Today, during a debate on a bill, from Rep. Wendy Warburton (R-Havre), that seeks to amend Montana’s constitution to state that women have no right to an abortion, Sen. Verdell Jackson (R-Kalispell) made some terribly offensive comments. He referenced women seeking an abortion after becoming pregnant as a result of rape or incest, he said, “two wrongs don’t make a right.”
The bill failed to receive the necessary votes and is likely dead. It would have required 100 total votes from the full legislature.
This bill is part of a radical anti-choice agenda being pushed by Republicans in the legislature. They seek to unnecessarily involve government in the private medical decisions–decisions that should be left to a woman and her doctor.
Other measure the GOP has pushed include HB 280, which would require an ultrasound before a woman can access abortion services as well as SB 176, which would make it harder for women to have reproductive health services covered by their insurance.
After Democrats in Congress narrowly averted a federal government shutdown that was pushed by GOP lawmakers pursuing their social agenda, it appears Montana Republicans are looking to shutdown the state government.
This afternoon, Governor Brian Schweitzer sent a letter to Attorney General Steve Bullock asking him to take initial steps to prepare for the event that Republicans in the legislature do not produce a responsible budget, to fund state services and the government is forced to shutdown.
In the letter, the Governor says:
The prospect of a shutdown raises large-scale questions which I hope you will address for me. What employees, for example, can be retained at the State Prisons or the State Hospital at Warm Springs or Pine Hill School for Boys, or our state National Guard? Can we keep all highway patrol officers on duty? Are there powers unique to these circumstances that I may exercise to soften the financial losses to the state that will result from the closer of “non-essential” services services such as state parks, museums, the lottery, state liquor stores and drivers license stations? Are there any extraordinary steps I may take to prepare the thousands of state workers who will be furloughed from “non-essential” programs?
If the government is shutdown because of the GOP’s irresponsible budget, Montana’s economy will be dramatically hurt.
Read the full letter from the Governor HERE
Today, Governor Brian Schweitzer announced he will fire up his VETO brand and take it to more than a dozen bills on Wednesday.
The Governor hasn’t been shy about how he feels of the actions of the Montana legislature and he’ll make it even clearer this week.
The branding party will take place Wednesday, April 13th at 11:30 am on the north side of the Capitol.
The Governor purchased his VETO brand shortly after the legislative session began, once it became clear that the GOP was intent on pushing through unconstitutional, partisan, irresponsible legislation that would hurt Montana families and destroy jobs in the state. The brand was inspired by a political cartoon that ran in the Helena Independent Record.
Since the beginning of the legislative session, Republicans have pushed radical and irresponsible legislation. Some of their key pieces of legislation would put government between a woman and her doctor when making reproductive health choices, moved the state to the gold standard; they also sought to legalize spear hunting in the state. Perhaps most notably though, they’ve pursued the “Code of the West,” a document–drafted by a Wall Street mogul– that attempts to tell Montanans and all westerners how to live their lives.
We will post video from Wednesday’s branding party after the event.
House and Senate Republicans strong-armed their budget bill through a conference committee last night. After hours worth of Democratic amendments to restore severe cuts Republicans have made, the GOP voted to send their bill to the full House and Senate for final votes.
The bill rejects more than $100 million in federal funds to provide heating assistance to low-income families and funds for food assistance for children.
Governor Brian Schweitzer has made it clear that the budget as it stands is not acceptable to him and will likely be vetoed.
During the committee debate, Democrats were able to reinstate a small amount of funding to the Montana School for Deaf and Blind. However, in a Republican caucus meeting today, Sen. Lewis (R-Helena) commented of the amendment, “I did lose control of the committee at one point and they managed to put a little bit of money back into the school for deaf and blind.”
The bills will now go to both the House and Senate next week for concurrence. If both bodies agree to the committee’s version of the budget, it will go to the Governor and perhaps his veto brand.
The jobs bill of the session, Rep. Galen Hollenbaugh’s (D-Helena) “bonding bill” has received initial approval from the Senate today, with wide bipartisan support. The bill passed second reading by a 36-14 vote. It still faces a final vote in the Senate, before being returned to the House for concurrence.
During debate on the measure, both Republicans and Democrats acknowledge that this bill would provide an important jump-start to local economies throughout the state and would ensure we had an economically competitive workforce for decades to come.
All session long, Democrats have maintained that the best way to ensure long-term economic success and bring new businesses to the state now is by having a strong educational infrastructure. This bill would give our colleges and universities the money they need in order to upgrade their outdated facilities. Many of the schools included in this bill are currently serving more than three times the number of students they were initially intended to. This will give our students a better environment to learn.
In addition, this bill would put people to work on shovel ready projects almost immediately. Many of the projects included in the bill have been planned for quite some time, however these schools didn’t have the resources to pursue these plans. This bill will give them the necessary resources.
"We believe that the current budget, heading to the Senate Floor next week, unnecessarily pits Montanans against, creating winners and losers” 
