A Year of Working with the Trump Administration

3 min readJan 29, 2018

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As President Trump prepares to give his first State of the Union Address on Tuesday, I wanted to reflect on a year of working with the President and his Administration.

On the day Donald Trump became President I said I would work with him when I can and hold him accountable when I must. And that’s exactly what I’ve done.

Here are just a few the ways in which I’ve kept my commitment:

WORKED TOGETHER

Since being sworn into office, President Trump has signed 11 of my bills into law.

I have met with President Trump at the White House twice to discuss Montana priorities and stronger border security. And I’ve invited President Trump to Montana several times.

As Ranking Member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, I helped usher President Trump’s VA Secretary nominee through the confirmation process — with a unanimous vote in the Senate — and have worked closely with the Administration to achieve bipartisan victories for Montana veterans.

Before President Trump was even sworn in, I introduced the Cleaning Up Washington’s Act to help fulfill Trump’s campaign promise to “drain the swamp.” I also launched the Senate Transparency Caucus and introduced two bills and a constitutional amendment aimed at getting special interests out of politics.

I have personally met with and voted for the majority of President Trump’s Cabinet — including Ben Carson, David Shulkin, John Kelly, Kirstjen Nielsen, and Ryan Zinke. I ultimately supported 65 percent of Trump’s nominees after soliciting input from thousands of Montanans.

HELD ACCOUNTABLE

After standing with the more than 8,500 parents, teachers, and students across Montana who contacted me about their opposition to Betsy DeVos’ nomination as Secretary of Education, I vowed to defend Montana’s public education system and I’ve done just that by fighting for the University of Montana’s Upward Bound Program, opposing new regulatory burdens on rural schools, and advancing legislation to help recruit and retain more teachers in Montana’s classrooms.

After seeking a strong commit from Interior Secretary Zinke to keep public lands in public hands, I have defended Montana against the Administration’s attempts to significantly increase the price of admissions at Glacier & Yellowstone National Parks, slash funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and roll back protections on the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument.

As part of my ongoing effort to increase access to quality health care across Montana, I aggressively defended against the Administration’s repeated attempts to raise health insurance rates, gut Medicaid, threaten folks with pre-existing conditions, kick thousands off their insurance plans and roll back health care coverage in rural America.

After holding numerous listening sessions with Montana veterans, I am demanding the VA implement the bills I’ve gotten signed into law, improve wait times, address workforce shortages and improve overall access to care.

I have relentlessly demanded answers from the Administration. My heated exchange with IHS Director Michael Weakhee went viral; I blasted EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt for wasting taxpayer money and neglecting Montana’s Superfund sites; and my grilling of Export Import Bank nominee Scott Garrett help lead to a bipartisan rejection of Garrett’s confirmation.

As a senior member of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, I successfully defended against the Administration’s proposed budget, which would have eliminated funding for the Essential Air Service, Amtrak’s Empire Builder Line, USDA’s Rural Water and Waste Disposal Program, and the Fort Keogh Research Laboratory in Miles City.

A Year of Working with the Trump Administration

WORKED TOGETHER

HELD ACCOUNTABLE

Written by Senator Jon Tester