Jon Tester

This is a program that I am told in Montana is a very popular program that does a lot of really good work.

Water quality for cities and towns... one of the things that cities and towns talk to me about is that EPA comes down with regulations that they have to meet, and there is not money associated with it.

I just hope that we learn from this going forward, because I just don't think this is really--the optics are horrible.

Why is this legislation so important to Senator Hoeven and his constituents in North Dakota?

If you do not have enough money to deal with the dam issue, it is very unfair for us to stand up here and hammer you on dams that are ready to fail.

I ask for your unwavering support for the Dine College Act of 2016.

We strongly support the reauthorization of the Dine College Act 1978 through this bill.

As my grandmother said, there are highways where the action is. You may be able to develop some action that we may be able to utilize from a policy standpoint.

You talked about potential savings, a positive investment. I did too. I have a different perspective than you as a policymaker here in the United States Senate.

I applaud Senator Flake's sponsorship of Senate Bill 2564.

A majority of what we do is underfunded.

The bill was based on feedback from the tribes utilizing their jurisdiction under VALA.

This bill would authorize grants for tribal healing to wellness courts to reduce recidivism among tribal members.

I very much appreciate that.

I would like to say I think through the good work of the Chairman, I mean that, and the good communication we have, we were able to get the outcome that I think we wanted.

This Act would allow tribes to prosecute anyone who commits a drug offense on tribal lands.

Did the agency make a mistake? Absolutely. They could have done better.

I introduced this legislation in October along with Senator Franken.

I think in a time where budgets are crunched, budgets are always crunched, but if we can do things that are more effective and actually saves money, we ought to be taking a good look at that.

It seems like commonsense to me that if there is a program that works, we should make more investments in those kinds of programs.

There has to be some education done here on what the right line is, because this is insanity.

When I am told that 70 to 80 percent of the kids that are born on that reservation...are born drug-addicted--holy mackerel.

If you do not have those partners, we are going to be throwing money out of the window.

I think you can look at the tribes who have high instances of poverty--most of which are non-gaming tribes--and you can see they have issues.

It would seem to me that poverty-stricken areas should be the focus, but is there any education being done in the schools?