Jon Tester

I have been in public life long enough to know that if you want to know where things are headed, you follow the money.

I do not want to micromanage the VA.

That uncertainty, by the way... does not add confidence to the VA moving forward.

All I want is predictability because I think it is important.

You talked about in your opening statement Choice being down to $821 million and the fact that there was additional dollars in Community Care that you wanted to transfer over.

But, for that to happen this late in the game is a bit frustrating to me.

We know that the vast majority of veterans using Choice over the last 2 years are eligible due to long wait lines, not because they live too far from a VA facility.

We cannot assume that private care will work in rural communities where there are no providers in the first place.

For a rural State like Montana, it would truly be a disaster.

If we are starving VA's hospitals for funding used to hire staff and actually provide care for veterans while also denying them money to address the environmental care concerns, we know what that outcome is going to be.

I worry that the budget proposed by this administration starts us down a path of unfettered choice that will hollow out the VA.

The Choice Program was intended to supplement care, provided, directed by the VA, not replace it, not now and not into the future.

I think it is important to say that our thoughts are with the colleagues who were with the victims this morning.

You can outsource care, but you cannot outsource responsibility.

It is long past time to address the problems with IHS. They have been identified time and time and time again.

Our tribes deserve better than the status quo.

I can tell you that IHS has been a failure, quite frankly.

Recruitment and retention is a huge challenge.

One of the best things that transpired for Native Americans is Medicaid expansion because it freed up some money for IHS.

You can get them hired in 60 days? That is not bad.

You understand that we pay more money for health care for prisoners and our prison system than we do for folks in Indian Country?

I think IHS has a huge problem.

The Indian Health Service just continues to underperform. The consequences continue to negatively impact the quality of care, with sometimes devastating consequences.

There is no doubt about it and that is why we should be extremely proud of our U.S. producers.

But the truth is that we were told that it just flat could not be done and now we are told it can be done.