In The News

Senate Republicans on Thursday took a major first step toward fulfilling their long-held promise to gut President Barack Obama’s signature health care law, the Affordable Care Act. Lawmakers in the upper chamber voted 51-48 early Thursday morning in favor of a budget measure that kick-starts the process to defund parts of the law known as Obamacare. The move allows Republicans to avoid a Democratic filibuster on subsequent repeal legislation and allows final votes to be cast as early as a few weeks from now. Democrats have mounted an aggressive counteroffensive against GOP repeal efforts in recent days, touting the benefits of the

With just days until President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, the Department of the Interior finalized a report Wednesday calling for major changes to the federal coal program by which the U.S. manages the leasing of land to companies for exploration and production across 570 million publicly owned acres. A year ago, new leases were placed on hold pending this report. Trump, who campaigned as an ally of the coal industry, has pledged to reverse that controversial moratorium. Interior Department lands, managed by the Bureau of Land Management, are estimated to contain 7.4 billion tons of coal that could be mined and sold. Environmental groups have

HELENA, Mont. (AP) – An internal evaluation of the VA Montana Health Care System saw its performance rating downgraded to one star for July, August and September, compared with two stars for the same period in 2015, U.S. Sen. Steve Daines announced Wednesday. Public affairs officer Mike Garcia said that officials are reviewing the report and looking for areas of improvement, but he notes the star ratings are not equivalent to those one might find for a hotel or restaurant. The nation’s VA hospitals are rated on a bell curve, and there will always be a dozen five-star facilities and 12 or 13 one-star

U.S. Senator Steve Daines, R-Montana, met last week with President-elect Donald J. Trump’s designee for the U.S. Department of Energy, Rick Perry. “After speaking with Governor Perry, I have confidence that he will work to restore the balance between fossil fuel and renewable energy investments and regulation, a balance that has been lacking in President Obama’s Energy Department,” Daines stated. “Governor Perry will work to make our nation energy secure.” During the meeting, Daines invited Perry to Colstrip and the Crow Reservation and commended his attention to a letter from Lori Shaw, co-founder of Colstrip United, a grassroots citizens’ group

Retired Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly, Donald Trump’s choice to lead the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is undergoing a confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday, and ahead of the meeting he sat down with Montana’s two Senators to discuss issues relevant to the Treasure State, including northern border security. Republican Sen. Steve Daines met with Kelly on Jan. 9 to discuss national security priorities, including securing the southern and norther borders, as well as refugee vetting and enhancing cybersecurity. “I was impressed with Gen. Kelly. He is a straight shooter. He understands what it will take to secure our borders.

Both of Montana’s U.S. Senators have sent letters chastising the company that runs the Veterans Choice healthcare program in Montana and 36 other states. Veterans Choice is supposed to help vets get appointments with private health care providers if they live far from a VA facility, or have been waiting a long time for a VA appointment. It was created in 2014, and has been plagued with problems since the beginning. “HealthNet isn’t doing what they need to do,” said Democrat Jon Tester on Saturday. “They’ve made it so complicated for hospitals, and so complicated for the veterans, that we’re not able to use

Montana U.S. Sen. Steve Daines is positioned to play a key role in the confirmation of Ryan Zinke to Donald Trump’s presidential cabinet. The two Montanans met Thursday. Zinke, Montana’s lone congressman, met with Daines to discuss the representative’s nomination to be Interior secretary. Daines is a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which will begin Zinke’s confirmation process. “Ryan has a good balance of protecting public land and conservation, and energy development,” Daines told The Gazette. “I think it’s that balance that’s needed in the secretary of Interior.” Daines said he expects the Senate Energy and

Montana has been without a congressional representative on any federal Agriculture Committee since Senator Max Baucus became Ambassador to China, but that is about to change. The Montana Grain Growers Association applauded this week’s news that Montana Senator Steve Daines has been appointed to serve on the U.S. Senate Ag Committee. MGGA Executive Vice President Lola Raska says this decision will play a large role in the upcoming farm bill. “We are looking at renegotiating the next farm bill, that is already underway and this gives us a seat at the table,” said Raska. “Every detail of the farm bill goes through

Montana public officials have come together in unified opposition of the recent intimidations made against the Jewish community in Whitefish.  Together in a letter co-signed by senators Jon Tester and Steve Daines, Rep. Ryan Zinke, Gov. Steve Bullock and Attorney General Tim Fox, each denounced efforts of threat and intimidation directed at the community.  The letter comes in response to a post on the Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi and white supremacist blog that last week called its followers “to action” to harass and “troll” Whitefish businesses, its Jewish community and the Love Lives Here advocacy group. On Friday, the blog