In this editorial, the Independent Record presents both sides of this argument.

YES

Let's make a statement, Montanans. Send it back. Come on, you can say it: Send it back.

That's what Rep. Denny Rehberg, Montana's Republican Congressman, effectively said when he voted "no" on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Rehberg, who in November won his fifth term in the House with nearly 65 percent of the electorate, was right to vote "no."

The federal "stimulus" bill isn't going to stimulate anything but trillions more dollars of debt that will saddle our children and our children's children for years to come.

Our nation cannot borrow its way to prosperity, nor can we tax our way into it. That's what got us into this mess to begin with, and accepting this money is only going to make it worse -- for generations.

This "stimulus" money will only stimulate inflation, causing every American to pay more for everyday items -- if they even have a job to pay for them.

And it won't create jobs for the long term. Once each of these highway or other pet projects are completed, those jobs will go away as fast as the money spent on building them.

Send a message back to Washington -- even if it's only in theory -- that this plan is destined to fail and we don't want to be a part of it.

NO

Sending back $800 million in federal stimulus money would be insane for the state of Montana -- or any state, for that matter.

If our legislators and governor refused to accept the money, it would just be passed on to other states. The $800 million wouldn't be removed from the federal spending plan just because we refused it, thus we wouldn't be "saving" any money.

And, worse yet, we'd be losing several valuable projects locally and statewide, as well as losing the chance to help stabilize our state, city and school budgets.

The purpose of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is to 1) Preserve and create jobs and promote economic recovery; 2) To assist those most impacted by the recession; 3) To provide investments needed to increase economic efficiency by spurring technological advances in science and health; 4) To invest in transportation, environmental protection, and other infrastructure that will provide long-term economic benefits; 5) To stabilize state and local budgets, in order to minimize and avoid reductions in essential services and counterproductive state and local tax increases.

We can't do any of that in this economy without some help from the federal government.

Turning back this money would worsen the effect of this terrible economy, across the state and here at home in Helena.