medical appointments, and have maytified problems that hinder access to care. several common thieves have emerged -- themes. ande include weak policies result in significant variation, confusion, and increased risk have undesirable practices. software systems that do not facilitate good practices, in adequate training, unclear staffing needs and allocation priorities, and in aquatic -- in adequate oversight which relies facility's self certification. focus mainlyoday on preliminary observations from our ongoing work examining v.a.'s management of specialty care consults. we found most of the 150 consults we reviewed were not managed in accordance with the timeliness guidelines. this ethically, we found that one in five consult requests were not triaged within the seven-day guideline. we found 38% of the consults were completed, but not within the 90 day guideline. 19% were completed within 90 days, but the provider failed to properly close

sweeping reform of the v.a. can start today. last night i asked our v.a. witness if the v.a. was capable of innovation. they want yes. we must demand innovation in the v.a. by passing comprehensive reforming. we can solve the patient access problem, stop the deceptive appointment scheduling practices, mandate transparency, and hold the v.a. employees accountable by adopting comprehensive reforms. we can empower the v.a. to transform itself into a world-class health care system. my top priority is solving the v.a. access to care crisis. our veterans must receive timely world-class care now and in the future, so that we never again face another patient access crisis in the v.a. we can do this in two ways, by solving the v.a.'s own access and capacity problems, and by expanding access to non-v.a. care. first, the v.a. must have the authority to expedite hiring of health care professionals, so that the v.a. facilities are adequately staffed to meet the growing number of veterans in need of care. second, the v.a. must have the authorization to lease more facilities so that the pro

they deserve a v.a. that works.re not asking fair lot here. ( cheers and applause ). >> stephen: all right. the president said-- the president said he did not hear about this particular scandal until he saw it on cnn. >> right. >> stephen: can you believe that? can you believe that people are watching cnn? ( laughter ) >> well, you know, what? now cnn's finally got something to cover other the plane. and this is a real issue. they've been aggressive on it. and other folks in the media have been aggressive on it. and this is not going to go away. even if the headlines fade we need everybody to continue to step up, hold people in washington accountable and support our veterans every day of the year. >> stephen: let me ask you a question they would only ask because this is have a satellite and you're hundreds of miles away. is the v.a. health care system the reason you'r you're still wg for that hair transplant? >> no, but you know what, stephen? that's okay. you know what, stephen, i think it's about time you shaved y

i know so many people at v.a.'s debt at the v.a.'s are doing gods work. -- at the v.a.'s are doing gods work. n awful lot of people that really think that these veterans deserve better. host: let's hear from one of those veterans. freddie is calling in from indianapolis, indiana. good morning. caller: i am a veteran. not only am i a veteran but i am also a volunteer at my local va hospital. hearing from people who have no idea what is going on. host: tell us your experience. caller: great, marvelous. i have no complaints whatsoever. the v.a. health care system is one of the best health care systems. privatizing it will not improve it one bit. most of the hospitals, if not you hear talkl's, about sending patients out. that is occurring right now. patients are being sent out. i had to have it procedure done. goingave me the choice of outside to have it done, which i did. that took me another 30 days once i signed a contract. host: do you think the system could use an infusion of cast -- of cash? caller: what we need is more employees coming into the system. that is what is

lerner says the v.a. is in a culture of denial. >> often we would send the reports back to the v.a. and sort of say in a very nice way, you know, kind of are you siding us here? >> reporter: for example, lerner reports the v.a.'s office of medical inspector found no harm when two menta mental heale patients spent seven years in the brockton v.a. hospital each receiving one medical exam. no harm found in the fort collins v.a. after 2800 veterans had their medical appointments canceled without notice and after the hospital admitting it was hiding how long veterans waited tore care. >> it's impossible to conclude no one was harmed when there were such long delays in getting them medical care. >> pelley: did you find in some cases they did not find patient harm because they weren't looking? >> that's right. on the waiting list case at fort collins they didn't even look to see whether patients had been harmed. >> reporter: learner learned the v.a. began to investigate how it has been handling the whistleblower complaints. acting director sloane glibsen agreed and promised a review. >> pe

