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HELENA, Mont. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Steve Daines of Montana isn’t saying how he’ll vote for the latest Republican plan to replace former President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the Senate Republican health care bill would leave 22 million more people uninsured in 2026 compared to Obama’s law. Daines, a Republican, isn’t expected to take a position before he holds a constituent teleconference on Wednesday. He said in a statement Monday he’s heard from thousands of residents on the importance of repealing and replacing Obamacare, and the question is how to do it. Fifty of

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M) reintroduced Wedensday the bipartisan Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony (STOP) Act, a bill to prohibit the exporting of sacred Native American items and increase penalties for stealing and illegally trafficking tribal cultural patrimony.    U.S. Senators Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) are cosponsors of the bill.   To announce the legislation, Heinrich hosted a meeting with students from the Santa Fe Indian School Leadership Institute’s Summer Policy Academy (SPA) in his office in Washington, D.C. The students

State and national leaders continue to weigh timber restrictions alongside the future of communities in Northwest Montana. Reporter Nicole Miller learned more about some efforts that are underway to make good on past promises while President Trump’s recently released budget threatens funding for conservation and public lands in Montana and across the country. During Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s first hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) spoke with him about the lack of revenue in economically pressed timber-rich counties due to the restrictions on the timber industry on federally owned lands. “We have counties in Montana that have over 90% owned by the federal government and of course there is no tax base there because the federal

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., will decide whether to support his party’s health care bill after hearing from Montanans next week, the lawmaker said Friday. The senator said he will spend the weekend reading the 142-page bill and then hear from Montanans at Wednesday’s telephone town hall meeting. Daines expects 30,000 people to participate in Wednesday’s call, based on the 28,000 people who participated in a call a couple of weeks ago. “What Montanans have told me they want to see, first and foremost, is a reduction in premiums, the affordability question,” Daines said. “Number two, taking care of those

Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner are embracing more visible roles in the White House policy process, taking high-profile meetings with foreign leaders, prominent lawmakers and top business executives while garnering media attention. Over the last week, Kushner, who more often is seen at the president’s side but not heard, delivered his first public remarks during a summit with technology executives. He then jetted off to the Middle East for attention-getting meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority. Meanwhile, Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter who often accompanies her father on

Montana’s Republican U.S. senator, Steve Daines, says he’ll decide whether to support his party’s health care bill after hearing from constituents. The Billings Gazette reported Saturday (http://bit.ly/2s37iKl ) that Daines will host a telephone town hall next Wednesday on the Senate Republican proposal. At least five GOP senators have declared their opposition to the party’s legislation to undo much of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul — more than enough to defeat the measure. Daines criticized the U.S. House GOP’s health care proposal after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported that 14 million Americans would lose their coverage next year