Brucellosis -- who pays?

So far, so good, on keeping Montana's brucellosis-free status, with the final testing on Rep. Bruce Malcolm's Emigrant ranch coming up negative. It's not over, even in the short term, and especially not in the long term, about which more later.

But first, a Montana Headlines reader not familiar with ranching commented that the Billings Gazette headline a couple of days back of "Brucellosis ID'd in lawmaker's herd" (along with the accompanying article identifying Malcolm in the first sentence as a Republican lawmaker) gave the impression (at least to that reader) that the Gazette was saying that Malcolm had somehow been negligent, and had gotten busted.

That wasn't the MH impression of the article, but that was because we were leaping on to the potentially devastating implications of the findings for the state's livestock industry, knowing good and well that whoever the rancher was, no-one would say it was his fault.

Then we went back and started reading the on-line comments under the story -- perhaps a mistake -- and there it was, some of the most vile anti-Republican rancher stuff encountered in some time, including one reader making the allegation that Malcolm had taken out an insurance policy on his herd and intentionally infected it or allowed it to be infected.

Compounding the first mistake and reading even further, we encountered grossly ignorant statements such as the idea that ranchers graze public lands for free, and even the unbelievably grossly ignorant statement that public lands have been set aside for wildlife only. That would be news to the lawmakers who passed the Taylor Grazing Act back in 1934, codifying pre-existing grazing use going back long before the establishment of any National Parks.

So, apparently the MH reader's impressions were spot-on, since the message in the Gazette headline resonated with at least some people in exactly that kind of anti-Republican political way. Anyway, back to brucellosis...

While it may be true that, as the governor says, there is little chance that this was a direct transmission from Yellowstone Park bison, the emphasis is on "direct," since the postulated intermediary is elk -- which got it from the bison. As Sarpy Sam points out, "the problem is the reservoir of infection that is allowed to exist in the Greater Yellowstone Area." Anyone interested in getting the most knowledgeable opinions on this subject in the blogosphere should stay tuned to his site (and for anyone who hasn't visited his site, once you do, you'll become a regular.)

Cattle producers have spent a lot of money gaining and maintaining Montana's brucellosis-free status. It hardly seems like an accident that the cows that tested positive were from Emigrant -- and not Ekalaka. So yes, the Park is the source.

Since wildlife in the Park is the federal government's responsibility, it seems reasonable that the federal government bear the cost of addressing this reservoir of infection and that it bear the costs incurred by the State of Montana and by individual Montana ranchers.

Immigration bill update

In today's action on the immigration bill before the Senate, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-NM, put forward his amendment to cut the number of guest workers from 600,000 to 200,000. The amendment passed 74 - 24, with Republican Senators splitting down the middle. It's not as good as Dorgan's amendment, but if the final bill makes it through, it's better than nothing, so its passage was a minor victory. Sens. Tester and Baucus voted for the amendment.

Somehow lost in the fuss over Sen. Byron Dorgan's failed attempt to strip the guest-worker provision from the immigration bill now in the works in Washington was another roll-call vote where the results were also interesting, and where Montana's two Democratic Senators again came down on the right side.

On Monday, there was a vote on a motion to proceed with the bill. Sens. Baucus and Tester were two of only four Democrats to vote against proceeding, joined by Sen. Byrd of WV and Sen. Dorgan of ND. On the Republican side, 19 Senators voted against proceeding.

This means that 17 of the Republican Senators who voted against Dorgan's amendment had earlier voted to kill the entire bill. This points toward a reliable 19 votes against the bill if it remains essentially unchanged. If the Democratic Senators who voted against the guest-worker provision hold firm, there are more than enough votes to uphold a filibuster -- and as Republican Senators continue to get an earful from the base, those 19 Republican votes should grow in number.

We will continue to monitor Montana's Senators as votes go by -- realizing that there is a lot of bargaining and maneuvering going on, and realizing that corporate America has a lot of campaign dollars to throw around. But so far, so good.