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Senator Cynthia Lummis has introduced the Grizzly Bear State Management Act of 2021 alongside Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, Senators Mike Crapo and James Risch of Idaho and Senator Steve Daines of Montana. This bill would remove grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem from the Endangered Species List and shift management of the grizzlies to wildlife scientists in the states.

In 1975, there were 136 grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. In 2019, there were 728 bears, evidence of an effective conservation effort. At this point, grizzly numbers have been in the 700s for a number of years.

The Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team’s analysis suggests that the park is at or near its ecological carrying capacity for grizzly bears. In making the bill’s introduction, Lummis remarked, “It’s time to remove the grizzlies in this area from the Endangered Species List and allow wildlife scientists in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho to manage the populations according to science.” The companion version of this legislation was previously introduced in the House by Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming.

After his trip back to Washington, D.C. from the southern border, Montana Senator Steve Daines called in to the KGVO Montana Morning News show and told listeners how representatives from the Biden administration attempted to limit the 18 U.S. Senators from taking photos or videos on the southern border.

“President Biden and vice president Kamala Harris need to allow the media access to what’s happening on the southern border,” said Daines. “It’s a media blackout right now, Peter, I couldn’t believe it. We were walking around, 18 Republican U.S. Senators. We had our smart-phones in our hands, and we were taking videos and pictures and there was a Biden handler trying to stop us; trying to get in the way. Telling us to delete the pictures and delete the videos. Peter, I felt like I was on a trip to China or to Russia.”

Daines said he has never seen anything like how he and the other Senators were treated by the Biden administration representatives.

“This is the United States of America,” he said. “We have federal facilities and we have every right as Senators here to show the American people what’s going on the southern border, and she was chasing us. “Thankfully we got a lot of video, we got a lot of pictures, and we’re making sure those are being distributed so that the American people can see what’s really going on.”

Daines described what he witnessed when illegals crossed the border into the U.S.

“When an illegal immigrant comes to our southern border and crosses, they just throw their arms up in the air,” he said. They don’t run away from border guards; in fact, they want to be captured because they then will be processed and told to come back for an asylum hearing. Well, guess what? There’s 1.2 million illegals right now waiting for that hearing; their backlog is one to two years and they never come back. That’s called ‘catch and release’.”

Daines said with the cartels mocking the Senators with megaphones across the Rio Grande, he knows the sheer volume of methamphetamine and other illegal drugs are making their way to Montana.

“They are, of course, flooding the southern border with Mexican methamphetamine, heroin and fentanyl, and you know that’s coming right here in a Montana effect as I mentioned on that call last week the Cascade County Jail had seven Mexican cartel members held there for a period of time just recently, so this problem is right here in Montana.”

Also appearing on KGVO on Monday was Montana Attorney general Austin Knudsen who echoed Senator Daines’ appeal to shut down the flow of illegal immigrants and illegal drugs into the United States.

Western Republican senators have reinforced a congressional effort to remove Endangered Species Act protections from Yellowstone-area grizzly bears.

Echoing an earlier House effort, five GOP lawmakers last Thursday introduced the Senate version of what they call the “Grizzly Bear State Management Act.”

The bill would remove grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem from the ESA list, shift their management to the states and block judicial review of the move.

“By all scientific measures, the grizzly bears of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem are fully recovered,” said Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming. “Reproductive numbers are stable, and the population is at or near its max capacity for the habitat.”

Lummis joined Sens. John Barrasso of Wyoming, Mike Crapo and James Risch of Idaho, and Steve Daines of Montana in introducing the bill. Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming has introduced a companion measure in the House (E&E Daily, March 2).

There are about 1,800 grizzly bears in the Lower 48, including roughly 700 in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, which includes parts of northwest Wyoming, southwest Montana and eastern Idaho.

The Fish and Wildlife Service in 2007 deemed the Greater Yellowstone grizzly as a distinct population segment and delisted it. Following a legal challenge, FWS in 2017 again delisted the Yellowstone population after concluding its numbers had rebounded.

In 2018, Montana-based U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen ruled that FWS had exceeded its authority and had failed to consider how reduced protections in the Yellowstone region would affect other grizzly populations.

“It’s disturbing to see Western lawmakers try to blatantly sidestep the science showing that grizzly bears should remain federal protected under the Endangered Species Act,” Andrea Zaccardi, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, said yesterday. “We’re hopeful this bill dies a quick death in Congress.”

This week Senators Tester and Grassley introduced legislation to deter big meat packers from manipulating the market. The ‘50-14’ Spot bill would amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946. It would require 50% cash or spot trading with delivery of cattle within 14 days. Currently, foreign owned packers are contracting cattle months out with secret formulas based on a cash price at delivery to avoid the mandatory price reporting requirements. This violates the intent of the Packers and Stockyards Act.

