the v.a. has the resources and the authority to provide high-quality health care services and benefits that veterans have earned and deserve. no matter where they choose to live. h.r. 5404 extends the department's authority to deliver nursing home care to our veterans, give child care assistance for veterans so they can make their medical appointments, and provide counseling retreats for our women veterans. for veterans who live in highly rural areas like my district, this bill extends v.a.'s authority to give grants to veterans service organizations to transport our rural veterans to their medical appointments, which is critical for increasing access to v.a. health care. this bill also extends critical homeless programs that the v.a. needs to end veteran homelessness by 2015. programs such as housing assistance, financial assistance, counseling and reintegration services will continue so that veterans who experience homelessness or are at risk of being homeless have a safety net of services t

i want them to think of the v.a. as their v.a. i want every veteran in the country to say, this is my v.a. and i'm proud of it. >> my time has expired. thank you once again for your leadership, your willingness to do this. i'm very optimistic and very hopeful that with your leadership style, this change will continue in a positive direction. i want to wish you the best of luck. >> it will take the partnership of all of us. >> thank you. >> thank you for being here today. we really appreciate hearing from you. there's a lot of things we could talk about, but the need at the moment is to try to get to the bottom of what the details are surrounding this inspector general's report that has just come out. you may have heard the testimony of the inspector general earlier today that while the waiting list in phoenix contributed to some or all of the 40 deaths of , it did notphoenix cause their deaths. they made a distinction between contributing to their deaths and causing their deaths. that, was it misleading for some of the press headl

the v.a. office of inspector general released its final report of the phoenix v.a. health care system which defaulted to national attention after hearing on april the ninth. the oig confirmed that an appropriate scheduling practices are a nationwide systemic problem and found that access barriers adversely affected the quality of care for veterans at the phoenix v.a. medical center. based on the large number of v.a. employees who were found to have used scheduling practices contrary to veterans health administration policy the oig has opened investigations as i understand it at 93 v.a. medical facilities and have found over 3400 veterans who may have experienced delays in care from weightless manipulation at the phoenix v.a. medical center alone. oig concluded by providing the v.a. with 24 recommendations for improvement to avoid these problems from reoccurring. these recommendations should be implemented immediately. this committee will work tirelessly to ensure that they are in fact implemen

the v.a. and the in-house services. i thank you for your testimony in helping to guide this committee to do meaningful reform and we will keep an eye on it. >> thank you very much. mr. kaufman. >> i can provide the ig e-mails. they will be reviewed by our privacy officer to make sure that no one's identity is left in their that shouldn't be. , the you are aware department of justice has already declined to prosecute 17 cases of possible criminal violations by ba employees -- v.a. employees. the are some of the reasons department of justice has provided for not wanting to prosecute? >> some of the reasons include that it was not determined that criminal behavior occurred. , they had the cases more rigorous prosecute of standards for the cases that would rise to the level of getting prosecution as opposed to administrative action. fact thatem, the someone manipulated the data, but there wasn't proof of a death as a result caused them not to prosecute. some of them said this has been a systemic p

the v.a.emergency room and she said that v.a. saved his life. her message was simple, thank you, keep it up. i have heard patients call their nurses angels and tell me that their doctors understand their needs and give great care. i also hear that veterans are waiting too long to be seen and that is simply not acceptable. i am hearing from those who have experienced the worst of the bureaucracy. one veteran told me that it will still take as long as a year for v.a. to verify her dependency status for benefits, even though she has been receiving tuition assistance from v.a. one widow said she received a call to remind her veteran has been to get his flu shot and her husband had passed away months before. a family member shared that v.a. sent a letter to his father who had passed away 20 years ago and was buried by v.a.. that is why we are looking at every single thing we do. we are looking at it through the eyes of the veterans. that perspective makes every decision, every right decision, absol

v.a. related.is the one that told me to go ahead, since i was in the navy and i was in the vet, go ahead and apply. so the corruption runs deep as one would say. i think the v.a. hospital, when i came to the v.a. hospital here it wasn't so bad. i admit that. although i know it was a scam because they said there was nothing wrong with my left lung. now, that lung was collapsed. back in 2011 when i was basically forced off the road. ok? i flipped around. could i honestly say was i going to work? that's what they told me. they told me in the hospital i was going to work. they said i never arrived on friday night. well, i did arrive on friday night. it was saturday morning that i was sent home an hour early. i should have been escorted home. but would i say on a bible that was i going to work? i have no idea because i was basically comatosed, induced, more than 2-1/2 weeks while they sucked my insurance dry. they rearranged my face, and when i say rearranged, one doctor had, as 48 screws, ten plates. n

