Jon Tester

One of the things that I think is very important is everybody has equal access.

I think it is important to point out before I get into my questions that the previous panel stuck around--and I want to thank them for that--to listen to the comments of this panel.

I think it makes sense if it is effective. If it is not effective, we should not be wasting our time on it.

Our Montana congressional delegation, especially our Senator Tester, and Secretary Shinseki of the Veteran's Administration have been very accessible and responsive.

But if we are understaffed, that is another issue that this Committee probably will want to address.

Are you familiar with the VA's Office of Rural Health?

I want to thank everybody on the panel today for being here and sharing your time and your stories and your vision with us.

I was just wondering how you are utilizing them, if they are effective, if there is something that we can do to make them more effective.

We both have a very high percentage per capita of veterans that are not necessarily in urban areas, and we need to look at how we integrate TBI services in remote areas.

I think it is a good idea. My question is: Would you commit to doing that study?

Could you get back to us with some numbers so we can get some sort of scope?

How does anybody ever get anything done here if they do not have an advocate?

That would be great.

I joined Senator Murray on a letter to the Secretary of the Army asking some questions about the Army's Warrior Transition Units.

She has a powerful story to tell about what the VA is doing right and what the VA is doing wrong.

Americans love our national parks, and this legislation affords the opportunity for our generation to give our kids and grandkids the opportunity to experience a wild and scenic Flathead River--just as we have.

We understand that the existing, judicially suspended leases (in 1988) may in fact have little or no legal basis for being maintained.

S. 3075 offers substantial conservation benefits for one of the most spectacular watersheds in North America.

Withdrawing future mining, oil and gas drilling, and geothermal development on federal lands located in the headwaters of Haskill Creek will help achieve this goal, and further safeguard our community's water supply for existing and future…

Thank you for the opportunity to present written testimony in support of S. 3075, the North Fork Watershed Protection Act of 2010, introduced by Montana Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester.

Glacier National Park, as well as many of the national forest lands addressed in this bill, are of national significance.

Senator Tester has introduced S. 1474 which among other things would designate over 86,000 acres of new wilderness in the Blackfoot region of the Crown.

There's just some places, Mr. Chairman, in this country that we shouldn't develop, and one of those is on the west edge of Glacier National Park, the North Fork.

British Columbia has also taken their action to prevent future oil and gas mining developing in this part of the Province.

Arguably, one of the greatest resources the United States possesses is its public lands, where we work and play.