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Montana Sen. Jon Tester in a press conference Thursday said the biggest news relevant to his committees is bad, unfortunately, with the recent rejection of a bill that would have, among other things, expanded home health care for aging and disabled veterans, expanded work for veterans' service officers, improved the VA's Caregivers Program and bolstered mental health treatment. He said it would also help Native Americans and Alaskans, who serve in the military at a higher...
This was released by the office of Sen. Jon Tester Continuing his efforts to lower costs for Montanans and bolster education opportunities for rural communities, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester introduced bipartisan legislation to make sure farm families aren’t paying higher costs to send their kids to college. Tester’s Family Farm and Small Business Exemption Act would restore the exemptions for family farm land and small businesses from being declared as an asset on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid form, saving the childre...
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., talked about upcoming legislation supporting law enforcement during a press call Thursday, where he also talked about border security, mental health care and flood mitigation in the state as well as the upcoming Farm Bill. Tester said keeping Montana communities safe is a top priority of his and he works with law enforcement every year to increase their funding, as well as funding for first responders. He said he’s worked on bills to provide law enforcement with the funds for necessary e...
Fort Harrison campus in Montana This was provided by the office of Sen.. Jon Tester, D-Mont. WASHINGTON —The Senate unanimously passed bipartisan legislation from U.S. Senator Jon Tester to authorize several Department of Veterans Affairs construction projects in fiscal year 2023 to better serve veterans, including at the Fort Harrison VA facility in Montana. The bill now heads to the U.S. House of Representatives for consideration. “I’ll always fight to connect veterans with their hard-earned health care and benefits,” said...
Brian Slodysko and Ken Sweet Associated Press WASHINGTON — It seemed like a good idea at the time: Red-state Democrats facing grim reelection prospects would join forces with Republicans to slash bank regulations — demonstrating a willingness to work with President Donald Trump while bucking many in their party. That unlikely coalition voted in 2018 to roll back portions of a far-reaching 2010 law intended to prevent a future financial crisis. But those changes are now being blamed for contributing to the recent collapse of S...
Press release U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., secured $9,752,250 for Bear Paw Development to finance expanded meat and poultry processing in five regions across Montana. In order to reach markets across the state, Bear Paw Development has partnered with Sweetgrass Development Corporation, Great Falls; Headwaters RC&D, Butte; Montana Business Assistance Connection, Helena; and Snowy Mountain Development Corporation, Lewistown. This loan was awarded through USDA Rural Development’s Meat and Poultry Intermediary Lending P...
Staff and wire report The U.S. Department of Agriculture released Monday a proposed rule with new regulatory requirements to better align the voluntary “Product of USA” label claim with consumer understanding of what the claim means. The proposed rule allows the voluntary “Product of USA” or “Made in the USA” label claim to be used on meat, poultry and egg products only when they are derived from animals born, raised, slaughtered and processed in the United States. The proposed rule has drawn some praise. “Montana ra...
On nearly straight party-line votes, House and Senate committees in the Legislature — three days before transmittal from one house to the other, when bills not been passed generally are dead — tabled two bills that would have given Montana agricultural producers — and independent repair shops — the right to repair their equipment. Right to repair has become a major issue in the nation in a number of areas, with farm and ranch groups especially pushing for the ability to do their own work on equipment. A release from Montana F...
Montana Sen. Jon Tester held a listening session with local agriculture producers Thursday at Montana State University-Northern, where he heard from a panel of people representing agricultural organizations as well as local producers and citizens about their desires for this year's Farm Bill. Tester said this year's Farm Bill will have wide-reaching effects and it's important that Congress gets it right as it will have a significant impact on people looking to keep feeding...
Sen. Jon Tester D-Mont., who announced his bid for reelection Tuesday, will be at Montana State University-Northern for an in-person listening session for local agriculture producers and leaders as well as members of the public to get their input on what should be in the 2023 Farm Bill. A press release from Tester's office said after the panel discussion he will take questions and comments from the audience. "As a third-generation farmer, Tester is committed to ensuring that t...
In a press conference last week, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont, bashed a Chinese high-altitude balloon that crossed the United States, including over Montana, before it was shot down off the coast of South Carolina Feb. 4 by a U.S. fighter jet, and also pushed his bill that would ban antagonistic foreign governments like China from buying U.S. farmland. "This was a clear violation of U.S. airspace and a completely unacceptable provocation from China," Tester said about the...
BEIJING (AP) — China’s ceremonial parliament has accused American lawmakers of trampling on the sovereignty of other nations after the U.S. passed a measure condemning a suspected Chinese spy balloon’s intrusion into U.S. airspace. The statement issued today by the National People’s Congress’s Foreign Affairs Committee repeated Beijing’s insistence that the balloon was an unmanned civilian weather research airship, a claim the U.S. has dismissed citing its flight route and payload of surveillance equipment. While China at fi...
