Free Republic

At just 21 years old, Mallerie Stromswold had burned out from public service during her sophomore term in the Montana legislature. She says it boiled down to a few things — the high cost of housing and juggling school and work. But most of all, she felt a decline in her mental well-being. "When you're struggling with that, and then decide to throw on the challenges of serving," it becomes a lot, the young Republican says, "especially the way I chose to serve." Stromswold voted against her fellow Republicans' efforts to limit the rights of transgender Montanans and for a...

First elected to represent Montana in the Senate in 2007, Tester has attempted to mark his role in the upper chamber as a "tireless defender of rural America." His net worth is between $1,768,009 and $6,695,000, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) data from 2021. Additionally, Tester reported thousands of dollars worth of stock and other investments, as well as bank deposits, in the 2021 records. While his net worth is partially made up of the value of his farmland and associated assets he owns, Tester's campaign and leadership PAC have spent at least $1.2 million on restaurants and on...

When Democratic Sen. Jon Tester finally announced that he’s running for reelection from Montana, you could almost hear the collective sigh of relief from party leaders. The same dodged-bullet greeted Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown when he revealed: “I’m running in 2024,”

Some Democrats are pushing back on President Biden’s plan to buy oil from totalitarian governments like Venezuela, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. “We shouldn’t be advancing other countries who don’t share our values,” said Sen. Jon Tester last week. Tester is exactly right. But Biden is working hard to destroy all our domestic energy industries, and, unfortunately, Senator Jon Tester keeps supporting Biden’s radical nominees who are implementing these policies. Biden is using all the regulatory tools at his disposal to “debank” those industries he doesn’t like. That means he will force financial institutions not to do business with these companies....

Four Senate Republicans failed to show up to vote on an amendment that would have defunded President Biden’s remaining vaccine mandates, thus ensuring its failure. The Senate voted on Sen. Mike Lee’s (R-UT) amendment to the continuing resolution (CR), which would defund Biden’s remaining vaccine mandates. The measure failed 46-47, with Sens. Mitt Romney (R-UT), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Richard Burr (R-NC) failing to show up, depriving Senate Republicans a potential majority to pass the amendment to the CR. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) set the vote threshold to a majority, and it remains possible that...

Five Democratic senators have told the White House they won't support Saule Omarova to head the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, effectively killing her nomination for the powerful bank-regulator position.Why it matters: The defiant opposition from a broad coalition of senators reflects the real policy concerns they had with Omarova, a Cornell University law professor who's attracted controversy for her academic writings about hemming in big banks.Their opposition also hints at a willingness of some Democratic senators to buck the White House on an important nomination, even if it hands Republicans a political — and symbolic — victory.Republicans...

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has come out against a revenue scheme proposed by his party that would have allowed the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to gather information on the inflows and outflows of American citizens’ bank accounts. The measure initially came to light as a part of Democrats’ $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill. In an attempt to head off concerns from moderates, Democratic leaders and rank-and-file lawmakers have desperately marketed the bill as being completely paid for with no substantial effect on the deficit or national debt. The proposal was met with immediate backlash from Republicans and the private sector. House...

Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) got into argument on Wednesday during which the centrist West Virginia senator said he was willing to let go of all of President Biden's social spending plan, according to an Axios report that has been corroborated by multiple other senators who witnessed the spat. Fellow Democratic Sens. Jon Tester (Mont.) and Chris Coons (Del.), both of whom serve on the Senate Appropriations Committee and were both in the room when it happened, relayed details of the blowup to Axios. According to Tester, Sanders said, "Joe said, 'I'm comfortable with nothing.' ... We...

Senate Democrats have reached an agreement on a new set of federal voting rules again, but this time it is more worrisome for Republicans because a key Democrat is on board. In fact, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who has not been a fan of previous voting bills, spearheaded this effort along with Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and a group of cosponsors, NPR reported. The package is the latest attempt by Democrats to counteract Republican-led measures at the state level to restrict voting access and alter election administration. The new legislation, unveiled Tuesday morning by Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar...

President Biden has had little trouble getting even the most controversial nominees confirmed. Democrats have voted in unison, with only Neera Tanden, Biden’s pick to head his budget office, facing bipartisan opposition. But the White House is pulling out all the stops to push through David Chipman’s confirmation to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). And Democrats want the vote to take place this week. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki claims that the largely Republican opposition to Chipman “speaks volumes to their complete refusal to tackle this spike in crime we’ve seen over the last...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said his optimism on a bipartisan infrastructure bill was “short-lived” following President Joe Biden’s remarks that he would consider vetoing the bill if it doesn’t include a sweeping reconciliation package. His comments came shortly after Biden endorsed the bipartisan deal to spend $1.2 trillion over eight years before stating that “If only one comes to me, this is the only one that comes to me, I’m not signing it“ McConnell accused Biden of “caving” to the far left following the bipartisan breakthrough and offering mixed messaging on the matter.

