Jon Tester is among the many Montanans who did not find 2009 to be a particularly great year. Montana’s junior U.S. senator, serving his first term, was a member of the biggest Democratic majority to control Congress in decades. With the election of President Barack Obama, Tester’s party looked poised to act decisively on some of the most pressing problems facing the country: health care costs; carbon emissions; and a financial system requiring taxpayer bailouts to avoid global catastrophe.
Yet one year later, these problems persist, with potential policy solutions mired in the Senate, a legislative body that has grown increasingly dysfunctional. Gaining the filibuster-proof 60 votes necessary to pass major bills has proven unattainable, and the possibility of gaining Republican support for Democrat-led policy initiatives is nonexistent. With sustained frustration in the public over a still stagnant economy, a string of Republican electoral victories appears likely to continue through November.
Amid these circumstances, Tester visited the Flathead Beacon offices last week for a wide-ranging discussion of what the upcoming year holds for the Senate, where he painted a picture of a Democratic caucus dissatisfied with the lack of progress while acknowledging its own culpability. But Tester maintains Democrats are still intent on passing bills to tackle key initiatives despite an ascendant conservative pushback. And he was candid in his assessment of his workplace: “It’s not functioning the way it should be,” Tester said. “There’s a level of frustration, make no mistake about it.”
Earlier in the day of Tester’s Flathead visit, Indiana Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh made the surprise announcement that he would not seek reelection at the end of this year, due largely to the gridlock and overwhelming partisanship in the Senate. Bayh, like Tester, cited the recent vote to establish a bipartisan commission to recommend ways of reducing the national debt as a perfect illustration of the Senate’s deterioration. Seven Republican co-sponsors voted against the bill, and it failed 53-46.
“That’s the problem right there: If the debt commission was good enough to co-sponsor the bill, that means you not only support that bill but you feel very, very strongly about that bill,” Tester said. “And then in the end, when it looks like it’s going to pass, you vote no, because you didn’t want any success, that’s crazy. That’s not how government’s supposed to work at all.”
Tester ascribed the difficulties in his caucus over the last year to two problems: poor messaging and a popular misconception from the start that a solid block of 60 votes existed to pass legislation, when the reality was moderates and Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., were never fully on board with initiatives like health care.
“We never had 60 votes in the Senate; we never did,” Tester said. “We had certain folks, and it showed in the end, that didn’t really want to vote for some of this stuff, so that’s why it needed to be bipartisan anyway. And there’s an appetite for saying no right now, and saying no isn’t the kind of response that is going to get us anywhere.”
The January loss of the Massachusetts senate seat formerly held by Ted Kennedy to Republican Scott Brown only makes the goal of bipartisan legislation more necessary and, perhaps, even tougher to achieve.
“Bipartisanship has to happen now. If it doesn’t happen, nothing, absolutely nothing gets passed. Nothing,” Tester said. “So in some ways, losing Kennedy’s seat may be a blessing, because now the writing’s on the wall. If you don’t have bipartisan legislation it’s not going to happen.”
With deep public anxiety over the national debt and stubbornly high unemployment, Tester said Democrats will focus on job creation above anything else, introducing a series of stripped-down bills accomplishing single functions, like extending unemployment benefits or tax breaks on capital gains for small businesses. Tester believes this will allow Democrats to communicate clearly what they’re doing, demonstrate that the Senate can, in fact, pass legislation and force Republicans to vote up or down on popular measures.
Majority Leader Harry Reid’s recent rejection of a bipartisan “Jobs Bill” by Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, in favor of a slimmer bill confirms this tactic.
“We need to simplify things. I think you get things too complicated and people vote against them, and they vote against them because they’re too complicated, not because they’re worthy or not worthy. I think you simplify and you move forward and I don’t have a problem with that,” Tester said. “It takes a little longer to do but it really holds people more accountable.”
But Tester also acknowledged this piecemeal approach doesn’t lend itself to Democrats’ signature issue of the last year: an overhaul of the health care system, the nature of which is inherently complicated and relies on several interlocking provisions to increase coverage and reduce costs. That won’t stop Democrats from trying to pass a health bill.
“I’m still hopeful that we’re going to be able to get something done,” Tester added. “If this bill isn’t taken up by the House, hopefully the folks that are on the Health Committee and Finance Committee come up with another plan, but it’s not going to work unless we get bipartisan support, and there isn’t a lot of that floating around right now.”
He also conceded he could have done more over the summer to explain the health bill, a time when Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., held multiple town hall meetings around the state, bolstering opposition to Democrats’ effort.
“You can look back on the health care debate and there are things you would do different. I think in the end it wasn’t communicated well what that bill would do. I tried, I still am,” Tester said. “There were a lot of comments out there that were very negative about that bill and there still is. I don’t know if people were thinking that if we do nothing that’s a solution, because it’s not.”
Despite frustration that they haven’t accomplished more, according to Tester, Reid still enjoys strong support within the party for his leadership.
“Everybody in the Democratic caucus appreciates what Harry’s been doing and how he’s tried to work it,” Tester said. “People on the outside can say well, you know, he doesn’t come across as strong, but Harry works very, very hard and I think people in the caucus understand that.”
As a first-term senator who doesn’t face reelection until 2012, Tester has managed to avoid some of the maelstrom surrounding the biggest political issues consuming Washington D.C., instead focusing on his own legislation aimed at rural veterans and a bill to increase both logging and Wilderness in Montana.
“We take our policies, we work them hard; we work them hard with our committee chairs and we work them hard with leadership and hopefully we get them through. As far as how you bring this group in or that person, it really is leadership’s responsibility,” Tester said. “The truth is we’re doing some good work and I think it’s important work and I think, you know, we’re doing our best to represent Montana back in Washington D.C. and that’s very rewarding.”
Despite the grim election outlook for Democrats and steep challenges ahead, Tester remains optimistic that this year could be a better year than 2009 – though he may not have the solution to what’s ailing Congress.
“I don’t know what it’s going to take to break it. I really don’t,” he said. “But it will break. I feel strongly about that. Things are going to get better.”