John Thune

The budget really is more spending, more taxes, and more debt.

This was a chance to go big and go bold.

We have to figure out how to meaningfully rein in, reform those programs so that they fit the demographics of the future.

One of the things that you perhaps have heard, as my staff and I have, is concerns the tribes have raised about the amount of money that goes into overhead, administrative costs, as opposed to what is actually reaching the ground and…

That is an issue that we think could make a difference in Indian country and with a lot of the IHS issues which we covered at great length yesterday.

Dr. Eccarius contacted Sen. Thune's office regarding the roadblocks encountered in dealing with the IHS system with respect to this case.

Do you feel that IHS is responsive to the concerns of the tribal council and the Tribal Chairman's Health Board when they bring forward issues?

I believe that IHS need to needs to be more I guess based on consultation.

That statement is on file with Senator john Thune's office.

There has to be accountability. There has to be a chain of command, the buck has to stop somewhere.

I hope comes out of this is better use of telehealth and telemedicine.

A heart attack victim on a gurney with a taped piece of paper to her thigh explaining why she is not going to get funded for health care for a heart attack is unbelievable.

I want to do again because when we finally, after 17 years, passed the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, I asked it be named after Ta'Shon Rain Little Light.

The Indian health care issue is underfunded by half.

I will tell you personally from my staff's experience, we continuously have issues gaining information from IHS employees who observe some of these incidents but are fearful to step forward.

I think if some of these employees had been able to come earlier, we might be having a different hearing today.

It has been approved and the paperwork has been waiting in Aberdeen for 18 months to be signed.

We spend twice as much per person providing health care for those we incarcerate in America's prisons than we do to meet the promise of health care for American Indians.

I think it is important to remember that the solution to every problem is not growing the administrative size of the agency.

No organization in American of which I am aware can work properly in those circumstances.

I too want to thank you and Senator Tester for holding this hearing and shining a light on what is a major crisis in Indian Country in the Great Plains.

When there is fraud, misconduct, incompetence, criminal activity, you do not need a long investigation for that.

This is about people who die; this is about living and dying.

Today I wish to recognize Dr. Alexis Rudd, a Knauss Sea Grant Fellow on the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, for all of the hard work she has done for me, my staff, and other members of the committee over the…

The members are always concerned about the ability of the IRS to administer and taxpayers to comply.