Matt Rosendale: “My amendment No. 58 would reduce the total appropriations for the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related…”

“My amendment No. 58 would reduce the total appropriations for the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies by $1.55 billion, bringing the total cost of the bill down from nearly $58 billion to $56.4 billion. I submitted this amendment to get the total cost of this year's appropriation bills closer to the fiscal year 2022 levels. I have been traveling around the State of Montana for quite extensive periods of time over the last several months and I have yet to find a single person that feels like we didn't have enough spending or government in fiscal year 2022. As a matter of fact, most of them truly believe that we had far too much government and it was engaged in trying to run their lives and they did not want to see it anymore. I believe that the Federal Government had more than enough funding in FY22 and that it is time to rein in the out-of-control spending. To get their spending under control, the Federal agencies must begin operating at the same levels, or at very least, receive only modest increases. The American people are sick and tired of the D.C. cartel running up the tab on the American people while our constituents are struggling to make ends meet. To be clear, my amendment still allows for modest increases in the fiscal year 2022 spending for energy and water. I am not trying to slash funding or cripple necessary infrastructure.…”