The Good, The Bad & The Ugly - Rep. Ryan Zinke Statement on Budget Act
Press Release
Today Congressman Ryan Zinke voted against the White House-driven budget act, citing the drastic cuts to crop insurance and damaging impacts on rural health, as well as the bill's failure to actually address the financial problems facing the federal government. Click here to view a section by section summary of the bill.
"This deal, which was negotiated in secret and blindsided almost every member of Congress just about 24 hours before votes, does little to nothing to pay down the debt or curb Washington's spending addiction," said Rep. Zinke. "Like any compromise, this bill includes the good, the bad and the ugly. A positive is that it produces the first real reforms since 1983 to Social Security by making it more solvent and reducing fraud, and it prevents a rate hike for new Medicare enrollees. The bad includes restructuring Medicare in a way that would punish rural healthcare in Montana. And the ugly is downright ugly. The deal negotiated by the White House drastically cuts the national crop insurance program, essentially ending a bipartisan program Montana farmers rely upon in tough years."
According to the independent organization National Crop Insurance Services, in 2014 crop insurance protected $1.1 billion of liability in Montana, covering 10.5 million acres, and paid $79 million to farmers in indemnities. The top commodities in Montana for crop insurance were wheat ($799 million), barley ($111 million) and dry peas ($72 million).
Zinke continued, "In Montana, if your basement fills with water, you don't raise the ceiling to let more water in; you pump the water out. That's the analogy I use to explain why just raising the debt ceiling doesn't make sense. Simply raising the debt limit to allow the federal government to accumulate more debt without actually having a plan to pay off the debt and balance the budget is not a serious plan and doesn't solve the problem. I want to see a balanced budget amendment, and if Congress doesn't pass a balanced budget, they shouldn't get paid. The people of Montana sent me to Washington to get things done and help right the course. Voting for this bill would do nothing to put our nation on track to good financial health, and it would be a slap in the face to every Montanan who works hard every day to make a good living for themselves and their families."
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