v.a. and advocacy groups talked about programs to assist veterans and their family members. this house veteran affairs committee hearing about two and a half hours. [inaudible conversations] >> committee will come to order. good morning, everybody. thank you for being with the committee for today's oversight hearing entitled combating the crisis: evaluating efforts to prevent veteran suicide. as the hearing title suggests, we are here this morning to discuss the ongoing veteran suicide crisis that, according to the latest data available from the department of veterans affairs, finds 22 veterans a day dying at their own hands. i'm disappointed that the v.a. was not able to release updated veteran suicide statistics at this time for this hearing. i understand that the center for disease control finally provided national data to v.a. in the middle of march. considering the critical interest in updated veteran suicide data, i can't emphasize enough the need for v.a. to pursue their analysis wi

v.a. affairs and related agencies appropriations bill to the house for consideration. i present this bill along side my very good friend and ranking member of the subcommittee, the gentleman from georgia, mr. bishop, who has been an essential partner along the way. i appreciate the participation and support our committee membs on both sides of the aisle as we consider priorities in funding levels for the important progrs in our bill. we analyze the budget request, held oversight hearings to get feedback of all the services, the department of defense leadership, secrery of the v.a. and v.a. inspector general. we received over 1,000 requests from members. again, from both sides of the aisle and we gave them full and fair consideratn. the bill is a product of listening to the concerns of our veterans, veteran advocates, service members, spouses, caregivers and health care provids in and outside the v.a. over the past year. as we consider this bill, i can't proceed further without noting this

v.a. officials and representatives from several veterans advocacy groups speak to lawmakers about mental health care and suicide prevention programs for veterans and their families. the witnesses testify on why some are not receiving the necessary treatment and how a new law passed last year is trying to address the issue. this hearing is two and a half hours. [inaudible conversations] >> committee come to order. good morning, everybody. thank you for being with the committee for today's oversight hearing entitled combating the crisis: evaluating efforts to prevent veteran suicide. as the hearing title suggests, we are here this morning to discuss the ongoing veteran suicide crisis that, according to the latest data available from the department of veterans affairs, finds 22 veterans a day dying at their own hands. i'm disappointed that the v.a. was not able to release updated veteran suicide statistics at this time for this hearing. i understand that the center for disease control finally

these things had all eluded the v.a. over time, the v.a. has been a loose confederation of ndependent entities. that is outstanding. as a business leader you want that in order to foster innovation but once the innovation is identified, the innovation than needs to be put across the enterprise. that is one of the things we're work very hard on now. it's approaching the current rest approaches in our medical centers and spreading those across the entire enterprise. >> many know the v.a. far better than i and they say it's ot a unified system. i'm told that the i.t. environment one centrist of the next will vary dramatically. what can you do about that? >> this is what you do in any business is identify the hard and soft points, the things you want consistent throughout the operation and the things you don't want. n analogy would be pantene, if any of you use it it's a hair care product. if you look at the bottle in japan, you would assume it's the same product. there would be japanese graphics but the brand name would be the same and the col

v.a. clinic. born and raised in dalles, oregon, sergeant first class loren kaufman enlisted in the united states army just one week after the attack on pearl harbor. he went on to serve in combat in both world war ii and in korea until his death in action on the 10th of february, 1951. following his death, sergeant first class kaufman was posthumously awarded the medal of honor for his actions in korea in september of 1950 when his company was attacked by an enemy battalion and his battalion was ordered to reinforce the company. according to the u.s. army center of military history during the battle that followed, the dauntless courage and resolute and intrepid leadership of sergeant first class kaufman were directly responsible for the success of his company reflecting distinct credit upon himself and upholds the esteemed traditions of the military service. in recognition of that, it's entirely fitting and appropriate that sergeant first class kaufman's life and service be memorialized by

