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![Official portrait of Sen. Tester, Jon [D-MT]](https://www.congress.gov/img/member/t000464_200.jpg)
United States · Official source
3,396 records where Sen. Tester, Jon [D-MT] is listed as a sponsor, author, or other actor. Search with topics and years
United States · United States Congress · 12 February 2018
Designates May 5, 2018, as the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls.
United States · United States Congress · 12 February 2018
National Guard and Reserves Benefits Parity Act This bill makes reserve component members who are deployed to support pre-planned operations of a combatant command eligible for: (1) non-reduction in pay while serving in the uniformed services or National Guard, (2) consideration of active duty service to reduce the age for retired pay , and (3) the high-deployment allowance for lengthy or numerous deployments and frequent mobilizations.
United States · United States Congress · 9 February 2018
Designates the week beginning on February 11, 2018, as National Tribal Colleges and Universities Week.
United States · United States Congress · 8 February 2018
Advancing Cutting Edge Research Act or the ACE Research Act This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to expand the National Institutes of Health's unique research initiatives to include cutting-edge research that: (1) fosters scientific creativity and increases fundamental biological understanding leading to the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of diseases and disorders; or (2) is urgently required to respond to a public health threat. (Unique research initiatives may be supported through transactions other than contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements.)
United States · United States Congress · 6 February 2018
Military Spouse Employment Act of 2018 This bill expands authorities, programs, services, and benefits for military spouses and their families. Specifically, the bill: expands the authority for noncompetitive appointments of military spouses by federal agencies to include spouses of active duty military personnel or disabled or deceased personnel, requires the Department of Defense (DOD) to ensure that military spouses are aware of the My Career Advancement Account program and their eligibility to participate in it, facilitates child care services for military families, expands the period of availability of the Military OneSource Program for retired and discharged members of the Armed Forces and their immediate families, and provides transition assistance for military spouses. DOD must report to Congress on: methods to increase its participation in defense contracts that provide employment for military spouses; public-private partnerships to support and enhance the health, safety, welfare, and morale of military families; small businesses activities of military spouses on military installations; and an assessment of the effects of frequent changes of duty stations on employment stability of military spouses.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 2018
Stopping Improper Payments to Deceased People Act This bill requires the Social Security Administration (SSA) to pay to states their reasonable costs for compiling and sharing records of deaths with the SSA. Under current law, the SSA is not required to pay the states but may choose to do so. The SSA may share the death data with federal and state agencies for various purposes. Such purposes include ensuring proper payments of benefits and tax administration duties. The Office of Management and Budget shall develop a plan to help federal and state agencies and Indian tribes use the death data.
United States · United States Congress · 5 February 2018
Veterans Cemetery Benefit Correction Act This bill requires the Department of the Interior to provide outer burial receptacles for veterans' remains buried in open cemeteries administered by the National Park Service. The use of outer burial receptacles in such cemeteries shall be in accordance with regulations or procedures approved by Interior.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 2018
Accountability in Department of Veterans Affairs Scheduling and Consult Management Act This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to evaluate and monitor its processes of making health care appointments and scheduling at both VA facilities and non-VA facilities. The Government Accountability Office shall review such VA compliance and data veracity.
United States · United States Congress · 30 January 2018
Stronger Medical Workforce for Veterans Act This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to develop criteria to designate VA medical centers, ambulatory care facilities, and community based outpatient clinics as underserved facilities. The VA must commence a pilot program to assess the feasibility of providing individuals with tuition and loan repayment incentives to work at underserved facilities. The VA must also ensure that clinical staff working at Vet Centers (community-based counseling centers that provide veterans with post-deployment social and psychological services) are eligible to participate in the VA education debt reduction program. The bill directs the VA and the Surgeon General to enter into a memorandum of understanding to assign at least 500 Public Health Service commissioned officers to the VA.
United States · United States Congress · 25 January 2018
Precision Agriculture Connectivity Act of 2018 This bill requires the Federal Communications Commission to establish the Task Force for Meeting Connectivity and Technology Needs of Precision Agriculture in the United States. The task force's duties include: (1) identifying and measuring current gaps in broadband Internet access service coverage of cropland and ranchland; (2) assembling a comprehensive guide of all federal programs and resources working to expand broadband Internet access service on unserved cropland and ranchland; and (3) developing policy recommendations to promote the rapid, expanded deployment of fixed and mobile broadband Internet access service on unserved cropland and ranchland.
