Central Montana Times

U.S. SENATE – Senator Steve Daines today issued a statement expressing his opposition to a spending package that includes $12,700,000,000 of earmarks and perpetuates Washington’s broken budget process. Daines remarked, "Instead of doing its job and passing responsible spending bills on time, Congress continues to fail Montanans and the American people. It is unacceptable that we are almost halfway through the fiscal year and are still trying to pass spending bills. This 1,000-plus page package is chock full of wasteful spending. I won’t stand by and greenlight this abuse of taxpayer funds. We must put an end to Washington’s toxic spending habits."

The bill in question has raised concerns due to its pork barrel spending. Some highlights of this spending were not specified in the statement.

Earlier in the week, Senator Daines was involved in introducing a resolution condemning the practice of earmarks and advocating for a return to fiscal responsibility. Before the final vote, every single Senate Democrat opposed an amendment that aimed to prevent illegal immigrants from being factored into population calculations for congressional redistricting and Electoral College votes.