Daines: President’s Disregard for Our Troops is Shameful
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Steve Daines today blasted President Obama’s unprecedented veto of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which provides critical support for the nation’s military and national security and passed both chambers of Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support: “It is reckless that the Commander-in-Chief is holding hostage critical support for the safety and security of our nation’s service members. Congress sent a clear and strong bipartisan message to the President that the American people support prioritizing and protecting the needs of the brave men and women serving our country. To deny our troops needed stability while serving both here
News Talk KGVO: Sen. Steve Daines Encourages Secure, High-Speed Broadband Connectivity on Tribal Lands
This week Senator Steve Daines spoke with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development and Rural Utilities Service asking officials to consider extending broadband services to Montanans that currently don’t have service. Daines encouraged legislators to focus on “unserved communities, not just improving speeds for those who already connectivity.” “Thanks to the dedication of Montana companies like Triangle Communications, residents of the Rocky Boy and the Fort Belknap Indian Reservations have access to broadband for the very first time,” Daines said. “However, the broadband access on tribal lands continues to be an issue. In fact, high-speed broadband on most tribal lands
Daines Works to Remove Barriers to Tribal Energy Development
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Steve Daines today investigated the barriers holding back Montana tribes from developing energy resources on their lands and called on the Obama administration to improve meaningful consultation with tribes during the federal decision making process. During a Senate Indian Affairs oversight hearing on the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) report on Indian Energy Development, Daines pressed Larry Roberts, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs at the Department of Interior on the unnecessary bureaucracy and lack of communication that has long-hindered tribal energy development. “As the GAO reports and our witnesses today tell us, energy development on
Tester, Daines, and Zinke meet with Canadian ambassador regarding timber concerns
Montana delegation calls for new Softwood Lumber Agreement (U.S. Senate) – Senator Jon Tester, Senator Steve Daines and Congressman Ryan Zinke are working together with Montana’s neighbor to the north to ensure the state’s lumber mills are treated fairly. Montana’s Congressional delegation today sat down with Canadian Ambassador Gary Doer to urge him to begin negotiating a new Softwood Lumber Agreement. The agreement expired on October 12 and is creating uncertainty for mills in Montana and across the country. The delegation requested that the Canadians come to the table to hammer out a deal to avoid future litigation and take
Daines Helps Introduce Bipartisan Public Lands Bill
Legislation Would Reauthorize The Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senator Steve Daines today joined a bipartisan group of senators to introduce legislation reauthorizing the Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act (FLTFA). Before it expired in 2011, FLTFA allowed the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service in the western United States to use the proceeds from sales of certain federally designated areas to protect lands of exceptional conservation value. “As an avid hunter and fisherman, I know the importance of having the tools necessary to protect and
Daines Works to Secure Broadband for Rural Montanans
Senator Steve Daines today pressed U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development and Rural Utilities Service officials on the need for swift action to provide broadband for thousands of rural Montanans who currently are without service. During an Agriculture Appropriations hearing earlier this morning on “A review of Rural Development in 21st Century America,” Daines reaffirmed his commitment to the deployment of broadband to Montana’s rural and tribal communities and called on USDA leaders to take steps to ensure investments are actually being made in rural communities still lacking broadband service. “Not only does access to broadband connect rural Americans
Flathead Beacon: The Rise of the Conservative Conservationist
It’s late August in Montana and the North Fork of the Flathead River is running low and slow, snaking through a chalky corridor of wildfire smoke, its steep banks inscribed with the tracks of deer and grizzly bears, wallpapered with a mix of blackened snags and young lodgepole pine, and scored with clusters of radiant fireweed. The smoke blotting the sky overhead hangs in contrast against the transparency of the water below, magnifying the burnished bottom-stones and the shimmering flashes of bull trout, rainbows and cutties. Somewhere downstream from the Glacier Rim river access, about 10 miles north of Columbia
Daines Condemns Senate Dems’ Refusal to Allow Consideration of Sanctuary Cities Legislation
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senator Steve Daines today expressed his disappointment after Senate Democrats failed to allow consideration of commonsense legislation that would withhold certain federal funding from cities who deliberately protect illegal immigrants by refusing to cooperate with immigration services: “It is infuriating that Senate Democrats blocked thoughtful and meaningful debate on legislation that goes after real criminals who are not only in the United States illegally, but continuously violate the laws of our nation or repeatedly reenter the country after being deported. Allowing a city to ignore federal immigration statutes while providing a safe haven for criminals who violate
Daines, Zinke Call on Missoula City Council to Withdraw Proposed Gun Control Ordinance
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senator Steve Daines and Representative Ryan Zinke today called on the Missoula City Council to withdraw a proposed ordinance that would intrude upon the Constitutional rights of law-abiding firearm owners in Missoula. In a letter sent today to Missoula Mayor John Engen and the Missoula City Council, Daines and Zinke conveyed their concerns that the proposal would violate Montanans’ Second Amendment rights and place additional burdens on law-abiding Montanans, while doing little to prevent violent crime. “We write to express our strong concerns with the Missoula City Council Public Safety and Health Committee’s substantial intrusion into the