United States · United States Congress · 25 January 2018
Veteran Debt Fairness Act of 2018 This bill limits the authority of the Department of Veterans Affairs to recover overpayments of benefits from veterans.
United States · United States Congress · 25 January 2018
Border Patrol Agent Pay Reform Technical Amendments Act of 2018 This bill makes changes to how the pay for border patrol agents is calculated.
United States · United States Congress · 24 January 2018
Supporting Veteran Families Act of 2018 This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to carry out a pilot program with community partners to assess the feasibility of providing intensive community care coordination and supportive services to veteran families who lack adequate access to VA services or to services provided by federal, state, or local government.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 2018
Pay Our Military Act of 2018 This bill provides FY2018 appropriations for military pay and death benefits during any period in which interim or full-year appropriations for FY2018 are not in effect. In the event of a government shutdown, the bill provides continuing appropriations for: pay and allowances to members of the Armed Forces, including reserve components, who perform active service (including drill) during the period; payments of death benefits for individuals who die during the period; and pay and allowances to civilian personnel or contractors of the Department of Defense (and the Department of Homeland Security in the case of the Coast Guard) who are providing support to members of the Armed Forces and payments in connection with death benefits. The appropriations provided by this bill are available until the earlier of: (1) the enactment into law of specified appropriations legislation, or (2) September 30, 2018.
United States · United States Congress · 19 January 2018
No Government No Pay Act of 2018 This bill prohibits Members of Congress from being paid during a government shutdown, beginning with the 116th Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 18 January 2018
Small Business Credit Availability Act This bill amends the Investment Company Act of 1940 to reduce the required asset-coverage ratio applicable to a Business Development Company (BDC) from 200% to 150% if: (1) the BDC makes specified disclosures on its website and to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); and (2) the modified asset-coverage ratio is approved by the required majority of the BDC's directors, general partners, or shareholders (as applicable). The SEC must allow BDCs to use securities offering and proxy rules that are available to other issuers.
United States · United States Congress · 17 January 2018
Border and Port Security Act This bill requires U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to increase the number of field operations officers to specified levels. If the CBP does not adequately increase personnel, the Government Accountability Office must report on CBP hiring practices. The CBP must report on infrastructure and equipment needed to prevent the illegal transportation of opioids and other drugs through U.S. ports of entry.
United States · United States Congress · 16 January 2018
Defending Elections from Threats by Establishing Redlines Act of 2018 This bill requires the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), no more than 30 days after a U.S. election, to determine whether a foreign government interfered with the election and report on that determination. If the DNI reports that there was not interference and subsequently determines that there was interference, the DNI shall report on the subsequent determination. If the DNI determines that Russia interfered with an election, the President shall impose specified sanctions. The President shall brief Congress on any foreign government the President determines interfered with, or is likely to interfere with, an election.
United States · United States Congress · 16 January 2018
Trade Transparency and Public Input Act of 2018 This bill amends the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015 to require the President, at least 30 days before initiating trade negotiations with a country, to publish on a publicly available website of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) an easily accessible portal that allows the public to electronically submit comments on the negotiations. The USTR shall also issue a request for comments through notice in the Federal Register.
United States · United States Congress · 11 January 2018
Protecting Veterans from Predatory Lending Act of 2018 The bill establishes mortgage loan protections for veterans. A refinanced home loan may not be guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) unless: (1) a specified minimum time period has passed between the original loan and the refinancing; and (2) the lender complies with provisions related to fee recoupment, mortgage interest rates, and net tangible benefit tests. The National Housing Act is amended to prohibit the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) from guaranteeing a new refinanced VA loan until the later of: (1) 210 days after the first loan payment, or (2) the sixth monthly loan payment.
United States · United States Congress · 21 December 2017
Museum and Library Services Act of 2017 This bill amends and reauthorizes through FY2023 the Museum and Library Services Act and provides funding for library services and technology through FY2023. The bill expands the definition of "library" and "museum" to include a tribal library or museum and expands the services museums are authorized to provide. The Institute of Museum and Library Services, under the 21st Century Museum Professional Program established by this bill, may enter into arrangements with museum, museum consortia and associations, institutions of higher education, and other entities for projects to: increase the number of students from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds enrolled in graduate and undergraduate museum-related programs; recruit future museum professionals from such backgrounds; develop new or enhance current professional development and retention programs for museum professionals and the museum workforce; and support and conduct research, needs assessments, pilot programs, and evaluation of education and professional development programs to recruit, prepare, educate, and retain the next generation of museum professionals.
