Tester Priorities to Support Veterans, Military Infrastructure, and Montana Farmers and Ranchers Clears Major Hu...

Key Tester provisions to deliver stronger support to Montana's veterans, servicemembers, and agricultural producers cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee as part of annual government funding bill

U.S. Senator Jon Tester joined his colleagues last week in unanimously passing the Fiscal Year 2025 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act and the Agriculture Appropriations Act through the Senate Appropriations Committee. As a senior member of the Committee, Tester secured critical funding and priorities in the government funding bill to improve health care and benefits for veterans, fund military projects at Malmstrom Air Force Base and across the globe to bolster our national security, and increase support for Montana's farmers and ranchers.

"Montanans sent me to Washington to stand up for our Montana way of life, and this bill takes key steps forward to doing that," said Tester. "I'm proud to have secured key provisions that will deliver targeted investments to honor the commitment we've made to our nation's veterans, support America's military, and invest in Montana farmers and ranchers. This is critically important for our national security and food security, and I will continue working with Republicans to make sure it gets signed into law."

Among the military-related provisions Tester successfully included for Malmstrom Air Force Base and America's military are:

• $19.31 billion for military construction projects and family housing, including:
  • $1.9 billion for family housing for servicemembers and their families; and
  • $272.8 million for construction at Malmstrom Air Force Base, including the Sentinel Control Facility and a Weapons Storage and Maintenance Facility.

Among the veterans provisions Tester successfully included are:

• $192.1 billion for Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) disability benefit payments to veterans and their survivors, includingPACT Act benefits for toxic-exposed veterans and survivors;
• $112.5 billion for VA medical care including:
  • $16.4 billion for expanding mental health, including under Tester's Hannon Actand hisSTRONG Veterans Act;
  • $5.7 billion for expanding telehealth, including under the telehealth access point grant program from Tester's Hannon Act;
  • $3.2 billion for programs to prevent and address veteran homelessness;
  • $2.9 billion for the Caregivers Program which supports veterans and family caregivers;
• $4 billion for the Veterans Benefits Administration to ensure it can continue to timely process of veterans' disability claims and reduce the claims backlog;
• $2.74 billion for VA construction and modernization of hospitals, medical clinics, benefits offices, and cemeteries;
• $301 million for VA's Office of Inspector General to conduct ongoing oversight and investigations of waste, fraud, and abuse;
• $150 million for the VA State Home Construction Grant Program;
• $65 million for grant funds to construct State Veterans Cemeteries;
• $29.5 million for VA's Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection to improve accountability at VA;
• Language to require VA to improve how it prioritizes construction projects to deliver for veterans;
• Language to improve oversight over emergency care spending and use; and
• Language to require VA to provide monthly updates on its staffing levels, goals, and number of positions removed in critical staffing categories. Tester has consistently pushed back on VA's on VA's "unjustifiable" efforts to cut staffing and called on the Department to reverse its decision to cut staffing at VA Montana.

Tester also secured language to prohibit VA from implementing its planned reimbursement rate change for air and ground ambulance transportation in Fiscal Year 2025. Tester has been leading the effort in Congress to push back on this reimbursement change and protect rural veterans' access to lifesaving emergency medical transportation services. The rate reductions could result in emergency transportation providers severely reducing services, closing bases, or even billing veterans for the remainder of their costs in order to shoulder the financial impacts of this change.

Among the agriculture and rural development provisions Tester successfully included are:

• Full funding for Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and Child Nutrition Programs;
• $33.6 million for enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards Act;
  • Notably, this bill does not include a rider to weaken the Packers and Stockyards Act or limit the Agency's rulemaking ability;
• Funding to support research and extension activities across Montana, including:
  • $3 million for the Barley Pest Initiative which supports public research into over 20 different major insect, viral, bacterial, and fungal threats to barley production;
  • $16 million for the Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative, supporting work at Sidney, MT's U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) research station;
  • $1 million for the Wheat Resiliency Initiative, which will support research into common wheat pests;
  • $3.5 million for the Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas (ATTRA), which is administered by the National Center for Appropriate Technologies (NCAT) and headquartered in Butte;
  • $2.5 million for Biochar research programs, which will study the role biochar can play in promoting soil health;
  • A $3 million increase for Agrivoltaics research, which will study the most effective way to use land for both energy production and agricultural uses;
  • $7.5 million for the Organic Transition Research Program, which supports research for organic agriculture and those wanting to transition to organic;
  • Created and secured $2 million for the Resilient Barley Initiative, to replicate the success of the Wheat Resiliency Initiative and support research into common Barley Pests;
  • $4 million for Alfalfa Forage and Research Program which will support breeding and utilization studies for the crop;
  • $38 million for McIntire-Stennis research program which supports programs through the University of Montana's College of Forestry and Conservation;
  • Funding for Research conducted at Montana State University's College of Agriculture, including;
    • $2.75 million for Healthy Soils in the Semi-Arid West research programs;
    • $3.5 million for Water Quality Management Systems research programs;
    • $3.5 million for Rangeland Precision Livestock Management programs;
• A $500,000 increase for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Rangeland Grasshopper and Mormon Cricket Suppression Program, and language encouraging the funding to be dispersed based on need and forecast severity, rather than first come first serve, making sure that Montana Producers have access to the tools they need to protect their crops;
• $153.5 million for Wildlife Services to support effective predator management programs;
• Language encouraging the Secretary of Agriculture to incentivize the use of Alfalfa in the Natural Resource Conservation Service programs due to its climate and soil benefits; and
• Language allowing for Technical Assistance Providers through the Meat and Poultry Processing Capacity - Technical Assistance Program to be able to provide technical assistance in processing wild game.