Montana Republicans Keep Focus on Jobs

Republican lawmakers in Montana have wrapped up the first half of this year’s legislative session after advocating for measure to create jobs and to produce a fiscally sound budget, the Great Falls Tribune reports.

Senate President Jim Peterson, a Buffalo Republican, said he is proud of the work GOP lawmakers have done to "focus on creating opportunity in the private sector."

"Those are where the real jobs occur, and those are the folks that sign the front side of the check," Peterson said. "We're doing that through a very disciplined budgeting process."

When lawmakers return to work next week, among the issues they’ll tackle are the state budget, worker’s compensation reform, cutting business equipment taxes and revamping the state’s environmental policies.

The major focus will be on the budget, however.

"We can't continue to spend more than we take in,” Peterson said. “There's not enough grain in the bin.”