Congressman Denny Rehberg

WASHINGTON, DC - Montana’s Congressman, U.S. Representative Denny Rehberg (R), tonight praised the president’s commitment to promote affordable health care and his proposal to stimulate the economy:

“While we have the best health care in the world, it is getting harder to afford every year,” Rehberg said. “I was glad to hear President Bush announce he will make prescription drug coverage a priority, especially for needy seniors.”

“There are those who disagree and say the president’s plan to stimulate the economy with tax relief won’t work. I believe in it. What becomes an impediment to small business is taxes and regulation,” Rehberg said, adding, “Montana’s families, individuals, and small businesses will greatly benefit from immediate and timely tax relief.”

Congressman’s Speech Before Joint Session of Montana Legislature Widely Regarded

HELENA, MT. - Montana’s Congressman, U.S. Representative Denny Rehberg (R), outlined his U.S House of Representatives legislative agenda in an address before the Montana State Legislature, Monday, January 20, 2002.

During the 15-minute address, Rehberg said the U.S. Congress needs to “start treating the agriculture drought just like any other natural disaster,” adding, “I’m not going to quit until we get drought relief for our agriculture communities that were hurt in the 2001 and 2002 crop loss.”

The text of the speech is below.

Rehberg Address to 2003 Montana Legislature January 20, 2003
Lt. Gov Ohs, President Keenan, Speaker Mood, friends, guests, my fellow Montanans:

Will Rogers said, “ If all Politicians fished instead of spoke publicly, we would be at peace in the world.”

Mo Udall, longtime chairman of the House Resources Committee became so exasperated over the lengthy debate one time he said, “Everything that could be said about this issue has already been said on this floor tonight. Unfortunately everyone has not yet said it.”

Nevertheless, it is my privilege to come before you once again as Montana’s Congressman to speak about what I feel are Montana’s priorities this Congress, and what I will do to accomplish those priorities.

Of course this can be, by no means, a complete list of issues I will have to work on your behalf. Consider that my last opportunity to stand before you in regular session occurred fully six months before September 11th, 2001 and all that has happened to us since then.

Today we celebrate the life and accomplishments of Martin Luther King. Nearly four decades ago, Dr. King wrote a very polite letter to fellow clergymen who had criticized what he called “civil disobedience.” Dr. King wrote: “ If I have said anything in this letter that overstates the truth and indicates an unreasonable impatience, I beg you to forgive me. If I have said anything that understates the truth and indicates my having a patience that allows me to settle for anything less than brotherhood, I beg God to forgive me.” So in my remarks this morning, remembering Martin Luther King, I intend neither to overstate nor understate the truth.

Drought Disaster Relief

How often I have heard from farmers and ranchers struggling to provide for their families, scarcely able to pay their bills, hoping against hope that perhaps this will be the year the long drought ends, praying that they will be able to hold on until the disaster does finally end.

And yet, many in Washington say drought relief must wait; that our disaster is not catastrophe—like a tornado or a flood; that we must first accommodate the real disasters. If a hurricane is like a broken arm or leg that can be fixed—then continuing drought is like a cancer destroying the very essence of rural Montana. Small town America is the glue that holds this Nation together.

And the role of the federal government is to assist in times of need, and above all, to provide a lifeboat of opportunity for those struggling against the economic currents that threaten to pull them under.
I will reintroduce my legislation that does just that, by creating a National Drought Advisory Committee, modeled after Montana’s.

Thank you Lt. Governor Ohs for your outstanding leadership as chairman, and you Senator Story for your passion as a committee member long before you entered the arena of elective politics.

Crop Insurance
But drought isn’t the only problem facing Montana’s number one industry. Our ag producers are still stuck with a clumsy crop insurance program. These policies must be reformed to better protect producers’ investments in the program and to increase protections against manipulation.

I also believe it is time to begin the debate on policies to producers of cattle and other livestock to protect Montanans who are struggling to make their living on the family ranch.

The bottom line is that our country has the safest and best quality food at the lowest price—and in order for Americans to continue to enjoy the benefits of this policy…..we’ve got to give our producers the best tools and the support they need.

And while I’ll continue to push the federal government to meet its responsibilities to agriculture, our producers must also begin to plan for the future of agriculture. And that future lies in adding value to our raw commodities. That’s why I inserted language into the farm bill that establishes a demonstration program to give agriculture producers, who want it, much-needed technical and financial assistance in starting their own value-added endeavors. Our producers need to begin to move from being price takers to being price makers, and encouraging value-added agriculture opportunities will provide a real shot in the arm to Montana’s economy.

