Jon Tester

A fair amount of this money is going into regions typically because unemployment rates are higher there than in other areas.

For me, it is an issue about making this country as safe as we possibly can, keeping illegal immigrants out and keeping drugs away from our kids and neighbors.

I commend the President for that.

I just want to talk about contracting just for a second.

I actually support jail time.

Do you have the ability to do oversight in sovereign nations, to make sure the money does get to the ground once it leaves our hands?

If we are plugging money into doing important work, important infrastructure work--it is not to make work, it is work that needs to be done and should be done.

But we do need aggressive oversight to make sure that these projects, with only rock solid merit, are getting the taxpayer money.

What happens to the people who get money and do not spend it correctly?

Is there anything in the bill that would require moneys that go to an area where unemployment is high, to actually be spent on people who live in that area that do not have jobs?

We can't afford to wait for symptoms of the illness to become so overwhelming that servicemembers either reach out for help or have their lives collapse.

We need to ensure that the VA has access to, or can arrange, geographically-dispersed crisis beds to ensure that no veteran must be made to travel more than two or three hours to get to a safe place of care.

I think it is a brilliant program that helps get the National Guard members who need help in before their life spirals out of control and they reach for help.

There will be an increase in the veterans' budget that will be proposed by the President.

Early treatment is more effective from both a medical and cost standpoint.

I would urge this Committee and the VA to support the development of these diversionary courts for veterans, and especially combat veterans.

I commend them on that, you know, making a solid attempt to address that.

We are looking at about 15 percent, but it is a step in the direction of the needed resources.

We need to do better there.

should we need to rely on a U.S. Senator's intervention to get a combat veteran into a critical VA treatment program that might save his life?

I intend to reintroduce the Rural Veterans Health Improvement Act.

Senator Tester has been an incredible ally through all of my experiences and involvement with veterans' mental health issues.

This veteran's plight highlights the fact that our failure to treat a veteran's mental illness at a preliminary stage will eventually lead to a higher and more expensive level of care.

we need to ensure that the VA has access to, or can arrange, geographically dispersed crisis beds to ensure that no veteran must be made to travel more than two or three hours to get to a safe place of care.

Senator Tester is an incredible ally in the fight to secure adequate treatment for veterans with mental illness.