the v.a.? anyway, as harry truman said, "the veterans administration will be modernized as soon as possible, but i can't do it immediately." [laughter] truman! the guy who was able to harness the power of the atom. the guy with whom the buck stop couldn't make a dent in the v.a. well, the v.a.'s gotten away with it for a pretty long time. guess what, faceless bureaucracy? you just stepped in [bleeped] creek without a can of whoop ass. [laughter] got to get better at metaphors. because all your shenanigans attracted some what i think you'll find is unwanted attention. >> members of congress are holding a rare nighttime hearing to tackle one of the biggest scandals to ever hit the department of veterans affairs. >> jon: oh, you in trouble now, mother [bleeped]. [cheering and applause] congress is holding a hearing. not just hearing, a night hearing. congress after dark. [laughter] when your typical do-nothing, bumbling congress transforms into bat-congress. i'm bat-congress. to the low approval r

v.a. secretary shinseki who also says he wasn't getting the information from lower level people? >> president obama said he was going to fix this issue with regard to the v.a. getting to your xwe, though, barack obama also said, you'll recall, in 2008, that no details, no issue is too small for him to tackle. yet, now, he comes on television two days ago and says, hey, listen, the secretary of the v.a. couldn't possibly know these details underneath because, you know, it's unfortunate he wasn't getting information. hillary clinton saying the same thing. well, it's too much minuta for me to understand on. you are the secretary of state. now you're launching a political response and saying that you don't want to play politics. i don't think she's any different than barack obama. i think they're one in the same. i think their career over a long period of time is insignificant in accomplishment. i think we're going to keep talking about it. >> clinton's four years of secretary of state are obv

the report says "v.a. leadership is not prepared to deliver effective day-to-day management and is marked by an inherent lack of responsiveness." the president ordered the investigation after reports that some v.a. managers lied about how long veterans waited for healthcare, hiding the fact that many couldn't get appointments for months. wyatt andrews has the story. wyatt? >> reporter: scott, president obama sent his deputy white house chief of staff, rob nabors, to be his eyes and ears at the v.a., and his report today combined scathing criticism with ideas on how to move the v.a. forward. he began his six-week study with a visit to the phoenix v.a., where 18 veterans died waiting for care. he described a corrosive culture marked by poor management, distrust between some v.a. employees and management, a history of retaliation toward employees, and a lack of accountability. his recommendations include several changes. he would scrap the stated goal of making appointments within 14 days-- an unrealistic goa

you politicize the v.a. the v.a.is a health program anyone the best doctors and nurses, progressives or conservatives, democrats or republicans. that is what you are paying them, to be health care providers. the other thing is that without any due process at all, somebody could be fired because of their race or sexual orientation or whatnot. they need to process. we put in an expedited process where they have a short period of appeal. ,"st: "the washington post their editorial wraps it up by saying "this may leave short-term pressures on the pa system and basically does nothing to change the system itself." guest: i don't think that is accurate, but let me also say this and maybe veterans want to call and. i can tell you, pedro -- i talk to a lot of veterans, and what we have seen in recent months in terms of falsifying data is a total outrage and people of god be punished. if you talk to veterans in vermont and all over the country, if you talk to their organizations -- the american legion, dfw, and all the other or

needs more doctors he says the v.a. will hire but he's also said the v.a. may need to be more efficient which means in some clinics, scott, v.a. doctors and nurses will be asked to work harder. >> pelley: wyatt, thanks very much. 57 now vets unable to get appointments is a large number, but consider this for context-- the v.a. had more than six million appointments on the books last month. so 57,000 is about 1% of the total. we learned this afternoon the identities of the las vegas couple who ambushed and killed two police officers and gunned down a civilian who tried to stop them. here's scott daniels of cbs affiliate klas. >> reporter: investigators the couple entered the petria and shot officers igot soldo and alan beck at pointblank range and covered the bodies with a swastika and gadsden flag emblazoned with the words "don't troad me." >> mr. kim jardine then pinned a note to officer saldo basically stating that this is the beginning of the revolution. >> reporter: the millers then walked to a wal-mart a block away jerad miller ordered shoppers out. he

