|
(Big Sandy, Mont.) - The U.S. Senate has unanimously passed U.S. Senator Jon Tester's bill to increase veterans' access to substance abuse and mental health treatment through Veterans Treatment Courts.
Tester's Veterans Treatment Court Improvement Act allows for the hiring of 50 additional Veterans Justice Outreach Specialists across the nation to work in Veterans Treatment Courts. Veterans Treatment Courts remove veterans from the regular criminal justice process to address issues such as post-traumatic stress and substance abuse. "Veterans Treatment Courts have been extraordinarily successful in helping hundreds of Montana veterans get the specific and specialized assistance they need to get back on their feet," said Tester, Ranking Member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee. "My bill will put more resources in Montana helping veterans address the root causes of substance abuse and get the mental health care they need." Read Full Release Here.
0 Comments
(Helena, Mont.)-U.S. Senator Jon Tester is demanding answers from the FBI regarding its flawed security clearance background check process at the White House.
Nearly one year after first raising concerns that the White House was bypassing critical components of the security clearance process, Tester is again pushing the FBI Director to shed more light on background checks at the White House and ensure that individuals who are responsible for handling the nation's most sensitive information are vetted to the highest standard. Tester is raising concerns following the resignations this month of two high-level White House employees who face domestic abuse allegations. "Nearly a year after expressing concerns about the security clearance process at the White House, reports indicate that dozens of White House personnel still retain interim security clearances," Tester wrote. "If the White House Personnel Security Division is adjudicating security clearances based on flawed or incomplete information from the FBI, that is of great concern." Read Full Release Here. (U.S. Senate)- U.S. Senator Jon Tester brought Montana priorities to the nominees of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing today. Tester, Montana's only member of the Commerce Committee, pushed the four FTC nominees to answer questions about consolidation in agriculture and rampant telemarketing calls in Montana.
Tester, a farmer from Big Sandy, spoke about how large multinational corporations are unfairly raising costs for family farms across rural America and Montana. "My school had 40 kids in my graduating class, now the whole school has 40 kids in it and we've seen that kind of depopulation across rural America," Tester said. "If family farm agriculture goes away this country changes and not for the better." Read Full Release Here. (U.S. Senate) - U.S. Senator Jon Tester is demanding answers from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) regarding reports that the watchdog agency halted its investigation into last year's Equifax data breach.
Following a cyber-security breach, announced in September 2017, in which cybercriminals gained access to the personal information, including names, Social Security numbers, addresses, driver's licenses, and birthdates of nearly 145.5 million Americans and 367,000 Montanans, the CFPB began investigating Equifax. "The CFPB has not taken even the most preliminary steps to conduct an investigation," Tester, a member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, wrote. "The CFPB has a duty to investigate the harm to consumers and whether other federal consumer financial laws have been violated." Read Full Release Here. (U.S. Senate) - U.S. Senators Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) are calling on the VA to ensure that it is reimbursing veterans who were billed for emergency treatment at private hospitals.
In January, the VA announced that it would not retroactively reimburse veterans for their emergency treatment despite a court decision that ruled the VA is responsible for emergency medical costs at private, non-VA hospitals. In response, the Senators wrote to VA Secretary David Shulkin urging him to reimburse veterans who filed a claim for emergency medical costs before the court ruling. "Between 2010 and April 16, 2016, the VA erroneously denied thousands of veterans' claims for emergency treatment," the Senators wrote. "With the VA's recent interpretation of this ruling, veterans who filed claims before April 16, 2016 would see no relief from the VA's wrongful application of the law and would be stuck paying medical bills that Congress intended that the VA pay. We ask that the VA include those veterans whose claims were decided before April 16, 2016, so that all veterans can fully take advantage of a benefit Congress intended they receive." Read Full Release Here. (U.S. Senate) - U.S. Senator Jon Tester's bipartisan bill to improve rural call completion has passed the House and is now headed to the President's desk for signature. This is the thirteenth bill Tester has sent to President Trump this Congress.
"Many folks in rural Montana still can't always rely on something as basic as a landline to complete their calls, and that's totally unacceptable," Tester said. "This bill will hold out-of-state phone service providers accountable and improve service for families and small businesses across rural Montana. I'm proud that it's heading to the President's desk to become law." Read Full Release Here. (Bozeman, Mont.)—U.S. Senator Jon Tester today broadcast live via Facebook from Community Health Partners in Bozeman to talk about the recent budget agreement that provides two years’ worth of funding for community health centers. Tester interviewed Executive Director Lander Cooney about how important federal funding is for these clinics across Montana, which provide primary health care for more than 100,000 patients.
“This morning at about 1:30 am we passed a bill that will fund community health centers in Montana,” said Tester as he kicked off his broadcast. “I have been harping on the Senate floor now for several months that these folks needed some predictability, and last night we finally got some predictability.” Read Full Release Here. (Bozeman, Mont.) - U.S. Senator Jon Tester is pushing Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to meet with tribal governments before attempting to make the U.S. Interior Department more complicated.
Zinke announced last month that he will propose a plan to Congress to reorganize the Interior Department, including the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Indian Education. Tester is fighting to make sure that Zinke doesn't turn his back on Montana tribes and fail to uphold the federal government's treaty and trust responsibilities as Zinke prepares his reorganization proposal. "Making any changes within the Department will undoubtedly impact tribes and requires rigorous and meaningful consultation," Tester wrote. "It is the Department's duty to uphold this special trust responsibility and to meet the obligations that arise from these unique government to government relationships." Read Full Release Here. (U.S. Senate) - U.S. Senator Jon Tester has delivered a series of major wins for Montana in a bipartisan budget agreement.
Tester worked with Republicans and Democrats to secure critical funding for Montana's Community Health Centers, the military, and veterans in a bipartisan budget agreement that passed the Senate very early this morning. "I bucked both parties to demand a better budget for Montana, and they listened," said Tester. "This budget is the product of compromise and makes critical investments in rural health care clinics, strengthens our military, and delivers for our veterans." Read Full Release Here. (U.S. Senate) - U.S. Senator Jon Tester today teamed up with several leaders of Montana's Community Health Centers to announce that a new Congressional bipartisan budget deal will increase funding for Community Health Centers over the next two years.
"Funding for Community Health Centers has been a top priority for me and it became that because of my visits to the community health centers around the state" Tester told his colleagues in an afternoon speech on the Senate Floor. "From Bullhook in Havre to RiverStone in Billings to Southwest Montana Community Health Center in Butte to Partnership Health Center in Missoula, and the list goes on and on. These health care facilities provide incredibly affordable and efficient health care to people across Montana. So, I am incredibly pleased to work with the leadership in this body and get a deal for Community Health Centers across this country." Read Full Release Here. |
Archives
December 2017
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed
