Category: News Article

A pair of Republican senators has resurrected an old idea: splitting the Ninth Circuit, the largest and most liberal court of appeals in the country, into two courts. Sens. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, aren’t the first to try. The Ninth Circuit dominates the western United States, serving about one-fifth of the population of the country, and the resultant caseload has created a bureaucratic logjam that court-watchers of all stripes dislike. Conservative critics derive extra motivation from the fact that the court, long perceived as being dominated by California, issues reliably liberal decisions that bind a full 20

A preacher, a doctor, a historian, a governor, two businessmen, a few veterans and some lawmakers walk into a bar … and the “bear den” is born. Every other week or so, an email will circulate among the Senate Republicans elected in 2014 with a line like, “Hey, you guys want to have a bear den?” The regular morning meetings take place in one of their offices, and the meeting name derives from the hotel bar in Hershey, Pa., where they gathered during their first joint Republican retreat. “I always joke that we should have a grunt as our official greeting or something,” Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., said with a laugh.

Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., has HOH covered with intel on what members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee are doing in Alaska. On Monday, the committee held a field hearing on energy technology innovation, deployment and opportunities for Alaska’s energy future. On the way to the hearing in Bethel, Alaska, Daines showed Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; John Barrasso, R-Wyo.; Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.; Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.l; Angus King, I-Maine and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz via Snapchat. Moniz testified at the hearing. Daines showed the five senators jammed into a car in Bethel and then listening to people speak Yupik,

A bill Montana’s senators have both at one time or another promoted is now on the President’s desk for signing. The measure prohibits taxing the Internet, even in states that already had it. The Senate recently approved the bill, whose overall purpose was revamping trade law, 75 to 20, sending it on its way. Montana is among states that would have imposed an automatic 3.75 percent tax on Internet access if the moratorium had ever been lifted and nearby North Dakota and South Dakota were among seven states that already imposed such a tax. Montana Senators Steven Daines and Jon

Montana U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Bozeman, spoke on the Senate floor in Washington, D.C., this week, advocating legislation that would split the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals because its size has led to a case backlog. Daines said it is a matter of equal access to justice. There are 14,000 cases pending in the Ninth Circuit, three times more than the next largest, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has 4,700 cases pending, he said. “The Ninth Circuit is unable to provide Americans in the West with the service they deserve,” he said. Daines has partnered with Republican Alaska

Lawmakers in both parties say breaches reported this week at the Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service are the latest indication of the government’s weak defenses against cyber criminals. While the administration has sought to downplay both incidents, some lawmakers are hitting the White House, arguing the intrusions offer further evidence that the government can’t be trusted to protect its highly sensitive networks. “[President Obama] has neglected to take tangible steps to address these persistent cyberinfrastructure challenges,” Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) said in a Wednesday statement that accused the administration of trying to sweep the IRS breach “under

Senator Steve Daines finalized a ban on state and local governments from taxing Internet access on Thursday. A press release from Daines’s office says the Internet Tax Freedom Forever Act would “permanently extend the current moratorium on taxing Internet access. Montana is one of a few states that would automatically impose a 3.75 percent tax on Internet access if the moratorium is lifted.” “The Internet is a critical avenue for Montana businesses to compete in the global marketplace and serves as a gateway for economic opportunity,” Daines said. “This permanent ban on taxing the Internet protects small businesses and hardworking families from senseless

Montana Sens. Steve Daines and Jon Tester asked questions during a Senate hearing Wednesday on the Air Force’ proposed budget and how it relates to Montana’s military missions. Daines, R-Mont., asked Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh about the status of replacing the Vietnam-era UH-1N Huey helicopters that are used by the Air Force’s three missile wings, including Malmstrom Air Force Base. “We are working on that in a rather urgent way,” James said. The proposed Air Force budget includes $18.3 million for the replacement program, and James said

Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) is slamming President Obama for not alerting Congress to a recent breach of the Internal Revenue Service. “The President has a duty to inform Congress of cyber attacks on federal infrastructure, yet once again has tried to sweep this under the rug,” Daines said in a statement. The IRS announced Tuesday that identity thieves had used an automated bot in an attempt to generate phony login information, using almost half a million stolen Social Security numbers to create 101,000 successful PINs. The breach occurred in December. According to a Tuesday statement revealing the incident, the attack has been

Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) is joining forces on the Senate floor with Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK) in efforts to improve the federal circuit court system as a whole and expedite the justice process for the people within the overburdened Ninth Circuit. An excerpt of Daines’ remarks from the presentation are below: “At 64.4 million people served, the current Ninth Circuit is the largest circuit by population, as well as the largest land area. It includes Montana and Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, California, and Hawaii – not to mention several U.S. territories (Guam and Northern Mariana Islands). That amounts to