[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8935]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            OUR VETERANS DESERVE THE BEST MEDICAL TREATMENT

  (Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, the number of veterans has declined by 
several millions in recent years, due to deaths and decreases in the 
numbers of our military, yet the problems in the VA and complaints by 
veterans about poor treatment and long delays have grown by leaps and 
bounds.
  It is definitely not a money problem because no department or agency 
has received the megabillions and high percentage increases that the 
Congress has given to the VA; yet, despite years of criticism for 
Members of Congress and the media, the problems have grown worse.
  The only effective solution is competition. I said in a speech to a 
veterans group many years ago that eligible veterans should be given a 
card and allowed to go to any hospital they choose, including those 
considered to be the best in the Nation. In this way, VA hospitals 
would be forced to provide better service, or Congress could and should 
close the ones with rapidly declining and/or very low occupancy rates.
  Mr. Speaker, our veterans deserve the very best medical treatment 
possible.

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