Mike Johanns

I certainly don't want to stall growth in this Nation. I mean, gosh, we are the greatest Nation on earth.

Do we have in our system the cord we can pull that is the safety valve that says, again, in effect, time out.

You did it in a very bipartisan way. You worked with Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.

Let there be no doubt about it. I like Gary Locke a lot.

I maintain no President can negotiate a trade agreement without TPA.

Well, let me start out and thank the Chairman for holding this hearing, a very, very important topic.

But if the only option is for these people who are in default or have missed payments, if the only option is bankruptcy, they will probably take that option.

I hear what you are trying to say, and I think you are trying to assure me that, Mike, it isn't going to be that bad.

VA has made incredible strides, I believe, over the last few years.

I have seen it at work.

Telemedicine is a big resource here.

I suspect in his State they have identical problems as we do: just a lack of services in the rural areas.

I have very high hopes for this pilot program, because there is, in some cases at least, capacity in some rural areas.

And one of the things President Washington warned the very young Nation about was debt and the calamity that that can create for a nation.

I will be very honest, I am not sure why people bother with it. Because it has to be so impossibly cumbersome.

We want to make that a priority in our Indian health care considerations.

The system isn't working. We really do have, in many cases, 20, 30 or longer years in which tribes file petitions and never quite get an answer.

I think you are the right person for the job, and I will wrap up by saying, you do have some challenges.

If we don't deal with this, it is hard for me to imagine these other issues that we are concerned about work very well.

I don't want the Congress or this Committee to be the arbiter of who should be recognized and who shouldn't be recognized.

The inter-relationship between the departments is so hugely important.

I think listening is always a very good thing, and they will be very excited to have you there listening.

It is just an enormously serious health condition, as you know.

It is just a devastating impact on the population in Indian Country.

I also say thank you for putting this hearing together.