Tester asks Rehberg to join him in posting online all earmarks requested and secured

Montanans ‘expect and deserve’ transparency on earmarks from 2000-2006

(U.S. SENATE) – Senator Jon Tester today asked Montana Congressman Dennis Rehberg to join him in posting online all congressionally directed appropriations, or “earmarks,” requested since they became members of Congress.

Tester’s request is a response to a letter Rehberg recently sent to Tester, asking Tester to vote against the Montana jobs and infrastructure supported by congressionally directed appropriations.

Tester disagrees with Rehberg’s strategy.

“The ability for members of Congress to have a say in where our money is invested—as required by the U.S. Constitution—does not raise the debt,” Tester wrote. “Banning smart, transparent appropriations will cost Montana jobs.  It will hurt Montana’s water systems and highways.  It will give all decisions about our federal funding to the Obama Administration.  And it won’t save us any money.  That’s not good government, and it’s not good for Montana.”

Tester reminded Rehberg that immediately after he took office in 2007, he led the charge to do away with the secret, anonymous earmarks responsible for the abuse of taxpayer dollars.   Because of those reforms, members of Congress must now attach their names to every request, and every request has the opportunity to be scrutinized and debated by Congress and the public.

Today Tester called on Rehberg to join him in posting online all earmarks and earmark requests he has ever made as a member of Congress.  Tester said Montanans “expect and deserve no less.”

“That’s why, in the name of transparency, I’m asking you to  post online every earmark you have ever requested and secured for Montana projects between 2000 and 2006—before members of Congress were required by Congressional rules to be accountable for their requests, as I have done since I took office.”

Tester, the first member of Congress to post his daily public schedule online, recently sent an open letter to Montanans explaining his support for congressionally directed appropriations.  The letter is online at http://tester.senate.gov/Newsroom/pr_120210_earmarks.cfm.

An archive of all appropriations requested and secured by Tester is available online at tester.senate.gov/appropriations.

Tester’s letter to Rehberg appears below.

Congressman Dennis Rehberg
2448 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C.  20505

Dear Congressman Rehberg:

Thank you for your recent letter and your suggestion.  And thanks to you as well for your work on behalf of Montana and America.

I agree the culture of spending in Washington is broken.  That culture was broken years before I had the honor of serving Montanans in the U.S. Senate, and I’ve been working together with my colleagues to find real solutions to cut spending, cut our debt and create jobs.

I too was reminded how big this problem was as I traveled to all 56 counties this term.  That’s why this summer, I wrote a provision that successfully cut $6 billion dollars from the federal unemployment insurance law.  I voted against and helped kill two congressional pay raises.  And I was the only member of my party to vote against both bailouts of Wall Street and the U.S. auto industry.

As you know, the federal appropriations process changed significantly when I arrived in the Senate.  In 2007, I led the charge to do away with the secret, anonymous earmarks responsible for the abuse of taxpayer dollars.  Since that process changed, I have supported congressionally directed appropriations.  And I will continue to do so because the ability for members of Congress to have a say in where our money is invested  – as required by the U.S. Constitution – does not raise the debt. 

As you have said yourself, “earmarks aren’t the problem,” and doing away with them costs jobs and gives the Obama administration sole authority to decide where to invest our hard-earned tax dollars in critical infrastructure—priorities like safe roads and clean drinking water in communities across Montana where there aren’t enough residents to fund those things on their own.

As the first member of Congress to post my daily public schedule online, I also respect your willingness to follow my lead in government transparency and accountability.  Montanans expect and deserve no less.

That’s why, in the name of transparency, I’m asking you to  post online every earmark you have ever requested and secured for Montana projects between 2000 and 2006—before members of Congress were required by Congressional rules to be accountable for their requests, as I have done since I took office.

Every appropriations request I have ever requested is online for the public to see and scrutinize at tester.senate.gov/appropriations.

Although I respect your opinion on this politically charged matter, I disagree.

Banning smart, transparent appropriations will cost Montana jobs.  It will hurt Montana’s water systems and highways.  It will give all decisions about our federal funding to the Obama Administration.  And it won’t save us any money.  That’s not good government, and it’s not good for Montana.

I look forward to working together with all Montanans to finding real, workable ways to cut spending, cut our debt and create jobs.

Thank you again, and respectfully,
(s)
Jon Tester