the v.a.'s statement will be the v.a.'ent will be available in full on our available in full on our website website website. website. >> so doctor, vets and active >> so doctor, vets and active members of the military are members of the military are dieing at a an alarming dieing at a an alarming rate. rate. expert point to the connection expert point to the connection between these prescribed drugs between these prescribed drugs and suicides and accident and suicides and accident overdoses. overdoses. what's going on here? what's going on here? >> i think you have a situation >> i think you have a situation where a number of these, mostly where a number of these, mostly young men and well, find young men and well, find themselves at the end of a rope. themselves at the end of a rope. they have tried the treatments. they have tried the treatments. and even the best studies show and even the best studies show that these medications work only that these medications work only about half of the patients to about half of the pa

the v.a.secretary and members of congress with independent, unbiased, fact-based program reviews to correct identified deficiencies and improve v.a. programs. these reports have served as the basis for 67 congressional oversight hearings, including 48 hearings before this committee. during these same six years our work has been recognized by the ig community with 25 awards for excellence. we are scrupulous about our independence and take pride in the performance of our mission to ensure veterans receive the care, support and recognition they have earned through service to our country. the v.a. secretary has acknowledged the department is in the midst of a serious crisis, and has concurred with all 24 recommendations, and has submitted acceptable corrective action plans. a recent report cannot capture the personal disappointment, frustration, and loss of faith that veterans and their family members have with the health care system that often could not respond to their physical and mental needs

the v.a.'atement will be available in full on our website website. >> so doctor, vets and active members of the military are dieing at a an alarming rate. expert point to the connection between these prescribed drugs and suicides and accident overdoses. what's going on here? >> i think you have a situation where a number of these, mostly young men and well, find themselves at the end of a rope. they have tried the treatments. and even the best studies show that these medications work only about half of the patients to which they are prescribed. so you have a whole other half that are still suffering and go through sort of a list of drugs, almost in a trial and error way and they are not getting better. and then what happens is that doctors, as part of practice, will start piling on one precipitation and if the patient is having a side effect from a medication, they give another medication for that side effect. until finally they -- a veteran can get in to a state like they feel just sort of tot

the v.a. inspector general's report on the phoenix v.a. system which was released last month confirms that the phoenix v.a. left 3,00 veterans at the risk of never receiving care. additionally, 1,400 veterans on the official electronic waiting list were left waiting for unseptemberbly long periods of care. 20 veterans failed to receive care passed away. this is immoral, un-american and puts our veterans at risk. in arizona, we are not waiting for washington to take action, we are taking action ourselves. in phoenix, we established a working group of community providers, veteran service organizations and the local v.a. to work together to improve access to services. we also co-hosted our first veterans first clinic which brought together community providers, phoenix v.a. and 20 veteran-serving organizations to help veterans. approximately 400 veterans and their families attended and got the care that they earned and deserved. we set aside partisanship and focus on putting veterans first to help meet their needs. mr. speaker, i want to share

but the v.a.eds to be sure to have access to care is that time and way to develop proper care. >> if you had a chance to go back and reevaluate what could you do it different today? >> no. that is so we have done this for many years it is very thorough. but i would wish it was not tied to the issue of timing isfor the impact of the old way to list and quality of care. that is a native standard -- a maid at standard we would have come up with something different so that is what we had to address >> i yield back. >> mr. chairman, is there a parallel fbi investigation going on right now? >> a joint investigation involving my people and the fbi. >> investigating the same issues in asking the same questions? >> there is an interview happening there is fbi and it o.i.g. president. >> so answering a the question related to the closing out of those 12 cases of the 93 ongoing you mentioned there were closed because they met the criteria and questions were answered buy you talk about additional information

