Jon Tester

So, I'm trying to get an idea on how much it costs to do the whole country.

I think there are two important goals that we have. And one is to connect all of America.

The truth is, if rural America isn't part of that equation, we don't win the race, in my town.

You are going to be leading this agency. Your recommendations are going to count for something.

The number one thing that you are going to bring to the Bureau is transparency and accountability.

We have a responsibility to uphold the treaties and commitments made to our tribes.

I think this is an important hearing on many different fronts.

We cannot forget the importance of these settlements for our communities.

The underfunding of infrastructure and maintenance is an issue in the Air Force as a whole.

Is there any way we can make that a priority for 2020? Because it is pretty important.

The concern in government generally is that we do things in silos and we don't communicate very well.

Talk is cheap, and people and resources are important because these things don't go away unless we spend what we need.

There are plenty of things in this EPA under your administration that I could be critical of, trust me, but you have made a commitment to clean up Superfund sites.

Did I read that wrong in the budget?

I think there are 1,700 sites, I believe?

They've got to have the manpower, they've got to have the resources, or it doesn't happen.

This is a human health and safety issue that's been in place for decades.

With that goes the opportunity to potentially listen to that input and change those decrees to meet the needs of the community.

The community needs to have input, so they need to know what's going on.

The mission of the EPA is simple. It's 'to protect human health and the environment', not to protect industry friends.

You've flipped the mission of the Environmental Protection Agency on its head.

It's unconscionable. How about to be a parent of a child and waiting for that report and finding that you blocked it.

But the truth is you're only human, and without that technology and without those dogs sniffing, do you really feel comfortable?

They're going to go to the weakest link in the fence, the bad guys are.

If I'm a crook, wouldn't I go to the small ones?