Color, irrespective of party affiliation. We are one america. And lets try to act that way. And i close this briefing. Thank you. As that herring comes to a close, lawmakers discussing how the Veterans Affairs department, this is a live hearing getting under way now on cspan 3. If covid19 turned into a pandemic and portions of the United StatesHealth Care System broke down the va may need to come back and ask for additional funds and since then congress has appropriated 17. 2 billion for vhas covid19 Pandemic Response and i was glad to help advocate for that funding. Now im not sure that many of us here on the dais know what to expect during that february hearing nor did we fully grasp the enormity of the Public Health challenges americans would soon face from the pandemic. This is largely because the administration failed to recognize these risks and communicate them to the American Public in advance of the crisis. Here we are a little more than three months later and exactly 90 days after the covid19 pandemic was declared a national emergency. Now we have almost 2 million confirmed cases of covid19 in the United States, and more than 16,000 of which are among veterans who use vha. More than 1,400 veterans and 33 va employees have now lost their lives to this disease. Fortunately va very quickly took several key actions in the first months of this pandemic to help keep veterans and va employees safe. We may never know how many veterans lives were saved by actions va took early in the pandemic. On march 10th va issued a no visitors policy at its Community Living centers or Nursing Homes in spinal cord injury units. By march 13th all vha medical facilities had established screening processes at their entrances to assess potential exposure to covid19 for each employee for each veteran, employee and visitor entering the facility. On march 18th vha suspended all nonurgent elective procedures. This freed up staff, supplies, equipment and other resources to care for the expected influx of veterans with covid19. And helped control the spread of the virus. Va clinicians increased delivery of care through telehealth by 1,000 as they replaced cancelled appointments with telephone calls and video visits as often as possible. Ive been really encouraged by the fact that va has been able to use emergency expedited hiring authorities to rapidly hire staff. Va on boarded more than 16,000 new employees in the most recent twomonth period. The pandemic has made clear just how vital our va housekeeping and custodial staff are to Infection Control. We need to make sure we pay them fairly and treat them as the essential employees that they are. To be clear a lot of things have gone right with vas response to the covid19 pandemic, and for that va is to be commended. This is also a testament to the wisdom of basing policy decisions on science, and engaging Health Care Experts. As a Health Care Organization vha should be positioned to lead during a national Public Health crisis. Tens of thousands of dedicated frontline va employees have worked tirelessly and heroically over the last three months to care for veterans and nonveterans alike and i want to thank them for their Tremendous Service to our nation. To date, va has provided Fourth Mission assistance through more than 60 formal and informal engagements and 46 states and the district of columbia. However, the pandemic has also exposed some vulnerabilities, some alarming vulnerabilities and gaps in vas pandemic readiness, especially in the area of medical supply chain and Inventory Management. Ive also been concerned about the extent to which va has fully and equitiably implementing telework and paid leave to its employees throughout the pandemic. Officials have told us theyve observed lower rates of absenteeism and requests for leave than the same period last year. It is clear that va employees have acted in good faith by showing up to work. They deserve greater flexibility from their employer as they attempt to keep themselves and their families healthy while continuing to carry out vas mission. A few weeks ago va announced its three phase plan for gradually resuming face to face care, and 20 Va Medical Centers began this process the week of may 18th. The committee is watching closely as va moves forward with this plan to ensure that this is done in the way that keeps veterans and employees safe. Finally, before i close, i want to say that the committee originally planned to conduct a fully remote hearing today in accordance with House Resolution 965. The resolution we adopted on may 15th authorizes house committees to hold virtual hearings during the period of the covid19 Public Health emergency. This is so that we can continue to do the peoples business while maintaining the social distancing and safety precautions that the Health Care Experts recommend. Yet, here we are in this Committee Room and my colleagues in the public may be wondering why. Just a couple of days ago va informed the committee that its witnesses would only participate in this hearing if i and at least one member of the minority would gather in the hearing room to listen to vas testimony in person. It is my understanding that this reflects a directive from the white house. I am concerned that this decision has needlessly put Staff Members and witnesses at risk. We have the tools to undertake our constitutional obligation to conduct oversight. In 2020 the technology exists to engage with va just as va has engaged with tens of thousands of veterans via telehealth and right now vha hasnt even reinstated critical in person compensation and pension exams. Which is contributed to a growing backlog of more than 125,000 pending disability claims. Vas attempt to inhibit congressional oversight by demanding that we sit in this room rather than conduct this hearing virtually, while va continues to tell veterans that they must stay home and continue waiting for benefits that they have earned perplexes me. Vas unwillingness to contribute with unwillingness to cooperate with the committees original plan for holding a fully remote hearing is also strange because the department generally has positive things to tell this body. This is good news because we have appropriated more than 17. 