v.a. health care. those who lived in those four communities, they were able -- they were able to gain their care. it worked for them. but if you didn't live where the v.a. lived and you weren't eligible for beneficiary travel, the v.a. just didn't mean much to you. it wasn't as if it was going to be anything that was going to help any of our vets. that was the status quo, and it really didn't show much sign of changing. but alaskaians really began to challenge the status quo during the second gulf war. ""operation iraqi freedom"" resulted in a large-scale deployment of our alaska national guard members from throughout the state. at one point there were about 89 different alaska communities that were represented in the middle east, and it was fully pearpts that when -- apparent that when these men and women returned home, when these heroes returned home and they were released from active duty, the v.a. was really not prepared to meet their needs. so v.a. secretary nicholson came to anchorag

v.a. provides excellent health care, especially health care related to the special needs of our veterans. we also hear that in certain areas, v.a. is at the forefront of health care in this country. we also hear from our veterans that v.a. care is often fragm t fragmented and that it can be difficult to navigate and arrange non-v.a. care. we hear of long wait times and limited access. following the assessment in the service transportation and veterans health care choice improvement act of 2015, we have mandated a report by the d.a. regarding a plan for how v.a. could consolidate all purchase care programs into one new veterans choice program. we received that report last year, and this committee is currently working with the v.a. on the best way to implement the legislative requests. the v.a. is on track to see, listen to this, 6,277,300 unique patients and 9 million 244 enrollment in fiscal 2015. they completed 56.7 million appointments. nearly 2 million more than fiscal 2014. that is rou

. >>> also, the v.a. grappling with a new round of controversy after the head of the agency compared its long wait time to the lines at disneyland. and the national mall turning into a sea of chrome this memorial day weekend with rolling thunder revving up its 29th annual ride for freedom. the event drawing thousands of bikers as well as spectators, all coming together to honor america's veterans, especially those who were missing in action. kristin fisher is live now in washington with more. kristin? >> well, arthel, the rolling thunder riders have taken over the national mall every memorial day weekend since 1988. but this year's ride received even more attention than usual thanks to an appearance by the presummit i republican nominee donald trump. now, this turned out to be a much more subdued event than what we've come to expect at most trump rallies. there were no protesters. the crowd was much quieter than usual. and trump only spoke for about 15 minutes. he focused on the issues that really resonat

v.a. -- from a v.a. facility to visit a participating doctor in their community instead of continuing to wait for care with no options. after an extremely difficult start, the veteran choice guard program is authorizing more than 150,000 appointments for veteran care per month, over 6,000 per work day. according to the v.a., as of the end of march, nearly one million appointments for veterans had been scheduled under the veteran choice card program. each of these appointments represents a veteran appointment that would have otherwise been delayed potentially for months in the v.a. scheduling system. an extra advantage of the choice card is that it also helps veterans who don't use it. by enabling some veterans to receive care in their community, the v.a. is able to free up its appointment backlog and accommodate veteran appointments sooner. over the last year the number of participating doctors and medical professionals in the veterans care -- veteran choice program in the western region has jumped from

v.a. the community. we have several different programs for care in the community and each one has their own specifications, their own criteria and repayment rates. not surprisingly, it's complicated for v.a. employees to administer an incredibly complicated for veterans to understand. last october, we submitted a plan to consolidate and simplify the overwhelming number of different programs and improve access to v.a. care in the community. that was last october, it's now made. we need congress to a neck legislation that linnell -- that will allow us to better compete with the private sector to get the best medical professionals to choose the v.a. the medical center director salary is currently capped at the title five limit of about $157,000. they can earn three times that in the private sector. that means flexibility on an 80 limit anderiod compensation reforms for network and hospital directors. we need to treat health care career executives more like the private sector counterparts. tha

