Author: Reilly Lowery

U.S. CONGRESS —U.S. Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) and U.S. Representative Dave Brat (R-VA) today introduced bicameral legislation that would require congressional budgetary scorekeepers to account for interest costs incurred on borrowed funds needed for legislative proposals.  The Budgetary Accuracy in Scoring Interest Costs (BASIC) Act will include the cost of debt in both Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) analysis so that Congress can have the full picture of legislative costs to the American taxpayer. “Congress employs gimmicks to shield hardworking American taxpayers from knowing exactly how much it is spending,” Daines stated. “It’s time the

U.S. SENATE —U.S. Senator Steve Daines today released the following statement on President Donald J. Trump’s intention to levy a 20 percent import tax on Canadian softwood lumber. “President Trump has taken decisive action to put America first and protect against unfairly subsidized lumber that harms Montana mills,” Daines stated. “For too long Canadian softwood lumber has had a significant negative impact on Montana jobs. Canada needs to play by the same set of rules that Montanans do.” A timeline of Daines’ efforts to renegotiate a new Softwood Lumber Agreement (SLA) for Montana’s sawmills is below:   April 27, 2006: SLA signed – seven

U.S. SENATE —U.S. Senator Steve Daines today released the following statement after the U.S. Senate voted to confirm President Donald J. Trump’s nominee for Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue.  “I am thrilled to have a Secretary of Agriculture that will prioritize Montana’s number one economic driver,” Daines stated. “Secretary Perdue has extensive experience advocating for agriculture and will work to expand opportunities for Montana agriculture. I look forward to hosting Secretary Perdue in Montana.” On March 23, 2017, Daines questioned Governor Sonny Perdue on trade and forest management reform during his nomination hearing.

Bill Would Keep Government Running, End Shutdowns that Disrupt Critical Government Services & Cost Taxpayers Billions  U.S. SENATE — As Congress races to prevent another government shutdown this week, U.S. Senator Steve Daines today introduced legislation that would permanently prevent the federal government from shutting down, ensuring that essential government services aren’t disrupted and protecting taxpayers who must bear the resulting cost. The End Government Shutdowns Act would create an automatic continuing resolution (CR) for any regular appropriations bill or existing CR, keeping the federal government open and reducing the chance of last-minute, budget-busting bills being forced through Congress.  “Washington’s govern-by-crisis

U.S. SENATE —U.S. Senator Steve Daines urged U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and Acting United States Trade Representative Stephen Vaughn to include the trade dispute related to Chinese solar panels and US polysilicon manufacturers in any “100 day plan” negotiations with China. REC Silicon operates a facility in Butte that manufactures polysilicon for electronics and other products, and is one of Butte-Silver Bow’s largest employers. The company has been caught up in a long-standing trade dispute between the US and China where the US imposed tariffs on Chinese solar panels in 2012 and China retaliated by restricting market access

Senators: Inspectors General needed to “conduct the oversight and investigations necessary to ensure that taxpayer dollars are protected” U.S. SENATE —U.S. Senator Steve Daines today joined a bipartisan group of his colleagues to urge President Donald J. Trump to quickly nominate qualified candidates for Inspectors General (IGs), who serve as watchdogs over federal agencies.   Many government agencies have an independent Office of the Inspector General that is responsible for auditing federal programs in order to improve government operations and to target waste, fraud, and abuse, as well as investigating whistleblower claims and allegations of wrongdoing.  “While many acting IGs have

Discussed Opening Chinese Markets to U.S. Beef Imports, National Security U.S. SENATE — U.S. Senator Steve Daines today announced that he recently returned from an official overseas congressional delegation trip to China and Japan including visits to Beijing, Chengdu, Lhasa, Hong Kong and Tokyo.   Daines met with China Premier Li Keqiang, as well as National People’s Congress Chairman Zhang Dejiang, Vice Chairman Zhang Ping, National People’s Congress Lobsang Gyaltsen, Party Secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Region, Qi Zhala, Chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region, Yoshihide Suga, Chief Cabinet Secretary for Japan and Hiroshige Seko, Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry for Japan. Daines