Conrad Burns in State of Montana secondary Archives

On Budget & Economy: Control the budget throttle by not raising taxes

BURNS: His record is very clear on that, and my record is very clear also. I don’t vote for tax increases.

TESTER: Sen. Burns talks about how he doesn’t raise taxes. He’s spending more money than the economy is growing--that’s putting a tax burden on our children. If you think that’s a way to do business, it certainly wouldn’t have worked on our farm. You are a borrow-and-spender, that’s unequivocal.

BURNS: You said to some students, “I want to lower your tuition.“ Since you’ve been in the senate, tuition has gone of 48%. I have no control over that--you do, with the board of regents. You’ve got your hand on the throttle.

TESTER: You want to talk about a throttle--your hand on the throttle has doubled the national debt in 5 years. On our kids! If my folks had done that on our farm, they’d have lost the farm. You’re running this country into bankruptcy. China’s buying our debt, because he can’t balance our checkbook.

On Homeland Security: Patriot Act merely gives tools like against organized crime

TESTER: The Patriot Act has very little to do with the War on Terrorism and a lot to do with why the terrorists attacked this country, which is to take away our freedoms.

BURNS: The Patriot Act gave the tools to our law enforcement people, the same tools that they had to go after organized crime and drug kingpins. That’s all it is. He wants to go soft on the war on terror -- but I think they’re as dangerous as organized crime. He wants to weaken that. I don’t want to weaken that. On monitoring phone calls -- I want to know what they’re doing. Mr. Tester doesn’t understand this enemy. It is global. How do you deal with someone that will kill themselves just to take the life of someone they don’t agree with? He wants to weaken the Patriot Act, and take away the tools from the people who work for our protection.

TESTER: I don’t want to weaken the Patriot Act, I want to repeal it. It takes away your freedoms.

On Jobs: Minimum wage increase OK if packaged with tax cut

BURNS: I will probably vote for it, if there’s things in the bill for small business. It all has to be packaged together. We’ve got to make the tax cuts from 2001 and 2003 permanent. If we don’t, a young person’s tax bill will go up by 48% in 2011. A family of four, their tax obligation will go up 58%. So I voted for that package, to make it permanent so we won’t face that higher federal obligation, and in that was an increase in minimum wage.

TESTER: One of the good things about the Montana legislature is that we get bills on one topic. If a person votes for it, they vote for it, and we can’t skate under part of a bill. I would support the minimum wage increase. I think it’s long overdue. If we’re going to talk about tax cuts, let’s focus them on the middle class, when the bulk of that tax cut he talks about is focused on the very richest rich.

On Principles & Values: On Abramoff allegations: I never shortchanged my state

BURNS: There we go again - baseless allegations, drummed up in a negative campaign that started almost a year and a half ago. We’ve answered those questions. I know what negative campaigns are. What does [bringing up this issue] do for jobs in Montana? What’s it do for our learning institutions? It has nothing to do with it. Montanans have always been first in my office. I never shortchanged my state. Never. This is politics in its worst light.

TESTER: What Sen. Burns didn’t tell you is that he DID change his vote on the Marianas Island, on slave labor. And he did give a school to the richest tribe in the US. And he did give Jack Abramoff everything he wanted. You’ve cost Montana a lot.

BURNS: All baseless allegations and untruths. This is just a negative campaign and innuendo and that’s all he has to run on.

On Tax Reform: Families face 58% tax increase in--so make cuts permanent

TESTER: If we’re going to talk about tax cuts, let’s focus them on the middle class, when the bulk of that tax cut he talks about is focused on the very richest rich. The middle class needs to have some support in the tax code. But why do we have to give tax breaks to Paris Hilton in the process? That tax program that he talks about is dependent on deficit spending to make it work. Deficit spending is putting a tax on our children of $28,000. It’s time we had some common sense.

BURNS: He knows a lot about raising taxes. He’s never met a tax bill he didn’t vote for. His record is very clear on that, and my record is very clear also. I don’t vote for those tax increases.