This past Monday, in a joint session of the Montana House and Senate, we
heard from Montana’s congressional delegates when they all came to speak about their
individual work in Congress and the work they’d like to see in the statehouse.
Montana’s senior Senator, Jon Tester, the lone Democrat in the delegation,
spoke first about the state’s $2.5 billion budget surplus. He urged legislators to
use some of it to address Montana’s lack of affordable housing and child care.
Republican Sen. Steve Daines in his speech called on we as state lawmakers to
protect what he called Montana’s way of life, manage our forests, and pointed to
his recent suspension from, Twitter as evidence that it’s at risk. Daines' account
was suspended when he posted a hunting photo. My take away here was more
of a National perspective, but agree we must protect our privacy, our
constitutional rights, and do a better job of managing our forests and public
lands.
Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke is representing the state’s newly added western
district. He said it’s important for Congress to balance the federal government’s
budget and review what’s considered mandatory spending. Congressman Zinke
said, “We’re going to go bankrupt, quickly, and there won’t be social security, there
won’t be money for defense, there won’t be money for our parks and services.
So it’s time to act."
I agree.
Republican Rep. Matt Rosendale, from Montana’s eastern U.S. House seat,
spoke mostly about being among a handful of holdout votes, among hardline
conservative representatives, contesting the election of Speaker of the House
Kevin McCarthy. Congressman Rosedale, in his speech mentioned how the
faction forced change in how Congress operates, and that it was only possible
given the tight majority Republicans hold. Time will tell if his was a productive
approach.
All of the Federal delegates applauded the work of Montana’s Citizen
Legislature, and asked that we work together to solve the state’s challenges. I
also support that approach.
Now a little bit about on what we are accomplishing leading up to our transmittal
break. We worked several twelve or more hour days this past week, hearing
literally hundreds of bills across all committees in the Senate, on a host of issues
from water policy, land use, our housing crisis, and how to send some of the
budget surplus back to the people in form of tax cuts and direct rebates.
We also had some robust discussions in our Agriculture Committee on board
appointments by the Governors office, that have yet to be confirmed by the full
Senate. Lastly we continue to take action on setting the budget, and approving
the spending of State Government. It seems like there are lots of opinions in
best way to proceed, but I feel the best work gets done when all points are
considered. There is an undertone that Democrats have teamed up with ultra
conservative wing of the Republican caucus. This is causing concern with some
moderate voices in both the House and Senate, as well as the Governor's
Office.
As someone that fits somewhere in the middle of my own caucus. I feel like i'm
in a small group of free agents, that can help bring folks together, time will tell.
I feel most Montanans would agree that budget negotiations should be about
being inclusive, transparent, discussing other's ideas, and most importantly,
sharing a vision for the end game with all stakeholders.
That simply hasn't happened, and rather than pointing fingers, I'm asking all
stakeholders to take a deep breath, there are plenty of good ideas to go around,
if we all work together.
In closing, i'd like to thank the Big Hole business community for hosting their
annual skijoring event, Marni and I drove out on Sunday, and enjoyed an
awesome Montana kind of day.
Thanks for staying in touch on issues important to you.
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