time employment by the veterans and ministration -- i started there about a year ago, -- veterans administration. i started there about a ago, and i'm so proud to be able to g give back to the country again and serve our veterans. you can't imagine. it can't imagine how good of theo see all veterans coming in and their families and espouses -- and their spouses, and the love that these people give to each other. this is theto say, greatest country on earth, and i don't care what your political party is. you need to remember that the employees of the federal government spent all of their time trying to do well for this country. work extremely hard, and the veterans administration is a great place and has the finest healthcare in this country, and i am proud every day i walk into that building, proud to say that i'm giving something back to my country at the veterans administration. i hope everybody remembers today for what it is, for the people that gave their lives for this country so that we can live like we do. thank you. from chicago, illinois. he is a vietnam vet joining us on this day as we

i would hash tag the veterans administration and get them to say it is time to get this done. people deserve it. they have worked for us. they have died for us. they deserve to be taken care of. >> eric: let's remember chris stevens and glen doherty. >> when we come back, which would you rather 6, more money or more days off of work this summer. the unions are fighting that. that debate is directly ahead on this special memorial day edition of the five. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> dana: welcome back to the five. memorial day special. advisory service says 85% of the americans are heading off for a vacation but most people have to get time off of work. does it sound like a good deal. exchange your overtime pay for days off instead. republican congressman a married woman of two has introduced a bill that would allow employers flex time. now, the senate needs to pass it, too. >> it's about any mom or dad and they tell you they wish they had more time. they wish they had one more hour in the day to make life work. moms and dads need time to take their child to doctor and pta meet

i would hash tag the veterans administration and get them to say it is time to get this done. people deserve it. they have worked for us. they have died for us. they deserve to be taken care of. >> eric: let's remember chris stevens and glen doherty. >> when we come back, which would you rather 6, more money or more days off of work this summer. the unions are fighting that. that debate is directly ahead on this special memorial day edition of the five. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ up to 25 devices on one easy to manage plan. that means your smartphone, her blackberry, his laptop, mark's smartphone but i'm still on vacation. still on the plan. nice! the intern gets a tablet? everyone's devices. his, hers-- oh, sorry. all easier to manage on the share everything plan for small business. connecting more so you can do more. that's powerful. verizon. get the blackberry z10 for $199.99. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> dana: welcome back to the five. memorial day special. advisory service says 85% of the americans are heading off for a vacation but most people have to get time off of work. does it sound like a goo

a scathing new report for the r veteran's administration's own inspector general. flowing through the pittsburgh va's hospital. the report concludes the va tried to treat the water using a method that was not an accepted practice and will not eradicate leej nel la. it killed american veterans seeking treatment at the hospital. >> it's a complete break down. >> senator bob casey is livid. as a result, five veterans died. 16 more became ill. a 16-year-old navy veteran died in this hospital on july 4th of last year. at the time, she was led to believe her brother must have contracted legionnaire's disease somewhere else. now she knows her brother died because he came to the v a,. >> there were deaths before him that we didn't know about. we wouldn't have gone there. i'm sure he wouldn't have gone there what so ever. he was actually getting better. he had a good outlook on life. there wasn't enough to prevebt ledge nel la bacteria. the hospital staff and parkts weren't told a thing. it wasn't until months later drinking fountains will sealed off. he died the day after

a scathing new report from the veterans administration's own inspector general says legionella, a bacteria that can kill, was flowing through the pittsburgh v.a. hospital's water system. the v.a.'s administrators knew it but instead of correctly following government guidelines on how to get rid of it, the report concludes the v.a. tried to treat the water using a method that was not an accepted practice, and will not eradicate legionella, even temporarily. and it wasn't just some minor mistake. it killed american veterans seeking treatment at the hospital. >> it's a complete breakdown which in essence becomes a betrayal of what we say we care about. >> reporter: senator bob casey is livid. the v.a. hospital in his state not only failed to treat the legionella but also failed to notify patients and even staff that it existed in the water. as a result, five veterans died, 16 more became ill. sandy riley's brother, a 65-year-old navy veteran being treated for cancer, died in this hospital on july 4th of last year. at the time, she was led to believe her brother must have contracted legionaire

