[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 13459-13460]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          McDONALD NOMINATION

 Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, my office continues to receive an 
inordinate number of complaints about persistent problems with the 
delivery of health care services and other benefits by the Department 
of Veterans Affairs to those who have served in our Armed Forces. This 
is very troubling to me.
  Evidence of serious and systemic mismanagement and negligence within 
the Department led to the resignation of a former Secretary of the 
Department and a call for a thorough assessment of how to better serve 
our veterans. We should take very seriously our responsibility to those 
who have served in our military. Robert McDonald, the next Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs, will face many challenges to improve the VA system. 
He will have the support of many of us in Congress as he assumes this 
important position.
  I have recommended on several occasions continued, vigorous oversight 
by the Department of Veterans Affairs during the implementation of a 
corrective action plan at the G.V. ``Sonny'' Montgomery VA Medical 
Center in Jackson, MS. Reports from VA patients, their families and VA 
hospital officials in Mississippi have served to guide corrections and 
improvements at the facility.
  I support measures to correct the VA's problems and improve the 
quality of, and access to, care for veterans. I am hopeful that the 
pending VA reform legislation and the confirmation of a new Secretary 
of Veterans Affairs will be reassuring steps toward enhancing the 
delivery of health care services to our veterans.
  We can and should do better for those who have devoted themselves to 
serving our country.
  Mr. McCAIN. Madam President, I am pleased that the Senate is taking 
action this week on two extremely important measures for our Nation's 
veterans. First, Congress is poised to pass

[[Page 13460]]

the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act. This compromise, 
bipartisan legislation will, for the first time, provide our Nation's 
veterans who cannot easily get into a Department of Veterans Affairs, 
VA, health care facility, the ability that most Americans already have: 
to choose their own doctor. I am also extremely pleased that the 
legislation allows senior managers of the VA to be fired if they fail 
to do their jobs.
  The Senate is also set to approve the nomination of Mr. Robert 
McDonald to head the VA. As important as our legislation is for fixing 
the VA, we cannot legislate a change in culture. Only the head of an 
agency can reform a toxic culture that allowed veterans to die on wait 
lists while senior officials lied in order to collect their bonuses.
  I have met with Mr. McDonald and we see eye to eye on the massive 
problems that need to be fixed and the challenges that lie ahead. I am 
confident he is the right person with the right experience to lead the 
VA during this challenging time. He is a veteran himself but also has 
decades of private sector management experience that will serve him 
well in implementing the Veterans Choice Card and repairing the culture 
of the VA to focus on the veteran and restore honesty and 
accountability to that workforce. I thank him for accepting this 
challenge to serve the Nation again and look forward to working with 
him in the days ahead.
  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, as we have learned over the past several 
months, there has been a clear and inexcusable lack of well-earned 
quality care and timely service provided to many veterans who depend on 
it from the Department of Veterans Affairs. I hope that the 
confirmation of Robert McDonald as VA Secretary will be the next step 
forward in ensuring that our veterans and their families receive the 
benefits, compensation, and support services they rightfully deserve. 
While I continue to recognize the hard work and commitment of the many 
men and women working in the VA system, the broader organizational 
culture has failed to harness and strengthen individual efforts in 
order to fulfill our promises to men and women that serve and their 
families.
  When he assumes his new post Robert McDonald will have his work cut 
out for him at the VA, and he must lead the Department's deep soul-
searching. It is my hope that his management experience at Procter & 
Gamble, including his experience addressing inefficiencies in a 
corporate entity, will make him the right man for the job. The 
replacement of a Cabinet Secretary alone does not increase 
accountability, nor does it reform the underlying problems that enabled 
the environment we now find ourselves in. These foundational reforms 
must take place throughout the management of the VA system, and they 
must address long-term, as well as short-term, challenges.
  I was also pleased to hear that after many rounds of negotiations, 
Senator Sanders and his counterpart in the House have finally reached a 
compromise that addresses many of these needed reforms. I commend them 
both, and I hope this legislation will be swiftly brought to the Senate 
and House floors and then signed by President Obama, so we can get back 
on track in serving our veterans as they so honorably have served our 
Nation. I look forward to working with the future Secretary McDonald to 
ensure that timely access to quality care for our veterans and their 
families is the ultimate priority of the VA.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time is expired.
  The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the nomination 
of Robert Alan McDonald, of Ohio, to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs?
  Mr. GRASSLEY. I request the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Hawaii (Mr. Schatz) is 
necessarily absent.
  Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the 
Senator from Tennessee (Mr. Alexander) and the Senator from Kansas (Mr. 
Roberts).
  Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Tennessee (Mr. 
Alexander) would have voted ``yea.''
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Manchin). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 97, nays 0, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 243 Ex.]

                                YEAS--97

     Ayotte
     Baldwin
     Barrasso
     Begich
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Blunt
     Booker
     Boozman
     Boxer
     Brown
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Chambliss
     Coats
     Coburn
     Cochran
     Collins
     Coons
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Donnelly
     Durbin
     Enzi
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Flake
     Franken
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hagan
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Heinrich
     Heitkamp
     Heller
     Hirono
     Hoeven
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johanns
     Johnson (SD)
     Johnson (WI)
     Kaine
     King
     Kirk
     Klobuchar
     Landrieu
     Leahy
     Lee
     Levin
     Manchin
     Markey
     McCain
     McCaskill
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Mikulski
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Nelson
     Paul
     Portman
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Risch
     Rockefeller
     Rubio
     Sanders
     Schumer
     Scott
     Sessions
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Thune
     Toomey
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Vitter
     Walsh
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--3

     Alexander
     Roberts
     Schatz
  The nomination was confirmed.

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