Ten Years After Leading Sweeping Ethics Reform, Tester Still Sets Standard for Transparency, Ethics, and Accountability

On Key Anniversary, Senator Doubles Down on Cleaning Up Washington

(U.S. Senate)-U.S. Senator Jon Tester is celebrating the ten-year anniversary of his vote to clean up Washington, D.C., crack down on perks and ban lobbyist gifts to members of Congress.

Tester helped pass sweeping ethics reform legislation that changed how Washington operated, and ten years later, he continues to set the standard for transparency, ethics, and accountability in the nation’s Capital.

“We have taken major steps to shed more light on the dark corners of government and rid the halls of the Congress from special interests,” Tester said. “If we truly want to raise ethics and increase transparency in Washington, it starts with elected leaders holding themselves accountable to the folks they represent. As Montana’s senator, I am fully committed to cleaning up Washington.”

The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 banned gifts from lobbyists, limited the “revolving-door” of lawmakers and their former-staff-turned-lobbyists, and strengthened the public disclosure of lobbying activities.

Tester has gone above and beyond what current law requires to hold himself accountable to Montanans and has put in place the Senate’s most stringent ethics policy for himself and his staff.

Tester was the first Senator in history to post his daily public schedule online, and he remains the only member of the Montana congressional delegation to do so today.

Tester continues to fight for a more accountable government by sponsoring the Public Online Information Act to make all public records from the Executive Branch permanently available on the internet in a searchable database at no cost to constituents, and he introduced multiple bills to increase transparency in political campaigns.

Earlier this year, Tester launched the Senate Transparency Caucus to identify policies to increase public access to information, and in March he was recognized as one of the most transparent members of the U.S. Senate by the American Library Association.