[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 6]
[SE]
[Pages 9024-9025]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          VETERANS HEALTH CARE

  Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, I come to the floor today in 
recognition of the approaching Memorial Day holiday to express my 
deepest gratitude, respect, and appreciation for the men and women of 
our Armed Forces and for our veterans. In order to commemorate our 
vets, the first bill to be marked up and passed out of my 
Appropriations Committee was the Fiscal

[[Page 9025]]

Year 2015 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies 
bill. I wanted to make sure that there is no question in anyone's mind 
that veterans are my No. 1 priority.
  As the chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I have put 
money in the Federal checkbook to improve the veterans health care 
system so that wounded and disabled warriors get the care and benefits 
they need. I have worked to ensure veterans suffering from post-
traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, or a traumatic brain injury, TBI, 
receive better diagnosis and treatment through the Defense Department 
and the VA.
  In the bill that passed out of my committee today, we established 
even more checks on the VA by including an additional $5 million to 
investigate the wait time practices at all VA medical treatment 
facilities nationwide. Our committee must invoke even more oversight to 
ensure that the tragedy that occurred at the Phoenix, AZ VA hospital is 
not repeated again in other hospitals. The greatest power my committee 
has is holding the VA accountable by closing the purse strings of their 
budget. One way we are doing this is by restricting performance bonuses 
for medical directors, assistant directors, and senior executive 
services staff until after the inspector general completes its audit on 
wait times at nationwide veterans treatment facilities. We need to 
continue to ensure that the VA is being held accountable. That is why 
I, along with a number of my colleagues, sent a letter to President 
Obama demanding an investigation by the VA's IG to evaluate the secret 
lists being kept at the Phoenix VA hospital.
  I have also led the charge to reduce the backlog in processing 
veterans' disability claims. I brought Secretary Shinseki to Baltimore 
to create a sense of urgency to end the backlog by 2015. I used my 
power as chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee to convene a 
hearing with the top brass in the military, VA, and members of the 
committee to identify challenges and get moving on solutions. I cut 
across agencies to break down smokestacks and developed a 10-point 
Checklist for Change enacted as part of the fiscal year 2014 Omnibus 
appropriations bill. This plan includes better funding, better 
technology, better training, and better oversight of the VA.
  I believe we must keep the promises we have made to our veterans. We 
can do this by giving them the same quality of service they gave us and 
by providing them with the care they deserve.
  We made a sacred commitment to honor those who served by giving them 
the benefits they have earned. I will continue to fight for better 
benefits and treatment for our vets. And I am committed to holding the 
VA accountable through the powers provided to me through the 
Appropriations Committee.

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