and v.a. was required to start working relationships in every community across the country so that veterans would have that option to go wherever they wanted to go. now i would tell you that program is in its infancy. it is two years old at this point. it has a ways to go to be perfected and there are still problems with that and there's a constant push from congress to provide accountability to them to make sure that program is done and is done well. but it should be the first step on giving veterans real choice. the first step of that is 30 days or 40 miles. the second step of that is any v.a. eligible veteran would get a card and they could go to anyplace that accepts medicare. if they accept medicare anywhere in the country, any lab, any hospital, any doctor, they should also be able to receive veterans as well. so that veterans can go to wherever they choose to go regardless of the distance. i have veterans that drive past six great hospitals, driving 200 miles to get to a v.a. center and

currently, v.a. treatment for chronic pain is largely the prescription of open yoids without consideration of a patient's personal history or preferences. unfortunately, there's a lack of data on veteran opioid use. there are also inefficiencies in the v.a. identifying abuse of open yodes and with patient followup to determine effectiveness of these drugs on a case-by-case basis. the promise act is the congressional action needed to rectify these problems. the promise act increases safety for opioid therapy and pain management, ensures more transparency at the v.a. and encourages more outreach and aware ovepbs the patient advocacy program for veterans. my bill also acknowledges that v.a. patient services do not stop at the initial consultation. it requires the v.a. to maintain realtime tracking of data on opioid use to help prevent overmedication and misuse or overuse of medication. i want to thank again speaker ryan, representative butterfield, of course, our great chairman, mr. miller from florida,

v.a. for commitment to fully implement the law. we knew it would take time. and new initiatives that are certainly to follow. personally i've been worki on this issue for about eight years. the conversations are moving to action. so today i'd like to focus on four specific areas. as -- supporting those most at risk and the importance of research. in iava's annual member survey, over 80% of they continue to mismgs the role of the family and friends with over many 5%. ened as a result getting that help. for those in care, three of four of our members are yew the v.a. which is up so%, and comparable with those yew the -- with more help seekers, it's critical to ensure that the proper is resourced. it's a different task of hiring and retaining talent. the hire process is confusing and lengthy, at times deterring or rejecting qualified we need to know how best -- and to use updated where the need is. climate surveying, v.a. is using staff. we obvious -- who support v.a. says missions, some of w

v.a. undersecretary for health dr. david shulcon testifies before the house veteran affairs committee on his effort to improve veterans' access to health care. they raised concerns about whistleblower retaliation, wait times and lack of v.a. discipline air action. this is two hours. >>> we'll come to order. i would like to welcome everyone to today's hearing entitled a continued assessment of delays in veterans' access to health care. this hearing marks two years since this committee exposed the wait time scandal that has gripped the department since 2014. i'm proud of the work that we have done in those two years, particularly digging into the actions of bureaucrats whose self-interest was put ahead of the veterans they were charged with assisting. the purpose of this hearing is to examine the efforts that v.a. has taken to improve access to care for veterans and to identify where serious issues still exist. based on the bipartisan work of this committee, gao has undertaken an audit of ne

the v.a.'cretary compared the lines at his agency to lines at an amusement park, we were dumbfounded. this is not make-believe; this is not disneyland, or wonderland, for that matter. veterans have died waiting in line for their care. clearly, the secretary's comments were not worthy of the veterans that he serves. but they're also indicative of a culture of indifference at the v.a. >> sreenivasan: republican conference chairwoman cathy mcmorris rodgers: >> when you go to disneyland, you aren't wondering if you are going to live long enough to make it to space mountain. clearly, the v.a. is not the "happiest place on earth," and veterans have died waiting in these lines. 18% of appointment cancellations go unfilled. we can do better. >> sreenivasan: however, veterans groups who have been vocal about problems at the v.a. offered a more nuanced reaction. >> his statements were certainly poorly wondered. i don't think they were-- they were meant to do any harm to veterans, certainly. i think that