2 billion to try and get this Pandemic Response right. I reluctantly agreed to conduct todays hearing in a hybrid format because i did not want negotiations with the administration to delay it. However, i would like to remind the administration that congress is a separate and coequal branch of government and it is the obligation of the administration to be accountable to congress. Playing games and threatening to withhold witnesses unless we submit to the administrations terms is disrespectful. This pandemic is long from over. And we must remain humble in the face of the danger it poses. And with that i conclude my remarks and i now recognize dr. Roe for five minutes for his opening remarks. Before we start today we were informed late yesterday evening by the house Recording Studio that we needed your permission to obtain a direct feed of todays hearing so that we could stream it from the minoritys youtube page and other social media accounts. As you may know this is common practice. We have streamed the committees hearings in markups from minoritys all congress, to include last weeks subcommittee held virtual hearing. Other committees do it regularly. You and i serve on the Labor Committee and we do it there. Im unaware of any problem thats created and your permission has never been needed before. My staff sought your permission this morning, and our request for access to todays hearing stream was denied. No justification for that denial was provided. House rule 11, 2 e, 5 a states to maximum extent possible each Committee Shall provide audio and video coverage of each hearing or meeting for the transaction of business in a manner that allows a public to easily listen to and view the proceedings. This rule is designed to maximize coverage and transparency of committees work. Allowing the minority to stream from our social media accounts ensures that as many veterans and taxpayers as possible have access to the work we are doing on their behalf. I cant imagine that as chairman of the Veterans Affairs committee you wouldnt agree and support that. I will note that your decision today to deny us access to the video feed for this hearing not only goes against past practice but it also is only coming up now after the partisan vote last month to change the house rules to allow for Virtual Committee work. During the debate on those rules senior Democratic Leaders repeatedly promised that they would not disadvantage the minority. Your decision is a direct contradiction to that claim. I am simply baffled by it, mr. Chairman, and urge you in the strongest possible terms to reconsider. And just as an affront to this virtual hearing, the congress of the United States has never had a virtual hearing in the war of 1812, the civil war, the spanishamerican war, the flu epidemic of 1918, world war i, world war ii, the polio epidemic, the korean war, the h 2 n 2 epidemic of 1957, the h 3 n 2 epidemic of 1968, which i remember very, very well, it killed over 100,000 americans, the vietnam war, and so on. Weve never done this. And theres not any reason that we should be doing it now in my opinion and this committee has always operated on a bipartisan basis before and i would never have dreamed of making a decision like this when i was chair. I would have said absolutely do it. Will you approve allowing the Minority Access to this hearing stream now so that we can broadcast a hearing from our social Media Channels as well as yours, and will you commit to ensuring our continued access to video streams for future hearings and markups . Dr. Roe, ill work with you in the future after this hearing. Going forward. Thank you, i accept that. Thank you, mr. Chairman. As ive said before virtual hearings are a poor substitute for the oversight and engagement that occurs during inperson congressional hearings or hybrid ones like this. Our constituents elected us to represent them in washington and our work here has never been more essential than it is during this critical juncture in our countrys history. For those reasons im glad to finally be back in d. C. With you today and appreciate your accommodating my request that members be allowed to attend the Committee Hearings from the committees hearing room. It would be an understatement to say that a lot has changed since we were last in this room together 91 days ago. And that time our country and the world has faced an unparalleled challenge with respect to covid19 pandemic which has taken the lives of more than 100,000 americans and threatened the livelihoods of millions more. Before i go any further i want to express my condolences to all those whove lost loved ones to this virus. My heart particularly goes out to the families of more than 1,300 veterans and 34 Veterans Health administration employees who have died from covid19. Each one of them is in my prayers and im also praying for those veterans whos lost jobs, businesses, investments and nest eggs theyve worked for their entire lives to build because of the economic shutdown through no fault of their own and