Category: News Article

Today the U.S. House passed the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill with strong bipartisan support. It funds the federal government through September. The bill now heads to the Senate where NPR says it is also likely to pass with bipartisan support. Wednesday, Montana’s Republican Senator Steve Daines said there’s good news for the Treasure State in the spending bill. “We secured some very important forest management reforms.” Daines points to eliminating what he calls “NEPA paperwork” on national forest projects of 3,000 acres or less aimed at reducing hazardous fuels. NEPA is the National Environmental Policy Act. Critics like the

WASHINGTON— The $1.3 trillion spending bill unveiled in Congress on Wednesday includes harmful provisions to ramp up logging on public lands, weaken protections for endangered species and fund portions of an environmental destructive border wall. The bill, however, does not include most of the anti-environment riders proposed by Republicans, including ending protections for wolves in the Great Lakes states, allowing a toxic mine in the Superior National Forest and undermining the National Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which would have allowed damaging road building in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska. It also contains significant funding for conservation and spares the Santa Ana National Wildlife

Montana’s congressional delegation says reforms to forest management, including an end to “fire borrowing,” will be included in must-pass legislation this week. On a media call Wednesday, Republicans Sen. Steve Daines and Rep. Greg Gianforte detailed a forest reform package as part of an omnibus bill, which includes funding wildfires similarly to other natural disasters. The reform ends fire borrowing — the practice of using funds from other programs such as trail maintenance to pay for fires that exceed budgets. Under the changes, when fire budgets run dry, agencies may tap into natural disaster funding rather than their own budgets.

I want to thank Sen. Steve Daines for his support and co-sponsorship of a bill in front of Congress right now to increase access to lower-cost generic prescription drugs. Many Montanans encouraged the senator to take a good look at the merits of Creating and Restoring Equal Access to Equivalent Samples (CREATES) Act. He listened and has joined us in support for this bill, and taking responsible steps to make all aspects of health care more affordable. The way this works is by targeting abusive delay tactics used by mega pharmaceutical companies that keep affordable generic drugs from entering the

Montana’s Republican delegation to Congress on Wednesday praised provisions included in the 2018 federal spending bill that address forest management, including a partial overturning of the Cottonwood decision and efforts to streamline timber projects. Sen. Steve Daines and Rep. Greg Gianforte said the reforms, which will also fund the U.S. Forest Service’s firefighting expenses from a separate account, represent a start in improving the health of the nation’s forests. “What’s been going on has been called fire borrowing,” Gianforte said. “In bad fire years, most of the operating budget for the Forest Service gets consumed with fighting fires. Because we’re opening up

Reforms to improve forest management and how firefighting is funded are among the provisions important to Montana included in the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill making its way through Congress, according to Montana lawmakers. A bill protecting public land north of Yellowstone National Park from mining, however, did not make it into the omnibus bill, prompting one of the state’s senators to criticize the other for its failure to be included. U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., told reporters via telephone Wednesday that he was able to secure forest management and wildfire funding reforms in the bill. One provision reduces red tape and streamlines projects

Recent attacks towards Senator Daines’ legislation to release certain wilderness study areas demonstrate the fear and deliberate falsehoods that prevent us from moving forward on this important issue. Chris Marchion gave credibility to this theory recently with an editorial that makes false assertions while exuding the type of rhetoric that has unfortunately led many to believe that certain segments of the “conservation” community serve as a mouth piece for other political interests. First, removing a wilderness study area designation from areas not recommended for wilderness does protect the public’s use of public land. The WSA designation carries with it a

MISSOULA,Mont. — U.S. Sen. Steve Daines announced a new proposal, the School Safety and Mental Health Services Improvement Act, which could bring federal funding to more than 800 Montana schools. Daines says state and local governments provide 90 percent of the funding to over 100,000 public schools in the United States. His bill aims to allow the federal government to help schools become safer. “This bill improves school security by using federal funds for measures such as school counselors, alarm systems and training to respond to crisis. This allows our local schools to make decisions that best protect our children and

With a decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, President Donald Trump continued to shake up trade issues in the U.S. It was a surprise move for many in Washington D.C., including a good chunk of the Republican Party. GOP members, including Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, expressed concern about the consequences such tariffs could have on American consumers. The president, however, said trade wars are “good” and “easy to “win” after proposing a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum. Republicans in Congress have also approached the president about re-engaging

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines said Thursday he will use every means possible “to hold all bad actors” accountable in response to the resignation Wednesday of U.S. Forest Service Chief Tony Tooke amid sexual harassment allegations in the agency. The Montana Republican said he planned to ask for a Senate hearing on combatting sexual harassment in the U.S. Forest Service. Tooke’s departure comes less than a week after PBS NewsHour reported the chief was under investigation following relationships with subordinates before he became chief, the Associated Press reported. A recent investigation aired on the PBS NewsHour found at least two incidents