[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 200 (Wednesday, December 19, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7834-S7835]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SENATE ACCOMPLISHMENTS

  Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I rise for a couple of moments in morning 
business to pay tribute to the Senate and what we have done this past 
year. We think we are easing towards going home. We think we are easing 
towards finishing the year, and everybody is excited about that. We 
have talked about a lot of things we haven't done. Let's talk about 
what we have done, because I think this has been the most successful 
time I have had in Washington for 20 years.
  As chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, we have had the best 
success we have ever had for the most important people in the country 
we love--our military in the United States of

[[Page S7835]]

America. I want everybody to remember four things to take home that you 
have done to see to it that our men and women who fight for us and keep 
us safe get treated the way they should every day.
  No. 1 is the VA MISSION Act.
  After a number of years, when we started moving towards a way to get 
better appointments, better timing, and better results for our 
veterans, we finally came together with the VA MISSION Act. We saw to 
it that if a veteran needed health needs met, he got them when he 
needed them, not when it was convenient for him to get them. If the VA 
couldn't provide them, the private sector could. He could go to the 
private sector. We have done everything we can to expand accessibility 
to quality healthcare. Our vets are the most important assets we have.
  The second is the accountability bill. For a lot of years, we saw on 
the front pages of the newspapers that the VA had done stupid things 
and that a lot of VA employees had done stupid things. The way they got 
corrected--the way they got punished--was to be transferred to another 
VA office. We finally passed a bill whereby if you don't do your job, 
if you hurt the people you are there to protect--meaning our vets--then 
you get fired. You have a 10-day appeal, and then you are through. You 
don't get paid forever. You don't get moved. You don't get switched 
around. We make sure you have pure accountability. Because of that, the 
VA is more responsive today than it has ever been.
  With that, we had to put in whistleblower protection to allow our 
vets who find out something is going wrong but who are afraid to say 
something to have the protection that everybody has with whistleblower 
laws we have passed.
  The third biggest problem we had and the No. 1 headache we have is 
seeing to it that veterans' benefits are timely and that they get a 
good appeal. The timeliness in approving veterans' applications for 
that had gone to as much as a year and a half to 2 years before they 
had gotten decisions. Now we have better accountability with the 
improved results we are seeing in giving our veterans their benefits 
and their approvals in a more timely way. I hope, before I leave the 
Senate, whenever that will be, we will get it down to almost zero. They 
don't get the luxury of waiting when they are on the battlefield. They 
have to pull and fight when they are confronted. So we need to make 
sure they get that benefit today.
  Lastly and most importantly, as we have said, our veterans are our 
most important people. We now have the Agency focused in the right 
direction. We have a good Secretary in Secretary Wilkie. We have a good 
focus in what we are doing, and we have passed the types of acts that 
are necessary to get a bureaucracy to become a responsible 
organization. We have seen to it that the benefits we are supposed to 
protect are not only protected but are delivered as well.
  Thank you for the time I have been given to address the Senate. I 
hope all of us go home and remember that our most important people are 
our veterans. Also remember what each of you has done in passing these 
improvements--seeing to it that the GI bill is now permanent for 
everybody in that there are no more caps on their time; seeing to it 
that veterans in the Reserves and veterans on Active Duty are treated 
the same; and seeing to it that we have accountability and benefits for 
our veterans so no one is left behind and so the United States of 
America will continue to be the greatest country on the face of this 
Earth.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.

                          ____________________