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GOP Continues Their Assault on Firefighters
Posted by:The GOP majority in the House, today gave initial approval to a bill that is a direct assault at Montana’s professional firefighters. The bill seeks to allow large municipalities in the state to have an all volunteer firefighting force. If this bill is written into law, it would have a disastrous impact on our public safety in our cities. Our highly trained, professional firefighters would no longer be available to help in the event of an emergency.
It would also cause greater economic struggles in these cities, because the professional firefighters that are currently employed would be laid off.
The measure passed second reading in the House with a 60-40 vote, with all Democrats opposing the measure.
This bill is the latest in a string of attacks on firefighters from Montana Republicans. The first came last summer, when Congressman Dennis Rehberg sued the Billings fire department for fighting his fire. The second was when Rehberg voted against the 9/11 Responders Bill in Congress, which provided much needed medical care to these heroes. Today’s bill is the third.
Ted Dick, executive director of the Montana Democratic Party had this to say of the GOP attacks on firefighters and first responders, “What do Republican lawmakers have against firefighters and the jobs they do? The last thing our economy needs right now is more layoffs, let alone to firefighters who protect our communities and keep our families safe. They should be commended for their heroism, not fired.”
“On The Endangered Species Act”
Posted by:Congressman Dennis Rehberg addressed a joint session of the Montana Legislature today. This address is usually reserved for our federal lawmakers to talk about the work they are doing for Montanans in D.C. Unfortunately, Congressman Rehberg made what many are calling a veiled threat against federal judges he disagrees with, when he said:
“Currently, the only thing growing faster than the gray wolf population is the number of obstructionist environmental groups and their lawyers. Environmental obstructionists found a federal judge in Missoula that was willing to ignore the scientific evidence, as well as the expert opinions of on-the-ground wildlife managers here in Montana. And he ruled last August that the gray wolf had to remain on the Endangered Species Act…How can we put some of these judicial activists on the Endangered Species Act? I’m still working on that.”
Regardless of where one stands on the gray wolf issue, we can all agree that this type of inflammatory rhetoric is irresponsible and insensitive in light of the murder of a federal judge in Tucson less than a month ago.
Congressman Rehberg should not only apologize for his comments, but should also think more carefully about his reckless actions in the future.
(We will post video of the statement as soon as it is available.)
"We believe that the current budget, heading to the Senate Floor next week, unnecessarily pits Montanans against, creating winners and losers” 