the v.a. >>> the biggest indy 500 ever and the driver preparing for a comeback after surviving this the last time. >>> a hiker who slipped and fell over the falls, 70 feet down. >> and the 4-year-old with the big voice. ♪ i'm going to let it shine now a big internet hit. he had the whole church on its feet. >> hey, everybody. i'm on abc news. >>> good evening and thank you for joining us on this saturday. i'm cecilia vega. on this unofficial first weekend of summer, we begin with dangerous weather wreaking havoc in so much of the country. torrential rain in parts of texas. this pick-up truck there, no match for the saturated road in magnolia, texas, historic rain triggering damaging floods. this suv washed away. this is how it came to a standstill. now a tropical storm warning in the atlantic as millions are at the beach this holiday, rip current dangerous from florida to north carolina. your holiday forecast in a moment. and we have team coverage on it all, but first, abc's phillip mena with

the v.a. doesn't need more money to hire more people pushers to create an even larger bureaucracy between the veterans and their benefits. instead, let's ensure resources are sell indicated where they have the most effective and efficient benefit for those that have given their country so much. i ask my colleagues to support this commonsense amendment. i thank chairman dent and ranking member bishop for their time and with that i reserve. the chair: the gentleman from arizona reserves. any member wishing to seek time in opposition? the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. dent: mr. chairman, i seek time in opposition to the amendment though i am not opposed. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. dent: i understand the gentleman's concerns about starting this new office at the v.a. as you can see from our report, we cut the request by general administration by $81.3 million largely because of our concerns about funding this large office. so i think we already achieved what th

the v.a. as of december 2015, almost 99% of the names on the -- listed on the medal defective category for the national criminal instant background check system, otherwise known as the national gun ban list, are from the veterans administration. once a person's name is on that list, they're banned from owning or possess ago firearm -- possessing a firearm. their second amendment rights are completely null and void. now, why is this happening? once the v.a. determines that a veteran requires a fiduciary to administer benefit payments, the v.a. reports that the veteran -- that veteran to the gun ban list, resulting in a total denyingal of a -- denial of a veteran's right to possess and own firearms. in other words, their second amendment rights are being denied. the v.a. has attempted to justify its actions by relying on regulations that grant limited authority to determine incompetence only in the context of financial affairs. so i quote, "rating agencies have sole authority to make official de

on the v.a. claims' backlog we have fully funded the president's request and i wanted to say that and we have no objection to the amendment and prepared to support it. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from california. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion the chair the ayes have it and the amendment s adopted. page 34 line 16 information technology systems 4 billion. office of inspector general $14 million shall remain available until september 0, 2018. 528truction major projects, million. construction, minor projects, $372 million to remain available ntil september 30, 2021. grants for construction of state extended care facilities $80 million. grants for cemeteries, $45 million. section 201, any appropriations for compensation and pensions may be transferred. section 202, amounts under the medical services accounts may be transferred. section 203, appropriations available for salaries and expenses shall be available for services authorized

david: talk about failure of big visit, v.a.ng thousands of veterans and cut off their benefits, congressing up mike riker, a veteran who has been declared deceased twice by the v.a., cutting off his benefits twice. >> and coming up, stov steve forbes. if you take multiple medications a dry mouth can be a common side effect. that's why there's biotene. it comes in oral rinse, spray or gel, so there's moisturizing relief for everyone. biotene. for people who suffer from a dry mouth. >> trump economics is a recipe for lower wages, fewer jobs more debt, he could bankrupt america like he has bankrupted his companies. david: did hillary really try to make the case this week he is better at business than donald trump? steve forbes is joining us. could hillary make that sale, somehow she is in a better position to judge good business sense as he is. >> she has as much cred bill tie there as she does on e-mail and servers, the clinton -- survived by donations, trump with real customer. david: put up numbers job creation, trump versus cl