President Joe Biden on Thursday announced a bipartisan infrastructure deal with moderate senate Republicans and Democrats after meeting with them briefly at the White House. “We had a really good meeting and to answer your direct question, we have a deal,” Biden announced, standing with the group of senators Biden met briefly with the group to seal his support for the deal after the White House announced a framework deal for a bipartisan agreement Wednesday evening. The president celebrated the bipartisan nature of the deal, even though he said it was not all of the proposed spending that he asked...

Eight Democratic senators joined Republicans in rejecting raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour over five years after it was proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), and Angus King (I-Vt.)—who caucuses with Democrats—opposed the measure, joining all Republicans in the upper chamber. Coons and Carper are considered two close allies of President Joe Biden, who was formerly a senator from Delaware. The final vote tally was 42–58, falling far short of the 60 votes needed to...

Tuesday on CNN’s “Newsroom,” Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) acknowledged President Joe Biden’s decision to halt the construction of the Keystone Pipeline XL was a mistake. Tester, a supporter of the pipeline, said he believes in climate change, but he does not think stopping the one pipeline is “going to turn our climate around.” Host Poppy Harlow asked Tester, “Do you believe it was … a mistake for the Biden administration to cancel the Keystone XL Pipeline on day one in office given the impacts of … 11,000 American jobs? Do you think it was a mistake?” “[L]ook, I’ve been a...

A key Senate committee is vowing to press forward with its investigation targeting former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter, despite logistical challenges posed by the global coronavirus pandemic. The probe, which Democrats vigorously oppose, has fueled tension among the Senate’s ranks, even breaking out into a rare and previously unreported verbal altercation between senators during a classified briefing. **SNIP** Democrats have said the investigation targeting Hunter Biden threatens the integrity of the 2020 election and undermines U.S. national security, saying it could aid Russian intelligence. The briefing also featured several back-and-forth interactions between senators, which is highly unusual for...

The rate of farmer suicide has been on the rise across the United States and Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) recently introduced the Seeding Rural Resilience Act to curb it. The senators want to spread awareness about mental health on the farm. “Our bipartisan bill would empower people who are in a position to identify farmers who need help to get them help,” said Grassley in an op-ed on his website on Dec. 26. The Iowa lawmaker said farming is full of uncertainties as it is at the “mercy of Mother Nature” and leads to sleepless nights...

Just when we were looking for a sign from Attorney General Barr that he was in fact the ‘real deal’ and not going to shrink away from his obligations to rout out corruption and treason, especially in the highest offices in our land, he delivers. As The Gateway Pundit pointed out, you will not see this on the Operation Mockingbird media. Trending: Cameras Finally Catch Nancy Completely Lose It, Begging The Question: What Is Wrong With Nancy, Why Can’t She Talk? It turns out the a gigantic, multi-million dollars campaign funding scandal for Democrat just got blown sky high by...

MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — A Montana man charged with assaulting a 13-year-old boy who refused to remove his hat during the national anthem believed he was doing what President Donald Trump wanted him to do, his attorney said. Attorney Lance Jasper told the Missoulian he will seek a mental health evaluation for Curt Brockway, a U.S. Army veteran who became caught up in the heightened animosity and rhetoric gripping the nation, and convinced himself that he was following the president's orders. "His commander in chief is telling people that if they kneel, they should be fired, or if they burn...

Montana Senator Jon Tester and President Trump don’t have a good relationship, as we know from when Tester’s mission was to destroy Rear Admiral Jackson’s nomination as Surgeon General. President Trump went on to strongly support Montana’s Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate seat occupied by Tester in 2018. That was to be expected, given that the president is the top Republican in the land. Trump’s verbal digs at Tester, though, got the best of the flat-top coiffed Montanan. Now Tester is downright aggressively hostile toward President Trump, as he proved during his appearance on a morning talk show. Tester...

The senators who are most likely to reject President Trump's nominees are the very ones who want to challenge him in 2020. The Hill's review of two-and-a-half years of vote totals shows Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) voted against more Trump nominees than any other senator. At the same time, Republicans voted virtually in lock step for Trump's nominees; the average GOP senator backed 99 percent of his picks, and the one who went rogue most often -- Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) -- still voted to confirm 93 percent of his nominees. Trump's picks...