Montana Rep Talks Trump Peace Deal, Support for Farmers

Bozeman. Superior. Kalispell. Now Libby. We've been busy hitting the road across Western Montana, so I'm catching up on some of the content we've been gathering along the way.

Last Thursday, we caught up with Montana's Eastern District Congressman Troy Downing (R-MT02) during the "Schumer Shutdown" of the federal government.

This was before the hostages were successfully returned to their loved ones in Israel, but we already could see that President Trump's peace deal was on the verge of delivering something massive.

Rep. Downing: "One of the things I want to say about that Hamas deal- I think that's going to go down in history as one of the biggest accomplishments of President Trump, and really shows, you know, his ability to- it's the art of the deal, I'll say, for lack of a better word. Middle East peace has been something that's, you know, a centuries old problem, and to start getting towards that in this really rough time really shows the ability of President Trump to perform not just on the US stage, but on the global stage. And I'm really excited about seeing where that goes."

Congressman Downing also talked about a need to ensure farmers are taken care of in the middle of trade negotiations.

Rep. Downing: "We've been very vocal in this office with the administration about how policy affects our farmers and ranchers. And obviously, some sectors are faring better than others. Beef industry is doing better right now than than the grain growers. You know, there's just so much wheat on the ground right now. It's just been a it's been a bumper season. There's a lot of product out there. There's been more difficulty in finding some of the buyers for that. But what I will tell you is that the administration, the Trump Administration and Congress, are committed to solving these problems, because we can't put our farmers and ranchers in a position where they go under because, as you mentioned in your opening comments, food security is national security."

By the way, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer was recently on Fox News also talking about a support package for American farmers.

Ambassador Greer: "There will be some pots of money that will be deployed for a bridge for our farmers. We know our farmers don't want a hand out. They want to trade. So one thing that my office is doing, and the President is doing, is we're also opening markets overseas. Cambodia has lowered its tariffs on soybeans already. Vietnam has done the same. A number of countries are doing purchase orders, and not just with soybeans- other row crops like corn, etc. So there's going- and we're looking at domestic uses of soybeans as well, and fuels, etc. So they're a multi pronged approach to solving that issue."

We also talked with Congressman Downing about the appropriations work being done in the US House, and the efforts to stand up for Montana coal. Here's the full audio of our chat with Congressman Downing: