In The News

Our nation is at war with radical Islamic terrorism, which continues to threaten Americans at home and abroad. The terrorist attack in Orlando was carried out by a terrorist who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, a sobering reminder that the Islamic State is spreading a message of radical hate around the world to attract new recruits and inspire attacks as it continues to fight in places like Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Afghanistan. To win the war against the Islamic State and defeat their radical Islamic ideology, we need a comprehensive and thoughtful strategy. Unfortunately, President Obama’s strategy for combating

Workers changing jobs would have an easier time keeping track of their retirement plans, under bipartisan legislation introduced this week by Sens. Steve Daines and Elizabeth Warren. Daines and Warren, D-Mass, said the measure would create an online database allowing Americans to keep track of their 401(k)s and other retirement accounts. The “Retirement Savings Lost and Found Act” would allow workers to more easily invest abandoned accounts into higher-yielding ones such as mutual funds or Treasury securities instead of money markets. “This would help Americans if you are just starting out in the workforce or (are) a senior citizen who

Montana Senator Steve Daines’ Tribal Forestry Participation and Protection Act passed through the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Senator Daines explained how the bill aims to improve the health of Montana Forests on both federal and tribal lands. “It’s incredible how tribes will spread their resources thin and they are still better managers of their forests That’s why I recently introduced the Tribal Forestry Participation and Protection Act,” Daines said. “Our forests are failing and we must visit new and innovative ways to improve forest health.” Several tribes have expressed their support for the bill. “The Confederate of Salish

Fresh off the heels of Wednesday’s announcement by Weyerhaeuser that they’ll be closing their lumber and plywood mills in Columbia Falls due to a lack of logs, U.S. Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) announced that a bill to improve the health of both Indian and federal forest land recently passed the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. This action on the Daines-backed measure follows a June 8, 2016 legislative hearing in the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.  “The status quo on federal lands is unacceptable and costing Montanans good paying jobs,” Daines stated. “We must pursue every tool available to make our forested lands healthier and get more

The Department of the Interior (DOI) has allocated Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) funds, according to Montana Senator Steve Daines. That will give the Ravalli County budget a $2 million boost, according to the DOI website chart of PILT payments. The money is paid to counties where there is a large amount of federal land, such as the Bitterroot National Forest. The money, based on total federal acreage, is used for essential services. Ravalli County’s payment is $2,238,057, third highest in Montana, behind Flathead County’s $2,532,000 and Lewis and Clark County’s $2,398,000. Missoula County will receive $1,687,735. Statewide, over

Two Yellowstone River oil spills have reshaped national pipeline safety laws signed Wednesday by President Barack Obama. The PIPES Act sets pipeline law and reauthorizes the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. The law addresses two of Montana’s worst oil spills: the July 1, 2011, Silvertip Pipeline spill into the Yellowstone River near Laurel and the Jan. 17, 2015, oil spill into the Yellowstone River upstream from Glendive. U.S. Sen. Steve Daines carried PIPES Act in the Senate. For the first time, pipeline companies will be required to have plans in place for dealing with oil disasters trapped beneath the ice. In

A number of conservation groups and local governments have expressed support for naming a mountain in the Madison Range after a prominent conservationist who died earlier this year. Maddy Pope, a project manager for the Trust for Public Land, has been heading up the effort to name a peak in memory of Alex Diekmann, who worked for the group until he died of cancer earlier this year. “It seems like a really good way to commemorate his legacy and his work,” Pope said. Diekmann, who was 52, worked for the Trust for Public Land for 16 years. He negotiated land

Montana residents can comment on a potential overhaul of the federal government’s coal leasing program during a Tuesday meeting hosted by U.S. Sen. Steve Daines. Montana has the largest coal resources in the nation. But the Treasure State was left off an Interior Department list of events where the public was asked to weigh in on the changes. Daines told The Associated Press the government proposal could have a major impact on the state’s economy and affect the livelihoods of thousands of people. The Republican lawmaker says comments at Tuesday’s meeting at Montana State University in Billings will be recorded,

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) on Tuesday introduced legislation to protect the retirement savings of people who change jobs. The legislation would create a national, online “lost and found” for retirement accounts so that workers can easily locate accounts sponsored by former employers. The lost and found would use data that employers already have to report to the Treasury Department. “Our country faces a retirement crisis, and it’s important that all workers have a real chance to build retirement security. But today, millions of Americans are losing critical savings when they move between jobs,” Warren said in a news release. “This bipartisan bill will