Sen. Steve Daines stopped in Uncle Sam’s Eastery in Columbus Tuesday afternoon as part of his 56-county tour.
Daines spoke to a crowded audience about the changes in Washington D.C.
He opened by telling the crowd that he worked for them.
“Always remember that. You are my boss. I work for you,” said Daines.
Daines gave a brief summary of the state of affairs in Washington D.C. and the surprise election of Donald Trump as president.
“He didn’t have a lot of support from Democrats. He didn’t have a lot support from Republicans. You know who supported him? The American people,” said Daines smiling.
Daines spoke of the historic importance of Republicans controlling the presidency as well as the house and senate, saying now the party needed to make that count. And a Republican president appointing the next Supreme Court Justice is of considerable significance, said Daines.
He took several questions from the crowd and was asked about the possible selection of Sen. Ryan Zinke’s to Trump’s cabinet – something that in fact did happen later in the day.
Daines said he hoped that someone from the West would be appointed as the Secretary of the Interior so that position could possess a knowledge of forests and land so beetle-kill trees could be harvested, and more.
The senator said he passed his opinon on to Donald Trump Jr. on a recent Montana hunting trip.
The senator said he was in favor of term limits and in favor of lifting some of the regulations currently in place regarding forests that are creating unnecessarily dangerous conditions, such as the harvesting of beetle-kill trees. He also said he is keeping watch on the recent purchase of the Stillwater Mining Company by a South African company as many jobs are involved.
Daines, who is from Bozeman, said Stillwater County is near to his heart, having spent many summers in the Beartooth Mountains and an annual stop at the Dew Drop Inn in Absarokee.
“We just did that this summer,” said Daines.