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Sen. Jon Tester

Senator for Montana

pronounced jon // TEST-er

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Tester is the senior senator from Montana as a Democrat. He has served since Jan 4, 2007. Tester is next up for reelection in 2024.

Photo of Sen. Jon Tester [D-MT]

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 Mar 14, 2019. See full analysis methodology.

Ratings from Advocacy Organizations

Committee Membership

Jon Tester sits on the following committees:

Enacted Legislation

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

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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 110th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Tester sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Armed Forces and National Security (37%) Native Americans (17%) Government Operations and Politics (13%) Education (11%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (7%) Health (7%) Taxation (7%)

Recent Bills

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

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Voting Record

Key Votes

Tester’s Vote Vote Description
Yea H.J.Res. 31: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019
Feb 14, 2019. Conference Report Agreed to 83/16.
This bill, in its final form, funded the parts of the federal government whose funding was to lapse on February 15, 2019. On December 22, 2018 the 115th Congress was unable to reach a deal to fund some federal agencies through fiscal year 2019 after ...
Yea H.R. 1892: Further Extension of Continuing Appropriations Act, 2018; Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2018, the SUSTAIN Care Act of 2018; Family First Prevention Services Act.; Honoring Hometown ...
Feb 9, 2018. Motion Agreed to 71/28.
This bill became the vehicle for passage of funding for the federal government through March 23, 2018, to avert a government shutdown that would have occurred on February 9, 2018 had this bill not been enacted. The bill was introduced as the Honoring Hometown Heroes ...
Nay S. 139: FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act of 2017
Jan 18, 2018. Motion Agreed to 65/34.
This bill became the vehicle for passage of the FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act of 2017. The bill would extend so-called "section 702" government surveillance under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The bill was originally introduced and passed the Senate in 2017 as the Rapid DNA ...
Nay On the Nomination PN371: Joan Louise Larsen, of Michigan, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Sixth Circuit
Nov 1, 2017. Nomination Confirmed 60/38.
Nay On the Nomination PN104: Courtney Elwood, of Virginia, to be General Counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency
Jun 6, 2017. Nomination Confirmed 67/33.
Nay H.J.Res. 43: Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the final rule submitted by Secretary of Health and Human Services relating ...
Mar 30, 2017. Joint Resolution Passed 51/50.
Joe Biden never got the opportunity to break a single 50-50 Senate tie in eight years as vice president. Mike Pence has already broken two. One from last month has since become law: a measure allowing states to withhold federal Planned Parenthood funding. (The other ...
Yea H.R. 5325: Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2017
Sep 28, 2016. Bill Passed 72/26.
The Continuing Appropriations and Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017, and Zika Response and Preparedness Act (H.R. 5325) is an appropriations bill which extended funding at the previous year's levels up to December 9, 2016 (10 weeks). After this, a continuing ...
Nay S. 754: Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015
Oct 27, 2015. Bill Passed 74/21.
After years of delay and false starts, Congress may finally be on the verge of passing a bill to address Internet data breaches and cybersecurity. The Senate is once again debating the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (S. 754), or CISA, and it appears to have ...
Yea H.J.Res. 124 (113th): Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2015
Sep 18, 2014. Joint Resolution Passed 78/22.
Nay H.R. 514 (112th): FISA Sunsets Extension Act of 2011
Feb 15, 2011. Bill Passed 86/12.
Nay H.R. 1424 (110th): Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007
Oct 1, 2008. Bill Passed 74/25.
This bill became the vehicle for passage of economic stimulus relief during the 2008 financial crisis as well as other unrelated provisions. It was the Senate's October 2008 plan, and it became law. The bill contains sections for: * Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 ...

Missed Votes

From Jan 2007 to Mar 2019, Tester missed 29 of 3,646 roll call votes, which is 0.8%. This is better than the median of 1.4% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

Show the numbers...

Primary Sources

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