Tester votes no on bill to end shutdown

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana has voted against a bipartisan agreement to re-open the federal government after a three-day shutdown.

He was the only “no” vote Monday among 10 incumbent Democrats facing re-election this year in states won by President Donald Trump in 2016.

Tester says the budget deal did not include funding for community health centers important to his rural state, nor did it add resources for border security.

Tester says that while pundits have focused on immigration, “this was always about Montana for me and I just won’t allow Washington to keep failing our state.”

The National Republican Senatorial Committee is blasting Tester for “engaging in political games with vital government funding” and says the two-term senator voted alongside the Senate’s most liberal Democrats.