a scathing new report from the veterans administration's own inspector general says legionella, a bacteria that can kill, was flowing through the pittsburgh v.a. hospital's water system. the v.a.'s administrators knew it but instead of correctly following government guidelines on how to get rid of it, the report concludes the v.a. tried to treat the water using a method that was not an accepted practice, and will not eradicate legionella, even temporarily. and it wasn't just some minor mistake. it killed american veterans seeking treatment at the hospital. >> it's a complete breakdown which in essence becomes a betrayal of what we say we care about. >> reporter: senator bob casey is livid. the v.a. hospital in his state not only failed to treat the legionella but also failed to notify patients and even staff that it existed in the water. as a result, five veterans died, 16 more became ill. sandy riley's brother, a 65-year-old navy veteran being treated for cancer, died in this hospital on july 4th of last year. at the time, she was led to believe her brother must have contracted legionaire

on the veterans administration, i am a disabled vet. used to go in every six months and now it is every year. i hurt my back in the 1950's in the air force. nothing to dos the veterans, but i have been trying to get on for four days now. this baloney going on in washington, there should be some heads rolled. host: were you in the service and went to the civilian job market? is that your experience? caller: i worked in the oil field for 40 years. not right. people use oil and gasoline and all that, they're stopping the oil industry from bringing the pipes down here. they could use a for other things. host: i just want to know how easy that transition was free going from military to a civilian job? caller: i had a job before i got out. i got out.957 when it was during the korean era. i had a little bit inside connections and clout within oil company the day before i got out i had all my stuff done and what right to work. about gas andlk oil. companies are actively hiring veterans. one of the things we noticed about companies that have the

. >> host: are you working with the veterans administration at all? >> guest: we are. we are integrating into the department of veterans affairs center toptect programs. right now for some of the membership programs and training programs that va funds they require veterans to ow their ddt i.d. to the vendor or to e-mail it in but the problem with that is that they have your name, your social into address and even your blood type. everything a bad guy would need to steal your identity if there was the break-in of the vendor or if you lost your paperwork through the office. so what we do as we fundamentally change that by just giving the vendor what they need to know, which is guess this person is eligible for the program and that va is going to pay you or no they are not. in order to become eligible they need to pass certain criteria if they are in fact military. but it comes a much more secure process when that is involved. part of the thing that motivates us, we realize there's an elevated risk of identity theft because the only ubiquitous form of credentials for 90% o

. >> host: are you working with the veterans administration at:. we're integrated into the department of veterans affairs innovation center. we protect programs. right now, you know, for some of the membership programs and training programs the va funds, they were hiring veterans to -- [inaudible] to the vendor or to e-mail it in. so the problem with that is that the ddt-14's got your name, your social, your address, even your blood type. everything that a bad guy would need to steal your identity if there was a break inn at the vendor -- breakin at the vendor. we fundamentally change that by just giving the vendor what they need to know which is, yes, this person is eligible for the program, or, no, they're not. and in order to become eligible, they need to pass this criteria. but it becomes a much more secure process with us involved. so part of the thing that motivates is us is we realize veterans are at elevated risk for identity theft because the only you ubiquitous form of credentials for veterans is their ddp-14. and it's a lille t like carry

and then within the veterans administration, we have got to make sure that, a, the claims are processed in a very timely manner, and second of all, provide the treatment to those women and men as well, you understand sexual abuse is not just a women's issue. there are men who are being sexually abused. we have got to do a more aggressive job. i was in california a couple of months ago, and they have a very strong system, i think. they're doing a good job. do they need more resources? they probably do. the bottom line, if a woman serves her country and gets abused, we have got to do everything we can to protect her. >> senator, the v.a. has been exempt from the automatic budget cuts of sequester, but it seems veterans, veteran programs run by other federal agencies are being affected. is that a concern for you? is there anything you can do to get funding for some of these programs? >> it is a concern, steve, with we are working on that. i'll tell where you it comes in. the v.a. itself has been exempt from sequestration appropriately, so programs in h.u.d., in the department of labor have

