Last Fall (October 2014), the annual MSU Billings poll showed that 74% of Montanans believed President Obama does not have the authority to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants.
http://www.msubillings.edu/urelations/releases/2014/poll_2014.pdf
Fast forward to February 2015, and Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) is standing with fellow Senate Democrats, refusing to halt President Obama’s illegal immigration actions. Further, Tester’s actions threaten to shut down the Department of Homeland Security.
And now, Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) is calling him out.
Breitbart.com has this exclusive- Rep. Ryan Zinke: Tester Abandoning Montana Values By Standing With Democrats In Favor Of Obama’s Executive Amnesty
Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT), a freshman congressman and retired Navy SEAL commander, is calling out his fellow Montanan, Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester for Tester’s role in helping Senate Democrats obstruct efforts to have a vote on the House-passed Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill.
Tester and all Senate Democrats have been blocking votes not just for cloture on the bill, but even on the motion to proceed—a rare and unusually bold tactic of obstruction—because they don’t like the fact that the House-passed bill blocks funding for President Barack Obama’s executive amnesty actions.
“I maintain a cordial relationship with Sen. Tester,” Zinke said. “I have coffee with him every Wednesday. But, there are some things are not negotiable. At the end of the day, I think you’re on high moral ground when you respect Montana and you respect the Constitution and you do your duty as a Senator. We need to put Americans’ and Montanans’ interests in the front seat, and politics in the back.”
So far, Tester has gotten a pass from the Montana media, even though his efforts could shut down the Department of Homeland Security. I imagine Tester will soon play the victim card, and claim that a fellow member of the delegation should not be criticizing him. All this, even though Tester, since day one in office, has not been shy about criticizing his fellow members of the Montana Congressional Delegation when it comes to his own pet projects like wilderness legislation.
Recently, Tester voted to delay action on the Keystone Pipeline once again. After Zinke called him out on it- the Senate finally took action on the Keystone pipeline. Maybe Zinke will get Tester to finally stand up for Montanans on illegal immigration now too…
MontanaMel
Monday, February 16, 2015 4:35 PM
Jon Tester went to Washington DC to eat at the public trough and to enlarge his personal fortunes.
He has aligned with those who have the deepest pockets and are willing to “wink” at other votes/positions as long as their core votes are “taken care of”.
We could do better with ‘ol Willy from down at the corner bar – between toots!
Our jobs in the forests and from Coal are going away at a high rate of speed – yet, Tester can’t be found when called upon to support Montana families and those needed jobs!