Category: News Article

Montana Senator Steve Daines on Sept. 16 stumped for legislation he helped draft, saying more forest management would protect communities from wildfires. Republican Daines presented his Emergency Wildfire and Public Safety Act of 2020 to the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining. He said the bill, which he wrote with Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, restores forest health and supports timber jobs. “We have been working together on this important piece of legislation that addresses forest management. As we say in Montana, either we’re going to manage our forests or our forests are going to manage us,”

A bill to name a ridge east of the Paradise Valley for an Air Force bomber that crashed there in 1962 is headed to the desk of President Donald Trump. The B-47 Ridge Designation Act passed the U.S. House unanimously on Monday, clearing the final hurdle between it and the president. The bill would dub a ridge off the southwest side of Emigrant Peak as B-47 Ridge and allow the placing of a memorial plaque at the crash site. It’s where four Air Force pilots died in 1962 while flying a training mission through Montana. Debris from the wreck is

U.S. Senator Steve Daines sent a letter urging the Administration to direct additional Census resources to Montana in the final weeks of the field data collection operations to ensure all Montanans are represented. “Given the rural nature of Montana and the additional challenges brought about by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of Montanans may go uncounted and entire communities could be underrepresented at the federal level,” Daines wrote. “I am requesting that trained Census personnel from states which are nearing full enumeration be relocated to Montana as soon as possible.”

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Steve Daines today announced that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program will be directing $333,333.33 to the Vaughn Volunteer Fire Department. “This is about ensuring our firefighters in Vaughn have the critical support needed to keep our communities safe during this fire season,” Daines said. “I will continue working to ensure all of our brave firefighters have the help they need as they work to battle wildfires across Montana.” The AFG program makes funds available directly to fire departments, State Fire Training Academies and non-affiliated EMS organizations to support enhanced

In a political era when Republicans and Democrats rarely agree on anything, the catastrophic wildfire season now raging across the American west could prove compelling enough to rally bipartisan support for legislation to change how forests are managed. That is the hope of Sens. Steve Daines and Dianne Feinstein; one a Montana Republican the other a California Democrat, who on Wednesday spoke in common support of the Emergency Wildfire and Public Safety Act, a bill that would substantively alter fire suppression practices in the United States. U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont.“We are at a critical time,” Daines said in his

Justin Silvera came off the fire lines in Northern California after a grueling 36 straight days battling wildfires and evacuating residents ahead of the flames. Before that, he and his crew had worked for 20 days, followed by a three-day break. Silvera, a 43-year-old battalion chief with Cal Fire, California’s state firefighting agency, said he’s lost track of the blazes he’s fought this year. He and his crew have sometimes been on duty for 64 hours at a stretch, their only rest coming in 20-minute catnaps. “I’ve been at this 23 years, and by far this is the worst I’ve

Smoke from the West Coast wildfires helped set the stage for a Washington, D.C., hearing on a new wildfire and forest management bill backed by U.S. Sen. Steve Daines of Montana. “The West is burning, people are dying, and the smoke is literally starting to cover our country,” Republican Daines said during a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday. “Our way of life as we know it is in danger.” California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein partnered with Daines to produce the Emergency Wildfire and Public Safety Act (S.4431). It would give the U.S. Forest Service

Trump administration responds to Daines’ request U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines today announced that he has successfully secured additional support and resources from the Trump administration to improve Montana’s census count. “Montana has so much at stake for the 2020 census including access to federal resources and even the potential for more representation in Congress,” Daines said. “I’m glad to see the Trump administration act on my request to send more resources to our state to ensure Montanans are properly represented for the next decade.” In total, Montana will see the addition of more than 250 enumerators working

Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) announced their bipartisan Emergency Wildfire and Dianne FeinsteinPublic Safety Act has been scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on September 16, 2020. Feinstein and Daines recently wrote to the committee requesting a hearing for their bill. “More than 2 million acres have already burned this year in California, and the situation is getting worse by the day,” said Feinstein. “This is a crisis all across the Western United States. We need the ability to responsibly clear dead trees and other biomass that will otherwise feed these

Montana Senator Steve Daines made a brief appearance on the KGVO Montana Morning News show on Friday to talk about a number of subjects.   After saying he would be speaking later in the day at a 9-11 ceremony in Bozeman, Daines then spoke of the fires burning throughout the state, especially in Gallatin County, and how a bill he is sponsoring in the U.S. Senate may bring relief.   “We’re going to have a hearing on this bill that I introduced with Dianne Feinstein,” said Daines. “Now, it’s kind of hard to believe that you’ve got a liberal Senator