Let’s give a shout out to The Monitor‘s East Helena Bureau and reporter Aleka Kroitzsh for the recent news article, “Trump Cuts Imperil $10 Million East Helena Road Fix.”
I’m outraged that the Trump administration is stalling promised federal funding, secured by former Montana Senator Jon Tester, to fix and upgrade a busy section of Valley Drive—a measly two-lane, treacherous traffic corridor.
The administration is risking the safety of young children walking to school, motorists, and other pedestrians by dragging its feet on this critical rural infrastructure project. I encourage everyone reading this to contact your Montana Congressional Delegation and ask them to expedite the funding.
According to an April 24, 2025, letter from Federal Transportation Director Sean Duffy, the US Department of Transportation wants to make sure there’s no DEI or lack of cooperation with ICE in the project.
Duffy writes, “Any policy, program, or activity that is premised on practices designed to achieve so-called ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ presumptively violates federal law and the terms of your grant agreement.”
Duffy also said, “Your legal obligations require cooperation with federal authorities and not impeding US Immigration and Customs Enforcement…such efforts (to impede ICE) prioritize illegal aliens over the safety and welfare of the American people.”
Yet by sitting on the funding, it seems the Trump administration couldn’t care less about the safety of hardworking Montanans and their families who must negotiate Valley Drive daily or breaking the federal promise made to them.
Mary Ann Dunwell is a Montana State Senator representing Senate District 42, East Helena and Helena.