Packers are not allowed to own cattle months before slaughter. “MFU appreciates Senator Tester and Senator Grassley for introducing this bipartisan legislation. MFU is also pleased that Senator Daines supports this bill demanding more transparency. “Right now packers give preferential treatment to corporate feeders over family-owned feedlots,” said Walter Schweitzer, President of Montana Farmers Union.

Currently, there is less than 10% cash trade which allows the packers to easily manipulate the price paid on 90% of the cattle. “The lack of transparency is not a new problem. Montana producers would like the USDA and the DOJ to enforce the laws on the books to impose 100% transparency. If they are not going to do their job, MFU appreciates Senator Tester and Grassley stepping up to try to hold the packers halfway accountable, thereby improving the situation.”

Montana Senator Steve Daines is currently touring the border with other Republican senators. The senator spoke Friday and said issues on the southern have made their way to Montana.

 “20 years ago in Montana, meth was homemade,” Daines said. “It was homegrown and it had purity levels less than 30%.”

The senator has spoke about previously regarding the meth crisis in Montana, back in 2019 the senator brought Vice President Mike Pence to Billings to address the crisis.

“Today, the meth that is getting into Montana is Mexican cartel.” Daines said. “It has purities north of 95 percent far more dangerous, far more addictive, and it’s less expensive because they’re producing so much of it and then shipping it into our country.”

The senator says cartels and gang members are in Montana. 

“I spoke to one of my county sheriffs in Montana 48 hours ago,” Daines said. “He told me he was keeping seven Mexican cartel members in his jail in Montana the last couple of weeks. We have MS-13 gang members in Montana.”

During the course of the trip the senator said there’s more bureaucracy for Americans traveling abroad then for a person trying to cross the southern border.

“Where’s the common sense when a U.S citizen, if they leave the country and [want to] come back in they have to produce a passport and a covid test result,” Daines said. “That’s not true right now at the southern border and we’re scratching our heads and asking why.”

Senator Danes is a part of a tour with 18 other Republican and explained during this press conference that due to what’s taking place on the southern border Montana is being left exposed.

“We’ve deployed some of our northern border resources to help the southern border,” Daines said. “Every hour they spend processing the flood and the illegal immigrants coming across the border is an hour they’re being taken away from the frontlines defending our country.”

The senator says there is a “flood of Mexican meth, Mexican heroin, and Mexican Fentynal,” coming into Montana with an uptick in traffic over the course of the last 20 years.

MISSOULA, Mont. — Senator Steve Daines and 18 other Republican senators will tour the Rio Grande River on a boat Friday to get a first hand look at the growing emergency at the southern border.

Border officials report more than 100,000 encounters in February. More than 16,000 unaccompanied children were in government custody yesterday, but hundreds of migrants continue to stream in.

The following is a direct transcription of Senator Steve Daines’ comments as he was preparing to board a plane departing from the Rio Grande security zone and headed to McAllen, Texas just after 3:00 p.m. on Friday.

‘We just finished up the border tour minutes ago and I’m waiting to get my flight out of the McAllen Texas, but it’s been a very informative 24 hours. We had the opportunity last night after we arrived and there were 18 Senators on this trip.

And after we arrived in McAllen, Texas, we were taken by Border Patrol about 10:30 pm last evening, and we went right down to the border with the COVID Rio Grande Valley sector along the Rio Grande River. We were there until about 12:30 am this morning.

And what we saw last night was very troubling.

Literally, as we walked down to some dirt trails, down to the edge of the river. We could hear Mexican cartel members with their flashlights with very powerful floodlights that were shining. And back at us from the Mexican side. They didn’t know that it was US Senators on the on the border, they assumed we were Border Patrol agents, but they were taunting us and they were threatening.

Because they feel so confident with what’s going on at the moment in terms of an open southern border that is just lawless. And sadly, these Mexican cartels are charging thousands of dollars per person to come across the southern border. And so they usher them across in rafts, and it’s a very, very lucrative business. So we saw that firsthand last night.

The other thing that struck me last night was as we were just about getting to the river, we were driving in a couple of SUVs with Border Patrol agents. They showed us signs that have been put up that direct the illegal immigrants where to go once they cross the U.S. border so they can be apprehended and begin to be processed. Literally, there was a yellow arrow on the trail that showed where they should go, there were signs constructed, telling them where to go.

We visited one of these makeshift centers literally underneath a freeway or a highway bridge, where we saw mothers and children in pens who were was overflowing. It was a make shift area because they are so overwhelmed with the number of people coming on board. They can’t handle them all. They made a decision a couple of days ago, that they aren’t even trying to make appointments for the court asylum claims. They’re just turning them loose on an honor system because they just flat out don’t have the human power to administer the flood of illegals coming across.

