Today I want to take a look at the federal funds coming to Montana for our next budget cycle, which the 2015 Legislature is arguing over right now.
To get this information, head on over to Legislative Budget Analysis 2017 Biennium: Volume 1 – Statewide Perspectives, Preliminary Edition. You’ll find the 58-page preliminary budget report, but you can also look through all the articles I’ve put up on this over the past week, which are located at the bottom of this article.
To get this information, head on over to Legislative Budget Analysis 2017 Biennium: Volume 1 – Statewide Perspectives, Preliminary Edition. You’ll find the 58-page preliminary budget report, but you can also look through all the articles I’ve put up on this over the past week, which are located at the bottom of this article.
As you can see from the following graph, Montana is getting $4.15 billion from the feds for the next two years, and most of that has to be spent on specific things.
How much money does Montana get from the federal government?
Those things are:
One thing that the report notes is that SNAP benefits, or food stamps, have really dropped. Now millions of dollars less will be given to Montana’s neediest families. Overall, federal money to Montana is dropping by $102.2 million, which is a drop of 2.4%. Here’s a look at the other changes:
Health and Human Services: Fell by $85.1 million, or 3.2%
- Health and Human Services: $2.94 million (65%);
- Natural Resources & Transportation: $904 million (22%);
- Education: $473 million (11%);
- General Government: $186 million (5%);
- Judicial Branch & Public Safety: $14 million (0.1%).
One thing that the report notes is that SNAP benefits, or food stamps, have really dropped. Now millions of dollars less will be given to Montana’s neediest families. Overall, federal money to Montana is dropping by $102.2 million, which is a drop of 2.4%. Here’s a look at the other changes:
- General Government: Grew by $17.9 million, or 10.7%
- Education: Grew by $2.7 million, or 0.6%
- Judicial Branch: Fell by $4.6 million, or 25.1%
- Natural Resources & Transportation: Fell by $33.1 million, or $3.5%
Health and Human Services: Fell by $85.1 million, or 3.2%
Montana is getting less federal money for 2015-2017
I’m sorry, but I don’t want to go to some young kid’s house and tell them that they have to go to bed hungry tonight because we’ve got to give a few more bureaucrats a job. Do you?
This federal money is 42.5% of our state budget until 2017.
At this point I’d like to pull you aside for a moment, and just talk with you face to face.
At this point I’d like to pull you aside for a moment, and just talk with you face to face.
| | We’ve got some serious problems here. The federal government is $18 trillion in debt, and that shows no sign of slowing. What’s more, we’re looking at a shaky financial situation on Wall Street and war coming in Europe once again. |
If we lost $2 billion a year, or even $500 million, what would we do? What would we cut? And would we have the people in the legislature that are able to get us through that?
Of course we want to keep getting that federal money, and we won’t mind taking more. But unless the federal government can get its shaky house of cards in order, and in a world that’s nothing more than a rocking table, we’ve got some problems. Here in Montana we’re going to see some real hits. I’d suggest looking into what happened when Montana went through WWII, and see if you can draw some parallels from that.
Will the newspapers or the blogs pick up that story? They haven’t enlightened you on the state’s finances, so I wouldn’t expect much. Stay tuned to Big Sky Words…the good stuff will keep on coming.
Of course we want to keep getting that federal money, and we won’t mind taking more. But unless the federal government can get its shaky house of cards in order, and in a world that’s nothing more than a rocking table, we’ve got some problems. Here in Montana we’re going to see some real hits. I’d suggest looking into what happened when Montana went through WWII, and see if you can draw some parallels from that.
Will the newspapers or the blogs pick up that story? They haven’t enlightened you on the state’s finances, so I wouldn’t expect much. Stay tuned to Big Sky Words…the good stuff will keep on coming.
