Sen. Jon Tester

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2018 Report Card for Tester.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Tester is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the Senate positioned according to our liberal–conservative ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).

The chart is based on the bills Tester has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 2015 to Dec 5, 2019. See full analysis methodology.

Ratings from Advocacy Organizations

Committee Membership

Jon Tester sits on the following committees:

• Ranking Member, Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs
• Senate Committee on Appropriations
  • Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Department of Homeland Security
  • Member, Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies
  • Member, Subcommittee on Department of Defense
  • Member, Subcommittee on Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies
  • Member, Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development
  • Member, Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies
• Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
  • Member, Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection
  • Member, Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment
• Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
  • Member, Subcommittee on Aviation and Space
  • Member, Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet
• Senate Committee on Indian Affairs

Enacted Legislation

Tester was the primary sponsor of 16 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

• S. 60: Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act
• S. 2248 (115th): Veterans Benefits and Transition Act of 2018
• S. 501: East Rosebud Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
• S. 544: A bill to amend the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 to modify the termination date for the Veterans Choice Program, and for other purposes.
• S. 719 (114th): A bill to rename the Armed Forces Reserve Center in Great Falls, Montana, the Captain John E. Moran and Captain William Wylie Galt Armed Forces Reserve Center.
• S. 1580 (114th): Competitive Service Act of 2015
• S. 1125 (114th): Blackfeet Water Rights Settlement Act of 2015

View All »

Does 16 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.

We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110^th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Tester sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Armed Forces and National Security (36%) Native Americans (14%) Education (12%) Government Operations and Politics (12%) Health (8%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (8%) Taxation (8%)

Recent Bills

Some of Tester’s most recently sponsored bills include...

• S. 2988: A bill to address the financial exploitation of veterans receiving pension from the ...
• S. 2966: A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to make permanent the ...
• S.Res. 419: A resolution permitting the collection of clothing, toys, food, and housewares during the ...
• S. 2808: A bill to amend the Act of June 18, 1934, to reaffirm the ...
• S.Res. 397: A resolution celebrating the 25th anniversary of the passage of the Mike Mansfield ...
• S.Res. 391: A resolution reaffirming a strong commitment to the U.S. producers and American-made commodities.
• S. 2599: Seeding Rural Resilience Act

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Voting Record

Key Votes

Missed Votes

From Jan 2007 to Dec 2019, Tester missed 29 of 3,983 roll call votes, which is 0.7%. This is better than the median of 1.5% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses and major life events.

Show the numbers...

Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:

• unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
• The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
• GPO Member Guide for the photo
• GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills