Jon Tester

I would like to see something creative to try to deal with that backlog.

Mental health. It may be the biggest issue this country faces, whether you are in the military or you are out.

I strongly believe an extension of the current pilot project to a full 3-year study, in full coordination with our Canadian counterparts, is critical.

Do you believe you have allotted enough money for your Disaster Relief Fund?

I mean, if you could just take a look at it because it does not--and maybe there is a perfectly good reason and I just missed it.

I think the fact that drone technology is being loaned out to local agencies is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as the surveillance and civil liberties are respected in that process.

It still mystifies me how a decision was made to do research on very, very contagious diseases in the middle of Tornado Alley.

I said--I cannot even remember how much it was, but it was well, well into the hundred thousand, maybe even a quarter million for this house. And I said are you kidding me? You can buy the town for what you are spending on this house.

I will tell you that it is a difficult issue, and it is an issue that being a libertarian tilt in the State of Montana, it is an issue that people are concerned about.

I think that as I look at it, are there things that your Department can do, working with the GSA, to make sure that we get fair market value for the money that we are spending when taxpayers are dropping this kind of money, because quite…

I will just leave it at that. He has won this battle. It is going to be funded. It is going to be built. And I hope I am wrong.

The recovery in Galena is as important to me like the recovery from Katrina and Rita is to Senator Landrieu

It's important that we get FEMA folks out to tribal lands to help these sovereign nations develop their emergency management capabilities.

I think drones on the border, particularly the northern border, which is what I know better than anything, is something that can save some money and probably some time, and stop some bad guys.

I think you have the toughest job in Government, in the Administration right now.

I think that drone technology is being loaned out to local agencies is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as the surveillance and civil liberties are respected in that process.

And did you just say there is going to be a report coming out from GAO?

Today you testified that, if effectively implements, these changes will improve transparency, credibility, and effectiveness of the retrospective analysis.

Based on what? I mean, why do you say that?

Why do you think transparency is important?

There are many regulations that we put up, and congressional intent does not seem to be a part of the equation once it hits the agency.

I appreciate your comments, and thank you for the kudos.

Senator Hagan from North Carolina and I wrote an amendment to the Food Safety and Modernization Act to make sure that small farmers selling directly to local consumers would not face the same regulatory burden and scrutiny as the large…

You have 45 employees, and I know that there are a lot of regulations that come out, maybe rightfully so, maybe not.

You recently talked about improving transparency as being one of your goals for this year, but you cite a number of challenges to achieving that goal of greater transparency.