Energy Policy

But no matter what we do to stimulate Montana’s economy – none of it will matter if America does not have an energy policy. And as we enter 2003, I’m optimistic you and I will finally see a comprehensive energy policy signed into law this session of Congress.

There is an old Chinese proverb that says: “The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago, but the second best time is today.” We needed a comprehensive energy plan twenty years ago. We cannot afford to wait until tomorrow. Between January and June of last year, the United States spent $2.3 Billion on Iraqi oil imports, effectively funding Saddam Hussein’s war machine.

I was disappointed certain individuals in the Senate were unable to agree with the terrific energy bill we passed in the House. However, I’ve learned to take heart in something Mike Mansfield once said: “You can do anything in the Senate, provided you have the patience and live long enough.”

So this session I’m optimistic we’ll live long enough to see them act on the progress we made. As a member of the House Resources Committee, I intend to press Congress to pick up where the last session left off, and pass a comprehensive energy policy that addresses ways to improve domestic production, as well as improve access to reliable electricity, new technologies, increased energy efficiency and increasing funding for low-income energy assistance.

The bill must include measures such as funding clean coal technology and encouraging alternatives like ethanol – provisions that are good for Montana, and good for our nation. And we must practice energy conservation and any energy bill has to include incentives to do just that.

I have Spoken of efforts to improve Montana’s economy by boosting our number one industry, agriculture, and by enacting an energy bill that utilizes many of Montana’s natural resources, such as coal and timber. Now let me turn to another task that will benefit Montana’s families

Tax Relief

When I last spoke to you two years ago, I pledged I would support the president’s call for enacting tax relief. I’m happy to report Congress listened to that call, and to her people; and responded by lowering tax rates, doubling the child credit, and reducing the death tax. But a down-payment alone is not enough to provoke an effective economic stimulus in Montana or the rest of the nation. For the sake of long-term growth and to help Montanans plan for the future, we need to make this tax relief permanent.

In unveiling his own tax relief proposal 40 years ago this month, President John F. Kennedy told us: “No doubt a temporary tax cut could provide a spur to our economy – but a long-run problem, compels a long-term solution.” President Kennedy knew then that good jobs depend on sound tax policy.

He reminded us that when you need to stimulate the economy, you don’t do it with more government spending, or even necessarily, the same government spending, you do it by allowing people to keep more, of what they earn…

Some call this sound fiscal policy. I would suspect you and I would call it common sense. Like President Kennedy, I believe in the philosophy that government doesn’t create jobs, people and small business do. Families and small businesses prosper when government entrusts them with the liberties found in the American dream – liberties that allow Montanans to reach as high as their God-given talents will take them. After all, Montana is too great for small dream.

Prescription Drug Coverage, Medicare

However, Montanans also know that economic security can vanish in an instant without health security. This past session of Congress, the House Approved legislation I supported to help small businesses offer health benefits to employees through the creation of association health plans.

The House also passed legislation to create a prescription drug benefit and to allow Americans to import safe, less expensive medicines from Canada or Europe. This session I’m optimistic we can persuade the Senate to pass these bills as well.

I’m also encouraging my colleagues in Congress this year to again join me in enacting legislation that will give seniors a sound and modern Medicare system that reflects the changes in health care that have occurred in the last 35 years.

This system must include a common sense prescription drug plan for our seniors.

Education, IDEA

Montana families also need a sound and modern education system for our children. Last session, as promised, we made education our #1 priority by enacting the “No child left behind” measure. That legislation included an unprecedented 12.5% funding increase for federal programs while providing more flexibility for local school districts.

But all is not right, nor just.

The federal government must honor the promise it made to states under IDEA – the Individuals with Disabilities ACT, which directs Federal dollars to students with special needs.

As you probably know, the federal government promised 25 years ago to pay 40% of the costs for special needs students. So far, the federal government has never contributed more than 15% amounting to yet another under-funded mandate on our local school districts.

In one year, Montana was short-changed nearly $40 Million in IDEA funding. This is unacceptable. Last year we tried unsuccessfully to amend the President’s education bill to mandate full funding. While we were successful in securing an additional $4 Million dollars, the government is still a long way from paying their fair share.

As this program is up for reauthorization this year, I will continue to fight for full funding.

Highway Construction

I think it was Al Capone who said: You can get much further with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone.” Well, I’ve discovered that in Congress, you can get much further with a kind word and determination than with a kind word alone. And as a member of the House Transportation Committee, I’m determined to see increased highway funding for Montana.

