Jon Tester

This is not something we should screw around with.

If the Senate does what it does so very well, and that is talk it to death and delay it to death, we will not get this problem solved.

If we do not get this bill out of Committee and if things go upside down on our border, we can reconvene this Committee of Homeland Security and talk about how we have screwed up.

We need to fix it so it can be audited, so that we know what we are doing, and so that these folks have some predictability.

Later this week, we ought to have a markup on this bill, Mr. Chairman.

I think it would be dangerous to use it as a cap, because these are the guys that are out there.

The reason it is not lawful is because when AUO was set up, it was set up for conditions that were unpredictable, correct?

The reform of the Border Patrol pay system is long overdue.

Would you agree this would simplify that pay system?

If it was properly compensated, you would actually be paying me more money than what AUO pays.

Things have changed. We have waited long enough.

I am very concerned about retention and recruitment.

What the report confirms is that that 10-hour shift is currently being compensated with AUO, and that is not lawful.

If I am on a Northern Border and somebody asks me to become a trainer--and, by the way, I applaud the fact that you guys are using Border Patrol Agents to train with--there is no way I am going to take a reduction in pay to come here.

I think all of us can agree this is an antiquated pay system, set up 40 years ago, that does not meet the needs today.

It saves money. It creates more stability for Border Agents and their families.

It increases enforcement, it saves money, and I think it makes--it allows for our borders to be as secure as they possibly can.

The ultimate thing that will happen if we do not get this problem solved is our borders will be less secure.

If this bill does not save one thin dime, if it is revenue neutral, we ought to do it.

It is seldom in the U.S. Senate that we get a bill that makes a situation simpler, that the agencies want, that the people that are employed by the agencies want, that saves money, that increases efficiency, that increases predictability…

If there wanted to be an audit done and that audit showed that that 90 percent floor was too high or not high enough, that might be a way to go.

As a Nation, I think we need to start paying attention because these experiences are important if we are going to have a debate here in Washington, DC, and we are going to listen.

I don't know Tom Steyer from a bar of soap, but I would be more than happy to work with anybody.

I think refusing to act to protect clean air, clean water, is not a viable option.

Changes in the weather are forcing Sharla and I to look at different ways to operate our farm.