Senators Steve Daines and Tim Sheehy want you to believe they’re “fiscally conservative.” That’s adorable. Really. I mean, if giving $4 trillion in tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires while detonating the national debt like a Fourth of July firework is “conservative,” then I’m a bald eagle in a MAGA hat.
Let’s be clear: the Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill is neither big-hearted nor beautiful. It’s one more sleazy giveaway to the ultra-rich wrapped in red, white, and bologna. And our senators? They’re all in—like kids at a billionaire birthday party hoping for a gold-plated goody bag.
This monstrosity of a bill hands out tax breaks to the people who least need them while cutting Medicaid, food assistance, Pell grants, and anything else that keeps working Montanans afloat. Oh, and bonus points: it’ll add at least $3.3 trillion to the national debt and increase our interest payments by over $55 billion per year. Because what could possibly go wrong with borrowing money to fund yachts?
Meanwhile, we’re already paying over a trillion a year in interest alone—more than our entire defense budget. But don’t worry, Daines and Sheehy have a plan: just kick poor kids off food stamps and tell grandma to take her chances without Medicaid.
They call this “reform.” I call it cruelty with a calculator. It is offensive and morally repugnant.
This bill will:
- Strip healthcare from nearly 12 million Americans—because apparently preventative care is a luxury.
- Carve $1.2 trillion out of Medicaid and food stamps—because what better way to show fiscal responsibility than by yanking healthcare and groceries from the poor while handing tax breaks to the uber-rich?
- Eliminate 800,000 jobs—because what’s a little unemployment among friends?
- Spike energy bills and gut future clean energy development—because the planet isn’t dying fast enough.
- Slash food and nutrition programs—because nothing says “compassionate conservatism” like taking groceries away from low-income families. Republicans want to gut SNAP benefits for 1.3 million Americans. Why? Because apparently, hungry children build character, and cutting food assistance makes billionaires feel even more full.
- Make it harder for low-income students to access Pell grants—because education should be for those who can already afford it.
Oh, and let’s not forget the bill’s all-out assault on immigrants, formerly incarcerated individuals, and anyone who thought AI should be regulated before it starts deciding who gets hired, arrested, or evicted.
All this is packed into more than 900 pages of what really ought to be titled The Oligarch Protection Act. And let’s be honest—what are the chances Daines and Sheehy actually read the whole thing? I’d bet they skimmed the donor wish list and skipped the rest.
So why are Daines and Sheehy cheerleading this dumpster fire? Simple: it makes Trump happy. And when Trump’s happy, Republican Senators wag their tails and roll over. If it hurts Montana? Collateral damage. If it bankrupts the country? Oopsie!
Steve Daines once claimed he went to Washington to “rein in the debt.” Apparently, he meant he’d saddle it up and ride it straight off a cliff. And Tim Sheehy, Montana’s most recent Trump ventriloquist dummy, is already proving he’s ready to abandon working families for champagne fundraisers and Fox News soundbites.
Let’s be honest: this isn’t conservative governance. It’s corporate feudalism. And if you’re not in the top 1%, you’re the serf.
So the next time Senators Sheehy and Daines talk “Montana values,” remember this: they sold you out to billionaires and called it beautiful. No wonder they refuse to face Montana citizens at a real town hall meeting.
I’d laugh—if it weren’t so dangerous.
Doug James is a Billings attorney.