Tester Secures Key Montana Priorities for Law Enforcement, Postal Service, Small Businesses, and Other Investments in Government Funding Bill

As a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator successfully fought for critical investments to lower costs, bolster law enforcement, promote energy resiliency, and support Montana families and small businesses

As a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, U.S. Senator Jon Tester earlier this month secured key Montana priorities during the mark-up of the FY25 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Bill; the FY25 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill; and the FY25 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill. 

“Montanans sent me to the U.S. Senate to fight for their interests and give rural America a seat at the table,” said Tester. “As a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, my top priority is delivering a bipartisan budget that supports Montana’s small businesses, working families, and rural economies. I’m proud to say that after rounds of negotiations with my bipartisan colleagues, we were able to advance a bill that will lower costs for working folks, strengthen our energy grid, upgrade critical infrastructure, and make Montana communities safer, and I’ll be working tirelessly to get it signed into law.”   

Key provisions Tester secured for Montana include: 

Law Enforcement and Public Safety

• $298.6 million for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) Program
• Provisions emphasizing HIDTA’s important work to combat fentanyl trafficking and interdiction, particularly on the southwestern border
• $109 million for the Drug-Free Communities Support Program

Postal Service

• Provisions that prohibit any of the funds being used to consolidate or close small rural and other small post offices
• Provisions that direct the United States Postal Service (USPS) to immediately provide a briefing regarding the end of contracts for air service which impact priority and express mail in Montana and other rural states
• Language encouraging USPS to review the impact of rugged terrain on service areas when considering consolidation of mail delivery and movement processing operations
• Language reminding the USPS that Congress has codified 6-day delivery

Small Business and Community Investment 

• $354 million for the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund
• Language directing consideration of the unique conditions, challenges, and scale of non-metropolitan and rural areas when designing and administering programs to address economic revitalization and community development when making CDFI awards
• $385.6 million for the Small Business Administration, with instructions to improve Veteran small business programs, employee ownership and cooperative opportunities, cybersecurity for small businesses, Native American and rural outreach, and nonprofit child care support

Water Infrastructure and Clean Drinking Water

• $100 million for rural water projects
• $65 million for WaterSMART Program to provide support for local partners to stretch scarce water supplies
• $3 million to sustain water quality for agriculture and river health in the Upper Missouri Watershed
• $2 million in Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funding to monitor and manage transboundary pollution between the United States and British Columbia, including the Kootenai watershed
  • Includes language directing the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to formally partner with the Tribes, States, and Federal agencies to develop a water quality strategy and directing EPA to support the U.S.-Canada joint reference to the International joint Commission to reduce and mitigate transboundary water pollution

Education and Child Care

• $12.9 billion for Head Start and Early Head Start
• $10.3 billion for Child Care and Development Block Grant
• $15.7 billion for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) funding
• $1.2 billion for federal TRIO programs
• $1.76 billion for Job Corps
• $110 million for YouthBuild, which provides job training and leadership development for Montana youth
• Provisions that requires the Department of Education to release a study on the impacts of last year’s change to the FAFSA calculation of farm family assets

Health Care

• $1.85 billion for Community Health Centers.
• $34 million to support rural first responder training
• $92 million for Nurse Corps which provides scholarships and loan repayment to bolster the nursing workforce
• $155 million for NIH Institutional Development Awards, which provides funding that supports medical research in rural states like Montana
• $14 million for expanding pediatric behavioral health access through telehealth

Energy Resiliency 

• $66 million for State Energy Program grants
• $10 million to support funding for small hydropower upgrades
• $4.1 billion for Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
• $6 million for university-led research of biofilm-based barrier technologies to reduce methane leaks on orphan wells

Appropriations provisions secured by Tester in the Fiscal Year 2025 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act and the Agriculture Appropriations Act, which cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee earlier this month can be foundHERE. Additional provisions Tester secured in the Fiscal Year 2025 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act; theInterior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act; the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Agencies Appropriations Act; and the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act can be found HERE.