Families all over Montana are tightening their belts and struggling to make every penny count. With a little effort, whether it be clipping coupons or carpooling, we can stretch a dollar to do more when it’s necessary to make ends meet. Unfortunately, when it comes to spending stimulus dollars, the federal government doesn’t show the same prudence. Lately, we’ve seen government recklessly spending money just because they have so much of it – which they've borrowed against our children’s futures.

While I always said an economic stimulus needed to be timely, there’s a difference between spending money quickly and wasting money quickly. In a blind rush to spend as much of your tax dollars as they can, federal bureaucrats are circumventing an open bidding process which limits employment opportunities for hundreds of employees of Montana’s contractors. In fact, we are seeing examples of this lack of competition in the recent procurement awards for Going-to-the-Sun and our border stations.

On June 5th, I sent a letter to President Obama, asking him to direct federal agencies to take another look at these hasty procurement decisions. When it comes to our tax dollars, we deserve a government whose focus is on how well our tax dollars are spent, not on how quickly those dollars can be shoveled out the door. To make Montana’s stimulus spending more effective, Montana contractors deserve the chance to put their employees back to work.

Congressman Denny Rehberg
Billings, MT