v.a. over that period time not down to the specifics? >> referring to the 93 other facilities? have some initial reporting on those as of yesterday. we have given the department 12 individual reports for them to examine and determine what action would be appropriate in view of the specifics of each of those reports. 93 are stillur very much active. at 42can tell you that different facilities of those 93 we found the practice of using the next available date as the desired date. it was something that was reported on in the interim and final reports. where her facilities an appointment was canceled and rescheduled on the same day, for the same appointment time, for the sole purpose of giving the appearance of a shorter waiting time. we have had 16 facilities that have paper weight lists as opposed to being on an e-well. we have 13 facilities -- concludenvestigators that all these individuals came up with these deceptive practices on their own, or was there some overarching initiative that so

v.a. related. he ts one that told me to go ahead, since i was in the navy and i was in the vet, go ahead and apply. as e corruption runs deep one would say. think the v.a. hospital, when i came to the v.a. hospital here it wasn't so bad. i admit that. although i know it was a scam because they said there was nothing wrong with my left lung. now, that lung was colapsed. back in 2011 when i was basically forced off the road. ok? i flipped around. could i honestly say was i going to work? that's what they told me. they told me in the hospital i was going to work. they said i never arrived on friday night. well, i did arrive on friday night. it was saturday morning that i was sent home an hour early. i should have been escorted home. but would i say on a bible that was i going to work? i have no idea because i was induced, comatosed, more than 2-1/2 weeks while they sucked my insurance dry. they rearranged my face, and when i say rearranged, one screws, ten s 48 plates. next time i get my medical recor

and yet the v.a. doesn't want you to have anything to do with any of their hospital services or veterans. it would seem that somebody at this facility should be able to explain what's going on. >> i'm in -- not part of that operation. i don't have -- >> reporter: can you find anybody who is part of that operation? this is the operation, right? >> yep. >> reporter: diane is upstairs, right? >> yep. >> reporter: can she come down? >> i don't know. i don't know. >> reporter: can you go ask her, maybe, or just give her a call? >> i haven't been able to get ahold of her this morning. >> reporter: she is upstairs. >> she has been tied up. between meetings and -- >> reporter: does she have an assistant? >> no. >> reporter: okay. >> i don't know if you can make an appointment. >> reporter: we've tried. we have tried. maybe i'll ask this person here. there any chance of making an appointment with diane? >> you can leave your information. >> reporter: okay, we tried that route already. haven't got a call back.

v.a. to really do its job and deter criminality assuming it existed here and may be ongoing in the agency as it may be in any agency of our government, state or federal. thank you for your service. my time has expired. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you. senator murray. >> mr. griffin, i was deeply disturbed to read your findings about how many cases of suicide in veterans in serious mental health problems with affected by care. many facilities in my home state of washington are facing staffing problems and long wait times for mental healthcare. i wanted to say, if hospitals in washington state are on your list of facilities for further investigation, i really hope your team looks very closely at the mental healthcare problems like they have done in phoenix. i want to ask you, the phoenix report really criticizes vha's resistance to change. your report and the white house review found serious cultural and ethical failings across the system. what do you think the v.a. should be doing to

i think it's a problem in the v.a. one of the things that excites me about this job is that many of the things we see at the v.a. is we're kind of the pathfinder for the country. whether it's, for example, the use of the bar code for -- in a hospital to make sure somebody gets good care. i think one of the things we have to do is we have to increase the number of students studying mental health in school. i met with 17 residents at duke who graduated all working at the v.a. one was way psychiatrist. i asked the question, why are young people not going into psychiatry and mental health? because it's an area that we're learning a lot more about today than we knew in the past. my father-in-law, who was a prisoner of war in world war ii, he was not down over germany. he walked across germany. i sure he had post-traumatic stress but we didn't know what to call it. he never wanted to talk about it until he joined a group of pows who felt comfortable talking about it. what they told me was the biggest issue is that insurance

v.a. he did not have an appointment and his heart did stop thing he had to wait for paramedics to arrive but unfortunately his family had to withdraw life9uh support three days later. it mayçbcç have solved his death" end quote. because the device is exactly what is used to treat is a legal heart rhythm he died of complica$çykÑ of prolonged heart stoppage. he was denied access to specialty care. in case number 39 of veteran came to the e.r. with stressors including being homeless and resign medication then discharge back to the street and committed suicide 24 hours later. the standard would be to limit him. i.g. said it will be better between inappropriate mental health dischargee and suicide number 31 he died from the seven month period that the v.a. did not act to pull labs. but the treatments would have started the slowdown of the degrees sid difficultly preventing the spread to his ball because of the labs in appointments he was denied access to specialty care to delay his death by mon

