Jerry Moran Asks VA Nominee About Improving 'Quality And Timeliness' Of VA's Communication

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During a Senate Veterans' Affairs committee hearing last Week, Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) asked VA nominee, Don Bergin about improving the VA's communication with Congress.

Transcript

00:00I look forward to your questions.

00:02Mr. Bergen, thank you for your statement.

00:04Thank you for your service to our nation.

00:06And we welcome your family members who are joining you here today.

00:10I thank them for their support of your service to the country.

00:15Mr. Bergen, for nearly 30 years, I've been a member of either the House or the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs.

00:20I cannot recall a time in which I thought that the legislative affairs of the Department of Veterans Affairs

00:27was as helpful to me as a House member or as a senator, but more importantly to my constituents.

00:35I can't recall the time in which I thought, wow, this is really a good job being done.

00:41We had a bit of this conversation in my office.

00:46And as I became a leader of the Veterans Committees,

00:52I had more opportunity to have conversations and hearings with those who were assigned the task of improving

01:00service to members of Congress, service to the committees,

01:04but most importantly, our efforts to make sure that veterans who need our help are getting our help.

01:10So if confirmed, what actions would you take early on?

01:14What's the first steps you would take in your tenure to improve the quality and timeliness of VA's communication with Congress,

01:22instill greater accountability with the Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs,

01:27and set the stage for better working relationship between the VA and this committee?

01:32How would you measure that success?

01:37Thank you for that question, Mr. Chairman.

01:39First of all, I'd like to start with one of the central tenets I learned in the Marine Corps

01:44was the qualities of leadership aren't taking on roles and missions because they're easy.

01:51You take them on because they're worthwhile.

01:54That's why I'm here.

01:56As was pointed out, and I'm sure will not come up in future questions,

02:02I have been working as a senior advisor to the Secretary since April.

02:07And in that role, and the reason why Secretary brought me on is because he realized a lot of the issues

02:15that have been raised here, a lot of the challenges, a lot of the feedback,

02:18and he even experienced that as a congressman over in the House.

02:22And I will say to that end as well, as a staffer who's worked,

02:28I'm looking at the back row over there, but I've spent some time over there,

02:31and Senator Blumenthal, I'd like to compliment you for hiring a fellow Tar Heel.

02:35I've spent time back there, and I know the frustrations of the challenges of actually getting responses back

02:45from nearly every agency in government.

02:48I can't commit to you that it will be perfect, but I can sincerely commit to you

02:52that I will use experience that I have both in leadership and in working in Congress to get that done.

02:58And to that effect, in my current role, I've spent time making recommendations

03:04on the way the office should be organized as far as actual personnel roles and then also on processes.

03:15I had the good fortune of working in the Marine Corps Office of Legislative Affairs,

03:19and I sincerely appreciate the leadership of the Marines that I served with over there.

03:24I think they built a good model, and I'm trying to take away from that model the experiences that I have

03:30that I thought were valuable and then add on top of that the other experiences that I've had while working in Congress.

03:36So to that end, first of all, what was most striking to me when I started was the dearth

03:46of what we call Congressional Relation Officers here, both in the Senate and in the House.

03:53We're pretty short-staffed on that end, and I find it very challenging to be able to accomplish this role

03:59without having those assets out there, the people that are knowledgeable,

04:05both of your offices and your issues, being able to provide that candid feedback

04:10to the Office of OCLA and to the Secretary.

04:13So I've made recommendations that we staff up in those positions,

04:19and I've also made recommendations internal to processes as far as trying to respond to the committee

04:27in a timely and useful manner, like providing you relevant information

04:33that's actually substantive to your requests, because my experience has been

04:39when you don't answer questions, you tend to get more questions.

04:43You also tend to get more hearings, and I don't know that that's what anyone wants here on the committee,

04:49and I certainly respect your time.

04:52So if confirmed, sir, I will continue to work on that

04:56and implement some of the recommendations that I've already made.

05:01Mr. Bergen, thank you for your answer,

05:03and I appreciate that it's a difficult task getting timely answers from any department

05:08or any agency, almost without exception, and I don't know what the exception is,

05:14but I want to give somebody the benefit of the doubt in case there is one.

05:17But I do want to highlight that this is not an ego kind of thing,

05:22because when the Department of Veterans Affairs fails to respond to us,

05:27this committee, the members of this committee, the members of the Senate,

05:30it further jeopardizes the life and well-being of veterans across the country.

05:35And I've said this so many times, mostly what I know about what veterans are encountering

05:41is because they'll stop me on the street, they'll send me an email,

05:45they'll tell me the story, and that begins the process by which we try to solve problems,

05:50sometimes individually, and sometimes those individual problems then lend itself

05:56to us figuring out how do we solve problems for more than just a veteran,

06:01but veterans across the country.

06:02And so your job, if confirmed, is hugely important.

06:07I mean, you indicate, and I believe you, that you're doing this by motivation

06:11of wanting to care for your fellow veterans.

06:15This is a task that needs the attention,

06:18not because you want to make members of this committee happy,

06:21but because if you provide the information, perhaps we, along with many others,

06:28can serve those veterans and make their life longer, healthier,

06:33and the benefits they need to care for themselves, their education, their family.

06:38It's different than just the usual complaint that I suppose members of Congress might have

06:43about an agency that doesn't respond and doesn't function well.

06:48The functioning of what you do can be a life-or-death circumstance

06:52for those we all serve and all care about.

06:55Senator Blumenthal.

06:57Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

06:58Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

06:59Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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