I hope at the end of that journey, we all will have felt we have done something that advances Indian health care in this Country.

Reform proposals should support and strengthen our system.

We have a crisis in Indian health care. We need to address it and fix it.

I remain optimistic that this Committee will continue to work in a bi-partisan fashion to address the health care needs of our First Americans.

I hope that in the new Congress, that we can move forward on the critical issues facing the Indian health care system.

I am enormously pleased that he will now fulfill the role that Senator Murkowski filled in the last Congress.

I don't need to tell anyone in this room that the current system is broken.

If we are saying to people that money is only available for life and limb, we are consigning a whole lot of folks to a lifetime of pain and suffering.

I urge the Committee to consider adding important provisions back into the bill.

We are determined to try to do something about that.

It is critically important that reforming and improving the health care system for American Indians remains a high priority.

We are not discouraged. In fact, we have great hope that our long struggle will bear fruit in the 111th Congress.