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U.S. Senators Steve Daines and Jon Tester today celebrated Senate passage of their bipartisan bill, the “Montana Water Rights Protection Act.” The bill will permanently settle the century long CSKT water dispute, support Montana jobs, modernize rural infrastructure and protect the water rights of all Montanans. “After years of hard work, the U.S. Senate just passed our bipartisan bill that permanently resolves the century long CSKT water dispute, and will soon become law. Without our bill, thousands of Montanans would be forced into very expensive litigation and our ag economy would’ve taken over a one billion dollar hit,” Daines said.

PABLO — The chairwoman of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) is acknowledging the many people who helped craft the settlement over water rights in the Flathead Basin. She’s expressing enthusiasm about what the agreement means for water users, wildlife and fish habitat and the thousands of jobs that will be created in the years to come. On Tuesday, Congress approved the Montana Water Rights Protection Act, a bipartisan effort to resolve the decades-long dispute over the water rights granted under the 1855 Hellgate Treaty. The $1.9 billion measure is a sweeping piece of legislation that heads off litigation and provides a

Tucked in the mammoth spending bill that Congress passed Monday night is a historic pact that will resolve thousands of water-rights claims by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, provide nearly $2 billion for a major irrigation project and return the 19,000-acre National Bison Range to tribal ownership, more than a century after the federal government illegally carved it from the middle of the Flathead Indian Reservation. The passage of the compact, which moved through Congress as the Montana Water Rights Protection Act, comes five years after the Montana Legislature narrowly approved a similar agreement with the CSKT. It was

The first boxes of Moderna‘s coronavirus vaccine will arrive in states on Monday, boosting the initial supply of pandemic-fighting shots by 6 million in the coming week after health care workers, Vice President Mike Pence and members of Congress received the first wave of Pfizer doses. No one’s happier about it than Sen. Steve Daines. Back in March, as the coronavirus hit and Congress scrambled to cut checks to struggling Americans, the Montana Republican was looking months down the road. What if the virus didn’t go away as it got warmer, and the only way out was through a vaccine?

U.S. Senator Steve Daines released the following statement following the first delivery of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to Montana: “The first COVID-19 vaccine was delivered to Montana and administered in the U.S. This day would not have been possible without American innovation, Operation Warp Speed, and the dedication from top scientists and the Trump administration,” Daines said. “I’m proud to have secured the initial $10 billion that helped make this modern medical miracle possible, and I will continue working to ensure all Montana communities get access.” Montana is expected to receive an estimated first dose allocation of 9,750 Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines.