2012 Montana Senate Debates: on Budget & Economy

Dennis Rehberg: $787B stimulus package did not create jobs

Tester said the spending was a step in the right direction as it built infrastructure and created jobs, which would be his No. 1 priority if re-elected. "We're still not where we need to be. But it was a step in the right direction to help us move forward," he said. "We couldn't sit back and do nothing."

Rehberg called his opponent fiscally irresponsible, and drew again and again on Tester's record of aligning with the administration of President Barack Obama. "I didn't vote for it then and I wouldn't vote for it now," Rehberg said of the stimulus bill. "It didn't create jobs. You don't spend a trillion dollars and hope to create an asset. It's an expense, not an asset. The stimulus failed. Where are the jobs?"

Jon Tester: $787B in stimulus spending was step in the right direction

Tester said the spending was a step in the right direction as it built infrastructure and created jobs, which would be his No. 1 priority if re-elected. The senator pointed to the ongoing construction of the Kalispell bypass and the rehabilitation of the Going-to-the-Sun Road as projects enabled by the stimulus package. "We're still not where we need to be. But it was a step in the right direction to help us move forward," he said. "We couldn't sit back and do nothing."

Rehberg called his opponent fiscally irresponsible, and drew again and again on Tester's record of aligning with the administration of President Barack Obama. "I didn't vote for it then and I wouldn't vote for it now," Rehberg said of the stimulus bill. "It didn't create jobs."

Dennis Rehberg: Refused to toe the party line on CAFTA

The six-term lawmaker recently ran an ad saying he "refused to toe the party line" on such Republican priorities as "Bush's Wall Street bailout," the Central American Free Trade Agreement and "a Republican budget plan that could harm the Medicare program so many of Montana's seniors rely on."