who find themselves isolated from friends and family and support systems due to stay at home orders, and who have been left reeling from this unprecedented events over the past three months. There is no doubt that these are incredibly difficult times, but in any community is prepared to weather the storm, it is this one. Our nations veterans are hard working, courageous, creative, Community Minded leaders who dont back down from a challenge. It is the department of Veterans Affairs job, along with the committee and our counterparts in the senate to support our veterans in meeting this particular challenge, and i assure you that we are up to the task. As we grieve the death and destruction of covid19, i find hope in a tremendously good job that va employees across the country have performed. Va doctors, nurses, Emergency Management personnel, food service workers, custodial staff, i. T. Technicians, Police Officers and others, up to and including va Senior Leadership right here in d. C. Have remained steadfast in making sure that our nations veterans are safe, protected and well taken care of throughout this crisis. Thanks to their dedication, va has been able to fulfill not only the departments primary mission to care for veterans, but also the departments Fourth Mission to care for those in need regardless of veteran status during times of national emergency, from New Hampshire to hawaii and beyond, va has provided beds, staff, personal protective equipment, test supplies and other needed support to state, local and tribal entities in almost every state and territory. Va has been particularly active in state veterans homes and private Nursing Homes, helping to protect those most vulnerable to the coronavirus in raising the level of care provided to the oldest and most at risk among us, wherever they reside. And just as an aside, about 42 of all deaths in this country have come from the nursing home longterm care facilities, chronic care facilities, which make up only 0. 6 of the population of the country. So i want to thank the va for their work there, i think you have saved countless lives. Theres no doubt that the work has been lifesaving and will improve the provision of care for those communities for years to come. Working hand in hand with the office of personal management, va has also undertaken an incredibly successful recruitment effort reducing time to hire to just three days, and on boarding more than 16,000 new hires since march. This absolutely ought to continue. This process that were using and not the old method. Va has expanded the availability of telehealth by more than a thousand percent on some platforms so that veterans can remain safely at home without delays or sacrificing the care theyve earned together, these efforts have caused veteran trust scores to reach historic highs during the pandemic. In april veteran trust and va reached an overall 80 in veteran trust and Va Outpatient Services in particular, reached 90 . Va should be incredibly proud of those accomplishments, we all should. However, theres more work to do. While the rate of infection for Va Health Care workforce is markedly lower than the rate of infection among nonVa Health Care workforce in the United States and abroad, va employees continue to express serious concerns about the availability of ppe, and other supplies they need to help keep themselves and veterans safe within va medical facilities. Their concerns are exacerbated by vas outdated and inefficient supply chain thats ill equipped to handle the strain that covid19 has placed upon it. It remains to be seen whether the vas current testing capabilities are sufficient to meet the demand for tests from veterans and employees, particularly as more and more Medical Centers begin to reopen to nonurgent and elective procedures. Despite the success of vas telehealth expansion, covid19 has created a backlog in care that will need to be well managed to limit wait times, fairly prioritizing care to those most in need, and ensure that no veteran falls through the cracks. And finally, even as va begins to recover and reopen, va must also prepare for a resurgence of the virus in the weeks and months ahead. I look forward to discussing these issues today with my colleagues here in the capitol and those participating virtually as well as our three witnesses from the va. Dr. Stone, ms. Kramer, and dr. Mull. I know that you all are very busy, to say the least. Thank you for being with us today and for all that youve done over the last 90 days under unbelievably difficult circumstances to care for veterans, their families, their caregivers, and their survivors. Your work has not gone unnoticed. I look forward to the hearing today and mr. Chairman, i yield back. Thank you, dr. Roe. This morning we will hear from dr. Richard stone, executive the executive in charge of the Veterans Health administration at the department of Veterans Affairs. He will discuss vhas ongoing response to the covid19 pandemic. Dr. Stone is accompanied today by ms. Deborah kramer, acting deputy undersecretary for health for support services and by dr. Larry mull, executive director for the office of Public Health at vha. Dr. Stone, without any further ado, you are recognized for five minutes. I will ask also that the witnesses remember to pause for just a few seconds before speaking. And when answering questions. So that what you say is captured on the live stream. So pause. Chairman tecano, Ranking Member roe, distinguished members of the committee, thank you for giving us this opportunity to publicly recognize the heroic work of va employees throughout the covid19 pandemic. More