Senator Tester Attempts to Attach Logging Bill to Senate Continuing Resolution bill, December 11, 2010

Hello:

As you may have heard, Senator Tester is attempting to attach his logging bill onto the Senate's Continuing Resolution (CR) bill, which is a required, must pass bill to fund the US Government until September 2011.

Two hours after the following inquiry was sent to Senator Tester's office (with a large number of MT media contacts openly cc'ed in the message), Senator Tester's office sent out a memo to the news media (attached below).

Your help in needed now.

Please take a moment to contact Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI) and ask him to NOT include Senator Tester's Forest Jobs and Recreation Act in the upcoming Senate Continuing Resolution (CR) bill. Please call (202) 224-3934 or send an email via: http://inouye.senate.gov/Contact/ContactDKI.cfm.

Also, please contact Senator Tester and let him know that you strongly disapprove of his FJRA, as written, and his underhanded tactics to get it passed, despite the fact that the bill never made it out of the Senate ENR Committee, never made it to the floor of the Senate and was never even introduced in the US House. Please call (202) 224-2644 or send an email via: http://tester.senate.gov/Contact/

Thank you.

Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2010 10:46:41 -0700

To: Tracy_Stone-Manning@tester.senate.gov
From: Matthew Koehler koehler@wildrockies.org

Subject: Is Sen Tester's trying to attached his logging bill to the Senate CR?

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December 10, 2010

Senator Jon Tester
Missoula Office
130 W Front Street
Missoula, MT 59802
Phone: (406) 728-3003

Hello Tracy,

Over the past 24 hours a number of sources from DC have confirmed that Senator Tester is attempting to place his mandated logging bill, the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act, on the upcoming Senate Continuing Resolution (CR) bill, which is a "must pass" bill that is required to fund the US Government through next September, 2011.

This is despite the fact that Senator Tester's FJRA never made it out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Never made it to the floor of the US Senate. And never was even introduced in the US House.

Could you please confirm or deny if Senator Tester is attempting to place the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act on the "must pass" Senate Continuing Resolution (CR) bill?

Thank you for your response.

Sincerely, Matthew Koehler 406-396-0321

-----Original Message-----
From: Murphy, Aaron (Tester) [mailto:Aaron_Murphy@tester.senate.gov]
Sent: Friday, December 10, 2010 12:36 PM
Subject: MEMO re: Forest Jobs and Recreation Act

MEMO

TO:   Interested news reporters
FROM: Aaron Murphy, The Office of Senator Jon Tester
RE:   Forest Jobs and Recreation Act

Jon is committed to creating Montana jobs by passing his landmark, bipartisan Forest Jobs and Recreation Act, which has been vigorously debated, discussed, scrutinized, and improved with public input since its introduction in July of 2009.

As he has said for weeks (see Associated Press story below), Jon is exploring all legislative options to get the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act passed, and he hopes the Senate agrees to include this jobs bill as part of a larger bill.

However, Senate leaders are still piecing together a larger bill for possible consideration next week, and we have NOT seen whether the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act will be a part of it.

Should the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act be included in a larger bill, the measure's language is and has been available online at tester.senate.gov/forest.