his legislation that the republicans filibustered in february. the bill woex panned access to care. it allows the va to lease 27 new health facilities in 18 states that need them. it authorized emergency funding to hire new health professionals. it offers incentives for more doctors to come work at the va to spend part of their careers here. it has a version of the house republican proposal to make it easier to fire employees at the va when they do things wrong, but it also has more protection for whistleblowers. it has a provision that republicans like that will let vets who can t get timely appointments at the va to go elsewhere for care but have the va pick up the bill. we ve learned that the senate veterans committee is scheduled to discuss the bill on thursday, with the hope of getting a vote for the overall bill sometime maybe next week. harry reid said on the senate floor today that every united states senator should vote for the veterans bill and said any republican who s criti