WITH THE JONAS BROTHERS' BREAK UP (SEE "Jonas woes!" AND "THIS JUST IN! A NEW KIND OF FAMILY!"), CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O WAS HOPING TO SWOOP IN AND FILL THE HOLE IN THE INFOTAINMENT OZONE.
"BUT NOW," HE TOLD THESE REPORTERS EARLIER TODAY, "I'M NOT EVEN POWERFUL. THEY PICKED POOTIE-POOT -- THE MAN BULLY BOY BUSH CALLS POOTIE-POOT BEAT ME!"
"AND," THE DAHLIBAMA WHINED, "MY POPULARITY HAS DECLINED TO 44%."
BARRY O STOPPED SPEAKING TO DRY HIS EYES AND BLOW HIS NOSE.
"THE THING IS, IF I'M NOT GOING TO BE POPULAR AND I'M NOT GOING TO BE POWERFUL, WHAT'S THE POINT? OH, THE HELL WITH IT, I THINK I'LL GO USE A DRONE TO KILL PEOPLE!"
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
"Okay," declared US Senator Bernie Sanders this afternoon, "we've got a lot of work in front of us, let's get going." He is the Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. Senator Richard Burr is the Ranking Member. Today was a legislative hearing where people testify about their bills. So we heard from senators. We heard from others as well -- and we shouldn't have.
Chair Bernie Sanders: Before I discuss a few of the bills I have on today's agenda, I want to briefly touch on the issue of the administration's views. Let me be kind of to the point on this one, I understand that as a result of the government shutdown and a lot of the pressure on the VA they have not gotten all their comments and views in. We also understand that in the past, they really have not been prompt in their responses to the legislation that we have proposed. So let me just say this to them, the job of this Committee and what we were elected to do is to represent the people of this country and, in particular, the veterans of this country. And if the VA is not responsive in getting their comments in, that's fine, doesn't impact us at all, we're going to go forward. But clearly the VA is going to have to implement the policies developed by this Committee and this Congress and we want to work with them. But our job is to legislate and we're going to go forward with or without the cooperation of the VA and the administration.
There is nothing good about that statement. That statement doesn't cut and should not be made by any chair. Congress has rules. If they're going to waive them for the VA, they're going to have to waive them for everyone.
And on the House Veterans Affairs Committee? They're fighting to get statements on time, to get questions answered promptly. Sanders has no right to say, "It doesn't matter." That's embarrassing.
VA Secretary Eric Shinseki is an embarrassment. Under him, the VA refuses to even turn in written testimony promptly.
Here's how you deal with that, you don't let the VA testify. I'm not noting them or their testimony because the VA's failure to do what is required means they shouldn't be allowed to testify. This is not a new problem. It began emerging just before Sanders became Chair.
And it's been noticeable throughout actually. Forget the written statements for a moment, Eric Shinseki's first obvious failure was knowing for months that the VA system would be overwhelmed in the fall of 2009 and some veterans would not get tuition checks. He refused to inform Congress. This has happened over and over.
From the House VA Committee's website:
Trials
in Transparency is designed to highlight one of the committee’s top
oversight challenges: getting timely information from Department of
Veterans Affairs officials.
This page will be updated on a weekly basis and will keep a running record of outstanding information requests made to VA by both Democrat and Republican members of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.
VA is currently sitting on nearly 100 separate requests for information made by the committee, some dating back more than a year. The leisurely pace with which VA is returning requests – and in some cases not returning them – is a major impediment to the basic oversight responsibilities of the committee.
VA’s unanswered questions have created mounting frustration for committee members, and prompted Chairman Miller to take the unprecedented step of writing weekly letters to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki listing the number of outstanding information requests and asking for “accurate information in satisfaction of these requests.”
Notable Outstanding Info Requests:
Number of Outstanding Requests: 11
Three Oldest Outstanding Requests: June 5, 2012; July 10, 2012; and July 23, 2012
Requests Pending since 2012: 12
This page will be updated on a weekly basis and will keep a running record of outstanding information requests made to VA by both Democrat and Republican members of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.
VA is currently sitting on nearly 100 separate requests for information made by the committee, some dating back more than a year. The leisurely pace with which VA is returning requests – and in some cases not returning them – is a major impediment to the basic oversight responsibilities of the committee.
VA’s unanswered questions have created mounting frustration for committee members, and prompted Chairman Miller to take the unprecedented step of writing weekly letters to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki listing the number of outstanding information requests and asking for “accurate information in satisfaction of these requests.”
