$583,000 for the Montana World Trade Center
Montana may not seem like one of the nation's bustling centers of global commerce, but that didn't stop the state's sole U.S. Representative, Republican Denny Rehberg, from securing $583,000 for the Montana World Trade Center. The center, run by the University of Montana, works to help state industry promote its wheat, chemicals, industrial machinery and other exports. "The Montana World Trade Center has been a valuable resource for local businesses trying to sell their goods internationally," Rehberg said in a press release. "These funds will help ensure the Trade Center can continue to hold trade missions as well as allow them to create new programs to expand their ability to assist Montana businesses." Headquartered in Missoula, population 64,000, the center clearly has grand ambitions — its Web site can be read in five languages, and its logo includes a stack of hundred-dollar bills in front of a globe. Not a bad goal for a place with less than a third the foreign exports of tiny Delaware.