Jon Tester

We ask that you see this legislation for what it is--the first time in the modern era in which Congress would unilaterally renege on the solemn promises made by the United States in an Indian land and water rights settlement.

The Nation is begging you once and for all to put an end to the self-dealing, mean-spirited, multi-million dollar lobbying campaign against the Nation.

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act sought to protect tribal gaming revenues and ensure that the funds were used for job creation and health care, infrastructure, education and other programs to benefit tribal members.

I want to thank Senator McCain for his leadership, both then and now, on issues of importance to Indian Country.

I want to welcome everybody to this hearing. As the Chairman of this Committee, I am very aware of the dire need for access to capital and economic development on reservations across this Nation.

We must ensure that tribal governments have the tools they need to succeed.

The Act sought to ensure that gaming on Indian lands would be preserved as a viable means of achieving economic self-sufficiency for tribal governments.

There is another issue out there that is big in the VA and that is mental health.

The big issue that most people are talking about now is access, because once the folks get through the door, 90 percent of them think the health care is pretty darn good.

The major cost of those bills deals with outsourcing health care to the private sector. It costs more money.

This is a personal issue for me. Our veterans mean a lot.

Our veterans deserve our best and I think you will be able to deliver that.

There are some that want to privatize the VA. They want to take it down a road of privatization. I am not one of them.

What we have got to do is we have got to find ways to meet this need.

I think it has worked well. It has not been perfect, but it has worked well.

We seldom get 93 votes for anything in the U.S. Senate.

The biggest obstacle to timely medical care at the VA is the lack of service providers.

I think the Project ARCH definitely works, and it definitely allows you to have control of those medical records too.

If it breaks the budget of the VA, though, and we do not get better health care in the private sector, which I think both of those are up for debate, it can be a problem.

The VA provides high-quality health care once the veterans get in the door.

They want answers. They want solutions. They want the benefits that they have earned, not press releases.

We need more of them, and we need to get rid of the bad apples that are in that bunch.

Access to health care for our veterans did not pop up overnight.

Oh, wow. Okay. And the Garden City Group has done a good job.

The current Administration has done a remarkable job in settling tribal claims of past mismanagement of trust resources.