In The News

BILLINGS — Montana is bracing for its worst wildfire season in years, officials told U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont. Speaking to Daines during a Thursday fire briefing in Billings, federal and state agencies said that extremely early snowmelt in western Montana and increasing thunderstorms in the east are setting the state up for a tough wildfire season. Western wildfire conditions are as bad as they’ve been in years. Eastern Montana, still green from spring rains, is now beginning to dry out with thunderstorms expected to deliver more lightning than soaking rain in coming weeks. “We’re now in July. June, May,

Why isn’t a wildfire classified as a natural disaster? That’s one question Senator Steve Daines asked the crowd at Thursday’s Eastern Montana Fire Briefing. The conference was held with the Department of Natural Resources and Fire Conservation (DNRC) outside of the Southern Lands Office in Billings to address current and future wildfire activity. There, Daines expressed his support for a bill that would classify wildfires as natural disasters, and respond to them accordingly. “Like a tornado, or a hurricane. The reason that’s important is then the Forest Service can receive funding through a different avenue than having to take dollars

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines toured timber projects in the Ten Mile drainage Tuesday, saying he wanted to see firsthand the combined efforts of state and federal agencies to provide jobs while managing the forest and reducing the risk of wildfire to the watershed. Daines toured the active Red Mountain Flume-Chessman Reservoir project and the proposed Tenmile-South Helena project with officials from the U.S. Forest Service, Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation and the city of Helena. The trip was a chance to see the Forest Service and DNRC working together under a joint stewardship agreement to actively manage the

BOZEMAN – Montana Senator Steve Daines got to step out of his Washington DC office to take in the sights and sounds of his hometown Monday morning. Senator Daines is touring parts of Montana and looking at several Montana Forest management projects in the Treasure State. Today Senator Daines hiked the Chestnut Mountain Trailhead near Bozeman pass, which was the first conservation easement secured by the Land And Water Conservation Fund in 1990. The project allows trail access to public land crossing private land with access all the way to Yellowstone National Park without crossing a road. “That’s what this

Senator Steve Daines wants answers from the national highway traffic safety administration on a delayed recall, after an accident killed six people last year on Highway 12. A three forks fire truck collided with a pick-up truck due to a part failure on the fire truck. Daines pressured NHTSA during a committee hearing in D.C, as to why a full recall of the defective part took approximately one year to institute. Daines also pointed out the component was part of an initial recall from more than a decade ago. Daines: “turns out this exact component was a NHTSA approved solution to a previous recall that occurred in 2003.”

Montana Senator Steve Daines spoke with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration June 23rd for updates on the delayed recall of a fire engine part. Daines remembered the deadly accident that occurred last year outside of Helena due to the failure of this component. “It’s also the face of innocence here,” Daines said. “The fire chief was returning back to Three Forks Montana, good daylight in a strait away, and you see this young couple and three kids in the back of a pickup. It’s a road I drive all the time. It was the innocence of the lives lost that

Senator Steve Daines is calling for Katherine Archuleta, the head of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), to step down amid a hacking scandal which has compromised the information of “an estimated 18 million current, former and prospective federal employees.” According to an emailed press release from the Montana Republican‘s office: “‘Under Katherine Archuleta’s watch, OPM allowed one of the largest breaches of federal employees’ personal information in our nation’s history. More, Ms. Archuleta has refused to take accountability for this great failure – in turn failing the American people, whom she swore an oath to protect and defend,’ Daines stated.

MISSOULA – The suggestion by Sen. Steve Daines that the U.S. Treasury put the face of Jeannette Rankin on the $10 bill is being welcomed by advocates of the nation’s first female congresswoman. Betsy Mulligan-Dague, director of the Jeannette Rankin Peace Center, said the development is exciting. “It’s a huge step forward for women to be taken seriously in the world,” Mulligan-Dague said. “It’s way past time.” Rankin would serve as a fitting figure for the bill and for further advancing the achievements of women, Mulligan-Dague told the Missoulian. Rankin was first elected in 1916 and again in 1940. Aside

Jeannette Rankin is a popular woman this week. U.S. Sen. Steve Daines introduced a proposal to put her face on the $10 bill Thursday, only two days after she became a finalist for the name of a new Billings middle school. The U.S. Treasury announced Wednesday that Alexander Hamilton is getting the boot and a woman’s portrait will be featured on a redesigned $10 bill. Daines is determined that Rankin, the Missoula woman who was the nation’s first female member of Congress, be first in line. His bill mandates that “Federal Reserve notes bear the likeness of Jeannette Rankin before