Past and present Senate candidates from Montana: on Budget & Economy

Matt Rosendale: Cut government instead of stimulus spending

Matt Rosendale (R): No. Cut government & return money in tax cuts.

Jon Tester (D): Yes. 2008 stimulus was necessary. Need to invest more in infrastructure.

Albert Olszewski: For balanced budget instead of intergenerational theft

Amanda Curtis: Economy that works for all of us, not just for the richest

Champ Edmunds: The borrower is servant to the lender

Edmunds: Strongly Agree.

Question topic: Briefly list political or legislative issues of most concern to you.

Edmunds: National Debt. The borrower is servant to the lender. We need to be a debt free Government and a debt free nation.

Steve Daines: Obama stimulus shipped American jobs to China

Daines says Walsh "supported shipping American jobs to China," referring to President Obama's economic stimulus. But Walsh wasn't in the Senate at the time and didn't vote on the legislation. A small portion of the stimulus did go to Chinese firms, but Walsh had nothing to do with the award of stimulus contracts.

Walsh says Daines worked to build factories in China "at the same time Daines' company was firing thousands of American workers here." Daines did help Procter & Gamble expand in China in the 1990s, but the company says Daines was not involved in strategic corporate decisions. Moreover, the implication that expansion in China came at the expense of U.S. jobs is unsupported.

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."

Conrad Burns: Grow economy & control spending to reduce deficit

JONES: That’s easy for me. Eliminate unconstitutional departments and agencies.

BURNS: There’s only one way to control the deficit--grow the economy and control spending. We have brought down spending on the discretionary spending - the part we have some control over. The non-discretionary part is troubling. We’re continuing with the tax cuts which have energized the economy--that’s the way you take care of the deficit. We didn’t ask for 9/11, or Katrina, or the war on terror. We always grew through it. You grow the economy and control spending and that’s the way you take care of the deficit.

TESTER: When it comes to funding for Montana, we took the third biggest cut in FY05, in that discretionary funding. Out of 13 subcommittee chairs, Sen. Burns is ranked 10th in getting dollars to this state for critical projects. It’s time that we spend the money wiser, that we prioritize better, and start looking out for middle class folks.

Jon Tester: Montana suffered from Burns’ cuts in discretionary funding

JONES: That’s easy for me. Eliminate unconstitutional departments and agencies.

BURNS: There’s only one way to control the deficit--grow the economy and control spending. We have brought down spending on the discretionary spending - the part we have some control over. The non-discretionary part is troubling. We’re continuing with the tax cuts which have energized the economy--that’s the way you take care of the deficit. We didn’t ask for 9/11, or Katrina, or the war on terror. We always grew through it. You grow the economy and control spending and that’s the way you take care of the deficit.

TESTER: When it comes to funding for Montana, we took the third biggest cut in FY05, in that discretionary funding. Out of 13 subcommittee chairs, Sen. Burns is ranked 10th in getting dollars to this state for critical projects. It’s time that we spend the money wiser, that we prioritize better, and start looking out for middle class folks.

Stan Jones: Eliminate numerous unconstitutional federal departments

JONES: That’s easy for me. Eliminate the unconstitutional department of education. Eliminate the unconstitutional department of energy. Eliminate Housing and Urban Development, and Health & Welfare, and all the unconstitutional agencies and programs in the federal government. Then eliminate the ability for the federal government to pass laws that bribe state governments to pass things that the federal government cannot pass constitutionally. That makes the state government grow. I don’t understand how people can take an oath of office knowing that they are outside the law of the constitution. They are outlaws!

BURNS: There’s only one way to control the deficit--grow the economy and control spending.

TESTER: It’s time that we spend the money wiser, that we prioritize better, and start looking out for middle class folks. But that’s not the people who have control--the cronies on K-Street that buy votes have more control than the folks that elect us.