United States · United States Congress · 21 December 2017
Opioids and STOP Pain Initiative Act This bill establishes and provides funds for the Opioids and STOP Pain Initiative at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support pain-related research, including: understanding pain, therapies for chronic pain, and alternatives to opioids for pain treatment as directed in the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016; improving options and evidence for medication-assisted treatment and opioid overdose reversal treatments; and supporting the Federal Pain Research Strategy. NIH must establish the Pain Therapy Screening Program to award grants to support the development of new pre-clinical models for pain disorders, and the application of these models in drug, device, or other therapy screening.
United States · United States Congress · 19 December 2017
This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), upon request, to provide headstones and markers for: (1) the unmarked graves of veterans' spouses, surviving spouses, and children (including unmarried adult children at the VA's discretion) who are buried in a veterans cemetery owned by a tribal organization or on land owned by or held in trust for a tribal organization; and (2) placement in a veterans cemetery owned by a tribal organization or on tribal land owned by or held in trust by a tribal organization for veterans, spouses, surviving spouses, and eligible dependent children whose remains are unavailable.
United States · United States Congress · 19 December 2017
Chronic Wasting Disease Support for States Act This bill amends the Animal Health Protection Act to require the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to support state and tribal efforts in developing and implementing management strategies to address chronic wasting disease. The transmissible disease afflicts deer, elk, and moose populations. In addition, USDA must make grants to research centers to support efforts to expand and accelerate applied research on the disease. Land management agencies of the USDA and the Department of the Interior must work cooperatively with states in researching the disease and implementing state management strategies to reduce the spread and prevalence of the disease.
United States · United States Congress · 19 December 2017
This bill limits those eligible for Department of Veterans Affairs-provided memorial headstones and markers for eligible spouses and dependent children of veterans whose remains are unavailable to a veteran's spouse, surviving spouse, or eligible dependent child who dies on or after November 11, 1998.
United States · United States Congress · 7 December 2017
Volunteer First Responder Loan Forgiveness Act This bill amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to make certain volunteer first responders eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program under the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program.
United States · United States Congress · 4 December 2017
FLTFA Reauthorization Act This bill amends the Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act (FLTFA) to reauthorize and make permanent the program for the completion of appraisals and satisfaction of other legal requirements for the sale or exchange of public land identified for disposal in approved land use plans under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976. The bill makes the FLTFA inapplicable to land eligible for sale under specified public land laws.
United States · United States Congress · 16 November 2017
Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act This bill amends the Truth in Lending Act to allow institutions with less than $10 billion in assets to waive ability-to-repay requirements for certain residential-mortgage loans. Other mortgage-lending provisions related to appraisals, mortgage data, employment of loan originators, manufactured homes, and transaction waiting periods are also modified. The bill amends the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 to exempt banks with assets valued at less than $10 billion from the "Volcker Rule," which prohibits banking agencies from engaging in proprietary trading or entering into certain relationships with hedge funds and private-equity funds. Certain banks are also exempted by the bill from specified capital and leverage ratios, with federal banking agencies directed to promulgate new requirements. The bill amends the United States Housing Act of 1937 to reduce inspection requirements and environmental-review requirements for certain smaller, rural public-housing agencies. Provisions relating to enhanced prudential regulation for financial institutions are modified, including those related to stress testing, leverage requirements, and the use of municipal bonds for purposes of meeting liquidity requirements. The bill requires credit reporting agencies to provide credit-freeze alerts and includes consumer-credit provisions related to senior citizens, minors, and veterans.
United States · United States Congress · 16 November 2017
Urban Indian Health Parity Act This bill applies a Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (i.e., the federal matching rate under Medicaid) of 100% with respect to amounts expended as medical assistance for services received through an Urban Indian organization under a grant or contract with the Indian Health Service.
United States · United States Congress · 16 November 2017
This bill amends the Military Construction Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 to increase the number of acres of public lands in the Limestone Hills Training Area in Broadwater County, Montana, which are withdrawn and reserved for defense-related activities.
United States · United States Congress · 16 November 2017
Accessible Instructional Materials in Higher Education Act or the AIM HIGH Act This bill provides for an independent commission to develop and issue voluntary accessibility guidelines for postsecondary electronic instructional materials, including to ensure students with disabilities are afforded the same educational benefits provided to nondisabled students.
United States · United States Congress · 15 November 2017
Andrew White Veterans Community Care Opioid Safety Act This bill establishes a process to ensure safe opioid prescribing practices by non-Department of Veterans Affairs providers.
