The office of U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., sent out a release this morning announcing he has launched a Web site that allows Montanans to report on the concerns or waste they perceive in how federal stimulus dollars are being spent in the Big Sky state.
Along with other House Republicans, Rehberg voted against the stimulus, also known as the “Jobs Bill” or American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. And he clearly plans on making the case, as the stimulus dollars begin filtering through the state and onto the ground in the form of highway improvements and other projects, that the bill remains a bad idea.
The Web site has the backing of Citizens Against Government Waste, and Rehberg spokesman Jed Link said he expects other members of Congress opposed to the stimulus will soon launch similar sites. According to Link, Rehberg’s Web site is a rebuttal to the White House Web site dedicated to the stimulus, Recovery.gov, which he said does not so much track the stimulus spending as provide political support for it.
“We just kept on hearing from people with problems and frustrations but no one knew where to go,” Link added. “This Web site fixes those problems, as far as finding a place to go.”
Here’s the full release, with quotes from Rehberg:
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Montana’s Congressman, Denny Rehberg, has created a website that allows Montanans to report problems, waste or concerns about the nearly $1 trillion stimulus package. Despite assurances of unprecedented transparency, reports from across the state and the country are surfacing about the difficulty people face in trying to track how stimulus tax dollars are being used. Stimulus Watch Montana is available at http://www.house.gov/rehberg/stimuluswatch.shtml, or by visiting Rehberg’s official website.
“Almost every day, I hear from Montanans who are concerned – and sometimes downright ticked off – about how a faceless bureaucracy in Washington, D.C. is mishandling stimulus funds,” said Rehberg a member of the House Appropriations Committee. “Whether it’s spending an extra $45 million on a federal courthouse in Billings or hiring out-of-state companies to watch Montana’s northern border, Montana Stimulus Watch provides a place for folks to report problems, which in turn helps me in fixing the problem in Washington.”
Stimulus Watch Montana is the first website of its kind – a watchdog resource geared toward a specific Congressional District. While the official White House website for stimulus spending, Recovery.gov, has promised to be a clearing house of information, the USA Today recently reported that it won’t even be up and running until at least October. Some have also complained that the site is more geared toward taking credit for spending than actually addressing the real concerns of waste and abuse.
“This unique initiative will help expose how money is being spent in the stimulus, said Tom Schatz, President of the Citizens Against Government Waste. “More importantly it will enable those who are paying for these projects – the taxpayers – to become watchdogs for their own money. Stimulus Watch Montana is needed because the Recovery.gov website, which is run by the White House, will not be fully functional until October. Rep. Rehberg is setting a good example that his colleagues should follow, so that taxpayers in every congressional district will know more about where their hard-earned dollars are going, or not going.”
“The federal government must be accountable to taxpayers for every dollar it spends and right now that’s just not happening. My new website can help fix that,” said Rehberg.