Jon Tester Quotations

When you start pulling out infrastructure that's been there over 100 years, that's a negative direction to be heading.

Senator Burns should stand up to the big pharmaceutical companies and let Medicare negotiate drug prices to make them more affordable for our senior citizens. We need a program that works for seniors, not against them.

Montanans believe in the right to make a good life for their families. How they define a family should be their business and their business alone. I'm proud to support marriage equality because no one should be able to tell a Montanan or any American who they can love and who they can marry.

Building houses and mansion ranching is not ranching.

From the beginning, this hasn't passed the smell test. This smells like a barnyard that needs a cleanup. It's time to clean up Washington, D.C., and we should start with Conrad Burns.

Here in the West, our word is our bond and a promise and a handshake mean something. This is President Bush's second nomination to replace a Western justice with one from the East Coast. I think we need more Western common sense and ethics on the Supreme Court, not less.

There are simply too many reasons to doubt this nomination and not enough reasons to have faith in it.

It brings me back to reality. The combine doesn't care if you're a senator or not. It breaks down whenever it wants to break down.

I think corporations are a whole lot different than people. I mean, I don't know a corporation would be put in prison. I do know people would be put in prison.

I think if you're going to get anything done in the Senate, you have to be on the same sheet of music. If you don't get people on the same sheet of music it comes out pretty horrible.

Between the 2005 special session, harvest and holidays, I had a very busy fourth quarter. Like in any race, I plan to sprint to the finish and have a strong showing this spring.

As a policymaker, as a public servant, I come to Washington, D.C., and I make difficult decisions and I make difficult decisions every day. And sometimes those decisions upset people.

A well-trained workforce is critical to small-business success. What I hear from business is that it's hard to find help that meets their needs.

The minimum wage initiative speaks to whether we value work. Raising Montana's minimum wage to $6.15 an hour will allow more workers to support their families, more families to make ends meet and more Montanans to go to work instead of going on welfare. That saves taxpayers money.

I'm a farmer. I always will be a farmer. When I die, I'll be a farmer. It's something that I've wanted to do since I was 8 years old. I can tell you also that I see opportunity slipping away for our kids.

I play trumpet. And I took all the music courses in college, so I can also play the string instruments, keyboard, the brass and woodwinds - but only well enough to teach them. If you put a violin in front of me, you wouldn't say, 'My God, that guy can play.' It'd probably sound more like Jack Benny.

I don't know how the other senators see me. I hope they see me as a farmer. That's really what I am. But I don't think they see me on a tractor or fixing equipment. I hope they see me grounded, as somebody who has common sense.

You've got to have a good public education system so small-business owners, when they locate to an area, are confident their kids are getting the best education possible. I feel strongly about local control in school districts.

I take my vacation on the combine and tractor.

I really think that people's right to happiness shouldn't be dictated by some policymaker in Washington, D.C. I've come to know a lot of people that - sexual orientation is such where they're in love with people from the same sex, and I just don't think it's our role in the government to say, 'No you can't be married.

I will tell you, in the case of education, you have to make the investment if youre going to get the return. Theres no doubt about that. Its a proven fact the return is there if you make the investment. It really is about priorities.

I dont know how the other senators see me. I hope they see me as a farmer. Thats really what I am. But I dont think they see me on a tractor or fixing equipment. I hope they see me grounded, as somebody who has common sense.

I think there is some real therapy in getting your hands in the dirt and working with food.

Montanans elected me to the Senate to do away with shady backroom deals and to make government work better.

Im a farmer. I always will be a farmer. When I die, Ill be a farmer. Its something that Ive wanted to do since I was 8 years old. I can tell you also that I see opportunity slipping away for our kids.

I didnt get this physique by not eating tacos.

Montana's ranchers raise the best cattle in the world. If Taco Bell needs to beef up, they can give their customers the highest quality meat around by using Montana beef, and in the process, supporting agriculture jobs in Montana.

Youve got to have a good public education system so small-business owners, when they locate to an area, are confident their kids are getting the best education possible. I feel strongly about local control in school districts.

Healthcare is very much a high priority for me. Healthcare is also a huge issue for business, both big and small.

I have great faith in the people of Montana; they can't be bought.

I was helping my mom grind meat at our butcher shop, and it just hypnotized me. I don't remember sticking my hand in, but it sheared off the three middle fingers and left me with a pinkie and a thumb.

I don't want to weaken the Patriot Act. I want to repeal it.