Jon Tester

The ultimate end result of that would be a VA that no longer exists, maybe not in the short term, but certainly in the long term.

The fact that anyone in uniform has to deal with sexual assault or harassment during the course of their service to our country is unacceptable.

The VA can transfer that care, but it can never transfer the ultimate responsibility for that veteran's well-being.

I think it is important that we recognize what we have accomplished, but I think it is also important to recognize what we have yet to accomplish.

It is your responsibility.

Your commitment to solid communication and making it so there are no surprises, has been critically important on this Committee to move the ball ahead.

Nothing more important than clean water. Water is life.

I look forward to that meeting. Thank you.

So you will be here multiple times in front of this subcommittee, for sure the next time you have a budget, if not before.

I don't think this budget even gets you back to a core mission.

Can you give me some assurance that it will be not business as usual when it comes to keeping the subcommittee informed on these negotiations?

The local community is never told what the hell is going on with these negotiations.

At some point in time you've got to hold their feet to the fire.

One of EPA's really important jobs is to hold those bad actors accountable and make sure they come to the table with a wallet that's got some money in it.

The Superfund budget, the cleanup portion, is cut from $718 million to $515 million, a cut of $203 million.

Energy is critically important for this country, affordable energy.

I think pulling out of the Paris Accords was an incredibly stick-your-head-in-the-sand move.

R&D is critically important in this budget.

Right now, the Montana National Guard has C-130 mission. They do their training in Washington State.

Is there anything we can do to expedite it to 2019? This is kind of like a negotiation.

Thank you. The fact that the Defense Department has not been audited in God knows how long...

What has transpired with the actions with NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and other of our allies is, I think we have, our President has at least empowered him.

When you took over, you pulled that off the table and that is not doing justice to taxpayers.

They would say fund it.

In fiscal year 2017 we funded PILT at $465 million. This year this budget says $396 million. That is a 15 percent cut.