Montana
Montana Viewpoint: The Big (true) Beautiful (not really) Bill
Jim Elliott
After all the concern about runaway government spending and the hand wringing about the budget deficit why on earth would Congress want to pass a tax bill that cuts taxes for the 400-plus American billionaires, pays for it by penalizing sick and lower income people and STILL increases the deficit by $3 trillion?
And, why on earth would the administration want to cut the IRS, the people that actually collect the taxes and root out tax fraud?
There’s an easy answer—to cut government by lowering the amount of money available to spend.
And that doesn’t sound like a bad thing until you look at what the American people ask government to do. When I talked to people who decried government spending years ago, I would ask them what government programs that they used would they recommend for elimination. Oh, well, that’s different. Ask your own self that question.
There is, and has been for a long time, a movement that wants to reduce government to the point where they can “drown it in a bathtub”. That’s a cute way to put it, but they are serious and now they are being successful. The reason for doing that is to get government out of the way and let them make as much money as they want.
Billionaires don’t need government like regular people do. They do not need government health care insurance, they do not have to rely on local police, they can pay out of their own vast wealth for all the things that regular people need. They can hire their own security, live in gated communities, keep a doctor on their personal staff. Well, good for them, but why should they make it hard for the rest of us?
It is hard to find a calm analysis of the “Big Beautiful Bill” Most of the Republicans think it is wonderful, for the Democrats it will be the end of the world as we know it. In truth, there will be tax advantages for most people, but there will also be increased hardship for those Americans who are sick and poor. The “deserving” sick or poor, I mean.
There will be work requirements for Medicaid and SNAP (which used to be called food stamps). That’s to lower the cost to the government and to cut down on fraud. Perhaps that’s to make being sick and hungry more attractive. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana has claimed that there is an annual $50 billion in “fraudulent payments” to Medicaid. But that flies in the face of reality because such fraud as is being committed is committed by Medicaid providers, not patients. At the same time the President is cutting the number of Inspectors General who are the people who are supposed to ride herd on fraud. All this from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
So, America’s taxpayers with incomes over a million dollars a year will get a huge tax cut. They already award themselves an estimated $150 billion a year through tax evasion according to the IRS. In 2022 (the last year for which I can find information) the IRS estimated that there was $609 billion lost to tax evaders. Collecting that would offset the projected deficit in the bill in five years.
We will see what we will get, but I will always be amazed at those American billionaires for whom too much is not enough.
Montana Viewpoint has appeared in weekly and online newspapers across Montana for over 30 years. Jim Elliott served sixteen years in the Montana Legislature as a state representative and state senator. He lives on his ranch in Trout Creek.
The Montana Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at May 30, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from May 30 drawing
01-27-35-44-52, Powerball: 12, Power Play: 2
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Lotto America numbers from May 30 drawing
05-08-09-11-15, Star Ball: 04, ASB: 05
Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Big Sky Bonus numbers from May 30 drawing
15-18-22-27, Bonus: 14
Check Big Sky Bonus payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Powerball Double Play numbers from May 30 drawing
04-27-65-66-69, Powerball: 04
Check Powerball Double Play payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Montana Cash numbers from May 30 drawing
17-19-23-32-38
Check Montana Cash payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from May 30 drawing
05-14-22-28-30, Bonus: 01
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
When are the Montana Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 9 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Lucky For Life: 8:38 p.m. MT daily.
- Lotto America: 9 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Big Sky Bonus: 7:30 p.m. MT daily.
- Powerball Double Play: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Montana Cash: 8 p.m. MT on Wednesday and Saturday.
- Millionaire for Life: 9:15 p.m. MT daily.
Missed a draw? Peek at the past week’s winning numbers.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Great Falls Tribune editor. You can send feedback using this form.
A group of legal and civil rights organizations late Friday sued U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement over conditions at Camp East Montana in El Paso, the country’s largest immigration detention facility.
“Camp East Montana is nothing short of a civil rights catastrophe,” Kyle Virgien, senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project, said in a statement. “We’re suing to ensure that no other human being has to endure the inhumane treatment that the Trump administration has inflicted on our clients.”
