The growing price of energy, including gasoline, diesel fuel, and home heating supplies will play a huge role in Montana's elections in two weeks, but the fentanyl coming across the nation's southern border is also a major concern for the northern state, Rep. Matt Rosendale tells Newsmax.
"People right now know where these policies came from," the Montana Republican said Wednesday on Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "I'm on the Natural Resources Committee. The Republicans introduced eight different pieces of legislation to increase our domestic energy production, to permit pipelines faster, to get the liquid natural gas facilities that have been on the books for several years now to get them to open up. The Biden administration and the Democrats in Congress will not even give us a hearing."
People also understand why domestic production is down, and they know who made it that way, said Rosendale, and "they're going to put Republicans back in control in about two more weeks, so we can start putting these policies forward in January 2023."
Montana, as a remote, mostly rural state, is being hit particularly hard by the skyrocketing prices of fuel, the congressman added.
"Everyone in Montana typically drives 100 miles a day or more, and I will tell you when they go to the gas pump, every corner has a big billboard up for the Republican Party," Rosendale said. "The gasoline prices are bad, at about $4 a gallon, and diesel prices are about $5.19, or right in that range, and we drive a lot of miles. There's a lot of country between each town out here."
Further, with diesel prices climbing, higher grocery prices are also a concern, said Rosendale.
"People now coming into the winter months are going to have to start making some serious decisions about where they're going to spend their weekly paychecks," the congressman said. "The paychecks have not kept up with inflation that's going on because of the policies initiated by the Biden administration."
Rent costs and interest rates on mortgages have also climbed, said Rosendale, "and it's becoming very challenging."
Meanwhile, the issues with the U.S.-Mexico border are affecting Montana, which shares its northern border with Canada, Rosendale said.
"I've met with law enforcement agencies over the last couple of weeks because we've been back in the district, and they talk about the fentanyl problem," said Rosendale. "They talked about the methamphetamine problem. They talk about human trafficking, and it has absolutely impacted Montana as well."
The state's detention centers are full, he added, and "the courtrooms can't get the people processed through because of the prosecutors and the public defenders."
Judges are all being overwhelmed, Rosendale said, and "the origin of all this problem is coming from the southern border."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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