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The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee is eyeing a dual-track strategy for moving legislation that would update the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) suggested during a May 18 panel hearing on the law that the committee consider acting on different bills that would focus on alleged litigation abuses and consumer harms, respectively. “If we could figure out how to divide this discussion into those two categories, we’re much more likely to find a solution to both problems,” Blunt said. Committee chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) said the suggestion of splitting TCPA update efforts into two separate initiatives

Senator Steve Daines’ bill that would move Montana water projects forward and ensure the completion of authorized projects across Montana recently received its first hearing in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “From the crops and grazing fields of our state’s agriculture providers, water is our most valuable resource,” Daines stated. “Our farmers, ranchers and families deserve access to a reliable water source.” The Western Water Supply and Planning Enhancement Act would help improve the efficiency of existing water supply infrastructure, ease the regulatory burden on new projects, and protect water rights that are critical to the prosperity of

A successful haymaker has just been thrown in the funding fight for the Sidney ARS unit.  The  2017 Ag Appropriations Bill is headed to the floor of the U.S. Senate for a vote with language that ensures the Northern Plains Research Lab in Sidney will remain fully staffed and operational. Senator Jon Tester, who is a member of the subcommittee that authored the bill, said the language should guarantee that the lab in Sidney can continue to research the impact of the wheat stem sawfly, which annually causes more than $250 million in crop damage every year across the nation,

Montana Senator Steve Daines was in Missoula Saturday morning to speak to a gathering of the Montana Loggers Association at the Holiday Inn, downtown.  During his one term as a Montana Congressman and now as the state’s junior Senator, Daines has been meeting with representatives of the logging and timber industries on a regular basis. On Saturday, Daines told KGVO News that the federal government continues its dismal performance in managing forest lands in the west. “The federal government is doing a terrible job of managing our national forests,” Daines began. “That will be the most important topic I’ll be

Forty years after the Montana Logging Association was founded, the group met Saturday morning to look at an industry in limbo and what needs to change so it will thrive. U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., addressed the MLA attendees, hopeful that a bill containing forest management reform that passed the U.S. House recently would soon make it through the Senate, into a conference committee and onto President Barack Obama’s desk before the end of the year. Either that, he said, or the Senate would try to pass a standalone bill. “I just got news last night (Friday) of positive discussion

Forty years after the Montana Logging Association was founded, the group met Saturday morning to look at an industry in limbo and what needs to change so it will thrive. U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., addressed the MLA attendees, hopeful that a bill containing forest management reform that passed the U.S. House recently would soon make it through the Senate, into a conference committee and onto President Barack Obama’s desk before the end of the year. Either that, he said, or the Senate would try to pass a standalone bill. “I just got news last night (Friday) of positive discussion

May is a month to recognize what those who don the uniforms of the country give to their nation. May 8 is the date that marks the Allies’ acceptance of the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany. May 21 is Armed Forces Day, created in 1949 to replace separate patriotic days for individual branches of military service. May 30, Memorial Day, is a day of remembrance for those who died in service to the nation. These aren’t the only significant dates during the month that recognize and pay homage to those in service. But in 1999, Congress set aside May for