Tester: Time to ‘close all the gaps’ along America’s borders

Senator emphasizes need to upgrade Montana’s Port of Whitetail

(WASHINGTON, D.C. ) – Saying America’s borders are “only as strong as their weakest link,” Senator Jon Tester is calling on the Senate Homeland Security Committee to “close all the gaps” along all of America’s borders.

Tester today specifically emphasized the need to upgrade northeastern Montana’s Port of Whitetail during a hearing on Capitol Hill.

Tester also pushed the Homeland Security Committee to make sure that no taxpayer dollars are wasted on port upgrades while “maximizing our security options along all our borders and all our ports.”

“For me it’s an issue about making this country as safe as we possibly can,” Tester told the Committee.  “It all starts by making our ports of entry as strong as they can be by closing all the gaps and not pretend that our threats only exist on the southern border.”

The Port of Whitetail is owned and operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which chose to upgrade every northern border port it owns with its Recovery Act funds.

Tester said it wasn’t his decision to specifically fund the Port of Whitetail, but said Sen. Max Baucus and he have pushed for better security along the northern border and jobs for Montanans.

Five Montana ports of entry will receive funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which Tester and Baucus helped write.

An op-ed from Tester about funding for the Port of Whitetail is available online HERE.