The Texas Tribune has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
Filed by the ACLU of Texas, the ACLU, the Texas Civil Rights Project and law firm Farella Braun + Martel, the federal lawsuit comes less than a year after the opening of the sprawling tent camp.
In that time, the facility has seen at least three detainee deaths, a measles outbreak and nearly 50 detention standards violations as reported by ICE’s own inspectors, prompting calls for the camp’s closure from immigrant advocates and Democratic lawmakers.
The civil rights groups behind the lawsuit also alleged in a December letter that detained immigrants were subject to medical neglect, physical and sexual abuse by officers, insufficient food and denial of meaningful access to attorneys. In March, ICE switched out the facility’s prime operator for a more experienced contractor, saying the agency would “work closely with them” to improve services, including higher standards of medical care. Still, in a subsequent letter to ICE dated May 22, the groups said the situation “continued to deteriorate” and outlined additional complaints such as hazardous dust exposure.
Friday’s lawsuit argues that conditions at the facility are “unconstitutional punishment” and violate detainees’ due process rights under the Fifth Amendment.
“These conditions are longstanding, pervasive, and well documented, and Defendants’ continued inaction in the face of known risks shows their deliberate indifference — not mere negligence — to detainees’ constitutional rights,” the lawsuit said.
The petition, filed on behalf of four detainees, is also seeking approval to proceed as a class action to cover all those who are currently or will be detained in Camp East Montana.
One of the plaintiffs is Gerald Akari Angye, a detained immigrant who called the conditions at the camp “inhumane and cruel.”
Prior to this lawsuit, the 35-year-old man had filed a petition in January seeking release from ICE detention. According to the filing, Angye was a high school teacher in Cameroon but fled after being kidnapped and tortured amid a separatist conflict. He sought asylum after crossing through a New Mexico port of entry in December 2024. An immigration judge later denied his application, and Angye appealed.
In a statement provided by the civil rights groups, Angye said he had been beaten at Camp East Montana and never thought he would face “such severely violent treatments” in the United States. He was also placed in solitary confinement for 15 days, according to the lawsuit.
“No one deserves such cruel treatment,” he said. “We are all humans and deserve to be treated like it.”
U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar said in a statement to the Tribune that she is grateful for the legal fight. A leading critic of Camp East Montana, the El Paso Democrat called the facility “a purgatory for human beings held there.” She also vowed to continue her oversight visits and demand for the tent camp’s permanent closure.
Camp East Montana, first opened in August 2025, is located on Fort Bliss U.S. Army base.
Expected to ultimately reach a 5,000-bed capacity, the camp had a daily average of more than 2,500 detainees as of April 2, according to the most recent public data from ICE. The facility has also held the largest number of detained immigrants thus far in fiscal year 2026, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University found.
“Camp East Montana is at the epicenter of the administration’s cruel deportation agenda,” Savannah Kumar, staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas, said in a statement.
Disclosure: ACLU Texas has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
Source link
-
Los Angeles, Ca16 minutes agoMan found stabbed to death in Huntington Park
-
Detroit, MI38 minutes agoDetroit Grand Prix father-daughter volunteers help make winner’s circle moments shine
-
San Francisco, CA46 minutes agoTony Vitello just lost the only Giants allies he has left
-
Dallas, TX53 minutes agoFatal crash on LBJ Freeway in Dallas leaves 1 dead, multiple people hospitalized, police say
-
Miami, FL56 minutes agoDeputies searching for 2 men accused of shooting man during attempted robbery in SW Miami-Dade
-
Boston, MA1 hour agoFriend of Worcester woman killed in Virginia I-95 crash ‘cannot believe she is gone.’ – The Boston Globe
-
Denver, CO1 hour agoDenver hockey’s Johnny Hicks wins DU Pioneers’ Male Athlete of the Year
-
Seattle, WA1 hour agoVikings stealing Nolan Teasley from Seahawks might be even worse than it appears
