Helena Independent Record: Montana senators grill Forest Service chief on wildfire, trails funding
Montana’s senators questioned U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell Wednesday on challenges to forest management reform, wildfire funding and declining trail budgets. Tidwell testified before the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, which counts both Republican Steve Daines and Democrat Jon Tester among its members. The hearing focused on the Forest Service’s $4.8 billion budget request for the next fiscal year, including a small increase for Land and Water Conservation Fund and increased fuels reduction spending authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill. The budget “represents some really tough choices and where we can prioritize our limited funding,” Tidwell said, pointing to a
KGVO: Montana Senator Daines Advocates For Increasing Active Forest Management
Montana Senator Steve Daines spoke at an Appropriations Subcommittee to discuss the U.S. Forest Service’s Fiscal Year 2017 budget. Daines is pleased with the progress of the 2014 Farm Bill, but he voiced his concern that it’s not being completed at an adequate pace. “We’ve identified in Montana about five million acres with dead or dying trees and that’s something we have been communicating to Montanans back home,” said Daines. “These are dead and dying trees, five million acres, you take 6,200 acres of projects that have been identified so far, do the quick math, its about .1% that is
Daines Introduces Legislation to Permanently Ban Guantanamo Transfers to U.S. and Suspend International Releases
Legislation Would Also Prohibit The Closure or Transfer to Cuba of U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo U.S. SENATE —Following yesterday’s announcement that the Obama administration had released two more Guantanamo Bay detainees, Senator Steve Daines today introduced a bill that would permanently ban the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to the U.S. and would suspend the release of Guantanamo detainees internationally until September 30, 2017. Daines’ bill the Detaining Terrorists to Protect Americans Act of 2016, would permanently prohibit the closure or transfer of U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay. “Terrorists captured by U.S. forces belong in Guantanamo, a location that has played a pivotal role for collecting intelligence
Daines Hails New Vet Center in Helena
U.S. SENATE —Senator Steve Daines today hailed the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ announcement that they will increase veterans access to Readjustment counseling services in Helena and the surrounding area through the creation of a permanent Vet Center in Helena. “Our veterans deserve the best care possible, close to home and without delay. Rural veterans face a higher suicide rate – and it’s welcome news to see the VA prioritize our rural veterans.” Daines stated. “This new Helena Vet Center is an important step forward in halting the tragic issues they face and will provide our veterans with the care they need.” Daines
Great Falls Tribune: VA to open veterans center in Helena
HELENA — Veterans Affairs will establish a veterans center outstation in Helena by this fall to better treat veterans, service members and their families, officials said Tuesday. The facility will be staffed by a readjustment counselor and outreach specialist. The community-based counseling centers provide sociological and psychological services in a confidential setting outside VA Health Care facilities. Services include mental health screenings, suicide prevention, drug and alcohol assistance, family counseling, employment assistance, education training and other services to help veterans transition to civilian life, Sen. Jon Tester said. Helena veterans now have to two hours round-trip to access the mental
KRTV Great Falls: Veterans Center will be located in Helena
A new federal Veterans Center, which offers mental health and other counseling to military veterans, will be opening this fall in Helena. The Helena center will be the fifth such facility in Montana, where veterans can visit and talk to professionals and other veterans about problems they’re facing adjusting to civilian life. Centers already exist in Billings, Great Falls, Missoula, and Kalispell. “One of the biggest advantage of Veterans Centers is veterans talking to vets, about challenges that they have,” U.S. Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) told reporters in a telephone interview Tuesday. “These are really opportunities where a veteran can walk
Roll Call: Montana Attorney General Thwarts Robbery of Daines Staffer
The big Montana energy conference organized by Sen. Steve Daines got off to an unexpected start last week, when the Billings hotel was evacuated as the fire alarm went off. A skirmish then broke out in which an unruly drunk apparently attempted to rob Daines’ chief of staff Jason Thielman, the Montana Republican confirmed to Heard on the Hill. “Our attorney general, who is the chief law enforcement officer with the state of Montana, Tim Fox, he literally grabbed the guy and restrained him, and took him to the ground until the police arrived,” Daines said in an interview. “I think it was someone who might have had too
Daines, 42 Senators File Amicus Brief in Supreme Court Case Challenging Obama Administration’s Immigration Executive Actions
U.S. SENATE —Senator Steve Daines today joined 42 Senators in filing an amicus brief in the United States Supreme Court in support of a challenge by a majority of the nation’s governors and attorneys general of the states, led by the State of Texas, to the Obama Administration’s November 2014 executive actions on immigration. The Supreme Court took up this case (United States of America vs. State of Texas) after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in November of 2015 affirmed a preliminary injunction by a federal district court in Brownsville, Texas blocking the Obama Administration from moving
KULR8: Dr. Joe Medicine Crow Dies at 102
Dr. Joe Medicine Crow, the last living Plains Indian war chief, died at the age of 102 today. Senator Steve Daines today released the following statement in honor of the Crow War Chief: “Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow leaves an unmatched legacy as the Crow Tribe’s historian and storyteller, a decorated World War II veteran and the first member of the Crow Tribe to attain a master’s degree,” Daines stated. “Medicine Crow’s spirit, humility and life achievements leave a lasting imprint on Montana’s history. My deepest condolences are with Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow’s family and all of Crow Nation.” Daines will