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Tester fires back over Rehberg comments
Tim Leeds
Montana's junior U. S. senator, Democrat Jon Tester, said some comments made last week by an opponent in the 2012 election, Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., don't hold up to close scrutiny.
"When you don't have anything on somebody you have to drum things up, " Tester said Thursday.
Tester said his record in his first four years as a U. S. senator speaks for itself.
"It's about moving the country forward; it's about creating jobs. It's about having some sort of vision, " he said. "And it's not just about saying 'no' except for naming a few buildings and suing some firefighters. "
***Rehberg goes on the offensive early
Rehberg, in Havre following the annual Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinner Republican fundraiser Feb. 20, said in an interview Feb. 21 that he wanted to run against Tester to bring a different viewpoint to Montana's Senate representation. He said he would bring a philosophy of smaller government, while both Tester and Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., seem to be looking for bigger government.
He also said Tester and Baucus vote almost entirely in support of President Barack Obama's agendas and with Democratic leaders Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada and Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California.
Baucus' staff also said that is not true, including citing the senator's being a vocal critic of Obama's proposed budget, saying it favors urban America while neglecting rural areas, and his having built a reputation of regularly reaching across the aisle in search of consensus.
***Tester says he votes his conscience
Tester went even further — not only does he not always agree with Obama, Reid and Pelosi, he and Baucus do not always vote together.
One example he listed was the federal bailout of the financial industry in 2008. Baucus voted in favor of the bill, while Tester voted against it. He said he appreciates Baucus' viewpoint on the vote, but, "I thought it was the wrong thing to do …. "
"There are plenty of other thing's we've done that we disagree on, " Tester added.
Tester also voted against Obama's federal bailout of the Big 3 auto makers, which Baucus also voted for.
Rehberg also voted against the financial and auto bailouts.
Tester added that, while it is true he votes with Baucus on many issues, he also regularly votes with senators from the Republican side of the aisle on some issues as well.
Tester said that he tries to bring a Montana viewpoint to his work in the capital. He said he comes back every weekend, works on his farm and also goes out and visits with Montanans, in every county. He uses that information and background in crafting bills and in deciding how to vote on bills, he said.
Tester proud of his record
He said he has used his philosophy to work on issues he believes are important to the country and to Montana.
Some of his work he listed includes reforming credit-card regulation, improving veterans benefits, and regulation of the banking industry including protecting small community banks and credit unions from regulations applied to the massive financial companies,
He said he also has worked to champion small business, including citing work being done now on the financial reform to make certain it works for Montana and works for small business-owners. Another example was work he did to exempt small farmers and ranchers who market locally from stringent regulations on major food companies to prevent food-borne illnesses.
He also cited some of that work in reply to Rehberg's claim that he is a proponent of big government.
He said Rehberg didn't talk about issues such as those in his interview.
"What he didn't talk about was his record of getting things done …, " Tester said. "Dennis has voted against giving tools to small businesses that I championed — whether it's infrastructure, whether it's research and development, or whether it's the food safety bill that meets the needs of people (instead of) multi-national food corporations that control 80 percent of the world's food — which is a bill he voted against. "
***Tester defends his forest bill
Rehberg said in his Feb. 21 interview that another change he wants to bring is increased transparency. An example he used is Tester's bill to revise forest management in Montana, Senate Bill 268.
Rehberg has said for more than a year that the bill, which Tester says promotes the logging industry while also preserving recreation and wild lands, was not done with input from Montanans.
He also decried Tester's attaching the legislation to the omnibus spending bill the Senate crafted in December — which failed — as a back-door attempt to avoid transparency and public input.
"That's just a lack of knowledge of the facts, " Tester said Thursday.
He said it is normal procedure to attach legislation to other bills in Congress, and he has been trying to do so since the bill was written. Now that the omnibus spending bill was killed, he will be looking for other legislation to attach it to, just as Rehberg attached his proposal to defund the health care reform to a House continuing resolution.
"It's not like the state Legislature (with bills that have one title to address one issue), and he ought to know that, " Tester said.
He said the bill was written after and during hundreds and hundreds of meetings, and actually started with a movement by Montana representatives of logging, recreation and environmental groups before he even was elected to the U. S. Senate.
The idea is to create some jobs and move the economy, while protecting the environment, by doing things a little differently, Tester said.
The bill has about a 70-percent approval rating in Montana, he added.
Tester challenged Rehberg to point out a bill that has had more public input than his forest bill, which has been available for viewing on Tester's website from its beginning.
To oppose the bill for political reasons is the wrong thing to do, he added.