United States · United States Congress · 15 November 2017
VA Newborn Emergency Treatment Act This bill authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs to cover the costs of medically-necessary emergency transportation services for newborn babies of certain women veterans.
United States · United States Congress · 15 November 2017
Outdoor Economy Act This bill establishes the Outdoor Recreation Advisory Committee within the Department of the Interior to study and develop recommendations relating to increasing public access to public land, addressing maintenance needs, reducing barriers to service opportunities on public land, strengthening the outdoor recreation economy, and increasing responsible recreation on public land.
United States · United States Congress · 15 November 2017
This bill establishes: (1) in the Office of Management and Budget, the Federal Geographic Data Committee (the committee), which shall be the lead entity in the executive branch for the development, implementation, and review of policies, practices, and standards relating to geospatial data; and (2) in the Department of the Interior, the National Geospatial Advisory Committee to provide advice and recommendations to the committee. The National Spatial Data Infrastructure (as defined in this bill) shall ensure that geospatial data from multiple sources is available and easily integrated to enhance the understanding of the physical and cultural world. The committee shall: (1) prepare a strategic plan for the implementation of the infrastructure consistent with national security, national defense, and emergency preparedness program policies regarding data accessibility; and (2) designate, and establish standards for, National Geospatial Data Asset core geospatial datasets for primary topics for which the coordinated development, maintenance, and dissemination of geospatial data will benefit the government and people of the United States. The committee shall operate GeoPlatform, an electronic service that provides access to geospatial data and metadata for geospatial data. Agencies whose functions involve geospatial data shall implement a strategy for advancing geographic information and related geospatial data activities appropriate to that agency's mission in support of the strategic plan for the infrastructure. Such agencies shall disclose each contract, cooperative agreement, grant, or other transaction that deals with geospatial data. Five years after enactment of this bill, federal funding shall not be made available for the collection, production, acquisition, maintenance, or dissemination of geospatial data that does not comply with applicable standards established by the committee.
United States · United States Congress · 15 November 2017
Authorizes a Senator, officer, or employee of the Senate to: (1) collect from another such individual, within Senate buildings, nonmonetary donations of clothing, toys, food, and housewares for charitable purposes related to serving persons in need or members of the Armed Forces and the families of those members during the holiday season, if the charitable purposes do not otherwise violate any rule or regulation of the Senate or of federal law; and (2) work with a nonprofit organization with respect to the delivery of such donations.
United States · United States Congress · 9 November 2017
Commemorates the 75th anniversary of the loss of the San Antonio Rose and honors the memory of its crew.
United States · United States Congress · 9 November 2017
Military and Veterans Education Protection Act This bill amends title IV (Student Assistance) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to revise a requirement, commonly known as the 90/10 rule, which directs proprietary (for profit) institutions of higher education to derive at least 10% of their revenue from nonfederal financial aid sources, or risk becoming ineligible for title IV funding. Currently the rule allows federal educational assistance for military personnel and veterans to count toward the 10%. This bill defines federal educational assistance to include federal educational assistance for military personnel and veterans. Thus, the bill prohibits proprietary institutions from counting federal educational assistance for military personnel and veterans as nonfederal funding sources.
United States · United States Congress · 9 November 2017
Declares that the Senate joins the Small Business Administration in recognizing and encouraging the observance of Small Business Saturday on November 25, 2017. Supports efforts to: (1) encourage consumers to shop locally, and (2) increase awareness of the value of locally owned small businesses and the impact of such businesses on the U.S. economy.
United States · United States Congress · 8 November 2017
USS Indianapolis Congressional Gold Medal Act This bill requires the House of Representatives and the Senate to make appropriate arrangements for the award, on behalf of Congress, of a single gold medal of appropriate design to the crew of the USS Indianapolis , in recognition of their perseverance, bravery, and service to the United States. Following the award of the gold medal, it shall be given to the Indiana War Memorial Museum in Indianapolis, Indiana, where it will be displayed and made available for research. It is the sense of Congress that the Indiana War Memorial Museum should make the gold medal available for display elsewhere, particularly at other locations and events associated with the USS Indianapolis.
United States · United States Congress · 8 November 2017
This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to ensure that if it creates a presumption of service connection between the occurrence of a disease and exposure to a herbicide agent while serving in the Armed Forces during the Vietnam era at a military base in Thailand, such presumption shall also apply to exposure to a herbicide agent while serving in the Armed Forces during the Vietnam era at any military base in Thailand without regard to where on the base the veteran was located or what military job specialty the veteran performed. The VA may provide to any spina bifida-affected child of a veteran who served on active duty in Thailand beginning on January 9, 1962, and ending on May 7, 1975, and who was exposed to a herbicide agent during such service, the same health care, vocational training and rehabilitation, and monetary allowance required to be paid to a similarly affected child of a Vietnam veteran.
