Zinke voted for the House Republican budget framework, which directed the House Energy and Commerce Committee to make $880 billion worth of cuts. It has been widely reported that House Republicans would have to cut Medicaid in order to achieve that goal. More than 85,000 Montanans, or nearly 19 percent, in the 1st congressional district are covered by Medicaid or CHIP. Medicaid isn’t the only place Zinke has threatened Montanans’ access to affordable health care. He has twice co-sponsored legislation that would completely repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, which lowers prescription drug costs for seniors, including capping the cost of insulin at $35 per month. A resident in Butte noticed and wrote a letter to the editor expressing concern about Zinke’s co-sponsorship.
Zinke has already voted against Montana during the 119th congress. With his vote in support of House Republicans’ continuing resolution, he also voted to cut all promised 2025 community project funding. That included infrastructure funding he had promised to places like Seeley Lake and Ravalli for sewer and water projects that would help with building housing.
Zinke has repeatedly defended Trump’s tariffs, at one point saying, “the tariff war, it had to happen.” He did this despite also acknowledging that Montana would get hit harder than most states by Trump’s trade war. Montana farmers have already expressed concern about their ability to do business with Canada.
When it came to DOGE, Zinke said, “I think everything is on the table, I like what DOGE is doing.” The Trump administration’s cuts have resulted in layoffs, longer wait times, and frequent website outages at the Social Security Administration. More than 130,000 Montanans in the 1st congressional district rely on Social Security benefits. This isn’t the first time Zinke was dismissive of threats to Social Security though. When he first became a congressman in 2015, when confronted with concerns about Republican budget proposals to cut Medicare and Social Security, Zinke responded that cutting all defense spending, taxing the richest one percent, and other proposals would not fix the national debt.
Zinke returned to congress in 2022 after facing multiple ethics scandals and having to resign in disgrace as Interior Secretary during the first Trump administration
Zinke's Repeated Attacks On Montanans' Health Care
Zinke Cut Funding For Montana Communities
Zinke Defended Trump's Tariffs
Zinke Repeatedly Threatened Social Security
Zinke Resigned From the Department Of The Interior Amid Ethics Scandals