Heidi Heitkamp

So the problem is institutional and systemic across the board.

I once upon a time in a former life took over as tax commissioner for Senator Conrad.

The lessons for Medicare Advantage should be learned when we are moving toward managed care in Medicaid.

ICBA also support the Financial Institutions Examination Fairness and Reform Act, S.774, introduced by Senators Moran and Joe Manchin.

But I would tell you that no one thinks what they have done here has clarified what, in fact, is 'Waters of the United States.'

Simply saying 'trust us' probably is not going to sit very well with a lot of the witnesses and a lot of the discussion on this panel.

This is not a partisan issue. Most of us who actually receive comments from constituents can tell you clearly that these issues do not know political parties.

We are not in love with any idea; we are in love with what works.

I think that is an easier model than developing private housing that can be basically mortgage ready.

Our goal here is to try and encourage some good best practices on reservations.

I think as we are looking at best practices, I guess I would recommend that you look at including a section on homeownership, not just tax credits and multifamily, but really looking at that all important homeownership that helps build…

Getting back to the point that Senator Lankford was making and I think Senator Tester, which is you all have been patching together on each one of these reservations a series of programs to try and expand the resource and basically…

I believe Section 502, the 99 year leasehold, will create an environment where homeowners will invest on trust land and it will attract private capital, not only meeting housing needs but also hopefully expanding and creating economies on…

I think in cooperation with HUD, you might be able to find some resources to actually do that.

Housing is a critical issue for our tribal communities.

I am extraordinarily interested in moving NAHASDA forward. I think it is critically important but even if we authorize NAHASDA and even if all that money gets deployed in a very short period of time, we will still have a crisis in housing…

The communities in your State, the tribal nations in your State are exactly the type of communities that I want to work harder to serve.

I think it is really important, what you said, that the first line of defense are the tribes themselves.

I want to refocus you on what State regulations have you looked at and said, those are really smart.

Just want to make the point, as we look at building out education opportunities, the recruitment and training of a workforce that can bring that jobs development, it is critical that we make sure that we recognize the critical cultural…

I think there can be all good intentions at the top. But if those attitudes do not filter down, with respect to tribal sovereignty, and with tribal self-determination, those conflicts will continue to have a direct effect on the quality of…

I applaud the focus on Native American youth. I think you know that has been a major interest and concern of mine.

I hope you continue to think and provide us the advice that is extraordinarily valuable.

If we do not have a systematic process piece to go behind it, we really are only talking to each other and wringing our hands and decrying the waste of Federal dollars instead of actually fixing the problem.

It is really hard for those of us who deal with the complexities of Amazon.com to really believe that in this day and age, they do not have real time matching capability.