United States · United States Congress · 8 November 2017
State Veterans Home Program Improvement Act of 2017 This bill sets forth provisions regarding how states can use funds paid by the Veterans Administration for the treatment of veterans at a state home.
United States · United States Congress · 6 November 2017
Building Our Largest Dementia Infrastructure for Alzheimer's Act or the BOLD Infrastructure for Alzheimer's Act This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to award cooperative agreements: (1) for the establishment or support of national or regional centers of excellence in public health practice in Alzheimer's disease; (2) to state public health departments, Native American tribes, and other entities to promote cognitive functioning, address cognitive impairment and unique aspects of Alzheimer's disease, and help meet the needs of caregivers; (3) for analysis and public reporting of data on the state and national levels regarding cognitive decline, caregiving, and health disparities, and monitoring of objectives on dementia and caregiving in the Department of Health and Human Services' Healthy People 2020 report.
United States · United States Congress · 2 November 2017
Alan Reinstein Ban Asbestos Now Act of 2017 This bill amends the Toxic Substances Control Act to require the Environmental Protection Agency to: (1) identify and assess the importation, sale, and uses of, and exposures to, asbestos; and (2) impose requirements that permanently eliminate the possibility of human or environmental exposure to asbestos. The bill allows the President to exempt any use of asbestos from the requirements if: (1) the use is necessary to protect national security interests, (2) no reasonable alternative to the asbestos use exists for the intended purpose, and (3) the use of asbestos will not result in an unreasonable risk to health or the environment.
United States · United States Congress · 2 November 2017
Veterans' Electronic Health Record Modernization Oversight Act of 2017 This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to submit to Congress: (1) certain documents concerning the Electronic Health Record Modernization Program; (2) quarterly updates of certain documents until the program is completed; (3) a copy of any contract, order, or agreement under the program within 5 days after it is awarded; and (4) a notice within 10 days after the occurrence of specified events regarding the program, including milestone delays, change requests, protest submissions, data losses, or breaches of patient privacy. The Electronic Health Record Modernization Program means VA activities, contracts, or agreements to procure or implement an electronic health or medical record system to replace any or all of the Veterans Information Systems and Technology Architecture, the Computerized Patient Record System, the Joint Legacy Viewer, or the Enterprise Health Management Platform.
United States · United States Congress · 31 October 2017
Fairness for Korean DMZ Veterans Act of 2017 This bill provides a presumption of herbicide exposure as the service-connected cause of certain diseases notwithstanding that there is no evidentiary record of any such disease during a veteran's service period. The bill defines a "veteran" for purposes of this bill as an individual who, during active military, naval, or air service, served in or near the Korean demilitarized zone during the period beginning on September 1, 1967, and ending on August 31, 1971. The bill specifies such a disease as: (1) a listed disease that becomes manifest, or (2) any additional disease that the Department of Veterans Affairs determines warrants a presumption of service-connection by reason of a positive association with herbicide exposure and that manifests itself within a prescribed period.
United States · United States Congress · 31 October 2017
Recognizes November 2017 as National Native American Heritage Month and the Friday after Thanksgiving as Native American Heritage Day.
United States · United States Congress · 31 October 2017
Designates November 4, 2017, as National Bison Day.
United States · United States Congress · 25 October 2017
Designates October 26, 2017, as Day of the Deployed in honor of the deployed members of the armed forces and their families.
United States · United States Congress · 24 October 2017
Uniting and Strengthening America by Reforming and Improving the Government's High-Tech Surveillance Act of 2017 or the USA RIGHTS Act of 2017 This bill amends the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to: require a warrant to collect communications of or about a U.S. person or a person inside the United States; require a warrant when a significant purpose of targeting foreigners is to collect communications of persons in the United States; prohibit the use of communications to or from, or information about, U.S. persons or persons in the United States in any criminal, civil, or administrative proceeding or investigation, with the exception of national security-related crimes; allow individuals who have a reasonable basis to believe their communications will be acquired and who have taken reasonable steps to avoid surveillance to challenge the constitutionality of surveillance in court; and require that all forms of technical assistance demanded by the government of electronic communications service providers be approved by a FISA court. The bill expands the mandate of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board to include review of all foreign intelligence activities and whistle-blower complaints. The bill extends the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 to September 30, 2021.