the v.a. says it is ending the 14-day scheduling goal to eliminate incentives to engage in inappropriate practices. to clear the backlog, v.a. officials say 50,000 veterans have been called just in the last week to schedule appointments. 90,000 remain on the call list now. iraq veteran lauren price has received two personal calls and an automated follow-up. before last week, she'd waited six months for a checkup, despite her diagnosis of chronic lung disease. >> it's outrageous and egregious that it takes this level of pressure to get them to do the job they are so adequately funded for. >> reporter: in this report, the auditors admit they did not learn everything, saying that many of the respondents may have self-censored to protect themselves. 112 v.a. hospitals and clinics, including the hines hospital have been flagged for further review and investigation. >> pelley: wyatt is joining us now for washington. wyatt, what is the v.a. going to do about these wait times? >> reporter: scott, the

you politicize the v.a. the v.a.is a health program anyone the best doctors and nurses, progressives or conservatives, democrats or republicans. that is what you are paying them, to be health care providers. the other thing is that without any due process at all, somebody could be fired because of their race or sexual orientation or whatnot. they need to process. we put in an expedited process where they have a short period of appeal. ,"st: "the washington post their editorial wraps it up by saying "this may leave short-term pressures on the pa system and basically does nothing to change the system itself." guest: i don't think that is accurate, but let me also say this and maybe veterans want to call and. i can tell you, pedro -- i talk to a lot of veterans, and what we have seen in recent months in terms of falsifying data is a total outrage and people of god be punished. if you talk to veterans in vermont and all over the country, if you talk to their organizations -- the american legion, dfw, and all the other or

secretary acting v.a. secretary has allocated hundreds of millions of dollars more, and the sanders and mccain bill which i am strongly supporting is going to allocate more money to hire more doctors and we need more resources and better management and accountability for the wrongdoing, including from the wrongdoing absolutely essential. >> senator richard blumenthal, always great to have you on the program, thank you. >> thank you. >>> now i'm joined by amanda terkel and dafna linzer. new accountability that the brand new acting secretary of the v.a. is not saying that we should be looking at criminal charges here. >> and a request and a strong one for the justice department to come in to take the lead which is tough, too. and today, looking at the three stories of the tragic deaths of soldiers in afghanistan and the controversy of the v.a. and bowe bergdahl and this is a tragic story of the united states in war in iraq and afghanistan and how many people today, and how many veterans in arizona had wished

the v.a. >>> the clinton's money, bill clinton jumps to his wife's defense in an interview with david gregory, with their post white house wealth now suddenly an issue. >>> and without warning. the summer threat that has even some meteorologists worried. tonight separating fact from fiction, where the danger is concerned. "nightly news" begins now. >>> good evening, you're about to see an up close look at the effort to defend baghdad. isis has been grabbing up a lot of real estate while approaching the capitol city. richard engel embedded with an iraqi military unit. more u.s. military advisers arrive just today and as so much of that nation has already crumbled. richard is back inside baghdad to start us off. richard, good evening. >> good evening, brian. secretary kerry was here today at an emergency mission to try to hold this country together. iraq is increasingly breaking into three distinct pieces. as we saw today, the iraqi armed forces are mostly just trying to hang on to what they sti

further, a recent v.a.audit revealed that more than 57,000 veterans are on too-long waiting lists in order to be scheduled for medical appointments and in addition to that, there are many other veterans who were never put on the list in the first place, which is what this whole scandal is largely about. clearly, these waiting lists and veterans not getting care in a timely manner is unacceptable and must be dealt with immediately. not six months from now, not in a year from now, not in a great debate about national priorities. this is a crisis which must be dealt with now. swru agree -- i couldn't agree with senator john mccain more when he said on the senate floor during this debate -- and i quote -- "if there is a definition of emergency, i would say this legislation fits that, it is an emergency, it is an imagine what is happening to our veterans and the men and women who have served this country and we need to pass this legislation and get it in conference with the house as soon as possible." end of quo

and how do we allow the v.a. leadership to make the systemic changes they need to make address by the inspector general. some on capitol hill claim this is all about money. let me remind you that since 2010 in the health care account alone the v.a. has carried over $4.6 billion and has estimated to carry over another $450 million. these are appropriated dollars that are not needed for the delivery of health care to our nation's veterans. it has been no investigation saying there was a shortage of the investigations pointed to things like double scheduling, veterans who left off the role or request things that were changed. they leave us in an unknown situation. what does this bill to echo it is choice, transparency, and change. it is not encompassing everything congress would like to pass as it relates to v.a. legislation but it addresses the urgent things needed right now. i am proud to announce that as of this press that as of this conference concerned veterans of america have publicly supported this bill. we h