We caught a few hours of sleep last night, and then we got back out first thing this morning with Border Patrol. And we went to the ‘Donna’ facility , and those were probably the most troubling images that we saw. This is a tent city they’ve constructed where it is designed for 1000 people, but with COVID protocols, the maximum capacity is 250. When we were there this morning, there were 4,200 people in that facility. There were a lot of children. There were a lot of moms; we could see children from ages from infants up to six, seven years old. We saw teenagers there. It was heartbreaking.

They were in a clear plastic temporary wall so you could see through, and they were literally laying next to each other. If not directly touching at the most in the a couple inches apart just as far as you can see across these rooms.

Then we were later told when they get ready to then to move the children and these minors from that location to the next place they go, they do a COVID test,  and they’re seeing at least a 10% positive rate. In fact, we saw young people who had just tested positive for COVID, over one side of a fenced area, and the others on the on another side so that the positive tests for these young people is higher, much higher than the average you’re seeing right now in the Rio Grande Valley area.

But there’s a 1.2 million person backlog at the moment for asylum claims.

Why is this happening? What’s caused this? Let me be very, very clear. The Border Patrol agents over and over again, every one of them we spoke with, told us it’s a very clear cause and effect from what happened on January 20th, when sadly, even though Border Patrol had warned the Biden administration, they warned the transition team not to reverse the Remain in Mexico policy. Well, they did, and that is what is causing this flood coming primarily from Central America because up until that point, we were seeing the lowest number of apprehensions on the on the southwest border in 45 years, we hit a 45 year low in 2020.

Now, the projections and even Secretary Mayorkas of the Biden administration said last week that there are expecting a 20 year high in apprehensions as a direct result of the Biden administration’s decision to overturn some policies that the Trump administration put in place that were working in removing the incentive to make that very dangerous trip from Central America up to our border.

The other thing was clear to me today was the flood of meth, fentanyl and heroin that’s coming across the southern border from the Mexican cartels. The border agents told us that when they are having to spend so much time with their limited staff, trying to apprehend illegals coming across the border, as well as taking care of the children and parents and others who are in these temporary holding facilities, it takes away personnel that wouldn’t be on the front lines, either securing the border from illegal crossings and criminals or trying to work on drug interdiction.

They’ve they showed us a recent meth seizure they had right here in the sector, that a street value of over $2 million was quite recent.

So it definitely affects Montana, as I told the border patrol agents and I told the folks down here we are a northern border state in Montana that has a southern border crisis. And I think what many Montanans are scratching their heads about is why is it so hard for a U.S. citizen to get back into the country, and it’s so easy for somebody from Central America or Mexico to get into our country, because if you are a U.S. citizen, and you leave the country, you are required to have a passport and a COVID test to get back in. Obviously, that’s not the case right now on the southern border, and worse, we’re going to see this crisis continue on the southern border only get worse.

Nobody down here is optimistic that its going to get any better, unless the policies fundamentally change.’

Senator Daines will be heading back to Washington, D.C. after his visit to the southern border.

MONTANA – Thursday night, 19 U.S. Senators, led by Border Patrol, visited the Mexico border along the Rio Grande River. Among them was Senator Steve Daines. On a press conference call with reporters, Sen. Daines detailed what he saw, and talked about the current situation at the border.

“We watched, in real time, crossings here on the Rio Grande. I was on the U.S. side, getting ready to watch more folks cross in a raft. We could hear Mexican cartel members with their flashlights. Very powerful floodlights shining at us from the Mexican side,” Sen. Daines said.

The senator says the cartels know that crossing the Rio Grande has a price.

“Sadly, these Mexican cartels are charging thousands of dollars per person to come across the southern border,” Sen. Daines said.

Signs on the ground mark a path through the foliage, for those crossing on foot to follow.

“They direct the illegal immigrants where to go once they cross the U.S. border so they can be apprehended and begin to be processed,” Sen. Daines said.

Women and children were seen in pens – a holding area for them when Border Patrol finds them. But what’s more alarming is the COVID-19 situation.

“They are seeing at least a 10% positive rate. In fact, we just saw young people that tested positive for COVID on one side of a fenced area, and the others on another side,” Sen. Daines said.

Sen. Daines was told there is a 1.2 million person backlog of asylum claims. But how does this all impact Montana? He says it’s drugs, specifically meth, heroin and fentanyl.

“If you speak with the DEA folks in Montana, they’ll tell you the source of meth, heroin and fentanyl is Mexico. It’s the Mexican cartels,” Sen. Daines said.

It’s another illegal business that causes big problems, but brings in big cash.

“They showed us a recent meth seizure, that they found here in this sector, that had a street value of over 2 million dollars,” Sen. Daines said.