Tester needs to stand up for Montana jobs

Despite historic victories for Republicans in Montana last November, Democrats control the White House, the U.S. Senate, and the U.S. House for the first time since 2008, and their party platform is leaving Montanans, especially working-class, blue-collar folks, behind.

But as a whole, Montana’s Congressional delegation did not change all that much. Having influence from both political parties in a closely divided House and the first 50-50 Senate since 2000 could elevate the voice of rural states like ours. After President Biden’s calls for unity, this type of elevation seemed to be a real possibility.

But Montanans were met with a brutal reality when promises of “unity” fell flat. Within hours of assuming the presidency, the Biden Administration immediately issued dozens of executive orders that directly undermine Montana’s best interests. On Day 1, Joe Biden re-entered the Paris-Climate Accord, a job-killing agreement that harms American workers and fails to hold the world’s largest polluters like China accountable; and revoked the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, costing Montana thousands of jobs, tens of millions of dollars in yearly tax revenue, and hurt our trade relationship with our neighbor to the north with just the stroke of a pen.

Since then, things have only gotten worse. Rep. Deb Haaland’s nomination for Secretary of Interior ensures the Biden Administration will be in lockstep with the radical left and the job-killing Green New Deal. Additionally, President Biden issued a ban on all new oil and gas leasing on federal lands. As Montanans, we know this will only lead to lost jobs, higher energy costs, and fewer tax dollars to fund our schools and communities.

The Biden administration’s first actions have not only thrown a wrench into the “unity” narrative, but they have also created a backlash by pitting radical environmentalists against average Americans concerned about good-paying jobs. Thankfully, our elected leaders have been quick to respond.

Senator Steve Daines introduced legislation to authorize the Keystone XL Pipeline and address the “Biden Ban” on American Energy from new leases on Federal land. Congressman Matt Rosendale introduced similar legislation and is actively pushing back against President Biden’s anti-jobs agenda. Our state’s newly elected Attorney General Austin Knudsen led a letter to President Biden with 13 other Attorney’s General criticizing the administration for revoking the permit for Keystone XL which “will result in devastating damage to many of our states and local communities.”

More recently, even West Virginia Democrat Senator Joe Manchin, the newly appointed Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, urged the leader of his own party to reverse course on Keystone XL since pipelines are a tremendous source of good-paying union jobs and the safest mode of transportation for our oil and natural gas resources. Senator Manchin’s comments reflect similar statements made by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka criticizing President Biden’s decision to eliminate thousands of union jobs to the detriment of AFL-CIO’s membership.

This now begs the question, what about Senator Tester? When faced with his first opportunity to side with Montanans on a vote to authorize the Keystone XL pipeline construction in the reconciliation package before the U.S. Senate, Tester voted in favor of the amendment to ensure its inclusion in the final product. Yet just hours later, Senator Tester was the deciding vote to strip the amendment from the final product, effectively killing any opportunity to move forward legislation authorizing Keystone XL’s construction.

Despite his best efforts to muddy the waters, Senator Tester’s flip-flop should be a wake-up call for the hardworking Montanans that believe our senior Senator is willing to go to the mat to protect Montana jobs and stand up against President Biden’s radical job-killing agenda. Unfortunately, right now, a Democrat from West Virginia is doing more to help Montana’s blue-collar workers than Senator Tester. This should be a real concern from all Montanans.

Given recent actions, we will be watching Senator Tester’s decisions closely in hopes that he didn’t trade in his boots for flip-flops in Biden’s America, and that he will stand up for Montana jobs regardless of who is in the White House.

Rick Mathes and his wife Amber are residents of Billings. Rick works in the oil industry.

UPDATE: On March 6, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester joined as a co-sponsor of Sen. Steve Daines' legislation in support of the Keystone XL. This op-ed was submitted before Tester joined as a co-sponsor.