Tester visits Polson
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POLSON — A relaxed and comfortable Sen. Jon Tester greeted about 30 Lake County residents and answered questions during a visit to the North Lake County Public Library on Jan. 15.
Questions fielded by Tester probably were questions all Americans are asking: what’s happening with tax reform, health care reform, failure of the parties to work together, gun control, small business woes, a farm bill, and the Keystone pipeline.
“The big issue for Congress is the deficit/debt,” Tested said, adding that Congress goes back into session this week.
As far as the fiscal cliff issue, he said, “We kicked that can down the road a ways.”
But not too far down the road, because Congress will have to deal with it again on March 1.
The New Year’s Day fiscal cliff deal “was better than no deal at all, but not much,” Tester commented.
Local businessman Chad Smith asked Tester if fiscal issues and the debt ceiling would be better in two months.
Tester said, ”No, Congress has to so something. It’s as if you didn’t pay the mortgage and the credit cards.”
The debt ceiling is money already spent by the United States. He added that Congress should be working on next year’s fiscal issues now.
Polson businesswoman Liz Marchi questioned Tester about tax reform.
Tester replied, “What happened on Jan. 1 (the fiscal cliff bill) shakes my faith.”
He said sending tax reform through the regular order, which is the committee process, is his recommendation.
The healthcare reform bill will be implemented over a number of years, a plan Tester said he originally thought was a good idea but which has led to insurance companies taking big advantages of customers.
Several people asked Tester about the hyper-partisanship in Congress.
Tester said he spoke to Senator Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, before Inouye passed away and asked if he had even seen a Congress so polarized.
Inouye said, “Yes, it was this bad in the 60s, but then it changed overnight.”
“In the real world,” Tester said, “People want the government to work.”
Drawing lines in the sand is not negotiating, he emphasized.
Concern is high about school safety and gun control. Westerners tend to be anti-gun control, and Tester said gun control is not the answer. The issue needs to be looked at very carefully because it deals with people’s First and Second Amendment rights.
Small business owner Johna Morrison spoke to Tester about minimum wage increases, workmen’s compensation going up and unemployment also increasing, all strains on her business.
“When is somebody going to do something for the small business person?” she asked.
With small businesses employing about 90 percent of Montanans, Tester said it’s a big issue. Congress tries to exempt small businesses whenever possible.
Farms are also small businesses, and a farm bill is coming, Tester said, although it probably won’t be as good as the proposed June 2012 farm bill, which would have saved taxpayers $23 billion. The U.S. House of Representatives refused to pass the bill, and the current farm bill was extended through Sept. as part of the new Year’s Eve fiscal cliff legislation
Ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee is Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., who is from cotton and rice country, Tester said.
Tester is concerned that a future farm bill may include significant subsidies for cotton and rice growers in the south, who rely heavily on the government already
Another topic of interest to Montanans is the Keystone pipeline. A supporter of the pipeline, Tester would like to keep the oil in the United States, not to see it flow through the pipeline and then be shipped to other counties. He’d much rather do business with Canada via the pipeline than with other oil-rich countries.
Tester said he serves on five Senate committees: appropriations, banking, Homeland Security, Indian affairs and veteran’s affairs.