have to stand in line for more than a year if you have a disability claims pending with the veterans administration. speed of the average wait time, 273 days paid despite half a billion dollars new computer system designed to improve efficiency, 97% of claims are still filed on paper. a couple veteran affairs offices in virginia and north carolina are facing structural damage to their facilities overburdened by the weight of the paper claims. the budget increased 40% in the past four years. its budget is second only to that of the department of defense. the president secretary of veterans affair retired four-star general recently received the american hero award the night of the heroes gala, but some lawmakers are calling for him to resign his cabinet post. he has headed the va since 2009. speak of the va has be run like a business that provides services to their customers. >> we are aggressively executing a plan we have put together to fix this decades-old problem and eliminate the backlog. >> in some cases there are good reasons the backlogs. when he took over in 2009 he removed obstacles for vet

have to stand in line for more than a year if you have a disability claim pending with the veterans administration. >> the average braitd wait time, 273 days. veterans and n big cities up like new york can waiting for 640 days for their claims to be processed. this congressman told about trying to help one dying veteran and his choice to die at home. >> by the time we got him at answer, he had passed away unfortunately. as we looked into the regional offices, we found that unfortunately this was not an exceptional story. the average wait time there is 449 days. >> reporter: despite half a billion new computer system designed to improve efficiency at v.a., 97% of all the claims are still filed on paper. two veterans' affairs officers in virginia and north carolina are facing structural damage to their facilities overburdened by the weight of paper claims. meanwhile, the budget increased more than 40% over the last four years to $140 billion this year. it's budget is second only to the department of defense. the president's second of veterans affairs recently received the american hero award but som

administration facing a 4th scandal. this may be the biggest one yet. veterans are being forced to wait months for disability benefits. >> frightening new information about drinking which every parent with a daughter in college needs to hear. [ lisa ] my name's lisa, and chantix helped me quit. i honestly loved smoking, and i honestly didn't think i would ever quit. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. it put me at ease that you could smoke on the first week. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depresd mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chanti if you notice any of these stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of depression or otr mental health proems, which could get worse while taking chantix. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. if you develop these stop taking chantix and see your doctor ri

. >> scientists with veteran administration and ucsf approach military veteran suffering from ptsd. they get counseling and medication but as wayne explains, there may be a much more simple remedy. >> nothing beats an hour of p t on a warm day. physical training. working out in the military. how former staff sergeant nick garcia thinks of it. >> biggest thing i was cheney chasing was adrenalin rush. >>reporter: you would too if you fought with friends in afghanistan and feeling more than that actually. >> cost me a lot of turmoil within my family. bret michael edmunds real distant from one another. didn't want-around them. felt isolated. stay by myself. drank for quite a bit when i first came home to as you express the feelings nishtion short he returned with ptsd. dr. thomas nail specialize ins that at the va hospital. >> when you have something terrible happen to you and you are haunted by it. >>reporter: stuck in a loochlt research indicates exercise may a way out of it. >> actually look like almost leak a jelly roll rolled up here. >>reporter: expense serment explore it as cure.

if only the veteran's administration had land donated specifically to house homeless vets. rns out it does. in 188-8400 acres were given to the va and turned into the pacific branch soldiers home. it housed veterans for 80 years in what is currently the upscale neighborhood of brentwood. but now oh those dorms have been empty for decades and parts of the land are being leased for commercial laundry for the marriott hotel, a baseball field and a dog park. that's right welcome to l.a. dogs are welcome vets ain't. let's go to jon wiener, thank you for the work you've done on this issue. walk me through this story. why is the va doing this? >> well, the va says while they have an obligation to provide medical care for veterans, they have no obligation to provide housing, even though this lawsuit is about severely memorially ill vet who is are unable to get the medical treatment they need unless they're provided for housing on site basically. that's what the va says. it seems the main reason the va doesn't want to house homeless vets on the brentwood campus is that it's a very up

the veterans administration, as you know, has built up this huge backlog of hundreds of thousands of disability claims from veterans, disabled vets, waiting a year, waiting longer than that, just to even hear from the v.a. about the status of their claims. there are a lot of different reasons for the backlog, a lot of veterans coming home after 12 years of war, disabilities that are complicated to diagnose, lots of types of claims from older veterans that have not been accepted before, too much of the recordkeeping being done on paper, there's lots of reasons. one of the big reasons is the fact your records when you're active duty in the defense department are kept under a totally different, incompatible system from your records when you are in the v.a., once you're a veteran and when you are out. today, that particular problem changed, maybe. today the defense secretary chuck hagel announced that the pentagon is going to get a whole new huge system for its computerized medical records. that is in part because of the hope that the new system might integrate better with the system ove

