Tester Named Jefferson Islands Club Citizen of the Year

Tester was recognized as national leader in bipartisan lawmaking

Earlier this month, Senator Tester was named the Jefferson Islands Club Citizen of the Year. The award recognized him as government leader who has solved challenges facing Montana and the country through bipartisanship.

Previous recipients of the award include President George H.W. Bush, Governor Larry Hogan, Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), and former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI-1), among others.

“I want to thank the Jefferson Islands Club for honoring me with this award,” Tester said. “It’s no secret that our country is more divided than it’s been in a long time, but Montanans want their elected representatives to work together and find real solutions to the problems we face. I believe we as Americans all need to put politics aside and focus on how to move the country forward, whether you live in a big city or a rural town like me.”

Senator Tester has been a leader among his Senate colleagues in reaching across the aisle and working to pass bipartisan legislation.

Leading up to its passage last November, Tester worked for months to negotiate the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) with a group of five Republicans, four Democrats, and the White House, and he was the only member of Montana’s congressional delegation to vote for it. Tester’s law is projected to create more than 800,000 American jobs and lower costs for businesses by making targeted investments that will strengthen our nation without raising taxes on working families.

As the only member of the Montana delegation who sits on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Tester also worked alongside Veterans Service Organizations to deliver the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act of 2022. Following sustained efforts from the Senator, President Biden signed the PACT Act into law on August 10^th—authorizing the Department of Veterans Affairs to deliver generations of toxic-exposed veterans their earned health care and benefits for the first time in the nation’s history. 

Tester was also a member of the conference committee tasked with drafting the final version of the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, which will invest in high-tech manufacturing across the country, strengthen technology supply chains, and bolster development of cutting-edge research in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Tester has been Montana’s leading champion for China competitiveness legislation and was the only member of the state’s delegation appointed to the legislation’s conference committee tasked with crafting the final version of the bill.