Tester willing to give Trump a chance

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., sounded a note of bipartisanship Wednesday, saying he is willing to give Republican President-elect Donald Trump a chance to prove himself following the Manhattan billionaire’s upset victory in last week’s election.

“Let’s give him a chance. Who knows, we might be pleasantly surprised,” Tester said in a telephone press conference. “And, if not, we’ll hold him accountable.”

Though he was a supporter of Democratic candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and said he disagreed with much of what Trump said during his campaign — adding “some of his decisions already are giving me heartburn” — Tester said some issues such as infrastructure and trade are ones where he and Trump can find common ground.

He said that much of the anxiety about a Trump presidency is rooted in the fact he has never before held elected office and therefore is “an unknown commodity.”

Tester, a farmer from Big Sandy, said that Trump, a billionaire from Manhattan, will likely need to be educated on the issues facing rural America and Indian Country.

“We will educate him, we will talk to him about the issues that are important as much as we can.” he said.

Tester said he would not automatically block a Supreme Court nomination made by Trump once he is sworn in as president.

The high court has had a vacant seat since February following the death of Associate Justice Antonin Scalia. Senate Republicans refused to vote on Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama’s nominee to fill the vacancy, something that has irritated Tester.

“I don’t think the Republicans were right in doing that with Merrick Garland, and I don’t think that’s the right thing to do,” Tester said.

Tester said he would also be open to making some changes to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that would increase transparency and lower costs for customers.

Trump had pledged during the campaign he would repeal the act, but said in an interview with “60 Minutes” Sunday there were some elements he would be willing to keep in place.

A ban on life time caps on medical coverage, a prohibition on insurance companies excluding people with pre-existing conditions from buying insurance and a provision that allows parents to keep their children on their insurance companies are parts Tester said should be kept in place.

Tester added that Trump said in that interview that he supported maintaining those parts of the law.

“So, you know, we might not be as far apart as we think,” he said.