{"id":26448,"date":"2021-02-12T17:44:08","date_gmt":"2021-02-12T17:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2021\/02\/12\/sen-jon-tester-takes-defense-appropriations-gavel\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:19:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:19:04","slug":"sen-jon-tester-takes-defense-appropriations-gavel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2021\/02\/12\/sen-jon-tester-takes-defense-appropriations-gavel\/","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Jon Tester takes defense appropriations gavel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2015 Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester will chair the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, handing new clout over the defense budget to a state with nuclear weapons<\/a> interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tester, a political moderate and chairman of the Senate Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee, has served in the Senate since 2007. The move, announced Friday, gives Tester a powerful new platform to advocate for Montana\u2019s military installations, including at Malmstrom Air Force Base<\/a> in Great Falls, his office said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEnsuring our service members, our defense installations like Malmstrom, and intelligence agencies have the resources they need to protect us here at home and continue America\u2019s dominance on the world stage is a solemn responsibility that I take seriously\u201d Tester said in a statement Friday. \u201cI\u2019m ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work with Republicans and Democrats to defend our country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also elevates Tester in a brewing fight over the replacement for the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile, known as the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent<\/a>. The Air Force plans for the GBSD, being built by Northrop Grumman, to replace the Minuteman III at Malmstrom. And while progressives have pushed to cut the program<\/a>, Tester has been an advocate<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pentagon estimates it will cost $100 billion to build the weapon, which will be ready to use around 2029 \u2015 and arms control advocates are hopeful talks between the United States and Russia could lead to proposals to Congress to further reduce the U.S. nuclear arsenal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201dTester will have to contend with the reality that the massive cost to buy a new ICBM system will divert resources from other Air Force and Pentagon priorities,\u201d said the Arms Control Association\u2019s director for disarmament and threat reduction policy, Kingston Reif, adding: \u201cSustaining an ICBM force at less cost and in fewer numbers than currently planned is entirely consistent with maintaining a safe, secure, and credible U.S. nuclear deterrent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tester has been an advocate for nuclear modernization funding, the replacement of the Air Force\u2019s UH-1N Huey with the Boeing-made MH-139 Grey Wolf<\/a>, as well as the Lockheed Martin-made C-130, flown by the Montana Air National Guard \u2018s 120th Airlift Wing, stationed in Great Falls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Montana is a state with few parochial interests when it comes to defense. It ranks 47th in defense revenue by state, according to government data, and its largest defense contractor is the low-profile S&K Technologies, a global professional services company that\u2019s tribally owned and based in St. Ignatius.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s a marked shift from the chairmanship of Alabama Republican Sen. Richard Shelby<\/a>, whose state gets 7 percent of its gross domestic product from defense spending and is home to more than 300 aerospace and defense companies. Shelby will serve as the ranking member on the Appropriations committee, now chaired by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and the defense subpanel, opposite Tester.<\/p>\n\n\n\t