and rather than own up to the problem, the v.a.ided to cover it up, because there's no incentive for washington to get good numbers. >> sreenivasan: the v.a. inspector general found that phoenix-area veterans seeking care had to wait an average of 115 days-- almost four months-- for a first appointment. and 1,700 veterans were kept off any official waiting list, and were at risk of being lost or forgotten. other investigations found this type of problem existed at many v.a. hospitals throughout the united states. the president and congress vowed to fix the problem. one of the reforms authorized veterans to go to doctors in private practice if they couldn't get timely appointments at the v.a. but according to recent reports the wait times with the new system are just as long as they were before the reforms were implemented. and with me now to tell us about this new system plagued by old problems is quil lawrence. he covers veteran issues at npr. quil, this was supposed to be the fix. why is the fix broken? >> well, it goes back to t

veterans like the v.a. they don't want to kill it.rson proposed killing it when he was still one of many people seeking the republican nomination and he got burned by veterans' groups for that very quickly. now donald trump, the de facto republican nominee has proposed the same thing. now what happens next? isn't this also a third rail, if there is a third rail isn't this it? how do we as a country make sure that it gets treated as a third rail, if it's stopped being treated that way. joining me the congressional reporter for the military times, i read everything you write. it's very nice to have you on the show. >> i appreciate you covering veterans issues, not a lot of folks do anymore. >> this issue of privatizing the v.a. keeps coming up and seems to have accelerant in it. is this a popular idea? >> very few people said the word, privatization, that is a four-letter word in the veteran's community. you hear quite a lot of talk about expanding choice or access or making private care more easy, but to hear the trump campaign actuall

i covered the v.a.any years and i happy to be from orlando, florida and know disney pretty well. there's no comparing the two. the secretary knew it and made up for it and came on tv and walking back his comments. the seriousness, two points to make, one of is the seriousness of the v.a. backlogs and what has been done since the scandals of 2014 that got the secretary this job? and the political climate that produced the reaction that's happened. within one day we had one publication, washington examiner calling for his resignation and members of congress in the senate calling for his resignation and gop leaders mostly standing back a little bit saying, it was in articulate perhaps and now harry reid recently today says he supports the secretary. a massive and quick clamping down or lock-down from the veterans groups who are the advocates, the most sensitive to this really offended by what he said. you've got inarticulate phrase, poor choice of words, not the first time this has been said. then you have

paul ryan says that's flippant and shows how seriously the v.a.is taking life and death problems. >>> time is 4:27. the california state university system launches a review of hiring practices. >>> new developments in the death of a millibary man, the three arrests man and the charges they face. >>> the morning commute will be busy, right now we look good. . >>> we're stuck in a pattern, if you like it you will like today. we'll see if we'll get showers out of this. out of this. . >>> a fire erupts in a san jose home seven-day forecast:00 six: sending 6 out of their home. welcome back to mornings on two. >>> good morning, i'm pam cook. it is 4:30. i did hear we could get rain? >> hit and miss. it's late in the season for rain. >> enough to water the tomato plants? >> isolated. maybe your neighbors, but not yours. >> dash it -- darn it. >> we have an area of low

the v.a., and who's stopping it? the white house has no say in this. the v.a. is, of course, going to stifle reforms and bob mcdonald, while a nice guy, has been an utter failure as the v.a. secretary. you've got government unions, someone tweeted at me last night that in here i talk about civil service reform. well, you're damn right. in fact, it should be across government, but let's start at the v.a. and make sure that those who work in our government are held accountable. that if they're not doing a good job, they can be fired. that's a pretty basic principle. accountability's how you change cultures, but government unions have a grip on that. and then it's special interests. and you want to talk about establishment this or establishment that, we hear that word a lot on the political spectrum. special interests exist everywhere including in the vet space, and it's traditional veteran service organizations here in washington who are up willing to change, who want to get invited to the white

