Jon Tester

I want to repeat, thank you, thank you to the folks who testified today.

Assuming we get this bill through sooner rather than later, do you have a plan to educate folks on what this bill does?

It is important that as communities, we work together to solve our problems rather than fighting with one another.

We want to meet an agreement soon. But we are supportive.

Ultimately, we are going to have to make some tough decisions.

The G-20 met recently and they set up a timeframe for deficit reduction.

I want to step back to some questions that were asked earlier, and you said--I think it was in response to Chairman Dodd.

I rise today in strong support of the Wall Street reform conference report. The Senate will make history when we pass this legislation that finally holds Wall Street accountable and finally cleans up the schemes and abuses that nearly…

Disability claims filed by Guardsmen have a 14 percent rejection rate, compared to a 5 percent rejection rate for active duty claims.

It takes a great deal of time to get new claims processors trained and contributing.

Shame on us if we fail. These are real folks and struggling families behind those 500,000 disability claims.

I think this is a very key moment for the VA on the claims issue.

I hear them tell me that they fear the VA is trying to outlive them.

It is critical that we get them done quickly and accurately.

I think the people who serve this country deserve better.

It has been an urgent problem for a while and I wished we could have an immediate solution.

The number of claims exceeding 125 days in review is up. The accuracy of the claims is down.

I think there is--all of Montana is rural, all right.

I honestly think we are going to see some out-migration into real frontier areas.

Does the White House bill take care of the appraisal problem?

It would just seem to me that it makes just too much sense to say--you know.

Kudos to you on that. I think you get more synergy, a better program the more you can work together.

Housing is a huge issue.

Well, thank you, Mr. Gear. I appreciate your testimony also as with the two preceding participants.

I rise today out of deep respect for our colleague, Senator Robert C. Byrd. Sharla and I extend our condolences to the Byrd family and to all the people of West Virginia. We join you in mourning but also in a celebration of his life and…