Richard Blumenthal Grills Nominee On VA's 'Abject Failure' To Respond To Senate Inquiries

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During a Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee hearing last week, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) questioned Don Bergin about the VA Department's responses to Senate inquiries.

Transcript

00:00have about an agency that doesn't respond and doesn't function well. The functioning of what

00:05you do can be a life or death circumstance for those we all serve and all care about. Senator

00:11Blumenthal. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I will say I agree with everything that you have

00:18articulated so well just now, and I think it summarizes a lot of the role of our committee

00:25and all of us as members of the United States Senate. Let me just come right to the point.

00:33First of all, thank you for your service. Thank you to your family for their service,

00:38and thank you for your willingness to serve in this position. You've been senior advisor at the

00:45VA since April, correct? Correct. And during that time, the VA has engaged in

00:55systematic denial of facts, stonewalling of this committee in an unprecedented way, and

01:04it's been, frankly, bipartisan. Both sides. Inquiries, in effect, either ignored or blown off. The

01:17few answers we get are mostly boilerplate, non-responsive repetitions of talking points that fail to address

01:24basic questions. It's been true of Secretary Collins' testimony, but also the responses that we've

01:30received. For example, about the VA's DOGE team, what they do, who they are, what they're working on. We've

01:37asked by email, and we've asked in hearing. Senator King has sent a letter, and then more than a dozen

01:43colleagues joined me in sending a subsequent letter requesting information briefing. We've asked about

01:48contracts, and the response has been either to give us inaccurate information, which was acknowledged to

01:59be inaccurate, or telling us that you, quote, will not be providing a briefing on this issue.

02:09Senator, first, I want to make sure I clarify that I personally did not say that I would

02:29not provide a briefing. I want to make sure that that's not the case. And I cannot speak to all the

02:35decisions that have been made, sir. But what I can tell you is, I also recognize the challenges

02:42that the Secretary has taken on in his role. And I think, as everyone in this room can attest,

02:48the Department of Veterans Affairs is not a flawless organization, but it is a very large organization.

02:56Well, let me just ask the question again, and I apologize if I imply that you told us that you

03:01would not be providing the briefing. The Department told us you have been an advisor in the office that

03:08was supposed to be responding. Have you been involved in any of the answers to any individuals on this

03:18committee or the committee itself? No, sir. You've had no involvement? I have not.

03:24What have you been doing? I've been working on organizing the Office of Congressional Legislative

03:30Affairs in a way that if I'm confirmed, sir, it will be ready to be more responsive. And I would say,

03:38I think if you go back and you look at least at the timeliness of responses, that we have been

03:46working to some degree to be able to provide those. I've not been involved in this substance, sir.

03:51The answer that you've just given me, and I apologize for interrupting because my time is going to expire

03:56shortly. You just said you've been working in restructuring the office so it would be,

04:04quote, more responsive. Correct, sir. End quote. I'm going to view that in the most positive light

04:14and say my conclusion is that you would join me in feeling that the office has been unresponsive so far.

04:26But you don't have to agree with me or not. The record shows it has been abjectly unresponsive.

04:33And to the extent you've been involved as an advisor and you've known of our dissatisfaction

04:40and you're going to be taking over, I am troubled that you haven't said to the secretary,

04:49Secretary Collins, we got to do something here because we're not answering these valid requests

04:57for information. Did you ever go to him and say that? Senator, I'm very sensitive to the concerns

05:03that you've expressed and appreciate them very much. I have had conversations with the secretary

05:10about our ability to respond promptly and substantively. That is his intent, is to be able to get there.

05:18The challenges are that the size of the organization takes some time to be able to get there. And I think

05:25everyone would agree that the policy positions of the previous administration and the current

05:30administration are fairly vast. So turning around on a dime for those policies is a challenge that

05:38we are working on addressing. So getting the voice and the vernacular correct in the way we respond

05:44is something that's a work in progress. My time is expired. Thank you. Sir King. First, I

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