Republicans Kill Best Jobs Bill of the Session

Republicans proved once again that they are only interested in talking about jobs and not at all concerned with actually bringing new jobs to the state. They voted today to kill the the most important jobs bill of the session, the so called “bonding bill.”

This bill would have allowed communities to access money to invest in crucial projects in every corner of the state. These projects include upgrades to the University of Montana College of Technology, the MSU-Northern Auto Tech Center, MSU-Billings Science and Technology Building, as well as projects in Helena, Butte, Bozeman and Great Falls.

The bill would have had an immediate job creating impact, which is why contractors and businesses from throughout the state supported the measure. It would have also made Montana a more competitive state for bringing new businesses to the state in the future, because of the better educated workforce and educational infrastructure.

Yesterday, during debate on the bill, legislators from both parties rose to talk about the importance of making this investment in our infrastructure, and explained that Montana was uniquely position to make this investment that would make the state an economic leader for decades to come.

Unfortunately, 13 Republicans chose to play politics with the future of Montana and switched their votes between the initial House approval of the bill and today’s failure of the bill. These Republicans are:

• Bill Beck
• Mike Cuffe
• Ron Ehli
• Kelly Flynn
• Alan Hale
• Bill Harris
• Gordon Hendrick
• Pat Ingraham
• Doug Kary
• Tom McGillvray
• Mike Milburn
• Wayne Stahl
• Ted Washburn

The House has 24 hours to reconsider their actions, however the likelihood of this happening is slim, so this bill is likely dead.

UPDATE: Late today, Democrats were able to force the House to reconsider their actions on the Bonding Bill. The Bill will be up on third reading again tomorrow.