President Signs Banking Bill Backed By Sen Tester

Montana Public Radio | By Eric Whitney

Published May 24, 2018 at 5:12 PM MDT

Sen. Jon Tester at a Senate Banking Committee hearing, May 15, 2018.

President Donald Trump signed a banking bill into law Thursday that Montana Senator Jon Tester played key roles in crafting and passing.

The bill rolls back some provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, that was passed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis in an effort to prevent something like that from happening again.

Tester, who sits on the Senate Banking Committee, has taken heat from fellow Democrats for supporting the legislation, but contends that it’s important because it reduces burdens on small, rural banks, which he says are disappearing.

In a video statement to the media, Tester says the bill the President signed Thursday, "Was built off of 4-5 years of negotiations, bi-partisan negotiations that I had with Democrats and Republicans on the Banking Committee. I was able to get this bill to the Senate floor because of those negotiations. A difficult compromise, but yet working in a bi-partisan way to move a bill forward that, while it protects consumers also allows our community banks and credit unions to do their job of growing the economy in rural America."

But President Trump didn’t invite Tester and other Democrats who shepherded the bill to the White House signing ceremony today. Instead, he invited Montana’s Republican Senator Steve Daines. Daines said it was, "great to join the President at the White House to finally takes steps to provide relief to our rural communities."

The President has been lashing out at Tester since the Senator brought forth anonymous allegations against Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Veterans Affairs in April.