Category: News Article

Montana farm and ranch groups know little about President Donald Trump’s pick for agriculture secretary but are being assured former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue is a good hire. Perdue, a Republican, was tapped Jan. 19 as the nominees Trump first floated in December were finishing Senate confirmation hearings. He has set to begin one-on-one visits next week with members of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, which includes U.S. Sen. Steve Daines. “I look forward to meeting with Gov. Perdue to ensure our farmers and ranchers have an open line with the top of the ag department,” Daines said

GREAT FALLS – Sen. Steve Daines released a letter Sunday seeking help for child welfare. Daines’ letter shed light on the statistic that 14 Montana children died within a year of abuse reports. 11 of these children were under the age of two, according to the Department of Justice Child Fatality Review Report.  The senator urged state leaders such as Gov. Steve Bullock to pursue foster care and welfare reforms during this legislative session. Daines also discussed the increase in recent years of Montana children in foster care as well as the history of drug and alcohol abuse found in 12

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Chris Skorupa had worried about immersing a group of 4-H members from Montana in Friday’s sometimes-tense inaugural crowds.  But the teenagers, who’d spent the week preceding the inauguration touring the nation’s capital, said it was worth it to be among the thousands of Americans who swarmed the Capitol grounds Friday morning to watch Donald Trump become the 45th president of the United States. “I’ve been raising money from my pigs to go on this trip,” said 14-year-old Luke Ostberg of Fairfield. Ostberg, who said he’s been in 4-H since first grade, said seeing Friday’s events first-hand was an unbeatable

LEWIS & CLARK COUNTY – U.S. Senator Steve Daines today announced $625,567.00 in critical funding for the County of Lewis & Clark Community Health Center to provide improved continuity of care and increased access to affordable care. “The Lewis & Clark County Community Health Center plays an integral role in providing Montanans access to affordable care and this funding will help them continue to do so,” Daines stated. Daines secured funding for Community Health Centers in the bipartisan FY2017 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) Appropriations Bill.

Montana’s two U.S. Senators have renewed their efforts to name a mountain in the Madison Range after a prominent conservationist who died in 2016. Democratic Sen. Jon Tester and Republican Sen. Steve Daines have introduced a bill to name a peak after Alex Diekmann, who worked on land deals and conservation easements for the Trust for Public Land until he died of cancer last year. In a statement, Daines said Diekmann brought people together to “protect our public lands.” “I am excited to launch this bill again this Congress and hope for swift consideration and enactment,” Daines said. Tester said

Declaring himself “an unapologetic admirer of Teddy Roosevelt,” Interior Secretary-designate Ryan Zinke testified today before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, which is considering his nomination to serve as the nation’s 52nd Secretary of the Interior. His remarks drew praise from the Outdoor Recreation Industry Roundtable, which supports Zinke’s nomination. Referring to former President Roosevelt, Zinke, who currently serves in the U.S. Congress as a representative from Montana, said he believed that Roosevelt “had it right when he placed under federal protection millions of acres of federal lands and set aside much of it as national forests.

Following U.S. Sen. Steve Daines’ announcement of committee assignments for the 115th Congress, Montana’s top agriculture and forestry leaders praised his new membership on the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.  “Montana’s number one economic driver is agriculture and I’m excited to represent their priorities on the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture,” Daines said. Don Steinbeisser Jr., director, Montana Dakota Beet Growers Association, said, “We are happy to hear that Sen. Daines will be serving on the Ag Committee.  It will certainly be good for sugar and the state of Montana.”  Lola Raska, Executive Vice President of the

Montana Senator Steve Daines took part in a preliminary vote on Wednesday to begin the process of repealing President Obama’s signature achievement in office, the Affordable care Act, also known as ‘Obamacare’. “Repealing and re[placing this disastrous law is one of the top jobs that citizens elected us to get done,” Daines began on the floor of the Senate. “In many ways, it’s why Donald J. Trump will be sworn in next week as the 45th President of the United States.” Daines went on to list some of his reasons why the ACA has failed. “Montanans were promised that they

Senate Republicans on Thursday took a major first step toward fulfilling their long-held promise to gut President Barack Obama’s signature health care law, the Affordable Care Act. Lawmakers in the upper chamber voted 51-48 early Thursday morning in favor of a budget measure that kick-starts the process to defund parts of the law known as Obamacare. The move allows Republicans to avoid a Democratic filibuster on subsequent repeal legislation and allows final votes to be cast as early as a few weeks from now. Democrats have mounted an aggressive counteroffensive against GOP repeal efforts in recent days, touting the benefits of the

With just days until President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, the Department of the Interior finalized a report Wednesday calling for major changes to the federal coal program by which the U.S. manages the leasing of land to companies for exploration and production across 570 million publicly owned acres. A year ago, new leases were placed on hold pending this report. Trump, who campaigned as an ally of the coal industry, has pledged to reverse that controversial moratorium. Interior Department lands, managed by the Bureau of Land Management, are estimated to contain 7.4 billion tons of coal that could be mined and sold. Environmental groups have