4/3/2024 0 Comments Montana bill of particularsAnd truly working across the aisle is exactly what I believe an overwhelming majority of Montanans want,” Vanatta said. Tester, in working to be an author of this major infrastructure bill. ![]() “This type of bipartisan leadership you demonstrated, Sen. At a time when our state needs a real shot in the arm because of the rascally pandemic,” said Jeremy Vannatta, of the Billings Chamber of Commerce. “We’re literally set to have billions of dollars in desperately needed new projects. ![]() In Billings, home to the state’s largest population of Republican voters, there was relief that after months of negotiations a bipartisan bill was passed. Tester has put the Montana investment at closer to $5 billion once dedicated funding for water projects and broadband are combined with projects funds for which Montana will have to compete with other states. The White House estimates that $2.8 billion in road construction will flow to Montana because of the bill. It remains to be seen if Montana’s at-large representative, Republican Matt Rosendale, will support the legislation in the House. Steve Daines wasn’t among the 19 Republicans who joined Democrats in passing the bill. So far, Tester is the only member of the Montana delegation to get behind an infrastructure package that’s at least the largest of its kind in 11 years, if not ever. The Democratic senator said he intended to apply some pressure to assure passage of the bill, which he and a bipartisan group of nine other lawmakers brokered with the Biden Administration. The Billings airport was Tester’s first Montana stop since the infrastructure bill’s Senate passage. All these are important projects, because people are coming to Montana and most of them are coming on airplanes,” Ploehn said. Great Falls just finished a small project. “Missoula is in the middle of a construction project as well. In Yellowstone County, which added 16,700 residents during the last decade, concourse and runway improvements are desperately needed. “If we can get this infrastructure bill across the finish line, we will be able to take some of those projects that have been sitting out there for a while and get them up there because they are worthy projects.”Įvery large city in Montana is expanding its airport to deal with growth, Ploehn said. ![]() And that five-year CIP tends to go six, seven and eight (years) with projects that you never can get in,” Ploehn said. “Every year, the airports of this state do a five-year (capital improvement plan) for the FAA. The senator had just explained that future federal spending at Montana airports, part of a $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan approved by the Senate this month, was set to increase $144 million over the next five to eight years, with $19 million being spent in Billings. “Yahoo!” Ploehn shouted, standing in the center of a $60 million remodel of Billings Logan International Airport. It sent a jolt though Billings Airport Director Kevin Ploehn on Tuesday. If an energy drink can give you wings, just think of what $19 million might do.
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