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Ric Holden
Former state senator and current Dawson farmer and rancher Ric Holden is among the increasingly crowded field of Republicans running for the Eastern District of Montana's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, and Tuesday did an interview with the Havre Daily News in which he laid out his legislative priorities.
The seat is held by Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., who had a short-lived campaign to challenge Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., for his seat in the body.
Rosendale dropped his Senate bid a week later, and has not declared he would run for re-election in the House, although he filed an amended statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission changing from the Senate to the House last Saturday.
Several candidates said they would run for the seat if Rosendale ran for the Senate rather than the House, although none have announced they are leaving the House race after he dropped out of the Senate race.
When asked what he would do if Rosendale re-enters the race, Holden said he would stay in the race.
Holden, who served in the Montana Senate for eight years and was chair of the body's Agriculture Committee, said agriculture, as the state's largest industry, as well as his own, is among his highest priorities.
He said the state needs a representative for its interests in the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture so they have someone who understands the state's main exports.
Among his more specific priorities in the field of agriculture is reversing a recent change that requires antibiotics for livestock to be given via prescription rather than over the counter.
The change was made primarily to combat antibiotic resistance, but Holden says it has made the process of caring for animals more difficult and would eliminate competitive pricing seen in over-the-counter antibiotics.
He said he also wants to get rid of Environmental Protection Agency emission regulations for farm equipment, which he said requires the installation of filters that easily clog and cause vital equipment to stall out.
He said such regulations should have agricultural exemptions so producers can do their jobs properly.
"It's hard enough to make food for this country, it's even harder when you can't get the tractor to run," he said.
Holden also said he opposes the Farm Bill being discussed in Congress, at least until certain language is stripped out, primarily having to do with "welfare."
The Farm Bill includes funds to bolster programs like The Emergency Food Assistance Program - TEFAP - and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program - SNAP - nutrition programs that work in tandem with food banks across the country including in Montana to assist families and individuals facing hunger.
Holden said he opposes language about these programs being in the bill, claiming they divert funds away from hardworking farmers to "the inner city."
"Us here in Montana, we're working people," he said.
He said rural voters in agricultural communities should know that he will be a representative not just for their economy, but for their culture as well.
Another big issue for Holden, he said, was Montana's energy production, and the need to revitalize the state's coal and oil industries, and to make better use of Montana's natural gas resources.
He said he is not opposed to exploring alternative energy sources like wind and solar power, but they should not replace fossil fuels, which he said are more reliable, but they are being regulated out of existence by Democrats who say they are environmentally destructive.
Holden said he would support a reversal of President Joe Biden's administration's decision to cancel the Keystone XL Pipeline which would have created jobs and transported millions of gallons of oil into the states to be refined.
Holden also weighed in on other issues, during which he made multiple false claims.
After voicing his support for closing the southern border, and his opposition to nonprofits providing support for the migrants through any taxpayer funded means, he claimed that the U.S. Veterans Administration was providing free health care to illegal immigrants at the cost of veterans.
The VA Financial Services Center has processed medical claims for migrant detainees at the southern border for the Immigration Customs Enforcement, an arrangement that has existed since 2002, and one that VA officials have said requires less than ten employees and costs next to nothing.
VA officials have said that while taxpayer funding is used to process the health care claims, ICE, not the VA, pays for the work and the VA has never provided health care to migrant detainees.
Services for migrant detainees is typically handled through ICE Health Service Corps, which can coordinate off-site care.
Holden also advocated for parental rights and less government interference in parenting, referring to a recent incident in which a Montana teenager was removed from a home due to their suicidality which he claimed was removing the teenager from their home because they wanted a sex change.
As reported by Montana Free Press, a Glasgow teenager, who identifies as transgender, was removed from their home last fall after child protection workers found that they were suicidal, and the teen was transported to the local hospital.
An affidavit states that the medical team recommended the teenager be admitted to a residential psychiatric facility as soon as a bed became available, and they were later transported to a facility in Wyoming.
The parents in this case opposed the transfer because they feared the state would provide gender affirming care to their child, which they ideologically oppose.
Health care providers have testified in state legislatures and court proceedings that receiving a prescription for medications such as puberty blockers or hormone therapy typically takes several months, if not years, and multiple referrals from mental health therapists and other medical providers, in consultation with the minor's family or guardian.
A state district judge dismissed the child protection case, and vacated the contempt hearing for the parents the teen was taken from for violating the judge's orders by making public comments on confidential proceedings, after the child was placed with their biological mother in Canada, Montana Free Press reported.
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