From The Montana Democrats:
Already under heat from Montana sportsmen for supporting an anti-hunting bill, mutimillionaire Congressman Dennis Rehberg today doubled down on his defense of H.R. 1505, his unpopular federal land grab bill.
H.R. 1505 allows the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to override at least 36 existing laws and seize public land within 100 miles of Montana northern border in order to gain “operational control.” The legislation has been panned by critics on the right and the left. Montana sportsmen also criticized the bill because it gives the Department of Homeland Security “complete control over millions of acres of Montana public lands.”
But Rehberg defied Montana’s opposition to the bill on KECI-TV this morning:
“It has nothing to do with any kind of a land grab. It’s federal properties only and it’s just saying ‘let the border patrol and the customs agents have access to federal property you shouldn’t lock them out’.”
Rehberg is wrong. H.R. 1505 gives unprecedented authority to the federal government lock up land in Montana, and to lock Montanans out.
“Congressman Rehberg’s 35-year political career is defined by irresponsible decisions like his Homeland Security land grab and his votes for the Patriot Act and REAL ID,” said Montana Democratic Party Executive Director Ted Dick . “If Congressman Rehberg still thinks Montanans will stand for his attacks on our rights and freedoms, then he’s clearly lost touch with Montana values. And he refuses to admit when he’s wrong.”
Earlier this week, Montana hunters began running TV ads in Montana questioning Rehberg’s support of the Roadless Release Act. Rehberg’s bill (H.R. 1581) would open up millions of acres of land in Montana to roads and development, impacting some of Montana’s most prized hunting habitat. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the Montana Wildilfe Federation oppose Rehberg’s bill.
HOMELAND SECURITY LAND GRAB: Congressman Rehberg is sponsoring a bill that “would give the secretary of homeland security total operational authority over all federal lands within 100 miles of the U.S. international and maritime borders” [Great Falls Tribune,9/21/11]. Critics said the bill was “exactly the kind of big government Montanans don’t tolerate” [Missoulian, 9/28/11].
REAL ID: In 2005 Congressman Rehberg praised a plan to force all Montanans to get government ID cards saying, “something states should have been doing all along” [Rehberg Press Release, 5/6/05].
PATRIOT ACT: Congressman Rehberg has voted over and over again to re-authorize the controversial Patriot Act, something Jon Tester has consistently opposed [HR 2975, Vote 386, 10/12/01; HR 3162, Vote 398, 10/24/01; HR 3199, Vote 414, 07/21/05; HR 3199, Vote 627, 12/14/05; S 2271, Vote 20, 03/07/06, HR 514, House Roll Call Vote 29, 2/10/11].
Related articles
- Rehberg Invites Rumsfeld (dgsma.wordpress.com)
- Tester Meets with Constituents, Rehberg Continues Invisibility Plan (dgsma.wordpress.com)
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