Tester takes over Indian Affairs committee

Montana’s senior U.S. senator is taking over a committee on which he has served since first taking office in 2008.

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said Thursday he is taking the chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.

Tester, a Big Sandy-area farmer who grew up near Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation, said he will be dedicated to working with tribes and his longstanding ties to Indian Country will lead to new opportunities for all Native Americans.

“Working together, we will expand economic opportunities, create safer communities, stronger health care systems, and responsibly manage the natural resources that are so abundant in Indian Country,” Tester said in a release. “And while we won’t get it done in a day, I have full confidence in our ability to make big strides for all Native Americans.”

Tester will take over the chairmanship from Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who was appointed chair in 2012 and announced Jan. 29 she would leave the position.

Newly appointed Sen. John Walsh, D-Mont., also has taken new positions on Senate committees.

Walsh, the former Montana lieutenant governor appointed by Gov. Steve Bullock to take Max Baucus’ Senate seat, said in a press release that, subject to Senate approval, he will sit on the Senate Committees on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry; Commerce, Science and Transportation; Rules and Administration; and the Special Committee on Aging.

Walsh’s appointment has been controversial. Critics say the appointment was made without transparency and to bolster his campaign to win the 2014 election.

U.S. Rep. Steve Daines of Bozeman is the favored Republican in the campaign. Other candidates are John Bohlinger, who served as a Republican state legislator and lieutenant governor under Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer but is running as a Democrat; Democratic Park County rancher Dirk Adams and Republican state Rep. Champ Edmonds of Missoula.