Notable Outstanding Info Requests:
- July 10, 2012: Request for data on VA mental health hiring practices
- September 20, 2012: Request for info on VA conference spending practices
- January 2013: Request for all VA documents and emails from 2007- present regarding legionella bacteria or Legionnaires’ disease within the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System
- February 19, 2013: Request for a list of performance standards VA providers are required to meet when providing mental health care
- June 13, 2013: Request for clarification regarding the breach of VA’s computer network
Number of Outstanding Requests: 11
Three Oldest Outstanding Requests: June 5, 2012; July 10, 2012; and July 23, 2012
Requests Pending since 2012: 12
Downloads
Even if the Senate VA Committee no longer gives a damn whether VA responds or not, it is still not appropriate for Sanders to take that position when it undercuts the House VA efforts to obtain information. The two need to work together, they do not need to be at cross purposes. If Sanders is unable to help the House Committee, he should at least refrain from harming it.
From today's hearing:
Senator Bill Nelson: The first one is a no brainer. It's naming the Bay Pines Hospital in Pinellas County, Florida after the longest serving Republican member of the House of Representatives who we just lost last week, Bill Young. His record as Appropriations Chairman and as Defense Appropriations Chairman, the way he lived his life where he and his wife who literally adopted a Marine who was back from the war and have raised him as their son, and the way that he has reached out to veterans -- so much so, that the Florida delegation and I conferred last week, before his funeral -- while we were still in recess, the House was in session -- and the House took it up and has already passed it, naming the Bay Pines VA Hospital after Bill Young. That's the first piece and if you all see fit to move that legislation, it would be a timely -- a timely thing for the family. Veterans Conservation Corps. This is for post-911 veterans coming home who are unemployed. They would be employed -- not unlike the old CCC -- for up to one year with a possible one year extension. It obviously has a price tag of about a couple of million dollars. The question is: What is the value to society of employing veterans for worthwhile things in our national parks and schools? And I can go into as much detail as you want but that's the idea. And the third piece of legislation is what this Committee has already pushed: Electronic Health Records coming out of the Dept of Defense active duty as they then go into the VA health care system. And of course you know the difficulty there. And this tries to set a timeline that is achievable and tells the VA and the DoD set your goals, set your milestones, achieve them, and then have the full implementation of the electronic health records that will allow a seamless transfer which is what we all want. Those are my three pieces of legislation
Let's go to that third bill:
Official Summary
Servicemember's Electronic Health Records Act of 2013 - Amends the Wounded Warrior Act to require the Secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs, in implementing electronic health record systems that provide for the full interoperability of personal health care information between the Department of Defense (DOD) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), to ensure that:(1) a health data authoritative source that can be accessed by multiple providers and that standardizes the input of new medical information is created by the Departments within 180 days,
(2) the ability of patients of both Departments to download their medical records is achieved within 180 days,
(3) full interoperability of personal health care information between the Departments is achieved within one year,
(4) acceleration of the exchange of real-time data between the Departments is achieved within one year,
(5) the upgrade of the graphical user interface to display a joint common graphical user interface is achieved within one year, and
(6) current members of the Armed Forces and their dependents may elect to receive an electronic copy of their health care records beginning not later than June 30, 2015. Requires the Secretaries to assess the feasibility and advisability of establishing a secure, remote, network-accessible computer storage system (commonly referred to as cloud storage) to:
(1) provide members of the Armed Forces and veterans the ability to upload their health care records, and
(2) allow DOD and VA medical providers of the Departments to access such records.
I applaud Senator Bill Nelson for that bill. Why, though, is it necessary?
Because the VA and DoD were supposed to have done this long ago. What happened was Eric Shinseki got then DoD Secretary Robert Gates to agree on the computer system they would both use. And then Shinseki dropped the ball (intentionally, from what I'm told). Leon Panetta then becomes DoD Secretary and Shinseki starts all over. We have to pick a system! Leon is fine with whatever, his attitude is, "Let's just get it started." But Shinseki doesn't. Now Chuck Hagel is VA Secretary and Congress has some questions about the progress on this system that was supposed to have started back in 2009 and Eric LIES to Congress and pins the blame on Hagel. Hagel's so busy and they haven't been able to pick out a system. That's finally been done thanks to very few who have held Shinseki accountabile.
This is part of the VA stonewalling and not answering or informing Congress. Again, Sanders should not have made the remarks he did.
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