Jon Tester

The nuclear mission was the number one priority.

I appreciate all you have done for the Air Guard in that regard.

The Federal Government needs to fund it adequately.

I think Senator Tester said it best when he says, fund it.

We can talk about the challenges out there with people harassing and nepotism. We should not stand for that.

There is about a 37 percent vacancy rate in the Great Plains area for physicians.

We need to clean up our act too.

I want to tell you if I was a farmer and this was my board of directors and you underfunded me by half, that means I would only be able to put 30 pounds of seed down in the spring and only be able to till my land two and a half times and…

Is it standard operating procedure to move them around or get rid of them if they are incompetent?

We have to work with the tribes to find solutions to these problems.

Unfortunately, for many of us sitting up here and for the tribal nations throughout Indian Country, another congressional hearing on the inadequacies of the Indian Health Service is not a surprise.

If you have someone incompetent, fire them; do not move them.

Do you have the capacity to incentivize these folks with additional wages?

I often have more connections with the folks in Alberta and Saskatchewan than I do with the folks east of the Mississippi.

We need to be serious about this issue--not play political games with it.

It was about a year ago that we had some in this body who turned funding for DHS into a political football.

We need to defeat ISIS, but we also need to protect our civil liberties.

The safest way to protect your personal data and your personal information is the U.S. Postal Service, right?

Those who think that the Postal Service is antiquated need to come to my house, because without the Postal Service, I am in a world of hurt--and I have fiber coming into my house.

I would agree 100 percent with that, and I am glad that you guys clarified that within your statements.

So, unless we are willing to agree on that single issue, we are never going to get you to a point--and then be able to deal with the others, also.

I think that the prepayment thing, if we do not get our arms around that, along with the Medicare thing--I do not know if you guys will ever get to a point where you would be solvent.

But without dealing with the prepayment issue, would you still be liquid?

I think it is really critically important. We can talk about it, but we have got to do it.

I think you need to be very, very direct with this Committee as to what needs to pass if you are going to meet the needs of the veterans out there.