said v.a. does not have go way to insure that if a nurse and leaves the clinic and the job is critical to fill that position is given to a board in the hospital where administrators decided they will fill that nurse or teaching or research position. so what can we do to make sure this does not have been? the same standard was not applied because the fact patterns were different. >> i apologize we have a role call at lake a chance to ask her questions before we recess. >> mr. griffin from those other facilities it is the best date and the art also with the medical system i will ask a number of my constituents is the same problem happening here as phoenix? because then it makes you worry. i talk once a week to be reassured that they are not but not only do they want to solve its problems they could find but that is a big part to restore trust to get that done. also to put forth 24 recommendations and there are 11 specifically to phoenix but the rest of the public at the systematic problem. to you

he said v.a. was worried the report would damn the organization, which it did, therefore it was important for v.a. on introduce language that softened the blow. so my question to you is, did you ask or are you aware of any employee in the central office who asked the ig to change the report or questioned the ig about any language, verbiage in the report? there has been a hang up on specific words and i get that. and -- well, i'll let you answer that first. yes or no. >> thank you very much. it's a very important question. what the ig found -- >> that would be a yes or no. >> it is a more complex situation than that, sir. >> my question to you is yes or no, did you ask for any changes in the verbiage -- i know the -- >> i did not. >> thank you very much. and i appreciate you doing that under oath. how it you find out that the verbiage had been changed and what was your reaction when you heard it?you find out that the verbiage had been changed and what was your reaction when you heard it? >>nkzf as

v.a. as far as the report and changes you would like to see to v.a. employees? >> we had plenty of conversations about the report. when the first draft came out, we were quite surprised there was no mention of the 40 deaths. i personally made no attempt to change that. that wasodd, since all over the news. we had questions from our neighbors and families, you worked for the v.a., did you kill 40 people? that's what people thought. but that is not the most important part of the i.g. report. the most important part was that we have delays in care. that's what we have to fix. i was interested that the report should address the 40 deaths, because my concern was veterans did not have faith in their health care system, and they need to come to us for care if they need health care. >> and, when you mentioned, you said "we." the part that concerns me, you are the chief of staff, so this news, and wet of do have to move forward, trying to get back to where the disconnect is. when you mentioned "we,

i empowered myself over the v.a. i don't have any money for acupuncture but i saved myself and i had to. the other thing my primary care physician at the clinic since i have been coming here half the time she does not have a nurse she is overwhelmed and overworked and limited buy you guys. i go to primary care personally ask and still need acupuncture to get me through once a week they tell me come back in march march 20156 months from now. it will be two years. if he does stand together please all be a -- v.a. veteran stan together and we can win. a man. [applause] >> good evening and chief petty officer retired and is one of the first women's day let into construction. not that we can get the boys did not want us there. how many women veterans are here? please identify yourself. according to my friend that sent me information about this meeting from oregon most are probably here in phoenix but where are they? i am not going there. the men that we served with war now vietnam's veterans treats the women like crap if

phoenix ande v.a.'s was told it would take six months for a therapy appointment and they were giving nothing for the depression and anxiety. that filled me with pills for a long time until i needed them. the court system drain me minutes he, and financially. i just gave up. i give up rights to my son because i do not have the money or resources to fight this corrupt system. i cannot believe everything i thought gore was being taken away. and went to see my primary care doctor during this time began said concerned about a skin growth that was growing up my arm. who knewa doctor nothing about medicine, knew more than it should, she never called me for follow-up. during this time, met another of veterans that help me out. one of them was my mentor who became a dear friend. you look at the spot in my arm and said it was cancer. that itched it and saw caused cancer. i use natural therapies and the cancer went away. ron should know the v.a. had him listed three times dead. here he stands tonight as a survivor