donald trump also weighed in saying obama's v.a. secretary just said we shouldn't measure wait times. hillary says v.a. problems are not widespread. i will take care of our vets. a spokesman for disney also reacted to mcdonald's comments telling the independent journal we take wait times seriously. we push the boundaries to give our guests the best experience possible. one of the things we take great pride in, if you have a wait time your wait is enjoyable. >>> baltimore prosecutors are 0 and 2 in the conviction of freddie gray. yesterday, a judge found edward nero not guilty on all charges including second degree assault. nero was one of six officers charged in gray's death. the case of the first officer porter resulted in the deadlocked jury. gray was placed unsecured in the back of a police van and he died a week later. freddie gray's family spoke to ron mott about the verdict. >> the judge gave detailed reasons for why he thought the evidence was insufficient and why the law did not compel a conviction in this case and he demons

v.a., consider the critical interests, including data, i can't emphasize 1/2 to pursue an analysis with a sense of urgency. it's my fevant home, as a result of the investments we feel maid in v.a mental health care. i'm soap that witnesses today could provide more recent -- and to shed some light on whether the efforts dedicated to this crisis are indeed making any impact. >>> for almost every single democrat grams, except for veterans. i think that is due in large pardon to the hard work that v.a. health care providers do every day. to imply the current ray is in any way acceptable. i continue to be concerned that again, according to the latest data from v.a. that is admittedly dated, the number of sued signs has not fallen despite significant increases in budget, staff and programming. our work will not be over unthe rates are eliminated. there are many opportunities but there's clearly a deadly dissect between the many services, and support that v.a. offers, and the veterans that moth n

in a statement the v.a.d it's working hard to increase access to care and it's focusing on patients with the most urgent health care needs first. >> o'donnell: julianna, thank you so much. it was a deadly weekend on mt. everest. that story when we come back. igoing to clean betteran electthan a manual. was he said sure...but don't get just any one. get one inspired by dentists, with a round brush head. go pro with oral-b. oral-b's rounded brush head cups your teeth to break up plaque and rotates to sweep it away. and oral-b delivers a clinically pven superior clean versus sonicare diamondclean. my mouth feels super clean! oral-b. know you're getting a superior clean. i'm never going back to a manual ush. introduces new, easy-to-swallow tablets. so now, there are more ways, for more people... to experience... complete protection from frequent heartburn. nexium 24hr. with usaa is awesome. homeowners insurance life insurance automobile insurance i spent 20 years active duty they still refer to me as "gunnery se

and the v.a. is doing so merely when a veteran is appointed a fiduciary, which does not mean that that veteran, he or she, is dangerous. that is a problem. as i explained yesterday, my amendment requires the v.a. to first determine that a veteran is a danger to self or others before reporting names. that simply solves the problem. senator durbin also said that under my amendment -- quote -- "mental health determinations would no longer count as prohibiting gun possession" -- end of quote. as i stated yesterday, i do not want people who are known to be dangerous to own and possess firearms. my amendment makes that very clear. further, given that plain language, it is obvious that under my amendment, mental health determinations do count because some mental health problems equate to a very dangerous condition. again, my amendment is centered on forcing the federal government to determine whether or not a veteran is in danger to self or others before reis revog his or her constitutional rights -- bef

the house passed the v.a. accountability act of 2015, h.r. 1994, legislation that i co-sponsored that will make important reforms to the v.a. system which will provide the necessary resources and flexibility the v.a. needs to hold poor performing employees accountable. while i believe that the v.a. has 99% of employees generally caring about the work they do and wanting to help veterans, we must always ensure that the other 1% of those who are not acting in the best interest of veterans are held accountable. our veterans deserve only the highest quality of care at our v.a. facilities. fighting for our veterans who fought for us will be one of my top priorities and i'll continue to work in congress to improve our veterans' quality of care any way i can and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida, mr. curbelo, for five minutes. mr. curbelo: mr. speaker, i rise today to recognize the key west fire department on their class 1 insuranc

