JON TESTER

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

I didn't get this physique by not eating tacos.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Building houses and mansion ranching is not ranching.

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.

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 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.

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'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.

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 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 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 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.

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

I take my vacation on the combine and tractor.

I don't know anyone who voted today [in the Senate] who knew what he was voting on.

Donald Trump was straight up. I mean, he told me what he thought of me, and that's cool. I might not like it, but at least he did it to my face. That's what Montanans like. They like people to be square with them.

I think all politicians have gotten out of touch.

I would love to tell you this country is on the cusp of coming together, but it isn't. But I can tell you that we need to work together in this country. We need to hold people accountable for their actions, and that will be done. And we need to move forward in a way that we have the strongest middle class ever.