Jon Tester

So my next question was going to be, what happens if the home state of a unit disagrees with your decision.

If Congress chooses to continue investing in the newer, C-130Js, how will the Air Force choose to determine where these planes are going to go?

We have forest fires right now, I think you could say throughout the West, that are record.

In my real life I am a farmer, and so I just want to point out a couple of things.

My wife and I have been on the farm, this is our 44th harvest, and it ain't going to be much of a harvest.

There's a lot of needs out there, so $3.5 trillion is not unreasonable.

I appreciate your work during your tenure and especially as we look back over an incredibly difficult period of time.

I think there are other proposals that are also very important, but they are investing in a different infrastructure, like childcare and workforce housing.

I think that you would probably agree that China is trying to take over our role in this world of being the economic superpower.

The VA must be straightforward with Congress on the cost, the challenges, and the path forward on this program.

I would hope that Mr. Remy gets confirmed so that we have people to hold accountable.

I am fed up with the amount of taxpayer dollars we are spending on this program without any demonstrated benefits to veterans or VA medical staff.

I think most people would use the words 'alarming' or something far worse.

We all want to see this be successful. We think this could improve the work that the VA does and the experience that the veteran has.

We have not gotten to where we need to go. There have been many administrations between 2001 and today, and none of them have gotten the job done.

I need a commitment the VA will better respect Congress' oversight role over this program than it has the last few years.

This is six weeks in which the VA has not had a Deputy Secretary to manage this effort, to protect taxpayer dollars, and deliver for our veterans.

If Remy cannot get the job done he should certainly take it up to the Secretary so they can do it.

Do you think it is possible for the VA to implement electronic health records, based on what your experience is with those 23 hospitals?

If Cerner is not up to making a user-friendly electronic health medical record, then they ought to admit it and give us the money back

If there are people out there that are intentionally changing metrics within the VA, not only will they be held accountable but the people who oversee their physicians need to be held accountable.

We will talk about a plan from two Committee Members, bipartisan, Senators Tester and Lummis, the Improving FHA Support for Small-Dollar Mortgages Act of 2021.

Speaking of mental health, I was surprised in this year's budget that the VA projects treating 6,000 fewer vets via inpatient mental health care in 2022 than it did in 2021.

I think it is really, really important, because, the fact is wait times have been an issue which, by the way, why we have community care to begin with.

You have possibly the best staff director of any of the appropriations committees, in Michelle Dominguez.