the v.a.'s clinical practice guideline for management of opioid therapy and chronic pain that requires all opiate prescribers at the v.a. to have enhanced pain management and safe opioid prescribing information and training. it requires realtime tracking of on opioid use of veterans to prevent overmedication. it provides resources to help their ability. it expands the initiative to all v.a. medical facilities. it updates the joint working group of the v.a. and d.o.d. to focus on opioid-prescribing practice, the use of alternative ain therapy, the coord nation. t also encourages the use of complementary forms of pain management. it requires the -- them to rereport on prescription rates to we can find solutions. this is a work in progress, not just within the v.a. system or with the reforms currently being implement at the tomah v.a. medical center in my district but throughout the entire health care system. we as a nation have not done a good job of managing pain at all levels. i'm glad and pro

>> i have great respect for bob mcdonald, the present v.a. secretary i think he is doing an outstanding job. i sing his praises, because it is a tremendous job he has. i don't criticize people. i've never criticized obama or my friend, joe biden. i'll leave that up to someone else. i think mcdonald is doing his very best. it takes a long time for some of these things to happen. we have two veterans hospitals in kansas. i think in the last two years, i have had two complaints. one was a nurse who didn't get a promotion, which i couldn't help. one was a veteran who had to wait too long for his medicine. i don't think i know about any other complaints. one of the hospitals has my name on it. >> let me stop you there. what i heard you say is that the current v.a. secretary is doing an outstanding job. you think so? >> i think so. >> i know he is an easy target for people in politics that like to take shots for something that's very difficult to do. that's to solve all the veterans problems. i may be totally wrong but i believe if you took a surve

but now he's turning things around, talking about the v.a.eports that have not worked and bringing in as you just heard hillary clinton and secretary mcdonald about the wait times that a lot of veterans are still experiencing. today he's off the public schedule after spending part of the day at that rolling thunder rally yesterday. hillary clinton is going to be with veterans herself, she's with the former president in their hometown at a memorial day event there. let's talk about bernie sanders. he's out in california again today. he's been talking with warm workers, standing with farm workers out there. today he has a community event still trying to get the most el california primary coming up a week from tomorrow. >>> tracie potts for us on the hill. thanks so much. >>> and you can add another name in the race for the white house. libertarian party nominating former new mexico governor gary johnson as its presidential candidate. he was also the party edith back in 2012 you might remember. johnson was picked on the second ballot in a contes

when they would go to the v.a. and say i'm in pain they would get pain medications which is not what they needed. that is what they would get is pain medications. what they needed was maybe mood stabilizer but most importantly they needed someone to listen and someone to talk to. so you know these guys years ago threw away their meds. they don't use them anymore. they don't. they just treat -- this is their community. this is their family. and they help each other out. i go out to the woods in the winter time to see them and make sure they get what they need especially medications. i have to tell you a funny story if i may. my husband, joe galloway, comes home and sees strange people in the house. he says who are these people? i said they are my homeless. they needed a place to stay the night. another time he comes home and a strange man is raking our yard. he says who is that? and it was one of my vietnam veterans who decided to pay me back by raking my yard. this is the community that we live in that i think rega

certain v.a. medical services, including long-term care for veterans and support services for caregivers, are also included in this bill which increases health program funding by approximately 5% as compared to the last fiscal year. as co-chair of the congressional homelessness caucus, i also welcome the inclusion of the president's full fiscal year 2017 request homelessness outreach programs in this legislation. we made great progress in our work to end veteran homelessness, and these are programs that play a critical role in getting our veterans off the streets. however, despite these points, the bill is not without criticism. the addition of language that indiscriminantly denies performance awards as well as the inclusion of other ideologically divisive provisions that are outside the scope of this legislation, to me, are problematical. because of these provisions, the president has indicated that he will veto this legislation in its current form. so it's my hope that we can work together to pr

