Tester Pushes Senate Leadership to Act on COVID Relief for Montana Workers, Small Businesses

Senator has worked since the spring to bridge partisan divide over critical economic relief

U.S. Senator Jon Tester continued his push to break the partisan logjam over the next round of coronavirus stimulus funding for Montana workers and small businesses in a letter to Senate leadership this week.

“I am hearing directly from Montana families, business owners, school administrators and medical professionals that the devastating effects of this pandemic are getting worse,” wrote Tester to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. “My state has already suffered nearly 700 COVID-19 deaths, and now our medical community is sounding the alarm that medical facilities are at capacity. Schools are struggling with the additional costs of a providing quality education to students while also keeping them safe. Businesses are fighting every day to make ends meet but can only do so much with the disruptions to everyday life.”

Tester concluded, “Instead of continuing to trade proposals back and forth in the press and point fingers at each other for failing to get a COVID-19 relief package done, it is time to come together and find a path forward to get meaningful relief across the finish line. Montana businesses and families simply cannot afford for us to waste another moment.”

From the beginning of the pandemic, Tester has been in constant communication with Montanans from every corner of the state and has used that input to help guide the creation of a bipartisan package that focuses on providing relief workers and small businesses as well as stopping the spread of the virus so Montana’s economy can reopen. Since the passage of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act this spring, Tester has been pushing Senate leadership on both sides of the aisle to work together to craft a targeted bipartisan coronavirus relief package that will provide support to Montanans that need it most.

Tester’s letter to leadership can be found HERE.