Jon Tester

The system is broken. There is no doubt about it.

The suicide rate among rural men is significantly higher than in urban areas, particularly among adult male veterans.

S.658 will allow veterans to support one another and receive the counseling they need.

The obstacles faced by veterans and providers in rural areas are vastly different than those in urban areas.

Twenty percent of the rural counties lack mental health services versus 5 percent of metropolitan counties.

I introduced the Rural Veterans Health Care Improvement Act. This legislation would expand health care for thousands of Montanans and millions of other veterans who live in rural and frontier areas of this country.

The DAV appreciates Senator Tester's leadership in improving health care for veterans residing in rural areas.

One reason for this increased rate of morbidity and mortality is that in rural States, prolonged delays occur between the crash, the call for the EMT, and the EMT arriving.

The Park Service, what has been their comment about this bill?

They are actually pretty supportive.

As Senator Kyl said, the urban folks are okay with all this?

They want to stay at home. They don't want to leave and get a job off-reservation.

Your unemployment levels, what are they at?

The intent of this bill is to train Native Americans in Indian Country so that they will stay there and give the treatment.

They have been part of the negotiations and they are okay, too. Right?

By empowering our tribal colleges to train Indian people to meet the needs of Indian people in Indian Country, I think the PATH Act will be a giant step forward.

What this bill will aim to do is also address another challenge in Indian Country, and that is the challenge of appropriate health care.

I appreciate the hearing. Thank you both for being here.

There is pretty much unanimous consent that one of the biggest, if not the biggest, threat to our economy right now is a lack of confidence in the marketplace.

I appreciate those efforts, working with local law enforcement, working with, in the Northern Border's case... I think you can get a lot of bang for the buck.

Porous borders mean that the potential for drugs flowing into communities all over the country is real.

I do not agree that is the right answer either.

My main concern with modernization at this point in time is the impact, if handled improperly, on community banks and credit unions.

But I am hearing from the banks right now they are more concerned about that than they were a year ago.

There were a lot of very, very difficult decisions that were made over the next few days that many people lost sleep over.