'I Would Ask You To Go Back And Look': Patty Murray Confronts Doug Collins About 'New Policy' At VA

Forbes Breaking News

At today's Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) questioned VA Secretary Doug Collins.

Transcript

00:00restrictions on veterans getting in, it just makes it all the worse. Thank you. Thank you.

00:04Senator Murray. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Secretary Collins, thank you for being here.

00:11Thank you for taking the time to talk with me yesterday morning about the new policies now

00:16that you now have related to congressional engagement. For all of my colleagues, this new

00:22policy will limit our ability to interact with veterans on a VA campus as it did when I was

00:29denied the ability to host a Veteran and Provider Roundtable at the Seattle VA. I'll note I have

00:35done that many times over my over 30 years here in the Senate. My staff was told it was a new policy

00:43which had not been put into writing at the time that I got denied, and I just want to reiterate

00:48my request, Mr. Secretary, that you share that newly written policy with every single member of

00:54Congress. Senator, we definitely, as you and I talked yesterday, this had been an unwritten policy

00:59for years. It had been applied differently, and I think that I've went back and checked it. It had

01:04been applied differently, and simply there's no filter that we want you to have it. I just have

01:08to say I've never been denied before. I don't know anybody else who has. This is a new policy, and I

01:13think it's important that you have it in writing to every single member so we all know that. I'd also

01:19note that in our conversation yesterday, as well as in your responses to nearly all of the oversight

01:25letters I've seen, you are relying on this very broad explanation to everything that, and I quote it,

01:32everything you do is to ensure veterans receive the care and services they deserve. I want to take this

01:38opportunity, Mr. Secretary, to remind you the people on this dais, both sides, have the same purpose.

01:45Many of us have been doing this for decades, and oversight is both constitutionally required,

01:50and it is critical for all of us to do our job. So with that in mind, I would ask you to rescind the

01:58memo from your chief of staff, which allows him to personally sign off on any proposed or planned

02:04engagement with any one of the 535 members of Congress, which really just stonewalls legitimate

02:12questions that we have. Senator, that was a memo that was, that's a missing characterization of that

02:17memo. It simply was coordinating between OM and our legislative affairs office to make sure that

02:22our OM staff, who actually deal with the budget side, which you do, and our legislative affairs

02:26were on the same page, just as you wouldn't want to in your staff talking to the same group and

02:30basically not being on the same page. I have the letter, and it directly says that every request we

02:35have has to go through your chief of staff, from our staff who want the questions, from any of us who

02:40do. Everything has to be rerouted up to the top. That is going to take forever. That denies us the

02:45ability for us to get the information. We'll make sure that all, you know, legislative inquires,

02:49the stuff that you need, you're getting the oversight. I agree with you. I served in Congress

02:52as well. Oversight is important. But also getting, also getting you good information is important

02:57as well. I appreciate that. So is that letter no longer in place, no longer applies? That letter is,

03:02is the one that I'm familiar with, is letters to streamline information so we can get you actually

03:06information quicker. Streamline all the way to the top so our questions are never answered. That's how we

03:11all read it. No, that's not the way the letter is written. So it is. It's not the way the

03:16interpretation is. I would ask you to go back and look at it because again, we have oversight

03:19responsibility. We all take that very seriously. I agree with you. We need those responses. We don't

03:24need weeks and months to go through some all the way to the top and one guy sitting there deciding

03:29all the, whether or not we get information. Well, there is no weeks and months and that's,

03:32you know, the unfortunate part of the VA has been a bureaucracy issue. This is, we're trying to

03:36actually streamline it to get you information. I have other questions. I mean this. I'd like

03:40you to go back and look at that letter and remind yourself so we all need the information. Thank

03:44you, Senator. As you know, fixing EHR and getting it right for our veterans is about patient safety.

03:50During your hearing, I expressed my concerns about VA moving forward with deploying the new system

03:55at four additional new sites when it's still experiencing very serious issues at places in my state,

04:02Spokane and Walla Walla. And you said that when it comes to EHR, you were going to quote,

04:07listen to our clinicians and listen to our hospitals. Weeks later, VA announced plans to

04:12look at firing a staggering 80,000 employees this year. I want to know, did you ask these VA clinicians

04:19and hospitals about how those cuts would affect future EHR deployments?

04:25The issue of employment and EHR deployments are separate. We're not looking, again, I can't

04:32emphasize this enough. None of the reorganization that we're looking at deals with frontline workers

04:37or frontline employees that deal everything from cleaning a bed to there. Okay, that was not my

04:41question. So yes, we've included it. Dr. Evans, who runs our program, we've incorporated this. He's

04:46been working the program for, you know, well over a decade. I have 20 seconds left. I've been very vocal,

04:51you know this, about VA's troubling decision not to renew the terms of researchers who are working

04:58on absolutely critical projects and clinical trials for our veterans. There are planned trials

05:03that have not started. There are ongoing trials that have been stopped. And there are trials that

05:09have fallen apart due to staff layoffs. Yes or no, would you agree that clinical trials stopping

05:15would have an impact on the care for our veterans? I think clinical trials are very important. And the

05:20good thing about it is, is when we looked at it, there were, there were trials that were coming

05:24to you that just as they always do. I put a 90-day stop on that so we can examine and make sure that

05:29everything's going good. I understand there's a pause on this new policy. Has a decision been made

05:33about what happens when that pause stops? We're currently in the process of jamming that now.

05:39Clinical trials that are out there have no idea they got to wait 90 days and pray.

05:43At this point in time, like I said, some of those were actually stopped at the, at the end. And

05:46that what we're actually, you know, keeping some in line so that they can continue if, if need be.

05:51Thank you, Mr. Chair.

05:53On behalf of the chairman, I recognize Senator Blackburn.

05:56Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And Mr. Secretary, we are delighted.

Category

Transcript

Recommended