In The News

GREAT FALLS – Senator Steve Daines spent the past week visiting communities around Montana, wrapping up the 56 county tour Thursday in Chester. The senator says the tour gave him important feedback on key issues facing Montanans, including natural resource development creating more jobs along with issues farmers and ranchers are facing.     Daines says the top concern was the future of agriculture, the state’s top industry. “We have a big state, it’s a great state, and it’s the best part of my job is having a chance to sit down and have a cup of coffee with a lot of

Senator Steve Daines took a trip back in time while talking to the future. Daines visited first graders at his old elementary school which he attended in the 60s.  “I remember when I was walking these halls, I wanted to be a fireman or a farmer, and you remember the impact your teachers have. I remember my first-grade teacher here at Longfellow was Mrs. Hahn,” Daines said. He answered questions ranging from his job to his birthday and then the students presented him with a piece of handmade artwork. “We just thought it would be fun for him to have something

Calling the current system “unfair,” U.S. Sen. Steve Daines is proposing legislation reforming retirement and workers compensation payments for federal wildland firefighters and law enforcement injured on the job. The current retirement system allows firefighters working in hazardous conditions retirement after 20 years. However, if they are injured on the job and reassigned to a nonhazardous role, they are subject to a 30-year retirement track. Overtime and bonuses are not factored into workers compensation payments, meaning an injured firefighter receives only a percentage of base pay. The base is typically only a fraction of firefighters’ annual earnings as overtime pay

GREAT FALLS – U.S. Senator Steve Daines visited the Great Falls Rescue Mission’s Cameron Family Center on Thursday. The facility opened last month. Montana’s U.S. Senators Daines and Jon Tester have supported the New Markets Tax Credits Program since its start in 2000, which helped fund the Cameron Family Center through the Montana & Idaho Community Development Corporation.  The MICDC is a non-profit consulting agency; since 2009, the organization has provided more than $300 million in tax credits and has funded 26 projects in Montana and Idaho. MICDC representatives Rachel Golden and Ben Wright say the organization brought in around $1 million dollars of

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Montana, has announced the allocation of over $1 million in grant money to Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes to aid diabetes treatment and prevention efforts on the Flathead Indian Reservation. “Diabetes sadly plagues many in Montana’s Native communities, and through this funding the CSKT can continue to improve care for tribal members living with this disease,” Daines said in a press release issued on Dec. 9. Native Americans have the highest rate of Type 2, or adult onset, diabetes in the country, the release states. The $1,040,808-grant will come as part of the Special Diabetes Program

Sen. Steve Daines stopped in Uncle Sam’s Eastery in Columbus Tuesday afternoon as part of his 56-county tour.  Daines spoke to a crowded audience about the changes in Washington D.C. He opened by telling the crowd that he worked for them. “Always remember that. You are my boss. I work for you,” said Daines. Daines gave a brief summary of the state of affairs in Washington D.C. and the surprise election of Donald Trump as president.  “He didn’t have a lot of support from Democrats. He didn’t have a lot support from Republicans. You know who supported him? The American

Sen. Steve Daines said Monday to look for the Keystone XL Pipeline rejected by the Obama administration to be resurrected under President-elect Donald Trump and to look for a leader who will shake conventional thought. In a meeting with editors from the Great Falls Tribune, the Montana Republican also said the first 100 days of a Trump administration would focus on getting Trump’s cabinet and a new Supreme Court justice approved, a repeal of the Affordable Care Act and a significant number of executive orders coming from White House rescinding decisions by Obama administration. Daines, R-Mont., is finishing a tour

Sen. Steve Daines led a bipartisan group of lawmakers asking the FCC to exempt small businesses from certain net neutrality regulations. “Without commission action, small businesses soon face regulatory uncertainty and will potentially be subject to burdensome requirements,” Daines wrote today in a letter, which is also signed by Sens. Joe Manchin, Heidi Heitkamp, Jim Risch and Dan Sullivan and Reps. Greg Walden, Dave Loebsack and Bob Latta. “When the commission adopted this exemption, it acknowledged that requiring small businesses with limited resources to comply with the complex disclosure requirements would have been particularly burdensome.” The FCC’s “enhanced transparency requirements,” part of the 2015 Open Internet Order, require internet service providers to offer

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines said Tuesday that he would wait to meet Exxon Mobil Corp. CEO Rex Tillerson before passing judgement on his fitness to serve as the country’s secretary of state.  “I haven’t had a chance to meet him. I look forward to conversations with him,” Daines said during a meeting Tuesday with the Chronicle’s editorial board. “After I have a chance to meet with him, to have a discussion, I’ll let you know.”  President-elect Donald Trump announced Tillerson’s pick as the nation’s top diplomat on Tuesday. Under Tillerson, the oil and gas giant negotiated with Russia a $500