Jon Tester: “every Senator in this body represents smalltown America. There are small towns across this country, from Connecticut, to…”

“every Senator in this body represents smalltown America. There are small towns across this country, from Connecticut, to Texas, to small towns in my State of Montana. In fact, I grew up and still live outside one of those small towns--a town by the name of Big Sandy, MT, which is home to 600 people. There are no stoplights. The high school has about 60 students. What makes America great is that we believe and we cherish the idea that whether a person grows up in a town such as Big Sandy or a town as big as New York City, a person gets a fair shot in life. That fair shot includes the basic freedoms we enjoy as Americans. It includes the right to a good education. It includes the right to high-quality, affordable health care no matter where we live. As a resident of Big Sandy and as a Senator from Montana, it is my job to not only represent the entirety of America but to point out when our Nation is not living up to its ideals when it comes to rural America. Right now Washington is tying the hands of rural hospitals and smalltown physicians and threatening the health care of Americans in all of rural America. The bill we are voting on tonight is a good and important bill. It prevents a 24-percent reimbursement cut to physicians under Medicare and TRICARE. Many folks don't realize that this bill affects retired military and National Guardsmen who have bought into TRICARE. This bill is critically important to them as well.…”