Early this year, we will begin work on the reauthorization of TEA-21 and reauthorization of our nation’s highway construction funding. The results of this are far reaching. For instance, for every billion dollars spent on our highways, it results in over 42,000 well paying jobs. Here at home, highway investments can help stimulate our own economy. Better roads, better bridges, increased transit options, result in increased productivity by decreasing travel time, encouraging development, and above all, result in an economic return of $6 for every $1 spent.

Concluding Remarks

I get asked a lot in Washington what it’s like to represent such a large district. My most common answer is that it is 56 counties – with 56 unique personalities and 56 different cultures. Baker is different than Libby. Plentywood has different hopes and dreams than Dillon.

But more than anything, I have come to the conclusion that our state’s greatest resource is not coal or timber or livestock or even its wealth of minerals. Our greatest resource is not our breathtaking Mountains in the West nor our amber waves of grain in the East. Montana’s greatest resource is us. The diversity, independence, and faith of our citizens, young and old, have made Montana this nation’s finest place to live. Compared to other states, our numbers are small in quantity, but glowingly large in quality.

That’s why, when it comes to the cherished goal of a state bursting with opportunities, reaching for its future with confidence, there really are no Republicans or Democrats or Independents…just Montanans.

Let us therefore look to the future with confidence. To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, “how can we not believe in the greatness of Montana? In our shared belief that Montana is America’s best state in which to live, how can we believe anything less than that Montana’s greatest days lie ahead?

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to represent you in the United States Congress. Working together we can… and we will build a more Secure Future for All Montanans.

May God Bless you and may God Bless our wonderful State.

Montana Students Deserve Affordable College
Representative Denny Rehberg - January 18, 2003

I’d like to thank all of you for being here today and extend my greetings to those of you who are watching this broadcast at other locations across Montana. I’d also like to thank Marsha Webber of the Sallie Mae Foundation for traveling here today to impart some of her knowledge on how to pay for college.

John F. Kennedy once said, “Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource.”

The progress of Montana and its economy is inextricably tied to the education of its people. You are indeed our greatest resource. In years to come, this state will need you and your innovative ideas, your creativity, your persistence, your wisdom and your guidance. In the not so distant future, it is you who will decide how to solve the problems facing our society.

This fall I was saddened to read the results of a non-profit study that concluded Montana has some of America’s smartest students who will never go to college.

Of course, the good news is that the study gave all of you high marks (or an A-) in preparation. I can’t claim to be surprised by that. But the bad news is Montana ranks nearly last in higher education affordability. We were one of only a dozen or so states to score an F.

The group conducting this study asked basic questions, such as, “How well are students in each state prepared to take advantage of college?” and “How affordable is higher education for students and families in each state?” I was proud to read in the report that Montana is a “top-performing state” in the proportion of 8th graders who score well on national math exams, and that our students are also “among the nation’s best” on national science exams. And I was proud to read that you, Montana’s 11th and 12th graders, are scoring high on college entrance exams.

But unfortunately, as you and your parents are discovering, Montanans also “pay a higher share of their incomes” to attend colleges and universities. These are hard times economically – in Montana and in the rest of America. Paying for college is becoming increasingly difficult.

Not long ago, a story in the Missoulian about a Havre student’s struggle to pay for his college education caught my attention. This young man is slated to graduate from college in 2004. He’ll be the first college graduate in his family. And he wants to be a teacher.

His parents saved as much as they could while he was growing up. They gave him money to add to his college fund on every birthday. Like many college students, he works part-time. And that’s still not enough. His college education would be unattainable without student loans.

This student’s story is anything but unique. Unfortunately, financial aid is becoming more crucial in the academic process. The Census Bureau reported last year that about 7.1 million full-time college students receive some form of financial aid to help pay for their education. And it’s especially important right now to Montana students. The good part is that it is available.

So I asked the Sallie Mae Fund, the charitable arm of the nation’s leading provider of education loans, to come here today and present a workshop on how to pay for college. I hope the information Marsha provides to you today will help you overcome the hurdles associated with this seemingly mammoth task.

Our goal is to provide you with the tools you need to identify sources of funding – grants, scholarships, loans, and work-study programs; to familiarize you with the financial aid process and the resources available to help you through it; and to assure you that paying for college is not only possible – but well worth it.

I know you are academically prepared for the next level and not even the high cost of education should put that out of reach. Be assured that education is the wisest investment you will ever make.

