Three of Montana’s federal delegates visited the Legislature Monday. They voiced support for the Trump Administration’s first month in action and called for unity in backing his agenda. Their speeches weren’t well-received Democrats and federal employees who recently lost their jobs.
Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy and Congressmen Ryan Zinke and Troy Downing each offered their thoughts on the state of the federal government.
All praised President Donald Trump’s early second term as he handed down a record number of executive orders. That includes a freeze on federal funds, the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development and large-scale layoffs of federal employees.
Sheehy applauded the administration’s stated goals of fighting financial fraud and shrinking the size of the federal government.
“What we’ve seen these past few weeks is a radical reform of the federal government," Sheehy said. "And we’re reforming the federal government so it works for, not against, the people of Montana.”
Downing, who represents the eastern congressional district, said that as Congress begins crafting a budget, it’s time to tighten the belt.
“We need to fight this back. The direction we’ve been going in this country is not sustainable.”
Rep. Ryan Zinke served as Secretary of the Interior under Trump’s last administration and now represents western Montana in Congress. He said the president committed to cutting down on federal spending on the campaign trail and is following through.
“I’ve worked for [Trump]. A campaign promise with President Trump is ‘a promise made is a promise kept,’” Zinke said.
In an interview after addressing state lawmakers, Zinke said there may have been some mistakes in which federal employees were let go given the speed at which the administration made the cuts. But he’s confident Montana will have the workforce it needs to maintain the state’s public lands and fight wildfires.
“And we’re working through that to identify it and correct it,” Zinke said.
Michael Maierhofer of Kalispell isn’t convinced. Maierhofer was with the Forest Service for 7 years until he got a layoff notice Friday. He worked with a crew of 10-15 people that maintained 1,000 miles of trail in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. He says the crew now only has three members.
“There will be six-foot, seven-foot tall piles of dead trees stopping you from crossing trails," Maierhofer said. "There will be eroded sections of trail that you cannot cross safely. There are going to be unmaintained trailheads with restrooms you won’t want to use. There are roads that are going to have boulders in them that we can’t get removed.”
Maierhofer and several of his former colleagues joined legislative Democrats for a press conference after the delegates’ speeches. Maierhofer said his family’s life has been thrown into uncertainty.
“We were planning to buy a house. My fiance was hoping to raise our family in the state she’s always called home. And our future is at risk. I hope our representatives in Congress will stand up for us soon.”
Federal employees who were recently hired and still on probationary status were targeted for the layoffs. But Maierhofer says there’s a misunderstanding of how federal employment works.
Although Maierhofer has long worked for the Forest Service, he was recently promoted. And that promotion pushed him into probationary status.
The congressional delegates didn’t address the federal employment cuts directly in their speeches. They highlighted priorities they’re glad to see Trump addressing, like boosting natural resource extraction, added law enforcement at the southern border and his strong-arm approach to foreign relations.
House Minority Leader Katie Sullivan said she felt the delegates ignored the most pressing issues.
“And I see that they are creating chaos. People in Montana are hurting, and unfortunately, our federal reps said nothing today,” Sullivan said.
Montana’s senior Sen. Steve Daines was not in attendance.