had to be admitted to the v.a. hospital up there for five days and guess what? v.a. is like heaven here compared to des moines, iowa. yeah. yeah. yeah. i had a woman, for four days up there, i had a liquid diet. oh, my. so the fifth day they let me eat. okay? at the end of that fifth day, a woman comes around and she says, i'm so and so canteen services and i want to do a report and question you about how good your food was. i says, you got to be kidding me, lady. how can you mess up a grilled cheese sandwich? it tasted like it had been through five fires. you know? tomato soup? tasted like a dish rag, somebody forgot to take the dish rag out of the soup pan. >> right. >> you know. so what i'm trying to say is, there are some good things here at this hospital. there are some good things. but it is certainly not the doctors. thanks. applause] >> how would everybody feel if this was the last comment? >> i got a comment. >> you got one more? all right. all right. >> we were scheduled for an hour. so we've been here, it'll be 10:00 so i'll go two more and then we'll wrap

his tour marked the 100 anniversary of the v.a. health insurance programs and come in the wake of the v.a. scandal. in july a federal investigation also uncovered a disability claim backlog and cover up at this facility. >>> coming up, the eagles season opener set for sunday. hearing from the team about its preparation. plus ron jaworski covers his take on the match-up with jacksonville. >>> the public debut at the philadelphia zoo. four newest additions making their grand entrance today. >>> after a steamy start to the weekend, tracking a cold front that will move through with a round of strong storms and a taste of fall behind it. including the shore and the poconos in the a ago -- accuweather forecast. >>> and those stories and more when "action news" continues tonight. here you go. mm, spicy! you mean her? no, it's the spicy smoked sausage sandwich, honey, s-see? see the spice? right. it better be. you going to the car? we're going to eat in the car. add some spice to your day with dunkin's spicy smoked sausage breakfast sandwi

and yet the v.a. doesn't want you to have anything to do with any of their hospital services or veterans. it would seem that somebody at this facility should be able to explain what is going on. >> i'm not part of that operation. i don't have -- >> can you find anybody who is part of that operation. this is the operation, right? diane is upstairs, right? >> yeah. >> can she come down? >> i don't know, i don't know -- >> can you go ask her maybe or just give her a call? >> i haven't been able to get hold of her this morning. she is tied up. >> tied up. >> between meetings. >> does she have an assistant? >> no. okay. >> so i don't know if you can make an appointment -- >> well, we have tried. we have tried. maybe i'll ask this person here, is there any chance of making an appointment with diane? >> you can leave your information. >> okay, we tried that route already. haven't gotten a call back. >> yeah, i answer the phones here, i'm sorry. >> what makes me so outraged about this, these people are so sle

the new v.a. secretary robert mcdonald. other piece, john dingell has been admitted to a hospital. the longest-serving member of the house of representatives admitted to a detroit hospital, according to his office. the announcement yesterday. the michigan democrat was admitted to the henry ford hospital in detroit with abdominal pain but expects to return to work in d.c. next week. a statement, "dingell is doing well and receiving treatment." doctors expect him to be released in a few days. john dingell will update you on any changes on his health. we'll let you know when he is released. up next on the "washington journal." a look at potential u.s. military options to defeat isis with former pentagon official steve bucci, who served under donald rumsfeld. he's now a foreign and national security policy expert at the heritage foundation. later, brad sherman, california democrat and ranking member of affairse foreign terrorism subcommittee. we will talk about president obama's speech tomorrow and the u.s. strategy for if eati

the report from the v.a.'s acting inspector general brought the v.a. secretary to testify before a senate committee on capitol hill today. richard griffin said at least 13 managers at v.a. facilities lied to his investigators. meanwhile this afternoon, pennsylvania senator bob casey said there is progress reducing the v.a.'s disability claims backlog, but there's still a long way to go. >> veterans and their families should demand that this claims backlog system works for them. and that's the least that they should demand. >> new v.a. secretary bob mcdonald says shortening wait times for veterans and changing the system's culture are at the top of the agency's priorities list. >>> seven weeks after malaysia airlines flight mh 17 crashed in ukraine, the dutch safety board released a preliminary report about what happened while it stopped short of saying that the boeing 777 was shot down by a missile, its findings appear to point to that conclusion. the plane crashed over pro-russia-held territory in eastern ukraine back on july 17th. all 298 people on b