U.S. Sen Jon Tester, D-Mont., announced Tuesday that he today secured $77.56 million through his bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, IIJA, for the Rocky Boy’s/North Central Montana Regional Water System. The funding, which was awarded by the Bureau of Reclamation, will be used for core pipeline construction on segments 7 and 8, and the continued construction of a water treatment plant and segments serving the Havre, Chester and Shelby Hub service areas. “Montanans sent me to the Senate to deliver for our com...
From the Office of U.S. Sen. Jon Tester In his continued push to support Montana cattle producers and add transparency to the cattle market, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., reintroduced his bipartisan Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act, which would establish minimums for negotiated sales and require clear reporting of marketing contracts. The bill is co-led by Sens. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Wyden, D-Ore.. “As a third-generation farmer, I know Montanans are getting hurt by the four massive m...
Matthew Brown and Sam Metz Associated Press HARLOWTON - Near the banks of Montana's Musselshell River, cattle rancher Michael Miller saw a large, white orb above the town of Harlowton last week, a day before U.S. officials revealed they were tracking a suspected Chinese spy balloon over the state. The balloon caused a stir in the 900-person town surrounded by cattle ranches, wind farms and scattered nuclear missile silos behind chain link fences. Miller worries about China as...
Emily Wang Fujiyama Associated Press BEIJING — China accused the United States today of indiscriminate use of force in shooting down a suspected Chinese spy balloon, saying it “seriously impacted and damaged both sides’ efforts and progress in stabilizing Sino-U.S. relations.” The U.S. shot down the balloon off the Carolina coast after it traversed sensitive military sites across North America including flying over Montana. China insisted the flyover was an accident involving a civilian aircraft. Vice Foreign Ministe...
Emily Wang Fujiyama, Tara Copp and Lolita C. Baldor Associated Press BEIJING — China’s Foreign Ministry said today that a balloon, seen over locations including Montana, that the U.S. suspects of conducting surveillance was a civilian “airship” used for research, mainly meteorological purposes. The statement said the airship has limited steering capability and “deviated far from its planned course” because of winds. It said China regrets the unintended entry of the airship into U.S. airspace. The discovery further str...
Montana Sen. Jon Tester held a press call Friday along with U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Under Secretary for Health Dr. Shereef Elnahal after meetings with Montana veterans about improving care in the state. Tester said Elnahal is the first Senate-confirmed person in that position in a very long time and he's been doing excellent work so far. Among the issues Tester discussed was the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive...
Justin Franz Montana Free Press The U.S. Senate voted Thursday to force four railroad unions to accept the terms of a labor contract their members had previously rejected, preventing a possible strike that would have brought freight and passenger trains to a halt across the nation as early as next week. It was the first time in 30 years that the federal government wielded the power to prevent railroad strikes given to it by the Railway Labor Act of 1926. The vote brought to an end a months-long standoff between labor and...
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said in a telephonic press conference from Washington last week that he hopes the midterm election sends a message that leads to more bipartisan work in Congress - and the state Legislature - next year. "I think what needs to happen, moving forward, I think the American people in general said, 'We want folks to work together to get things done.'" Tester said people elected in both the Legislature and Congress can work together to make things...
Havre native Pamela Emard has sewn nine handmade quilts to give to children in Ukraine suffering from the effects of Russia's invasion, but is now trying to find a way to get them there. Emard said her mother was a first-generation immigrant to American and their family is primarily of Hungarian and Czech descent, so war in that part of the world hits her a little closer to home than most, so she said she immediately started giving money to relief efforts. Within a few months...
Staff and wire report Montana Veterans Administration reported Thursday that a shooting incident occurred at the Fort Harrison VA Medical Center campus in Helena at approximately 7:30 Thursday morning. A release said the situation had been cleared and the incident is under joint investigation by the VA Police and the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff’s Office. Preliminary details indicate the incident only involved a single person, the release said. No other injuries were reported. U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., chair of the S...
Dear editor, Last month, at a constituent town hall, Sen. Jon Tester stood up for patients not just in Montana, but across the country. He said pharmacy benefit managers — PBMs — have been preying on our pharmacies and Medicare patients for years, and he cannot identify any real value that they bring to the health care space. I appreciate that our senator is being so vocal about this issue because I couldn’t agree more. For the last serval years, PBMs and their sneaky practices have gone under the radar. For far too long...
Montana Farmers Union A new meat processing cooperative in Havre has received nearly $292,000 in Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program funding. Montana Premium Processing Cooperative is set to formally open its doors with a grand opening Nov. 21, and the federal funds will help cover equipment costs and other startup costs, said Matt Rains, chief of staff for Montana Farmers Union, which has been instrumental in getting the co-op operational. “It’s a really key thing to not burden the co-op with paying loan int...
U.S. Senator Jon Tester attended a get out to vote rally with local, state and federal Democratic candidates Friday evening, where he encouraged everyone present not only to vote, but to find others who hadn't voted and get them to the polls. Tester said a great deal was riding on this election, which could potentially be a watershed moment in politics, an election that could provide the Montana Republican Party with the super majority they need to change the state's constitut...
