Tester votes ‘no’ on $680 billion unpaid-for spending bill

(U.S. Senate) – Senator Jon Tester today released the following statement after voting against an end-of-year tax and spending bill that he says would saddle future generations with $680 billion in new debt:

“There are many things in this bill that I like, many things that I fought for, and even wrote myself. There are things that aren’t in this bill that should have been, but instead they got sidelined. Then there is also some crap in here, garbage that should have been tossed out, but wasn’t. But when I look at the whole package, my biggest concern is that fact that this bill saddles our kids and grandkids with over $680 billion in additional debt.”

Tester helped author the VA/Military Construction portion of the bill to increase support for veterans services and to address military construction priorities in Montana. He also successfully added provisions of his Visa Waiver legislation, additional funding for rural water projects, one more year of PILT funding, and Title X funding.

However, calling this a “tough vote,” Tester said that the bad outweighed the good in the legislation.

The Senator pointed to the hundreds of billions of dollars in new debt in the package as the largest reason he could not support it, including special tax breaks for corporations, racehorse owners, NASCAR track owners, and Hollywood filmmakers.

You can read the Senator’s full remarks on the bill HERE.