When he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, Martin Luther King said, “I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits.”

On Monday we’ll celebrate Martin Luther King. We’ll celebrate the freedoms and opportunities for which he stood, education among them. And I’ll be thinking of Montana’s students, because I too have the audacity to believe that your educational goals can be realized.

I’d like to compliment all of you on your hard to get this far and on your desire to obtain a college education. The days ahead will proffer new challenges and uncertainties as you apply to college and prepare for your next step in life. Remain undeterred as you seek your higher education. Don’t stop until your diploma is in your hand. You are indeed Montana’s most precious resource and you will indeed do great things.

Rehberg to Host “Paying for College” Workshop, Sponsored by Education Loan Provider Sallie Mae

BILLINGS, MT. – Montana’s Congressman, U.S. Representative Denny Rehberg (R), will host “Paying for College,” a free workshop for Montana high school students and their families, sponsored by the Sallie Mae Fund, the charitable arm of Sallie Mae, the nation’s leading provider of education loans, to be held on Saturday, January 18. Individuals interested in attending should RSVP by calling (toll-free) 877-840-8224 or logging on to www.thesalliemaefund.org/register.

WHO: U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, the Sallie Mae Fund, college-bound students and their families, and financial aid experts

WHAT: “Paying for College” workshop, providing college-bound students and their families with free information about applying and qualifying for financial aid; understanding financial aid process; borrowing for college and more.

WHERE: Gallagher Business Building at the University of Montana in Missoula. The workshop will be teleconferenced to the following nine sites:

· Billings: Montana State Univ.-Billings, College of Education, Rm. 159
· Bozeman: Montana State University-Bozeman, EPS Bldg, Rm. 126
· Havre: Montana State Univ.-Northern, Science Ctr., Rm. 202
· Butte: Montana Tech, ELCB, Rm. 231
· Dillon: Western Montana College, Library, Montana Rm., 2nd floor
· Great Falls: Great Falls College of Technology, Rm. B-103
· Helena: Helena College of Technology, Rm. 209
· Kalispell: Flathead Valley Comm. College, Learning Res. Center
· Miles City: Miles Community College, Rm. 106
WHEN: 11:00 a.m., Saturday, January 18, 2003

WASHINGTON, DC - Montana’s Congressman, U.S. Representative Denny Rehberg (R), today said he is “optimistic” the House will produce a comprehensive energy policy this session of Congress. Rehberg said he wants the legislation to include “a common-sense focus on alternatives, such as ethanol.”

“We need to get back on track as far as an energy policy, and it’s one of the first things I’m going to bring up in the new Congress when we go back into session,” Rehberg said. “I have to say that I’m terribly disappointed that we couldn’t get an energy policy out of this past session of Congress. We had a well written piece of legislation, and one of the aspects was in looking at alternatives, things like ethanol.”

Using our agricultural production for fuel to run our vehicles is good for Montana, and good for our nation, according to Rehberg.

“Ethanol has a tremendous future in the state of Montana,” Rehberg said. “We have the product that we can produce to create the alcohol to be run in our vehicles. It just makes good sense because we need to do something with agriculture products, and we need a solution to the next generation of energy production, and ethanol is one of those solutions.”

Rehberg added that he hopes the energy bill will also address improving access to reliable electricity, developing new technologies, increasing energy efficiency and conservation, and enhancing domestic production.

“Time is of the essence, but the outlook for the passage of a comprehensive energy policy in this session of Congress is favorable,” Rehberg said.

WASHINGTON, DC - Montana’s Congressman, U.S. Representative Denny Rehberg (R), today released the following statement regarding the economic stimulus plan President Bush proposed in an address to the Economic Club of Chicago:

“The president’s plan is precisely what Montana’s hardworking taxpayers need, with elements that will have a positive and immediate impact on our families, individuals, and small businesses.

“I strongly believe in the philosophy that government doesn’t create jobs, people and small businesses do. When you need to stimulate the economy you don’t do it with government spending, you do it by allowing people to keep more of the money they’ve earned.

“This president’s proposal will help Montanans by immediately accelerating the tax rate reductions that had been scheduled to take effect in 2004 and 2006. In addition, more than 200,000 working Montanans would move into the lowest tax bracket of 10 percent this year.

“I am also pleased with elements of the proposal that call for immediately accelerating the marriage penalty and increasing the child credit by $400 per child.

“Montanans deserve nothing less than the positive effects of this immediate and timely tax relief package, which I intend to support.”