the phoenix arizona v.a. medical center held a townhall meeting in mid-september for veterans and their families to ask questions and share comments about their medical care and experiences. this particular site was the center for the department of veterans affairs inspector general's rate port which had reports about long wait times and other systemic problem's delivering patient treatment. event contains some language viewers may find offensive. that we willforms be holding on a regular basis and the secretary announced he wants to do these on a quarterly basis. is that better? we will duties on a quarterly basis and i will be here for the next time and back to dayton, i will do them in ohio. i am recommending to whoever comes behind me that we hold these out in the community and will be moving around the city of phoenix and going to some of the out patient cities where we have outpatient clinics on those kind of areas. let's start off by asking everyone to stand and we will have a moment of silence to send

i use of their peace and it went away but the v.a.listed three times deadly here he stands as a survivor. veterans once stood up for this great nation it is time to stand up again. if i leave here tonight and i run a stop sign there is a good chance campbell get a speeding ticket but while our leaders disobey the law as the house bill 2020 with the flag says it shall be displayed in the locations provided at half staff because of member of the united states of the armed forces. is pursuing touche subsequent to section the state capitol building. is serves as a local and superior court in the county the building city or town hall. notwithstanding any other block with a single staff to be displayed under the pow flag i bet half of you do not know honor and remember flight is. our congressmen and senators house bill 2020. i have proof and documentation everything i say is true the last time i came to a town hall rally they were seen if i was not. enough is enough we need to band together to get back on track. i have found out there was t

did the v.a. try to cover up a massive mistake?not his luggage. what's going on at the airport? should you be concerned about people like that? ♪ ♪ and a gentle wavelike motion... aahhh- ahhhhhh. liberate your spine, ahhh-ahhhhhh aflac! and reach, toes blossoming... not that great at yoga. yeah, but when i slipped a disk he paid my claim in just four days. ahh! four days? yep. find out how fast aflac can pay you, at aflac.com. i see the levy's parked in fronit's a free country dad. our house. our spot. those are the rules. ok who wants sweet rolls? oh, i do! (whoooosh! smack!) me too! (whoooosh! smack!) (whoooosh! smack!) (whoooosh! smack!) are those king's hawaiian rolls? (whoooosh! smack!) (whoooosh! smack!) thanks carol! (electric hedge trimmer) everybody loves the sweet, fluffy deliciouslness of king's hawaiian bread. find us in the deli or in-store bakery. also try the complete line of king's hawaiian sandwich rolls. can this decadent, fruit topped pastry... ...with indulgent streusel crumble, be from... fiber one. new fiber o

the v.a. secretary has acknowledged that the department is in the midst of a serious crisis, and he has concurred with all 24 recommendations in our report and submitted acceptable corrective action plans. mr. chairman, this concludes our statement and we would be pleased to answer questions any of the members may have. >> mr. griffin, thank you very much. you for your testimony and for the work that you and your staff have undertaken over the last many months. , in a sense some a by asking you a question that arises from some media reports. there has been some suggestion that the ig, office of inspector general for v.a., is really not independent. you withike to provide the opportunity to describe the process the ig utilizes when preparing oversight reports, including the draft report review. in other words, are you being heavily influenced by the v.a.? are they editing the reports you give us or are you an independent entity finding the truth as best you can? >> thank you for that question.

the v.a.'announcing in its none of the deaths there could but now a startling admission. the inspector general's office forced to admit wait times contributed to the deaths of the veterans. >> did it contribute to the >> wait lists contributed the >> yes. >> reporter: the admission pbyouseans airs whistleblowers o charging the oig softethe >> at its best, this report is a whitewash and its worst at a feeble attempt to cover. >> reporter: the inspector general's office saying they're not clairvoyant and can't say exactly why those veterans died. pbutve their eysgatitheir charges. serena marshall, abc news, washington. >>> another convicted killer has been executed in the ninth one in the stte t ye 38-year-old lisa coleman received a lethal injection last night for the death of her girlfriend's 9-year-old son after the supreme court rejected a late appeal to spare her life. the boy was tortured and starved to death a decade ago, found emaciated with cigarette burns and other injuries. coleman is

