Tester: Tariffs, guns and climate change need debate in the Senate

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said Tuesday during his monthly rural conference call that the issues surrounding gun violence, the on-going trade war with China and the government's stance on climate change are issues in need of debate moving forward into the fall congressional session.

One of the top issues on the minds of many people of Montana is the uncertainty with agricultural prices and the Trump Administration's ongoing trade war with China, he said.

 "The price of hard red ordinary winter wheat is almost exactly the same as it was when I took over the farm in May of 1978," Tester said. "Things aren't the same as they were in 1978, the cost of production is much, much, much higher. What is going on right now is totally unsustainable for family farm agriculture in Montana."

He added that it's fairly common knowledge China has been a bad actor with unfair trade agreements, but the trade war has been in effect for more than a year and members of the United States agricultural community are paying the price.

"The path we are going on is going to be devastating for rural America and family farm agriculture," he said. "... We produce food in this country, and we do a really, really good job of producing food. If we don't export it, it results in overproduction, overproduction depresses prices."

Monday, Tester gave a speech on the Senate floor, informing the Senate the tariffs need to be settled quickly, he said. He added that the trade war would have had more impact if the president had gone in with the country's allies, but instead the United States is standing alone.

The effects of the trade war can already be seen, Tester said. As a farmer himself, he sees first-hand what it is doing to the agricultural prices and sees other farmers in his community going broke and having to sell out.

He said he has invited the president to come out to his farm, to see and meet Montana producers and hear first-hand how the trade war is affecting people. He added that President Donald Trump has yet to take him up on his offer, but it is still standing and he hopes Trump takes it.

  Tester added that he is also planning to introduce a bill to hopefully pull back some of the tariffs. He said trade is not the president's job and the U.S. Congress should be able to take back some of that power from the executive branch. But the issue needs to be able to make it out to the Senate floor and be discussed.

Another issue that needs to be discussed, Tester said, is gun control. Gun control bills need to be brought to the Senate floor for debate and work toward finding common-sense laws to help protect the American people.

"I think there will be bipartisan support and bipartisan opposition to whatever we are dealing with," he said.

He added that he has gone on record supporting background checks. 

"If you're afraid of a background check maybe you shouldn't have a gun," he said. 

Common-sense red flag laws are dependent on background checks, and Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ken., who is the leader of the Senate, has to allow bills to be discussed on the Senate floor, Tester said.

"We have an opportunity, on this particular issue - which is a real issue - that we can protect law-abiding citizens' Second Amendment rights and do our best to make sure terrorists, criminals and court-adjudicated folks who are mentally ill, don't have the right," Tester said. "I think they have forfeited their Second Amendment rights."

"Bottom line is this, you guys have all watched the shootings, whether it was Sandy Hook, or a night club in Florida, or whether it's what happened in El Paso," he added. "Go down the list, it happens every week, almost every day and it's our job to debate stuff."

Tester said that he is not trying to take away law-abiding citizens' Second Amendment rights, but ensure that people who are dangerous don't have access to guns.

He added that the discussions about the government confiscating people's firearms, such as AR-15s, is because temperatures in the presidential race are running high and people are looking to get a reaction and are not helping the discussion.

"I don't think it's helpful," he said. "I think it helps the Republicans frame everybody out there, that somebody's going to take away their guns."

Climate change is another issue that needs to be discussed in the Senate, he said. Climate change is real and Congress needs to do some things.

"We need to sit down and have a debate and figure out some common-sense policies that will help deal with climate change, and, right now, what's going on with this administration is just the opposite," Tester said. "... Earth is a small place, we need to figure this out and figure it out soon."

He added that Montana did have a major victory recently with the White House adapting his proposal to allow Medicare reimbursement for the time doctors spend getting training at critical access hospitals, hospitals typically in small, rural communities.

It is going to lead to more doctors training in the rural communities and more likely to have them potentially stay and be recruited by rural hospitals, he said.

"I still think we need more doctors," Tester said.

He added that Big Sandy had a doctor of medicine in town until he was in his 30s, and although the nurse practitioners and staff who currently work in the area are effective, it is critical to have doctors in rural America and in the Veteran Affairs clinics.

Tester said he has hopes that the bill to have the federal government recognize the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians, which is included in the Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act, will be put in the House version and passed next week.

"We still feel very, very good that it's going to remain in," he said.