Mark Begich

Turning to S. 881, the Sealaska Lands bill, again I'm proud to be a co-sponsor and hope you will give it your fullest attention.

Thank you very much, Chairman Wyden and Ranking Member Murkowski. I appreciate the opportunity to address the committee today on two important bills to Alaska.

For Alaskans, it's critical that we come to agreement on this issue of the Sealaska lands bill so we can move forward on the larger issues of the future of Tongass.

We believe that Alaskans' daily connection to our lands is more intense than most of America.

Can you do that for the record, not only from the past, but what you're preparing now for the next budget cycle?

I understand the mathematical issue of how much acres is available, how much they selected and what is left to select, but the question is the quality of the land.

In conversation between two Alaskans you're likely to get three more opinions on the same subject, so when we see a consensus the deal is obviously a good one.

I think Senator Murkowski laid out an interesting comment in regards to the lands that suddenly became available.

ANCSA may be history for many in Congress, but the Act continues to define daily life in my State 40 years after its passage.

I hope that the Departments don't use precedent-setting as the only reason.

I'm a co-sponsor of both of these measures and support your speedy passage of both.

We don't have that problem, as rural and as unique as our State is.

Thank you all for your testimony.

These extreme views do not have any place in the Federal procurement process.

The essence of the one thing I think we as country share, as a shared value, is the notion that in America, people who work hard and sacrifice should have a real opportunity to achieve a better life and middle class prosperity.

I would think there'd be a higher priority on lowering government spending rather than bowing to the views of a few at the expense of the many.

Congress has, on multiple occasions, deemed it appropriate to amend ANCSA to address in an equitable manner issues that were not anticipated by Congress when ANCSA passed.

Many medical center directors justify the increased use of costly fee basis care in recent years as the only means of providing care to veterans in a timely manner.

I would love to see annual numbers for the last few years, a trend line of what that looks like in some of those categories.

I know customer satisfaction.

Should it be and will it be?

Have you at any point in the last 3 or 4 years--I think this was a 4-year study--have any folks that you do business with been canceled in the sense of outpatient care?

Let me end there. So in no case, a vendor has received double payment for any services?

I do not know who would answer this, maybe Mr. Williams. Do you agree with the IG report in their analysis of what they have calculated in overpayments and those kinds of issues?

If someone is already doing services for like Indian Health Services, are they automatically credentialed in the VA for the services provided to VA?