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MR. MATTHEWS: Joining me right now is Democratic Senator from Montana, Jon Tester, who serves on the Senate Banking Committee.
Senator Tester, you were tough on the bailout bill. You're a tough guy from out West riding that tractor. I'm just wondering, do you believe that this bill, this $800 billion plus stimulus package, recovery plan, whatever we're going to call it, is going to turn the economy around?
Do you believe in the bill?
SEN. TESTER: Yeah, I do. I think it's a nice mix and I think it's a step in the right direction and it creates some jobs. You know, you've already heard about the unemployment figures that came out, the fact is that 3.6 million people out of work and as we move forth on this bill, you know, the people who are out of work are the ones that are concerned. They don't care if it's Democrats or Republicans voting for this, they just want a job and I think this bill is the right step in the right direction to put some people to work to get some good paying jobs and it's a nice mix with some tax credits and it's a nice mix with some spending for unemployment compensation, Pell Grants, food stamps and those kind of things.
So I think it will work, Chris.
MR. MATTHEWS: We're watching, senator, we're watching as we speak, we're watching President Obama come into that room in Elkhart, Indiana. There's about 1,700 people there. It's a very hard hit area of the country.
Senator, let me ask you about this big question. What is it that does it? I keep asking people, give me three answers. What's the problem in our economy? What's the solution? And how long is it going to take? What problem does this stimulus package address?
SEN. TESTER: Well, I can tell you, infrastructure has worn out in Montana. I think infrastructure is critical baseline stuff that has to be done to move the economy forward. I think we need to get some good trade agreements in place to get our manufacturing base back in this country and I think we need to have something to create jobs so we don't have the unemployment rate like we are.
I would say those are the three things and it addresses two of the three things that need to take place to get the economy back on the right track.
MR. MATTHEWS: Are you confident that this bill will deal with the base problem of housing?
SEN. TESTER: I think there's going to be more that's going to be done. I think we're going to see Secretary Geithner come out tomorrow with a program to address the housing thing. We're not done with the housing problems, and hopefully, the second half of that Wall Street bill will be utilized for addressing a good portion of the housing problems.
MR. MATTHEWS: Well, we're watching the president being introduced here to everyone. The president is getting introduced here, Gregorio Chavez is going to do the Pledge of Allegiance, Megan Weingold is going to do the National Anthem, Ryan Culp is going to give the invocation, so there's a lot of ceremony out there and Ed Neufeld is going to be introducing the president, he's a laid off RV plant worker from Elkhart, which is very typical. RV production is one of the big job creators out there in that part of the country, but it's not doing well. He's an unemployed 62-year-old guy with two young children and a couple of grown children, five grown children. He cannot retire because he still needs to support his two young children; he's currently surviving on unemployment benefits and is worried about the extension of unemployment benefits, which is contained in this new bill. His benefits run out in June, so he's a classic case. Ed Neufeld is going to be the fellow introducing the president.