have to stand in line for more than a year if you have a disability claim pending with the veterans administration wait time 273 days. despite a half a billion-dollar new computer system designed to improve efficiency at the v.a., 97% of all claims are still filed on paper. two veterans affairs offices in virginia and north north carolina are facing structure turley damage to their facilities overbourbonned by the weight of these paper claims. meanwhile the budget for veterans affairs increased more than 40% over the last four years to $140 billion this year. its budget is second only to that of the department of defense. the president's secretary of veterans affairs retired four star general acre then some are calling on him to resign his cabinet post. he has headed the v.a. since 2009. >> it needs to be run like a business. like a business that provides services to their customers. >> we are aggressively executing a plan that we put together fix this decades old problem. and eliminate the backlog. >> in some cases there are good reasons for. so backlog. for one, when he took over in 2009, he rem

an individual i got to know after i came home from vietnam, worked with him at the veterans administration i served, john summers was another one that was killed in an ambush. there's an inventory of people that you remember. and you remember every one. >> you remember every one. we find that from the vietnam veteran, now the defense secretary, from the young people we have gotten the chance and honor to talk to here today as we look at some of the momentos that are left, the flags, the teddy bears, the beer bottles even, and also of course the flowers. the flowers here keep coming as they do every day of the year. so here at section 60, suzanne, this is memorial day 2013. suzanne. >> so many people who lost their lives, gave their lives, thank you, barbara starr. really appreciate it. here's what else we're working on and following this hour. police now say that an oregon teen planned a columbine-style attack at his high school. we're going to show you what a 17-year-old was allegedly planning to do. >>> and republicans demand a broader investigation into the irs's alleged targeting of co

i mean, that's why the veterans administration is such a mess. >> what do you call mistakes? >> what do i call mistakes? >> why do you think this is is a mistake by somebody? it looks to me like partisan prejudice. you don't have to be elected to be a partisan person of prejudice. somebody went out against the right wing. singled them out by name. >> i think what they're trying to do is this. there are very complicated tax laws that, you know, that pertain to partisan policy advocacy groups. and in this case, they were trying to figure out, you know, sometimes policy drifts into politics. and it's illegal to use those groups for political purposes. so they had to check it out. it's a new law. this was 2010. the most activist partisan groups were from the right. they took a shortcut. it was really mega stupid wrong. and, you know, this is a problem that's coming from the bottom up, not the top down. in other administrations like franklin roosevelt and richard nixon, it came from the top down. the president wanting to investigate his opponents. in this case, it's going to turn

it lies with the veterans administration. with congress and not appropriating the money, back with that stimulus bill which is now four years ago, there was an enormous a amount of money put in that backlog actually declined and, when the money ran out, guess what happened? the backlog increased. so we need to put the money -- we need to do more than talking. we need that electronic system put in place. >> i want to talk about that. let's show the videotape again of that room with all of the papers stacked up. this is 2013. information technology, i mean, we have little gadgets on our hand right now that connect us to the world but we can't get our v.a. to be on par with the latest technology? is it mon qui, john? congressman? is it money or is it management? >> both. it's both. actually that electronic thing does work. i held a veterans fair two months ago and the v.a. brought along six of those terminals and went through 30 or 40 actual applications and did it within just record time right there at the veterans affair. so i

the 90,000 claim bag log at the veteran's affairs administration. news maker on sunday here on c-span. >>> two candidates have been disqualified ahead of next month's presidential elections in iran. former state department official john and a former tehran-based "new york times" reporter talk about development in the country. he was among the captive in the iranian hostage crisis. this is an hour. >> i'm going give a -- by necessity. but the first premise i have in this town it may be hard to accept, i mean, with our obsession with iran. you can go, thank you for coming out on a friday before a long weekend. but i have often noted you can spend your life in this town going to iran events here at brookings and aei and at the wilson center. it's not about us. if we attempt to make it about us, once again, as we did in the '80s, we're going mislead ourselves. and tire ourselves in to knots of bad assumptions and misguided decisions. what would be my advice to my good friends and colleagues in the government about the election. first don't let the islam

the veterans administration. and talk about bureaucracy.t troops when we come back. i think it's all well and good we honor the troops with memorial day celebrations and all that kind of thing, but we really need to honor them by living up to our part of the deal, by getting the veterans administration to get its act together. >> is memorial day still something that we -- do we properly acknowledge it, angela and ryan? sometimes when we have federal holidays in this country, it's really about sleeping late, drinking too much, eating too much. is this one of those holidays where we actually do pause and remember the sacrifices that thousands of men and women have made, tens of thousands of men and women have made? or is this one of those other holidays? >> i think it's split. i think there are folks in this country who were personally impacted, maybe, you know, that they, themselves, for example, congressman rangel talks often about how he's never had another bad day since the korean war. i mean, he was right there in the thick of it and los

. >>> the veterans administration wants to build a new hospital and research facility in mission bay. this is according to the "san francisco business times." the v.a. is looking to form a private partnership for the $500,000 billion facility. senator dianne feinstein said she would put her support up for this. >>> 7:50. some major changes coming to san francisco firehouses. these changes are designed to help people who may never become firefighters. >>> how much do i win if i get five numbers? >> she's like you didn't get no five numbers. let me see. >> but he did. the one thing he said he will not give up despite his winnings. ♪ we don't have a ten step filtering process for our water. we don't need it.ystal geyser ie by nature, not by man. crystal geyser is always bottled at the mountain source. >>> a high-level member of san francisco's fire department says a federal law is forcing the city to waste money on unneeded firehouse features. fire station number 1 has a new $1 million home. assistant deputy fire chief says it includes accommodations required by the americans can disabil

government also gets that discount in the veterans administration which is another multiple of tens of millions of veterans each requiring drugs and the u.s. government also can set discount through the department of defense. so when we talk about the competitive marketplace, arerly since some of us invested with the idea we are trying to get the biggest bang buckhe tax payers but -- and you have someone who is eligible up until they get 64 but onf age and 364 days the 365th day they are eligible for the same drugs divided by remember thet, way we are phasing in under the bill, the way they are phasing in is that the federal government will continue to pick up more and more of the cost at the donut hole is shrunk. out tosult, what they're be is balance in the system. i started my comments early on the by complimented you. >>understood area complimenting you on what your industry is doing is absolutely fantastic because of the miracles you are creating before our eyes and what you are researching and developing. in no way do we want to lessen that r&d. down to ae have come basic questio

veterans well. >> a tremendous amount of pressure is placed in the administration with the secretary at the forefront. 's that represent millions of veterans, disabled veterans of america and so on, that seem to still be supportive. they think that they're willing .o support him >> washington says one thing, but when you go to talk to the find bso's, you will individuals that do not agree. they will say that there has been plenty of time. i have not called for the secretary's resignation because i think he is trying to do the right thing, but i will say that he is not being given a full and transparent picture of what is going on in the field, nor is congress being given that very same transparent picture. we asked and asked the central office of veterans affairs for information on issues as it relates to a backlog of claims and health-care issues out there. we get stonewalled. unfortunately i think that there is this notion that they will outweigh the secretary or under- secretary, if necessary, and of their protection is in place unfortunately it will protect not only good employees but that employ

in our recurring series about returning iraq and afghanistan veterans and the paperwork quagmire that await them the obama administration made a promise in april of 2009 that they would create a seamless computerized veterans health record system. costs be damned! critics said it couldn't be done. four years and $1 billion later, it turns out, yeah, they were right, it couldn't be done. ( laughter ) at least not by the administration. in fact, it so couldn't be done there's still a backlog of claims for 900,000 veterans and paper disability records still undigitized and piled up so high the floor of one va field office is going to collapse. ( laughter ) perhaps injuring people who, luckily, would at least have instant access to the proper forms they would need to file the crushed pelvis claims and most likely have the time to fill them out because of how long it will take to dig them out of the rubble. last month, the house appropriations committee called secretary of defense chuck chuck hagel. 7 hagel. you know, if he married katherine heigl he'd be chuck hagel heigl. serious. they called chuck haig toll ask since we'r

veterans. that's a huge number. >> thank you, senator. i have a question for tom morris. your administrator of the rural health policy and member of the veterans rural health advisory committee. you have a very unique is on a lot of the issues we talk about today. could you tell me what the biggest challenge is to greater collaboration between agencies like pa and hhs ip? >> we've had a good partnership and in 2007 they reached out very early on to learn the lessons we learned over the last 25 years about what is like to be a voice for rural innovation that collaboration has continued.

