MISSOULA, Mont. — U.S. Representative Ryan Zinke stopped by NBC Montana Today on Friday to discuss recent impact of cuts of federal programs, funds and jobs, concerns about continued access to Medicare and Medicaid, DOGE, and more with anchor Jason Hurst.
Hurst asked Zinke about the impact of President Donald J. Trump’s executive order to begin elimination of the Department of Education.
“There’s a difference between education and Department of Education,” Zinke said. “If you look at it objectively, billions and billions of dollars get sent into Washington, D.C., and gets distributed, and the distribution often times doesn’t provide the outcome. No one is talking about removing different titles. We are talking about who is best to distribute. You talk to Montana, you talk to the Office of Public Instruction, they are up to the challenge because every idea in Washington, by time it gets out to Montana and rural, sometimes it doesn’t fit.”
Zinke continued: “You know, Montana, we’re not a particularly diverse state, as far as race… diversity in Montana is height and social background. But when the formulas are set up in Washington, D.C., or New York or some of the larger urban areas, it just doesn’t translate when it comes out to Montana. We’re mostly rural. We have public schools in there. So what is better fit in the funding? I think Montana can do a better job than D.C.”
Hurst asked Zinke if he could reassure viewers about job security for teachers and librarians.
“Montana is driven by Montanans in our education system,” Zinke said. “That’s why we have a school board. That’s why we have an OPI. These are federal programs and how to distribute their funds better and more efficiently, I think Montana can do it.”
Hurst also asked Zinke if there will be cuts to federal health programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
“The president has said over and over again, no cuts to benefits and services of Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, but we are going to look at fraud, waste and abuse.”
Zinke used that opportunity to segue into a conversation about DOGE, or the Department of Government Efficiency, and compared it with decisions he had to make when he held the office of Secretary of the Interior from 2017-2019.
“DOGE comes up a lot,” Zinke said. “He was able to do what I wasn’t able to do as a secretary or a congressman. That is look in the file and ask to determine where the money is going. I stopped the grants as a secretary until I figured it out. He stopped the grants worldwide, and when he did and was able to look at the files. I think it’s outrageous that we are spending money on transgender medical clinics in India or condoms for Taliban, and the list goes on. I think we should all debate what we spend money on, and I love that debate. We should have that debate, but there should be no debate on fraud, waste and abuse. The scale of it seems to be a lot. We are exposing it. The next step is that you have to confirm it.”
Hurst also asked Zinke about whether or not he would be accessible via town hall meetings.
“I’m on parades, I’m on radio, I’m on call-in radio a lot,” Zinke said. “What’s interesting is that I was at the VA hospital. Of course there were protesters out there, but many of the protesters were protesting there a week before, protesting the grand opening of the VA clinic. What do all the signs say? ‘Climate change,’ ‘DOGE,’ all these types of things. They don’t know what they are protesting, but uncertainty creates some anger and angst. I’m glad to be out there and you know, I’m available.”
Hurst asked Zinke if veterans’ services will be impacted by federal cuts.
“I sit on appropriations,” Zinke said. “As appropriator, we gave more money to the VA than what President Biden asked for. In this last bill we signed, they had a hole, because not only did we give them more money, they outspent billions of dollars. So we covered that. We want to know why they overspent.”
Zinke said the VA clinics across Montana do a good job and are improving.
“There’s not going to be any cuts to services, but how we distribute the services, I think we can get a lot better,” Zinke said.
Hurst again asked Zinke about DOGE cuts to jobs in Montana, including workers with the U.S. Forest Service.
“I always say the front line is the most important,” Zinke said. “When you are out in the forest, you need the guys who are clearing trail, you need forest fire guys, seasonal employees, that’s the front lines. It’s the bureaucracy that we got to look at. The front line. On the front line, do you really need six biologists from different divisions? Forest Service, do you need their biologists competing with U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologists to have different conclusions? No. We are government. So you don’t need six layers of government employees on the same acre. So let’s manage it more wisely.”