"If he wasn't running against me, he would probably be cosponsoring it, " Tester said. ——— Online: Sen. Jon Tester: http://tester.senate.gov Rep. Denny Rehberg: http://rehberg.house.gov Sen. Max Baucus: http://baucus.senate.gov
Montana's junior U. S. senator, Democrat Jon Tester, said some comments made last week by an opponent in the 2012 election, Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., don't hold up to close scrutiny.
"When you don't have anything on somebody you have to drum things up, " Tester said Thursday.
Tester said his record in his first four years as a U. S. senator speaks for itself.
"It's about moving the country forward; it's about creating jobs. It's about having some sort of vision, " he said. "And it's not just about saying 'no' except for naming a few buildings and suing some firefighters. "
Rehberg, in Havre following the annual Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinner Republican fundraiser Feb. 20, said in an interview Feb. 21 that he wanted to run against Tester to bring a different viewpoint to Montana's Senate representation. He said he would bring a philosophy of smaller government, while both Tester and Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., seem to be looking for bigger government.
He also said Tester and Baucus vote almost entirely in support of President Barack Obama's agendas and with Democratic leaders Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada and Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California.
Baucus' staff also said that is not true, including citing the senator's being a vocal critic of Obama's proposed budget, saying it favors urban America while neglecting rural areas, and his having built a reputation of regularly reaching across the aisle in search of consensus.
Tester went even further — not only does he not always agree with Obama, Reid and Pelosi, he and Baucus do not always vote together.
One example he listed was the federal bailout of the financial industry in 2008. Baucus voted in favor of the bill, while Tester voted against it. He said he appreciates Baucus' viewpoint on the vote, but, "I thought it was the wrong thing to do …. "
"There are plenty of other thing's we've done that we disagree on, " Tester added.
Tester also voted against Obama's federal bailout of the Big 3 auto makers, which Baucus also voted for.
Rehberg also voted against the financial and auto bailouts.
Tester added that, while it is true he votes with Baucus on many issues, he also regularly votes with senators from the Republican side of the aisle on some issues as well.
Tester said that he tries to bring a Montana viewpoint to his work in the capital. He said he comes back every weekend, works on his farm and also goes out and visits with Montanans, in every county. He uses that information and background in crafting bills and in deciding how to vote on bills, he said.
He said he has used his philosophy to work on issues he believes are important to the country and to Montana.
Some of his work he listed includes reforming credit-card regulation, improving veterans benefits, and regulation of the banking industry including protecting small community banks and credit unions from regulations applied to the massive financial companies,
He said he also has worked to champion small business, including citing work being done now on the financial reform to make certain it works for Montana and works for small business-owners. Another example was work he did to exempt small farmers and ranchers who market locally from stringent regulations on major food companies to prevent food-borne illnesses.
He also cited some of that work in reply to Rehberg's claim that he is a proponent of big government.
He said Rehberg didn't talk about issues such as those in his interview.
"What he didn't talk about was his record of getting things done …, " Tester said. "Dennis has voted against giving tools to small businesses that I championed — whether it's infrastructure, whether it's research and development, or whether it's the food safety bill that meets the needs of people (instead of) multi-national food corporations that control 80 percent of the world's food — which is a bill he voted against. "
Rehberg said in his Feb. 21 interview that another change he wants to bring is increased transparency. An example he used is Tester's bill to revise forest management in Montana, Senate Bill 268.
Rehberg has said for more than a year that the bill, which Tester says promotes the logging industry while also preserving recreation and wild lands, was not done with input from Montanans.
He also decried Tester's attaching the legislation to the omnibus spending bill the Senate crafted in December — which failed — as a back-door attempt to avoid transparency and public input.
"That's just a lack of knowledge of the facts, " Tester said Thursday.
He said it is normal procedure to attach legislation to other bills in Congress, and he has been trying to do so since the bill was written. Now that the omnibus spending bill was killed, he will be looking for other legislation to attach it to, just as Rehberg attached his proposal to defund the health care reform to a House continuing resolution.
"It's not like the state Legislature (with bills that have one title to address one issue), and he ought to know that, " Tester said.
He said the bill was written after and during hundreds and hundreds of meetings, and actually started with a movement by Montana representatives of logging, recreation and environmental groups before he even was elected to the U. S. Senate.
The idea is to create some jobs and move the economy, while protecting the environment, by doing things a little differently, Tester said.
The bill has about a 70-percent approval rating in Montana, he added.
Tester challenged Rehberg to point out a bill that has had more public input than his forest bill, which has been available for viewing on Tester's website from its beginning.
To oppose the bill for political reasons is the wrong thing to do, he added.
"If he wasn't running against me, he would probably be cosponsoring it, " Tester said.
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