Keegan Bittner, Author at Senator Steve Daines

Daines, Downing Introduce Bill to Support Irrigation, Protect Montana Endangered Species

December 10, 2025

U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines and Representative Troy Downing (MT-02) today introduced the “Lower Yellowstone River Native Fish Conservation Act.” The bill reaffirms that the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) retains exclusive ownership, operational control, and financial responsibility for the Lower Yellowstone fish bypass channel, built to support the recovery of the endangered pallid sturgeon. Daines’ bill provides critical protections for irrigators, ensuring that local communities are not unfairly charged for federal projects and are protected from bearing the costs of long-term conservation efforts. “Montana’s local communities should not be unfairly burdened by costly federal projects. I’m thrilled to work alongside Representative

Daines Chairs Senate National Parks Subcommittee Hearing

December 9, 2025

Advocates For Bill Keeping National Cemeteries Open on Federal Holidays U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines today chaired a Senate National Parks subcommittee hearing, where he spoke with Mike Caldwell from the National Park Service and urged his colleagues to support his bill requiring national cemeteries to be open on federal holidays. Watch his opening remarks HERE. Daines’ opening remarks: Today’s subcommittee hearing is the first in the 119th Congress. I want to thank my co-chair, Senator King, for joining me today. I look forward to continuing our long streak of bipartisan work. Specifically, I am excited to continue our work on reauthorizing

Daines Urges OPM to End Taxpayer-Funded Abortions in Congressional Health Plans

December 5, 2025

U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines today sent a letter to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) urging compliance with the Smith Amendment, which prevents taxpayer dollars from being used to pay for an elective abortion under the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program. OPM has long violated the Smith Amendment by offering health care plans to Members of Congress and congressional staff that cover elective abortions. “We urge you to stop the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) from administering government contributions for Members of Congress and Congressional staff in connection with health insurance plans that cover elective abortion, in violation of

Daines on Fox Business: President Trump Is Taking the Fight to the Narco-Terrorists

December 2, 2025

Illegal Drugs Are A Leading Cause of Death for Americans U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines today joined Fox Business to discuss how President Trump is fighting back against Venezuelan narcoterrorism. Watch the full interview HERE. Daines on President Trump’s strong stand against narcoterrorism: I think it’s really important. As I listen to these reports, just step back and remember why the President has taken this fight to these narco-terrorists. He’s dealing with Maduro, who was an indicted narco-terrorist himself, the leader of Venezuela. We think about the war on drugs affecting the United States of America. 105,000 Americans died in 2023. If you take

Daines Honors Montanan of the Month: Brigadier General Dale Stovall

November 21, 2025

U.S. SENATE— U.S. Senator Steve Daines recognized Retired Brigadier General Dale Stovall for his courageous actions during the Vietnam War as Montanan of the Month. Through his “Montanan of the Month” initiative, every month Daines highlights a Montanan by submitting a statement of recognition in the Congressional Record, the document that reflects the official proceedings of Congress. To recommend a Montanan click HERE. The following is a statement submitted to the Congressional Record: TRIBUTE TO BRIGADIER GENERAL DALE STOVALL Mr. Daines, Mr. President, today I have the honor of recognizing Brigadier General (Ret.) Dale Stovall of Missoula as Montanan of the Month for

Daines in Senate Finance Committee: Obamacare is Fundamentally Broken

November 19, 2025

U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines today spoke with Brian Blase, President of Paragon Health Institute in a Senate Finance Committee hearing about the failures of Obamacare. Watch the full exchange HERE. Daines on Obamacare’s failures and reforms that are needed: Daines: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this important and timely hearing on the rising cost of health care for Americans. At the center of this discussion is the future of the expiring Obamacare COVID subsidies. It is important to note that Democrats established these enhanced subsidies on a temporary and partisan basis during the pandemic under President Biden and elected to

Daines: Biden BLM’s Disregard for Montanans “Shameful”

November 19, 2025

“Those closest to the land should not be ignored or rejected” U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines today spoke with Utah Attorney General Derek Brown and Micah Christensen from the Wyoming County Commissioners Association in a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing. They discussed the Biden administration’s blatant violations of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) and the need to ensure state and local governments have a say in the planning process on issues that impact them most. Daines also discussed reliable electricity for Montana’s rural communities and the need to remove undue burdens on electricity providers. Watch

Daines on Fox Business: Schumer’s Plan is Nonsense

November 7, 2025

“Democrats Are Shutting Down the Entire Government Because of Subsidies That Were Always Meant to Expire” U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines today joined Fox Business to discuss how Chuck Schumer is using Obamacare as political leverage to hold the government hostage. Watch the full interview HERE. Daines on how Schumer is using Obamacare to hold the government hostage: We want the shutdown to end immediately. It should’ve ended weeks ago. You look at the Fox charts at the moment- they are showing flights delayed, flights cancelled. This is only going to get worse. Secretary Duffy is having to take extraordinary action

Daines on Fox News: Democrats Should Stop Holding the American People Hostage and Open the Government

November 7, 2025

U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines today joined Fox News America Reports to discuss the ongoing government shutdown and a path forward. Daines on the historic obstruction caused by Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats: Well, look, we’ve offered this clean CR. We need to extend it now beyond November 21st because we’ve been shut down now for 38 days. We’re kicking out [the CR] probably to January sometime to give us enough time to do the appropriations of spending bills. We also want to put in maybe three appropriation bills as part of this package here, bipartisan bills. But sadly, I

ICYMI: Belgrade News: Daines hopes federal shutdown could end soon as flight delays surge, major cancellations loom

November 7, 2025

U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines spoke with Belgrade News about the consequences of the Schumer Shutdown. Read highlights from the story below. Daines hopes federal shutdown could end soon as flight delays surge, major cancellations loom Belgrade News Mike Sunnucks November 6th, 2025 U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Montana, is hopeful the record-long federal government shutdown could end “within the next few days.” Daines said there have been discussions with Democratic senators about bringing the shutdown, which began Oct. 1, to an end. Daines said five to 10 Democrats are part of those shutdown discussions. Senate Republicans need five Democrats to

Author: Keegan Bittner