releases: https://www.isakson.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/what-others-are-saying?ContentRecord_id=7376df53-a9fb-457c-aafb-3ae9cad3af6a
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
This data as json
| url | title | date | year | month | party | chamber | state | member_name | bioguide_id | domain | scraper | source | date_source | text | has_text | collected_at | updated_at |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| https://www.isakson.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/what-others-are-saying?ContentRecord_id=7376df53-a9fb-457c-aafb-3ae9cad3af6a | MDJ: Isakson probable VA committee chair-- good news for vets | 2014-11-13 | 2014 | 2014-11 | Republican | House | GA | Johnny Isakson | I000055 | www.isakson.senate.gov | legacy | By Don McKee U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, soon to be Georgia's senior senator, is expected to have a major role in the Republican-controlled Senate when it is organized next year — good news for the Senate, the people of this country and especially veterans. Isakson, the low-key, no-nonsense, common sense man from Cobb, is the odds-on favorite to be named chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee of which he is now a member. He also serves on three other committees — Finance, Ethics, and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Isakson's likely appointment to the VA chairmanship received more credence last weekend from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who's in line to chair the Armed Services Committee. McCain told TheBlaze that Isakson was expected to be tapped to head the VA committee and would move quickly to address the still-simmering scandal over unconscionable waiting times for veterans trying to get health care, compounded by cover-ups and falsifying of records. Isakson will take oversight of the new Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act of 2014, enacted this year in an effort to improve veterans health care. The Georgia senator has given strong support to a provision that makes it easier for veterans to receive care from local non-VA doctors, paid by the VA — a common sense idea that is right down Isakson's alley. Another hot issue for Isakson is the VA's failure to fire anyone involved in the wait-time travesty and record falsifying — except for one official in Alabama. The new VA secretary, Robert McDonald, said this week the agency is set to take action against about 35 people and that maybe a thousand could be punished soon, but he's not eager for more oversight from Congress. "I don't think this is about oversight," he said. But with Isakson on the case as chairman of the Senate VA committee, look for more oversight, not less. McDonald’s predecessor, Eric Shinseki, was fired over the VA scandal. In its special report on prospective new Senate leadership, Politico said: "Isakson will likely have to grapple with a series of emails that showed the Obama administration urged changes to a supposedly independent report that found significant problems in the Phoenix (Ariz.) VA system." As for other priorities on Isakson's list for the new Senate, they include corporate tax reform, dealing with the debt ceiling and fixing the reimbursement rate for doctors who treat Medicare patients, along with such major items as the budget, appropriations bill and the highway trust fund for transportation projects. Southern senators are expected to have a strong hand in the GOP-led Senate. In addition to Isakson's VA chairmanship, Thad Cochran of Mississippi is slated to head Appropriations; Richard Shelby of Alabama, Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Budget; Bob Corker of Tennessee, Foreign Relations; and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Isakson, who formally announces his re-election bid next Monday, is the right choice for VA Committee chairman. With him at the helm, as Politico noted, "veterans will have a staunch ally." | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |