Denny Rehberg for Senate

On the third anniversary of their $800 billion “stimulus” spending binge, a new government report by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reminds Montanans yet again of President Barack Obama and Senator Jon Tester’s failure to create the jobs they promised while they drove our national debt to a record-high $15.3 trillion.

As the CBO reported yesterday:

• The rate of unemployment in the United States has exceeded 8 percent since February 2009, making the past three years the longest stretch of high unemployment in this country since the Great Depression. Moreover, the Congressional Budget Office projects that the unemployment rate will remain above 8 percent until 2014.

Notably, Tester claimed the Obama stimulus would create “millions of new jobs,” and told Montanans “I think you're going to see job creation out of this bill within 90 days,” while his allies in the Obama Administration predicted the spending bill would hold unemployment below 8 percent.

But since Obama took office and Tester began supporting his agenda 95 percent of the time, America has instead lost 1.1 million jobs, and the country is in its 36th consecutive month of above-8-percent unemployment.

As he continues to take more of their money than any other candidate in the country, a new report released today by the anti-job League of Conservation Voters (LCV) shows that liberal Senator Jon Tester is also among their most reliable allies in Washington.

The LCV — a radical environmentalist group currently leading efforts to obstruct the popular Keystone XL pipeline — today released a report which reveals that, as he bankrolls his re-election campaign with their money, Senator Tester has become an even closer ally of environmental interests in Washington, scoring 91 percent loyalty to their anti-job agenda so far in the 112th Congress, up from 83 percent in the 111th Congress.

"Senator Tester has taken more money from these environmental obstructionists than anyone else, so it's no surprise that he's supporting their anti-job agenda in Washington more than ever," said Rehberg spokesman Chris Bond.  "Despite claiming to support the Keystone XL pipeline, Tester is walking in lockstep with the same anti-job obstructionists standing in its way, but sadly this is the type of hypocrisy folks in Montana have come to expect from Senator Jon Tester."

Tester's ties to controversial anti-job environmental obstructionists have come under increasing scrutiny recently, as Politico reported that the LCV — which is leading the opposition to the job-creating Keystone XL pipeline — has funneled more money to Tester's re-election campaign than to any other candidate in the country.   And CBS Montana reported last week that, "one of [Tester's] biggest donors is the League of Conservation (LCV) voters, with donations totalling more than $250,000."

It was also revealed recently that — in addition to being the number-one recipient of lobbyist campaign cash of any Washington politician during the 2012 election cycle — Tester has taken more campaign cash from radical environmentalists than any other member of the Senate this election cycle.

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In case you missed it, Senator Jon Tester again sided with President Barack Obama today and voted against blocking yet another increase in our nation's debt ceiling.  Today's vote is yet another reminder of the stark contrast between Tester's campaign rhetoric as a candidate in 2006, and his hypocritical tax-and-spend record over the last several years in Washington, where he has supported President Obama's liberal agenda 97 percent of the time.

As he campaigned for Senate in 2006, Tester routinely lectured Montanans on the importance of fiscal responsibility, saying "I am not into tax and spend," and he attacked his opponent for "borrow and spend" policies and "passing on huge debts to our children."  

But instead, over the last several years, Tester has helped President Obama implement policies – including their failed $800 billion stimulus and $1.2 trillion health care law – under which our national debt has exploded by $49,000 per second and now stands at a record $15.2 trillion, an amount equal in size to the entire value of all goods and services produced by the nation’s economy in an entire year.

Montanans also know that while driving our national debt through the roof, Obama and Tester's reckless deficit spending binge hasn't delivered the jobs they promised.  After helping President Obama pass his $800 billion “stimulus” spending bill into law, Tester told Montanans “I think you're going to see job creation out of this bill within 90 days,” while his allies in the Obama Administration predicted their deficit-spending binge would hold unemployment below 8 percent.  

But instead, America has lost 1.7 million jobs since Obama took office and Tester began rubber-stamping his big-spending agenda, and America is in its 35th consecutive month of above-8-percent unemployment.

It's clear that Senator Tester and President Obama's shared record of over-spending, over-taxing, over-regulating, and failure to create the jobs they promised will continue to be a major theme of this U.S. Senate campaign.

As Senator Jon Tester continues to pay lip service to the Keystone XL pipeline without lifting a finger to stop his friends in the Obama Administration and the radical environmental movement from blocking it, a new report out of Washington reveals that the radical environmental organization leading the opposition to Keystone XL has funneled more money to Tester's re-election campaign than to any other candidate in the country.  As Politico's Morning Score reported  today:

• SNEAK PEEK – LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION RAISES RECORD AMOUNT FOR CANDIDATES: The League of Conservation Voters Action Fund will announce later today that at the end of 2011 the organization had raised $258,334 for pro-environment congressional candidates this cycle through its GiveGreen program. This is about four times higher than the 2009 number. Two of the top recipients of LCV fundraising are Montana Sen. Jon Tester ($88,571.38) and New Mexico Rep. and Senate hopeful Martin Heinrich ($76,295.23).

Flash back to this League of Conservation Voters press release headline from exactly one week ago:

• “LCV Applauds The Obama Administration’s Rejection Of The Keystone XL Pipeline”

"This is yet another reminder that despite claiming to support Keystone XL, Senator Tester is hypocritically bankrolling his re-election campaign with money from the same anti-job environmental activists standing in the way of these good Montana jobs," said Rehberg spokesman Chris Bond.

Helena, MT --  Denny Rehberg today proudly announced that Gun Owners of America PVF, has endorsed his candidacy for the United States Senate.  "I’m proud to receive the endorsement of Gun Owners of America, a group that has been a strong advocate for our Second Amendment rights," said Rehberg.  "As Montana's next Senator, folks can count on me to always defend our Second Amendment Rights, not just when its politically expedient.”