Tester called the Iraq war an “open-ended conflict” that is now costing Americans $2 billion a week, in addition to the more than 3,000 Americans who have died, including 14 Montanans.
In remarks to reporters after the speech, Tester said President Bush's plan to put another 20,000-plus troops in Iraq is wrong. America needs to look at diplomacy to quell the violence in Iraq; another 20,000-plus soldiers aren't enough solve problems in Iraq anyway, he said.
In his speech, delivered just down the hall from the Montana Senate, where Tester began his political career, he also stressed ethics reform.
Tester backs a bill that would “ban gifts and travel paid for by special-interest lobbyists, require lobbyists to be forthcoming about their activities and stop the ‘revolving door' where former members of Congress walk out of the nation's Capitol and into the office of a big, corporate law firm as millionaire lobbyists.”
Tester said afterward that the remark was not directed at ex-Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., who announced last week he was taking a job with a Washington, D.C., lobbying firm started by his former chief of staff.
Tester narrowly defeated Burns, a three-term incumbent, in a bitterly contested race in which lobbying, particularly Burns' ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, played a central role.
“Generally, (lawmakers turning lobbyists) happens way too much,” Tester told reporters, adding that while he wasn't entirely pleased with the federal lobbying bill now up for debate, it's a “heck of a lot better than where we were last year.”
Tester said fixing the nation's health-care system is his No. 1 domestic challenge. He said in his speech that Montana could serve as a model for the rest of the nation, listing several measures that came out of the Democratic-controlled 2005 Legislature, in which Tester served as Senate president.
He said Congress must also address the national debt, which “saddles each and every American with a $30,000 debt, debt that will be repaid by our kids and grandkids.”
He also urged lawmakers to pass a bill creating all-day kindergarten, a priority for Gov. Brian Schweitzer and other Democrats that is expected to hit opposition in the Republican-controlled House.
Tester said lawmakers should work together, regardless of party, as “that which unites us is far greater than that which divides us.”
The speech marked Tester's first major Montana address since he was elected to the U.S. Senate in November. Democratic lawmakers and supporters erupted into whoops and hollers at several points in the speech, while Republicans politely clapped and welcomed the newly minted senator.
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