Matt Rosendale Launches Insulting New TV Ad Calling Jon Tester’s 19 Bills for Montanans the “Little Stuff”

Rosendale Considers Veterans Care, Resources for First Responders, and Holding the VA Accountable “Little Stuff”   

Billings—Last week, East Coast developer Matt Rosendale launched an insulting new television ad claiming that Jon Tester’s 19 bills signed into law by President Trump were “the little stuff.”

These bills—which hold the VA accountable, deliver resources to our first responders, improve care for veterans, provide relief for community banks in rural Montana, and cut government waste, fraud, and abuse—aren’t the “little stuff,” they’re “Montana stuff.” But we wouldn’t expect a wealthy developer from Maryland to know the difference.

During both of President Trump’s recent visits, he praised two veterans bills that Tester wrote: the VA Accountability & Whistleblower Protection Act and the VA Mission Act. The former makes huge improvements to the VA by increasing accountability and making it easier to fire and replace VA staff who are negligent and not doing their job. The VA Mission Act completely scraps the Veterans Choice program as we know it and allows veterans and their doctors to choose where the veterans’ health care needs are best addressed.

It’s no surprise that Rosendale considers these landmark bills “little stuff”—Rosendale has spent his career voting against Montana veterans. He’s voted against funding for veterans homes in Columbia Falls and Southwest Montana, scholarships for Purple Heart recipients, and a home loan program for veterans and Gold Star families looking to buy their first home.

Other Tester bills that President Trump has signed into law include bills to support Montana’s first responders. When the AFG and SAFER grants—which deliver critical funding to Montana’s fire departments for staffing, training and equipment—were at risk of lapsing, Tester worked across the aisle and passed legislation to re-authorize those programs.

Trump has also signed legislation Tester landed on his desk to cut government waste, fraud, and abuse. The GAO Access and Oversight Act gives government watchdogs additional tools to help make sure every taxpayer dime is accounted for and being spent responsibly.

Tester wrote and passed a groundbreaking bill to cut regulatory red tape for community banks in rural Montana, so they can better provide critical services in smaller communities across the state. And the president signed Tester’s Improving Rural Call Quality & Reliability Act, which will help rural Montanans stay connected.

All of this legislation has real impacts for Montanans—and Rosendale shows where his priorities truly lie when he calls these bills the “little stuff.”  

“If Montanans needed any additional proof that Matt Rosendale is only looking out for himself, it’s this offensive ad,” said Montanans for Tester spokesperson Luke Jackson. “Jon has always relentlessly fought for Montanans, and that includes standing up for rural Montana, our first responders, and our veterans. Because he knows that’s not the little stuff. That’s Montana stuff.”

###