GOP MAGA Sen. Tim Sheehy was stunned into some temporary silence after being fact checked on just who was responsible for the cancellation of a hydrogen project in his state.
From NPR last week: Trump administration cancels hydrogen project slated for St. Regis in western Montana:
The federal government recently canceled a project that would have included a small initiative to use solar energy to create hydrogen fuel out of well water in the small town of St. Regis in far western Montana.
Late last week, the U.S. Department of Energy terminated roughly 321 Biden-era financial awards worth about $7.5 billion. Among them was the $1 billion award for the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub, which would have been mostly in Oregon and Washington, but it included the St. Regis project.
In 2023, when Joe Biden was president, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte was positive about the inclusion of Montana in the project.
“Through its investment in St. Regis, the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub will create more good-paying Montana jobs and ramp up American-made energy in the Treasure State,” Gianforte said at the time.
But White House Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought said in a post on social media last week that “nearly $8 billion in Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda is being cancelled.”
Sheehy was asked about the hub being cancelled on this Tuesday’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, and lamely tried to blame it on the government shutdown. Sadly for Sheehy, Collins had done her homework.
COLLINS: But on the projects, the Department of Energy just canceled a billion dollars to the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub. Part of that covers your state of Montana. And your governor actually praised it when it was uh happening, saying it was going to create good paying Montana jobs and boost American made energy.
They just yanked a billion dollars from that. So is that taking away good paying jobs in Montana?
SHEEHY: Of course it is. As I said, we want the government to be open. You should be saying this to Chuck Schumer, who’s closing the government down. I’m agreeing we should have the government open right now. This is an unnecessary shutdown.
COLLINS: But that you’re acknowledging that what the Trump administration just pulled in funding is hurting your state.
SHEEHY: Having having troops not being able to fulfill their functions, having law enforcement officers, having air traffic controllers not be able to direct flights into our airports in Montana, hurts our state. Not having federal employees attending, showing up to farm service agency offices during cattle shipping season, that hurts our state. Not having Department of Transportation employees overseeing our highways, our bridges, our our airways, our road… our road construction efforts.
All those things are hurting every state. So the shutdown is not a good thing and that’s why we don’t want it to continue. That’s why we voted… that’s why we’ve not voted eight times to reopen the government and we’ve not been supported by our friends across the island.
COLLINS: Yeah, we pushed Democrats on their stance. We’ve had many of your colleagues on the show, but on this hub specifically, I mean, that is the… the Trump administration didn’t have to make that decision. They decided to pull that billion dollars from your state. Do you disagree with that?
SHEEHY: Well, I think the reality is we wouldn’t be here if the government was still open. And now we’re going on a week three of a pretty unnecessary shutdown.
COLLINS: Well, actually, Chris Wright, the Energy Secretary, I asked him about that project specifically, and he said they would have done that even if the government wasn’t shut down, that that was months in the making even before the government shutdown.
(uncomfortable pause before Sheehy answers)
SHEEHY: Well, it’s unfortunate we’re still shut down. We shouldn’t be.
These liars have no defense when confronted with facts. Trump and his 2025 minions don’t care how many people they hurt or what party they’re in. When his gullible cult is ever going to wake up to this is beyond me.