v.a. hospitals in philadelphia and nationwide have been the focus of criticism concern and new strict review processes. today the new veterans affairs secretary came to philadelphia to tour the medical hospital for himself. cydney long is live outside the hospital. i understand, you have his report card for the facility. >> reporter: keith, he was pleased with what he encountered here today at the v.a. hospital. there are checks and balances in place to better improve call if i and access of patient care. he says his review of insurance calls, that 85% of them -- 85% of the time they were taken care of on the first phone call. he says better scheduling of surgeries is happening and transparency with the staff but there is still work to be done. >> we know our trust has been compromised and the public's trust has been compromised. we're going to have to earn it back. we will earn it back one veteran at a time. >> reporter: visiting with veterans at the hospital today along with members of c

but i got there i had to be admitted to the v.a. hospital for five days. guess what? v.a. is have been here compared to des moines, iowa. i had a liquid diet. the fifth day they let me eat. at the end of the fifth day the woman says the want to do a report to question you about how good your food was. are you kidding me? how can you mess up a grilled cheese sandwich? it tastes like it went through 55 years. -- five fires.bú the tomato soup tastes like somebody did not take out the dishrag. so there are some good things here. but it is certainly not the doctors. thank you. [applause] >>. >> we will do to more then wrap it up. what happened to me happened to other people. and then i bring her to the emergency. with an open sore down to the bone. then we go back. and then they put her in a bet. then we were kind the escorted out. end coming here on a saturday. with a bad prostate problem. and then told me to come back monday. when i got back monday they said you have to make an appointment to wait one month.n but then i looked upm but then i went out. a whit to the hospital.

we spoke to a top v.a.e change made under pressure. the issue surrounds the investigation of whether more than 40 veterans at the v.a. died waiting to see a doctor. the final report in august concluded it could not conclusively assert that the long wait times caused the deaths of these veterans, but the downtime delayed any connection and according to this whistle blower, it was not in the original draft of the report. >> they said the wait times didn't cause the deaths. >> correct. >> and that was added? >> yes. >> at the last minute essentially. >> yes, it was. >> reporter: our source who works at v.a. headquarters and who spoke exclusively to cbs news says officials inside the agency asked for a revision of the first draft. that's standard practice. in this case, the source says it amounts to pressure on the inspector general richard griffin to water dineown that line in the report. >> they were worried it was going damn the situation and therefore it was to soften the blow. >> reporter: the office of th

the admission from an employee of the v.a.during a house hearing yesterday conflict with the report last month that found none of the deaths could be directly linked to the delays. >> did it contribute to the death? >> yes. >> wait list contributed to the deaths of veterans? >> yes. >> as many as 40 veterans may have died while waiting for appointments. the doctor who first exposed the waiting list at the phoenix v.a. called the report a whitewash saying confusing language was deliberately added to protect v.a. officials. >>> across the southwest, a lot of people will be looking nervously at the sky as the threat of flash flooding is growing. >> rain has already started falling across much of arizona with ominous clouds like these over phoenix valley. dry riverbeds are filled with rushing water. some roadways have already flooded. heavy rain is expected to fall through tomorrow. >> several areas in the desert southwest are on track to break records before the month is out. >> accuweather meteorologist jim dickey is monitoring

that meeting is open to the public and veterans of course, especially those affected by v.a. delays in medical care or claims processing. >>> sometime in the future you may be able to boat and fish on lake manassas. they will do a stew and evaluate options. the lake was closed in the '90s to protect the drinking water supply. now lawmakers say the mope used to keep people off the lake could turn it into a recreation area. the the county will take up the issue again in six months. >>> g.m. says a high-tech feature on one of its cars may be illegal. the valet mode allows users to record conversations when they are not in the car. the problem is certain states do not allow secret recordings of others. g.m. is warning others about this problem. they are telling people not to use the feature until a software update comes out. it lets owners see how their car was driven while not in the car. even in this area you have to have two-party consent to record a conversation p. >> but once you tell a person not to do something, that's what you want to do. >> don't go to jail. >> stay with

and i have demanded the fact that we need to support our v.a. please read the v.a. accountability bill. when i saw secret waiting lists backlogs up to the ceiling, i worked in winston-salem to help resolve the issues. fayetteville, north carolina needed leasehold space. i have gotten that taken care of and gotten it done. >> same question, what else needs to be done? >> in 2008, kay stood at a podium very similar to this and she said the v.a. has problems that need to be fixed. for five and a half years kay hagan has been in washington, i haven't heard her pounding the the with barack obama and veterans administration -- we have -- we're having some of the worst problems. waiting lists. you know, these men and women swore an oath to protect us and lay down their lives for our freedom. to come in here and say i solved the problem in fatheville, i answered a phone call here when the fundamental problem, kay hagan knew it was broke in 2008. she's failed to fix it and she's failed our veterans in north carolina as a result. we need strong leadership and we need to hold

