[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5284]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              GORDIAN KNOT

  (Mr. BILIRAKIS asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight legislation I 
recently introduced, the VA GORDIAN KNOT Act, which would help improve 
and reform the Department of Veterans Affairs.
  In Greek mythology, the Gordian knot represents a complex problem 
that needs out-of-the-box thinking to solve, and that is exactly what 
we need.
  The VA's Gordian knot is its repeated manipulation of key data and 
overall lack of accountability. The VA has been known to yield less-
than-truthful information when it comes to collecting and reporting 
data about patient care, appointment wait times, and employee hiring 
and firing practices.
  This behavior is an erosion of public trust and a disservice to our 
Nation's veterans, our true heroes. It also makes it difficult to 
properly address the VA's shortcomings and enhance its successes 
because there are successes as well.
  The VA GORDIAN KNOT Act requires the VA to standardize its data 
collecting and reporting mechanisms and increases oversight of the 
integrity and accuracy of the information.
  I believe this bill is absolutely necessary to reform the VA and 
assist in its mission to care for our true American heroes.

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