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Cutting spending, regulations a common call

Big government, deficit, regulations common themes in GOP House candidates at Havre fundraiser

In a slew of candidates talking during Sunday’s Lincoln-Reagan Day Republican event in Havre, four U.S. House candidates put different spins on a common idea — many Montana problems come from a big government in Washington and the only way to stop them is to send Republicans to the U.S. House and Senate.

“Thirty years ago, the greatest threat to the United States was the Soviet Union. Remember that? … ” former Montana Sen. Corey Stapleton of Billings asked the nearly 100 people in the Duck Inn Olympic Room. “Of course, the Soviets aren’t a threat any more, but it doesn’t go away. It’s changed from Russia to China. I believe the greatest threat to our national security is our $17 trillion debt.”

Stapleton, Montana Sens. Elsie Arntzen and Matt Rosendale, and former state Sen. Ryan Zinke all are Republican candidates in this year’s race for Montana’s sole U.S. House seat.

Rep. Steve Daines, R-Mont., is leaving that seat to make a bid for the open U.S. Senate seat now held by Democratic appointee John Walsh.

All four GOP candidates spoke at the annual Blaine and Hill county Republicans’ Lincoln-Reagan Day dinner.

Arntzen, of Billings, who contacted the Havre Daily before the dinner and arranged a personal interview Monday, said everyone knows the federal government is broken and regulations, out-of-control spending and the debt are threatening the nation. She said she is the conservative, Montana-made solution to the problem.

Rosendale, of Glendive, said the problems with the debt and deficit, the health care reform, rules and regulations all come from the same issue.

“After serving in the Legislature for the last three years, it has become exceedingly clear to me that the biggest problems that we face originate in Washington, D.C., …” he said. “At the end of the day, every problem I am speaking of comes from violations of one of your freedoms.”

Zinke, a 23-year veteran of the U.S. Navy SEALS and former commander of Navy SEAL Team 6, said he knows how to fight and he wants to go to Washington to stop “the downward spiral.”

“In the military, when all else fails, you send in the Navy SEALs,” he said. “And I think we ought to send the Navy SEALs to Washington.”

He said he wants to restore the United States to its former greatness and to make it better.

“I want to restore America to what it was when I grew up, when you grew up,” he said. “I want to shape a better America for our kids, an America where dedication and hard work and innovation are valued.”

He said a key to that is rolling back the federal debt, cutting bureaucratic regulations that cost U.S. businesses trillions every year and making the nation energy independent.

“I’m tired of sending my kids, I’m tired of sending your kids, overseas and fighting for foreign oil when we have it here,” Zinke said.

“And, lastly, we need to bring truth, grace and honor back to Washington, D.C.,” he added. “Our country was founded on a constitution, Judeo-Christian values and integrity, not what the polls say.”

Stapleton said he took an oath when he joined the U.S. Navy to protect the United States, and he wants to go to Washington to restore America’s greatness.

“But the Democrats don’t get it,” Stapleton said. “The Democrats are voting to increase the debt. The Republicans are voting to stop it. The Democrats are voting to destroy our health care system. The Republicans are voting to stop it. The Democrats continually vote to take away our freedoms, to make it more difficult to create jobs. The Republicans are voting to limit those, to grow our economy, to grow our jobs.

“The Democrats are voting in Washington, D.C., to take our freedoms. Our sovereign republic is in threat of becoming one global world order, that’s what they want,” he said. “Only the Republicans are voting to stop it.

“In fact, the only thing that stands between where we are and a total moral and economic collapse that we’ve never seen before is the Republican-held U.S. House of Congress … ,” Stapleton said. “And in 2016 we can sweep the Democrats out of Washington, D.C., for 20 years to pay the price for what they have done to this economy. It’s unforgivable.”

 

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