Byron Dorgan: “The Senator this morning indicated--and I agreed--that we are about $2 billion short of fully funding Indian health…”

“The Senator this morning indicated--and I agreed--that we are about $2 billion short of fully funding Indian health care. We have full-scale rationing going on. The amendment has a restriction in it. He limits the amount of funding in his amendment to the amount of funding that currently exists in Indian health. The President has just proposed a reduction in funding, even though we are only meeting 60 percent of current need. My question is, should we not then remove that restriction and actually increase the authorization because he and I have the same goal. Let's get the amount of money in the system that provides health care for Indians that we have promised.”