Matt Rosendale, the back-up, back-up choice of the establishment to run for Senate in Montana in 2018, apparently held a telephone town hall Monday, where he pronounced on social media that he discussed “fixing our broken health care system, improving public access to public lands, and getting real results for Montana’s veterans.”
Talk is cheap, he added. We agree, which is why, even though we didn’t get the invite to his tele-town hall, we do have the facts. Let’s review quickly:
- On healthcare: Rosendale said he supported a straight repeal, which independent analysts have said would jack up health care costs and lead to thousands of Montanans losing their insurance.
- On public lands: He has repeatedly called for the transfer of federal public lands to the state, which could lead to the sale of lands to private owners. But don’t take it from us, take it from this headline in the Helena Independent Record: “Rosendale calls for transferring federal lands to state”
- On veterans: And the health care bill Rosendale supports could cost 7,000 Montana veterans their Medicaid coverage. Rosendale only has to look to the state’s senior Senator to figure out how to get real results for Montana’s veterans – Jon Tester has had two bipartisan veterans bills signed into law by President Trump this year alone. His work has also led to a much-needed VA clinic expansion in Billings and numerous Veterans Centers around the state.
So Rosendale is right. Talk is cheap. Especially when what he talks about would do nothing to actually help Montanans.