Re: our US Representatives

When it gets to crunch time, and your back’s against the wall, one’s true colors are exposed for all to see. This is exactly the position our US Congress, including Montana’s two senators and one representative, found themselves in a few days ago.
Congress had a critical vote on a must-pass budget deal. Why was it an urgent, must-pass bill? Our country was on the precipice of an unprecedented and catastrophic full default on our obligations—payments due on bills already incurred. Our government also had to be funded or we were facing a damaging shutdown. Social Security Disability benefits to millions of Americans were about to be slashed. Medicare Part B premiums for outpatient services like doctor visits and rehabilitation were about to skyrocket for 15 million seniors. All these horrible things were about to happen—unless Congress had the sense and courage to act and vote yes.
So what did Rep. Zinke and Sen. Daines do? They voted “Nay.” Senator Tester voted “Yea.” Tester took the responsible path—a bipartisan path of compromise on an imperfect bill. Daines and Zinke shirked their responsibility, willing to cause great damage to our nation and to Montana’s economy, in the name of nihilistic right-wing purity. This critical vote, and the rationale that Zinke and Daines gave for their opposition, reveal volumes into their priorities and (in)ability to govern.
Americans are tired of a do-nothing Republican-controlled Congress, and the GOP’s constant brinkmanship. This budget deal is an example of constructive bipartisan work that could become the norm. Unfortunately Daines and Zinke don’t want to be part of a bipartisan solution that moves America forward and addresses our greatest challenges.
If the vote had gone Zinke’s and Daines’ way, the US would be in shameful default, our government—including many of our friends and neighbors with the Forest Service—would be shut down; millions of disabled folks would be in peril, and millions of seniors would be choosing between a doctor visit or food on the table. It’s simply reckless and callous. Why did they risk personal calamities and suffering, a market meltdown, downgraded US credit, and government closure? Because of crop insurance and opposition to raising our country’s debt limit.
The crop insurance excuse is a red herring. As the Billings Gazette said, “The cuts were to come not from crop loss payments to farmers, but rather to the bottom lines of private companies that facilitate the subsidized payments. Those companies allowed a 14% profit under current federal law. The budget proposal cut that compensation to 8.9%….”
Daines and Zinke also know full well that when the spending bills are finalized, their crop insurance complaint would likely be rectified. Imagine: They put our nation’s full faith and credit on par with a possible small cut to federal crop insurance welfare subsidies.
Also included in the bill were increases in military spending and modest, cost-saving reforms to Medicare entitlements. Though both Zinke and Daines claim to be pro-military and fiscally conservative, even those inclusions weren’t enough for them to vote yes.
The near universal opposition among Republicans to raising the debt limit is suicidal and irresponsible. While there’s debate as to whether the US has EVER defaulted—like the unintentional, short term partial default in 1979—it’s clear in the last 200-odd years we’ve never intentionally defaulted. Why? The consequences are too dire for our national economy and Americans’ livelihoods. Now was not the time to start. Yet Zinke and Daines were all too willing to provide the self-inflicted wound.
Just-retired House Speaker Boehner, who saw the dysfunctional writing on fellow Republicans’ office walls, said enough was enough. Too many must-pass issues were piling up in the “Just say NO” Republican Congress—government funding, debt ceiling, disability cuts, Medicare premium increases. He had to buck the tea party obstruction trend and “clean out the barn.” He had to bring this broad-based budget deal to the floor for a vote. He knew it would result in a bipartisan victory. But a majority of his Republican colleagues in the House and Senate opposed it, while support from Democrats was universal. It passed.
This is how things can get done in Congress if House and Senate Republican leadership are willing to bring important bipartisan legislation to the floor. This is the only way to move our country forward, create solutions, and avoid needless self-inflicted damage. Sadly, we’re getting a clearer picture that Senator Daines and Rep. Zinke are out of touch with mainstream Montanans and don’t want to be part of the solution. They’d rather shoot us all in the foot.
Van P. Keele
Hamilton