Montana Senate coalition rebuffs GOP majority's efforts to size down $16.6 billion budget

Senate stamps approval on Montana’s $16.6 billion budget

The Senate adopted four of 22 proposed amendments, with most votes falling along coalition lines.

Montana Senate coalition rebuffs GOP majority's efforts to size down $16.6 billion budget

The $16.6 billion budget would make significant investments in government-funded health care, correctional facilities and teacher pay, but there are differing opinions on whether lawmakers are overspending.

Democrats and GOP ‘Nine’ propel state budget bill through Senate debate

The $16.6 billion budget bill funding the operation of Montana’s state agencies for the next two years passed a key milestone Thursday in its journey through the state Legislature, clearing a preliminary floor vote in the state Senate with bipartisan support from Democrats and a group of Republican lawmakers who have repeatedly bucked the chamber’s GOP leadership this year.The coalition of the Senate’s 18-member Democratic minority and nine Repu…

Senate stamps approval on Montana’s $16.6 billion budget • Daily Montanan

Sen. Greg Hertz, R-Polson, wears a money jacket on the Senate floor during the debate on House Bill 2 "because we're giving away money."Taking barely three hours on the Senate floor, the framework to appropriate more than $16.6 billion for Montanan’s biennial budget received a stamp of approval from legislators in the upper chamber on Thursday.  That isn’t to say House Bill 2 passed smoothly.  Democrats, and a coalition of nine moderate Republic…