Tim Leeds Havre Daily News tleeds@havredailynews.com
Montana’s Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg spoke against the actions of the presidential admnistration in its attempts to stimulate the U.S. economy while he addressed people at the Hill County- Blaine County Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinner Sunday. “They’re assuming if you throw money at the problem it’s going to solve the problem, and it isn’t,” he said. Rehberg, who voted against both the financial bailout last fall and the economic stimulus this year, said nearly doubling the deficit with government programs and trying to offset that with tax increases is not what he thinks needs to be done. He would rather rely on the millions of small businesses to create jobs and pump up the economy, Rehberg said. Rehberg said he voted against the bill because it failed to meet what he called the four Ts that it is timely, Targetted, temporary and transparent. He added that the House voted 403-0 to have it posted on the Internet for 48 hours before it was voted on in an effort to increase transparency, but that still didn't happen. It was posted for public scrutiny the night before the vote was taken, with the opposition to the bill given only 45 minutes to speak, Rehberg said. Rehberg said he is not opposed to the bill because it is supported by a Democratic president that is not the point, he said. “You just don’t tax and spend your way to prosperity,” he said. He said further problems also are on the way this week Congress takes up an omnibus spending bill, necessary becuase a budget was not put in place by Oct. 1. “This Congress did not get its job done this year ,” he said. “We”re going to be doing last year’s work.” Then, he said, the legislative body will have to start working on the budget for the next fiscal year. Rehberg urged the Hill and Blaine county Republicans at the dinner to help their party regain control of the state. The Democrats took control of all state-level offices in November’s primary election, although the Republicans have a slim majority in the state Senate and the House is evenly split. Rehberg also spoke about his likely opponent in the next election, Montana Democratic Party Chair Dennis McDonald. Rehberg called McDonald a San-Francisco area lawyer, although the Democrat bought a ranch near Melville so “he’s got the hat and got the boots.” McDonald, a native of Kansas who lived in California in the 1960s, said Friday he bought and has operated his Montana ranch since 1972. But, Rehberg said, McDonal’s politics are more likely to reflect the values of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of California, not Montana traditions.
