Jon Tester

I want to welcome Vance Home Gun. Vance is an outstanding young man who has worked in Native language.

We must continue to advocate for the rights and resources of Native Americans.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for holding this hearing on energy development in Indian Country today.

Each November, we reflect on the tremendous contributions Native Americans have made and continue to make to our nation. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, I am honored to continue that tradition by introducing this…

Protecting our children's mental health is a priority for us all.

I am going to ask a question the Chairman asked you. I am going to ask it a little different way. Are you aggressively looking for alternative treatments for mental health?

As one of these guys talked about, over-medication--I think it was Senator Boozman, actually, who talked about over-medication--is this a problem?

We need to help not only our veterans, but the entire country deal with this issue as we move forward.

Extending the combat eligibility period for prioritized care at the VA is an immediate and affordable option that we should pass this Congress.

OK. Very good. Can I ask what the DOD is doing to help you?

The signature injury coming out of Iraq and Afghanistan is PTSD.

The challenges of stigma that surround mental health is huge in our society.

$5 billion is a lot of dough and you guys should be able to utilize that to take care of this mental health problem in the VA.

If you do not have the resources, mental health is not going to go away.

The number of Federal workers retiring this year is double from 2009.

We are going to take this information back; we are going to scrutinize it.

I too, want to thank you for the joint venture to build housing to help recruit and retain staff.

I know the U.S. Attorney in Montana works very closely with his counterpart in North Dakota.

We want to make sure that, again, we partner on those things to help them make sure they are hiring folks that are not going to be a problem.

We can not afford to let opportunities escape us.

Do they have plans to put more agents into this area?

Of course, as Montana's Chief Law Enforcement Officer, my primary concern is public safety.

We need to remember there is a lot of positive out there too to help.

What's said in the room stays in the room. OK?

One of the most difficult things for us is our inability to plan based on short-term funding fixes.