she usually uses v.a. health care services in the bay area and while satisfied with the care acknowledges sometimes patient back log forces her to wait a day or two. seeing a chance to combine the best of both worlds, cvs and the palo alto health care program launched a program so vets can get treatment seven days a week and it gets build to the v.a. >> i wasn't sure how would work, how they would see my record. but it seems to all work. >> we are able to share medical information to ensure both of our organization's commitment to the highest quality in patient care standards. >> v.a. palo alto said it homes making the bay area and other areas more accessible will avert the jammed offices and make health care more accessible. >> veterans can be referred to the closest one by calling the v.a. palo alto help lines. >> thank you, robert. companies which do business with san jose are on notice. they must pay their workers fairly. the city is exploring a new law, barring san jose for contracting with companies

the v.a. has been under fire since it exposed the v.a.em like vets were getting timely doctor's appointments. >>> this lady put on that chewbaka mask and made the world cover their ears like it did me or make you laugh. take a look at this. now that chewbaka mom is making facebook history with the most live video views ever. she was invited to spend the day at facebook's headquarters. they sipped coffee, and rode bikes. i guess i'm a hater this morning. >> a lot of people didn't like it either. >> i didn't know what it was. i don't watch star wars. >> she was so cute. >> look at that. >> i mean, maybe a little strange with the chewbaka thing, but so adorable. her laugh was infectious. >> go ahead, steve. >> i'm looking at twitter, according to this week, elizabeth warren made big money flipping foreclosures. >> really? >> yeah. >>> coming up, hillary clinton says if donald trump becomes president you better hide your kids. >> you want to imagine what trump's america will look like, picture more kids at risk of violence and bigotry. >> but

what's important is, what is your satisfaction with the experience. >> wait times at the v.a. are up 71 days for care. two years since a nationwide scandal prompted the investigation. the secretary says 97% aren't waiting 30 days. his remarks are met with swift condemnation. the speaker of the house, paul ryan, saying this is not make believe. veterans have died waiting in those lines. they clarified his comments with a statement that said, quote, we know veterans are waiting to long for care. we have heard them tell us their wait times are not the only indication of their experience with the v.a. that's what we must transform, why we must transform the way we do business. it was at a breakfast when he made the remarks. >>> meantime, with active duty military in the field, president obama's own particular take on the war on terror seems conflicted tonight. one of his top aides insisting the president has gotten america out of two wars. over the weekend, the u.s. military moved into pakistan. the taliban figure described an obstacle of peace. what can you tell us about that? >>

instead of the v.a.ng through the applications and enrolling the veterans, we are reviewing records so people can get enrolled. they just decided we are not going to bother and started declaring people ineligible. now 22,000 brave men and women who served our country have lost their health care benefits illegally. and that's a shame. >> so here we go, this thing breaks in 2014 in fee niphoenix. we find out about the scandal with people getting incentives messing with the applications. guys like you come out and become whistleblowers and things are supposed to change. wait times are high but we have been better. we have been better serving our veterans. and you say, you have observed no change, no improvement, more manipulation? >> more manipulation. and if you listen to that tape, the audio that you just played, it clearly shows that v.a. managers have decided that they don't want to do a full investigation because they know many people who should have been enrolled are deceased. they also know that thei

a wisconsin v.a.ey said, the former navy seal sniper, scott taylor, is withous on -- with us on, boy, what is a growing situation. it doesn't seem like we've solved anything. >> well, it's great to be with you. listen, this is one of the reasons why i'm running for congress in virginia, was i believe we have not kept promises to our veterans. this keeps popping up, keeps coming to a head, it's been an issue for a very long time. i've got to tell you, we have to make sure we have a culture in the v.a. that doesn't put the v.a. first, but puts the individual veteran first. you know, there's an outrage, and imagine if congress had to deal with medicare folks, right? every medicare folk had to go into a failing government system. imagine what would happen. they'd be voted out of office. it's just crazy. connell: you wonder even reading through part of this report and some of the things they found just as an example that this facility had been prescribing alarming levels of far cot ticks, that this -- far