Jon Tester

I want to thank him and Secretary Vilsack for their support of this jobs bill.

I very much appreciate the honor to be able to present the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act with you today.

I think Oregon and Montana have an opportunity to pave a path to new forestry in the West.

It's very hard for me, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member Murkowski, to really explain just how beautiful and special this place is.

It falls upon us once again to make sure that this is properly protected.

We are so lucky to be Americans. Other countries don't do this.

It's important, especially for our kids and for our grandkids to be able to share all that too.

It deserves a vote. It deserves to pass. It deserves to be signed into law.

I'm all about making folks lean and mean, and all that.

I can accept that if I know what the short-term versus the long-term impacts are.

Are we cutting a fund when, in fact, it could save us money if we utilize that money before we get to a crisis situation?

You touched on something that drives me crazy in Government, in that we reduce the workforce on one hand.

I would also like to thank Senator Max Baucus and Senator Jon Tester for their strong and continuing support for this project.

I would agree with you that in a number of communities, the Essential Air Service Program does not necessarily meet all of the mobility needs at all income levels for those communities.

Flexibility in discretionary ability is very, very important.

It is important to get folks to work, to school, to the health care that they need.

It is going to take some tough decisions. It is going to take Democrats and Republicans working together.

I believe that the best and the most responsible course is a full 6-year reauthorization that also ensures the long-term solvency of the trust fund.

Fuel cells are manufactured in America from American raw materials, and produce clean energy that uses American resources efficiently.

For you Deputy Secretary Lynn, we have an Air Force Base in Great Falls called Malmstrom Air Force Base which we are particularly proud of in Montana and I think throughout the country.

In these programs and as you are gathering information, is there any opportunity or effort, either one, to talk to the folks on the ground in Indian country to find out how they feel they could be served in a way that makes sense both from…

A pilot project in a highly rural area, I think, would be a great benefit.

They ought to be safe for America's roads.

We have an obligation. And quite frankly, I have been on this Committee now starting my fifth year; and you have a Committee here that is willing to work with both the Department of Defense and VA to make things better for our veterans.

I think it is critically important.