Tester addresses gas prices, Postal Reform Act, Ukraine invasion in press call
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MONTANA — Senator Jon Tester held a press call on March 24 to elaborate on the funding secured for small agricultural businesses, efforts being made to strengthen American energy independence, and his recently passed postal reform act.
In his opening statement, Tester acknowledged that inflation is hurting Montanans across the board, largely by what’s being paid at the pump. To take action to lower these costs, Tester said he called on the Biden administration to use an “all of the above” approach to responsible domestic energy production. This includes releasing oil from the strategic petroleum reserve, making sure that oil and gas leasing process gets sustainable energy projects up and running, working with oil and gas producers to shore up the domestic supply, reviewing the Keystone XL pipeline and similar projects, and improving clean energy production, transportation, and storage.
“We can’t let immediate crisis unwind decades of clean energy research development,” Tester stated.
A winding down of the Chinese economy due to the pandemic, he commented, has put more oil into the global economy, which should lead to some lowered prices. On the domestic side, he said making sure domestic wells that were started and then stopped when oil prices dropped off in the past are put back into use, or wells that were unfinished get completed, should help increase domestic production and ultimately result in prices going down.
Inflation and the Russian war aren’t the only things responsible for increasing prices, he added. Tester stated that unchecked consolidation of the meat packing industry has caused prices to rise, and the lack of local funding for meat processing plants has worsened the issue. Therefore, the distribution of $7.8 million dollars was recently announced for 30 Montana small ag projects, 17 of which are meat processing facilities, as part of the American Rescue Plan.
One related bill, he explained, requires more transparency on the part of meat packers when it comes to pricing to attempt to minimize the amount of cash manipulation occurring in the industry. Another will add a special investigator to the department of agriculture with subpoena power to be able to enforce any anti-trust activities that may occur. Right now, the administration is working with the ag committee to schedule the pricing bill in the next 10 days, which, after some adjustments to its language, should have its hearing after the Easter recess.
The senator also addressed reformations made to the United States Postal Service. The Postal Reform Act was passed this month to assist the postal service’s financial situation, require a six-day delivery week, improve affordability for the distribution of rural newspapers, and allow the post office to offer additional services.
The bill, he stated, has been in the works for the last 15 years. One of its main elements will be to allow the workforce to integrate into Medicare, which should save them about $23 billion over 10 years according to Tester, eliminating a healthcare pre-funding requirement that had been placed on USPS, unlike every other agency in the government. Enacted in 2006, Congress had placed the burden on USPS in an effort to increase retiree health benefits transparency and funding discipline. However, the billions of dollars in losses the agency experienced in subsequent years as other shipping services have gained prominence has only contributed to the financial deficit experienced by the postal service. Allowing them to approach healthcare in the same way as all other government agencies will remove a good portion of their monetary strain.
The postal service will also be allowed to partner up with the state and tribes to offer things like hunting and fishing licenses, which Tester says could improve their ability to be profitable. The special rates for rural newspapers will also be improved to help the distribution of important news in remote areas. All of it, Tester says, contributes to the financial resilience of the postal service, a service that remains important to the far reaches of Montana.
Additionally, Tester made a statement condemning the actions of Vladimir Putin in the democratic nation of Ukraine. There should be no reluctance to condemn Putin as an enemy of America, and an enemy of freedom around the world, he said. As chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, Tester said he’s working closely with both Republicans and Democrats to craft a military package to support Ukraine, strengthen the NATO alliance, and isolate Russia from the global economy.
The U.S. and NATO, he said, have supplied Ukraine with $8 billion dollars’ worth of military weapons, from missiles to firearms. Each state has built alliances with different countries, he mentioned, and California has an alliance with Ukraine. Their guard units are now advising the Ukrainian military in various success strategies. The U.S. is helping from both an informational and equipment standpoint, Tester stated, and the sanctions placed on Russia are having serious effects on the country.
The difficulty on deciding where to stop comes from the fact that Russia is a nuclear power, which, Tester emphasized, is a type of conflict that would involve the entire world. He also offered that he doesn’t believe a no-fly zone is as important as some believe as the damage that’s being done is primarily with sea- and land-based missiles.
Tester will be visiting Poland along with the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee in early April to meet with people in Poland, the Baltics, and Ukrainian representatives to discuss what is needed to move forward.
“At this time, we’re doing everything possible. If there’s anything we’re missing, hopefully we’ll find out about it at the meeting and we’ll do that. It’s about supplying the Ukrainians with everything they need,” Tester stated. “Putin is a war criminal, and he’s going to be held accountable for his actions.”