let's supposing you're going to be the veterans administrator. 220,000 -- just thank god you're not,for your sake. [laughter] for your sake, sir. 220,000 people work for them, and they have spent a lifetime of some very good va directors and some not very good va directors. try to figure out how you take a bulk of people that large who have a common mission and then get down into those, that level where people have been there 15-30 years, so they don't make the decisions, but they actually do make all the decisions because the piles of paper that they say yes or no to are the ones they do. and that mentality is killing our government. you can see it in some of the discomforts, to say the least, that are coming out these days. roosevelt used to reach down to the midpoint of an agency, and he'd call people up, infuriating cabinet members, call people up who'd been there for 20 or 30 years and say, well, what are you doing, how could you be doing it better, what gets in your way, and what do you think is wrong? how do you take something like the department of transportation which is alr

the veterans administration and the health-care system are top notch. ey are 100% committed to serving our veterans. the problem is the white house. you have at guy who has an attitude. he is going to punish america. on hostingore time dinners for foreign secretaries, having parties for his friends, that have been visited -- than having visited the veterans in our hospital. host: a criticism of how president obama has handled this issue. here is a story from today's washington post talking about an upcoming address by the president on security issues. "the washington post," notes that -- a whit a preview of the speech that is happening on thursday at the national defense university. i want to go back to our military families and veterans and veterans line. caller: good morning. welcome to the future of obamacare. this is what is going to look like. thank you. host: elizabeth calling in on our military families line. talking about a generational component on how to fix the current system. the article notes -- we are getting your thoughts on this issue. we

facing veterans, including jobs, delays and benefit claims, and why officials at the veterans affairs administration have been paid bonuses. watch "newsmakers" sunday at 10:00 and 6 p.m. eastern here on c-span. the national rifle association is holding its annual meeting this week in houston. here's a portion portion of the event from saturday that featured tina addresses by some of the nra's chief officers including executive vice president wayne lapierre, president david keene, and chief lobbyist chris cox. this is about an hour and 20 minutes. >> today i want to thank you for what you do to support our second amendment rights and for being here at this incredibly important meeting. by your very presence you are sending a message to the president, to joe biden, diane feinstein, and michael bloomberg. and to all their friends in the media who have been claiming for months that you and american gun owners simply don't count. we've all been under attack since the connecticut tragedy by those who would exploit the victims of a madman to second their agenda.-- advance their agenda. we've been under att

our military leadership, the chain of command, and the veterans administration failed to protect judy and thousands of victims like her who suffer from sexual assaults. we owe it to judy and every other survivor to come together in a bipartisan manner to confront this epidemic head on. thank you, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. are there any further requests for one-minute speechs? the chair lays before the house the following personal requests. the clerk: leave of absence requested for mr. clyburn of south carolina for today and the balance of he the week, mr. culberson of texas for today, -- for today. and mrs. ellmers of north carolina for today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the requests are granted. under the speaker's announced policy of january 3, 2013, the gentleman from indiana, mr. metzeler, are recognized for 30 minutes as the -- for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. >> i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislate i days to revise and extend -- to re

i've been in battle basically for the seven-year period since i first made a claim with the veterans administration. thank the lord, i get 10% for hearing loss. >> tie that into the immigration debate. >> i see a lot of time watching c-span and i thank you for this. >> thank you for watching. >> what i have going on is i have a verifying caretaker she came up on a work permit to america and was able to bring in her whole family. all she's looking for is a green card. that has been going on for seven years. she's an excellent caretaker. her wages are very low, of course. >> steve, what country -- interested that and i pray not that she will be deported. but i think she will get a notice. >> steve, thanks for you call. thanks for all the calls and more coming up tomorrow morning. the national journal covering the hearing today. she will be our guest at 7:45 eastern. we're re-airing the hearing on c-span2 beginning at 8:00 p.m. eastern. next up we're going to show you the briefings today from earlier today. john boehner calling on the white house to release e-mails about the attack in benghazi. nancy

: i don't know a tio aboutn @ subject but my understanding is that those working with the veterans administration will be able to continue to provide the benefits they have in the past and bass -- and those will remain untouched. betty inl move onto albany, louisiana, on our line for republicans. caller: good morning, everybody is talking about how they are setting up the exchange is and how you can get insurance. no one is talking about the fact -- i happen to be on medicare. program, what will happen eventually, is that you will not be able to see the doctors. what good does it do you to have all this insurance and have availability to health care when you can actually get health care when you are sick? it does not make sense. that's what it is coming to. more and more doctors are refusing to take medicare patients. that is because the way they figure they will make this work is they will have to stop paying the doctors or give them 50 cents on the dollar. doctors will not take you then. guest: this is the concern that comes up about the affordable care act. one of the ways the federal governme

they are getting a loan from f.h.a., the department of agriculture or the veterans administration. those loans have very little down payment. these borrowers are very stretched in terms of their income. they're creating demand today that isn't sustainable in the future. we've seen this story before. >>brian: interest rates, if they go up, they have to go up -- they can't go down -- what if they go up such a small percent and so gradually we don't have that feeling of being trapped in your home and the inability to buy a home? >> it could happen that way, brian. but history shows that -- and i've looked back to 1860 -- these trends go on for a long time and when they reverse, they reverse for a long time. so we're at the lowest rate in well over 100 years. and when this reverses, interest rates have been coming down for 30 years since about 1981, when this reverses there will go up an increase to 6%, which is not a big increase. most people might remember 6% used to be a low interest rate. 6% might require incomes having to go up 36%. if that happens in a few year period, that is th

or to veterans benefits administration where 52% of our workforce are veterans themselves.port of the congress, we are aggressively executing a plan that we put together to fix this decades old problem. and eliminate the backlog as we have indicated in 2015 and by that i mean no claim being processed longer than 125 days and our quality of performance at 98% or better. we know much more needs to be done. >> gregg: i'm kind of laughing because that's just preposterous. so, in other words, veterans are going to have to wait for two years so that at that time they will only have to wait four months. i mean, that's ludicrous, isn't it? >> sure. gregg, this is not the first time we have heard wait another year. so it's 2015 now. before it was 2012 and before it was 2010. we have heard promises from v.a. before. >> jenna: honorable man who has done incredible things in this country in uniform and out. at this point five years. any commander who has been at the helm five years and failed at the battlefield is going to get fired. i think as younger veterans come in and look at a sy

the most recent top lines we did was on the shameful backlog of disability claims at the veterans administrationan important story that does not always get as much coverage as it should. host: eric in jonesboro, georgia, on the democrats line. good morning. couple ofhave a comments and a question for the fellow at yahoo!. my comment, first of all, profit info is always biased. meaning corporate media equals propaganda. has therporate agent fiduciary duty to serve its rich shareholders. we have six corporations that own almost virtually 86% of the media, meaning they have control over 86% of all the information that the public hears. we have basically corporate info reaching the public, and we have a profit motive. the fact that this guy is a corporate agent, he is not a journalist, he is a corporate engine and has the fiduciary duty to maximize profit for the shareholders. the idea that we and c-span, you, the host, call him a journalist before the show is crazy. he is serving his boss. his boss is serving the shareholders. their motives are profit. if they do not have a motive give you informat

robin high school, the veterans administration is coming.ring a touch of home to folks who are overseas. the game is going to be broadcast 175 countries all the ships that are out at he a sea. >> first pitch is coming from afghanistan. doing a joint services first pitch coming from afghanistan. going to be on the screen for everybody to see. a lot of the family members of the soldiers who are in afghanistan doing the first pitch are going to be at the game also. >> anna: speaking of first pitches, have you been doing this type of thing for years and doing outrageous things. talk about the time you had the first pitch coming in from space sort of? >> last year on the screen right now. you had the first pitch come in from the joe international space station. knuckleball pitcher gave a little tutorial how to throw a knuckleball and, boom. >> anna: both bush presidents came as well we got it see a picture of that. >> that was a different game. military appreciation day i did for the houston texans. i had both president bushes back in 2009 coin f