he came back, and the v.a. thought he was in north carolina, but he was living in california, and so he didn't get, you know, he didn't get his benefits. he had no job. he was in financial straits for a little while. so i think jobs help reasemilate, get them back and going. but not only that, just this sense of awareness. pete had talked about, you know, civilians having, you know, the country understand their stories. that's a huge deal. one of the guys, a gunnery sergeant, he's now a master sergeant, buck doyle. i said what do you want to come out of this? and puck told me i want people -- back told me i wallet people just to understand, exactly the phrasing pete used. it's not sympathy, it's not pity. that's certainly not what they wallet. but just some sense of understanding of what they're doing and, you know, what they're suffering through, what their families are are suffering through. you know, bridging the very divide that barbara was talking about earlier. i think that would really help. but i really

most everybody views a v.a. t. most everybody uses a v.a. t, and you have to be careful it doesn't impact low income people. it should cover food, medicine and necessities and provide credit to mitigate the impact to lower income people that consume more of their pay. i think we are fighting a losing battle. when people think of a corporate income tax they think we are taxing the rich and powerful. we are not. we are taxing an organizational structure and it can be repackaged and sent overseas. >> i can see you, you are in the studio, you haven't seen me for a long time. i look the same. i have the same set of hair - i have a better chance of growing hair than any of this that you just suggested. >> that's probably true. >> income tax reform - is it possible. i heard this before. people suggest it, is there a reason why this goes nowhere? >> it's behind me. corporate tax reform should be low-hanging for a decade. i don't understand. we have an uncooperative action at the federal level. the big guys pay 10-15%, it's the smaller businesses tha

the new head of the v.a. is worried the department will not be able to attract enough doctors faced by waiting veterans. tens of thousands of doctors are needed to fix the shortage. the scandal forced the abrupt resignation of eric shinseki. >>> the cdc says the rare strain of virus is affecting more kids. cases have now been reported in a dozen states from utah to georgia. if you notice, john, that is the part of the country where they go to school in mid-august. this is moving around. children with severe cold symptoms and difficulty breathing should be seen by the doctor. >> a lot of people worried about this. we had back to school last night. >>> this morning, ray rice is a man without a team and without any prospects for landing a job anytime soon. the baltimore ravens cut him after the video showing him knocking his future wife unconscious in an elevator in an atlantic city casino. the nfl suspended rice from the league indefinitely now. we will talk about that. andy scholes is following the development

fox news brought the v.a. veterans dying to veterans being left without benefits. peter johnson, jr. has been at the forefront of this effort to get to the bottom of it and joins us now. >> i looked carefully this, 133-page report. in my view, the report is a white wash and a scam. bluntly spoken. i think congress is looking very, very hard at this. they find delays. they find deaths, but they don't put the two together. and this is the controversial line from the i.g.'s report that has everybody speaking in this country. while the case reviews in this report document poor quality of care, we are unable to conclusively assert that the absence of timely quality care caused the deaths of these veteran. >> are they mincing words here? >> they're more than mincing words. they're going out on a limb to save reputation, to save indictments, and save dollars for the federal government because they're saying if we make a determination that a delay in providing care caused death or personal injury, then they're setting

. >>> now to the latest bombshell in the v.a. scandal. for the first time, a senior veterans affairs official acknowledged that the lengthy delays cricketed to the deaths of veterans. the admission from the v.a. inspector general's office, came during a house hearing yesterday. conflicting with the report last month that found none of the deaths could be directly linked to the delays. the doctor who exposed the scandal called the report a whitewash. >>> in scotland, the polls are open for what is called independence day. 4 million voters are saying yes or no to the question, "should scotland be an independent country?" . they have been part of great britain and overshadowed by england since 1787. the referendum, too close to call at this point. but this could be the last day of great britain as we know it. >>> well president joe -- vice president joe biden is raising speculation about a 2016 run for the white house. even after popping up in the presidential testing ground of iowa. he joined the liberal group nuns on the bus as they kicked