Tester: Infrastructure bill in Senate, no response on reopening of border

During a press call Thursday morning, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said a bipartisan deal has been reached on a "historic bill that will upgrade Montana's aging infrastructure, create good paying jobs, and help us maintain our competitive edge over China."

Tester said the bill includes funds for Montana's roads, bridges, internet, water, and more. He called the legislation a once-in-a-century investment in the nation's infrastructure.

Tester said the legislation would create jobs and be an investment in Montana's roads and bridges, water systems, airports and internet, to maintain a competitive advantage over China. He said the legislation would do so with raising taxes on "hardworking Montana families."

Tester was one of five Democrats working with five Republicans to negotiate the bill, with other members of both parties joining the negotiations at times.

"It is no secret that putting this bill together has been tough. There have been many ups and downs. Like in most good negotiations, nobody left feeling like they got everything they wanted. When our five-person group ran into challenges, we didn't give up. We stayed negotiating. And we found a way to work through it," Tester said.

Tester said the Senate began debating the bill Wednesday and was hopeful it would be passed soon.

The vote Wednesday was 67-32, with 17 Republicans joining all Democrats and two independents in voting to bring it to the floor for debate and amendments and 32 Republicans voting against.

Montana Sen. Steve Daines was one of the Republicans voting against it.

A spokesperson for Daines said Thursday that when the Senate voted Wednesday, final bill text or details on how it's going to be paid for were not available or public. 

"Sen. Daines is fighting for Montana priorities to be included in this bill, as he successfully did in securing funding for St. Mary (Diversion and Conveyance Works rehabilitation) in committee. It is also essential that any final bill be fully paid for and not increase the deficit by one cent," his spokesperson said. "The senator thinks it's important to ensure there will be an opportunity to offer amendments to the package to make it stronger for Montana, including adding additional forest management reforms to prevent deadly wildfires and protect Montana families and communities from fire."

Tester said there the bill about has language about taking advantage of the tax gap, saying some people should be paying taxes but aren't.

"Most everybody, in a bipartisan way, have said it could be as much as a trillion dollars. Some felt a trillion might even be short. Republicans (on the committee) got some pushback on hiring some additional IRS agents to do the investigations to make sure that folks like Jeff Bezos are paying taxes," Tester said.

Tester said some of the funding can come from unused COVID-19 unemployment relief, noting Montana and other states have discontinued unemployment programs because of the impact on workforces. He said there was also money available from the sale of Spectrum and from last year's COVID-19 relief CARES Act.

"Now the CARES package was passed March, April last year, so we're 15, 16 months into this thing. Some of those dollars we thought we can take without causing problems. And also we had the rescue plan that we passed last February, I believe that is still there. We did not touch that. So it's those kinds of things. And plus there's a longer list too," Tester said.

He talked Thursday about the heat and how dry the summer has been. He said he has experienced this along with his wife on their farm and has heard from farmers all over the state.

"I understand vividly how hard folks have been hit by this drought. I've been monitoring the situation closely and pushing the U.S. Department of Agriculture to make sure Montana's farmers and ranchers have access to the technical assistance and release they need to make to keep themselves whole stay in business," he said.

He added that many programs are available to producers suffering from the drought. He urged people to stay tuned to their local FSA agency and to his website. Tester said he would continue pushing the USDA to ensure relief comes in a timely fashion.

Tester also said he'd continue to monitor the wildfire situation closely to ensure firefighters have the access to resources they need.

Tester said he is frustrated the U.S. won't open its northern border and talked about Canada's recent decision to open its border to vaccinated Americans for non-essential travel beginning Aug. 9.

He said it has been frustrating that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is refusing to do the same on the American side of the border, mentioning the impact this has had on Montana's economy, especially businesses on the Hi-Line.

Tester said many of these businesses depend on trade and tourism before discussing the personal impact of this decision as well.

"There are countless friends and families who have now gone for more than a year without seeing one another in person. I have urged the administration to quit dragging its feet when it comes to reopening the northern border and to work together with their Canadian counterparts to coordinate on reopening the border together to avoid this sort of confusion and would ease travel restrictions as quickly and as safely as possible," Tester said.

Tester said the northern border needs to be re-opened for small businesses in places like Kalispell, Havre and Shelby, but it has to be done safely, especially with the COVID-19 Delta variant in mind.

He shared a personal story about barley being available in Canada he wanted to plant on his farm west of Big Sandy, saying he couldn't get it.

He said he could have hired a commercial truck driver, since commercial traffic hasn't stopped, but it wouldn't have made financial sense.

"But make no mistake about it. Whether you're talking about Jon Tester or you're talking about the hardware store in Shelby, Montana, that border opening can make a big difference for business," Tester said.

Tester said conversations about reopening the northern border for nonessential travel Aug. 21 have been somewhat one-sided. He said calls and letters about the matter have gotten no response at this time.

Part of the issue, Tester said, is he has been focusing on the infrastructure bill. He will now be putting a "full court press" on the administration, demanding answers on re-opening the border.

Tester said this week's news regarding COVID-19 has been discouraging, adding cases and hospitalizations are up across Montana and nationally.

"It is crystal-clear that this pandemic is not behind us. This serves as a stark reminder that everyone should do their part, get vaccinated as quickly as possible. These vaccines are tested, they're safe, they're effective, and effective even against the Delta variant, and they're available free of charge," Tester said.

"We can't afford to risk the progress that we've made reopening this country or getting our economy back on track, so my recommendation would be to go to Vaccines.gov to find a shot near you," he added.