In The News

BILLINGS – President Barack Obama will propose $10-per-barrel charge on oil to fund clean transportation projects as part of his final budget request next week. While some in Washington are applauding the president’s proposal, some Montana lawmakers have a different opinion. Senator Steve Daines and Congressman Ryan Zinke are slamming the president’s proposal, and Senator Jon Tester says the proposal won’t go anywhere. Zinke’s statement reads, in part, “too many Montana families are living on the brink, trying to figure out how to pay for groceries, rent, heat and gas.” He said he wants to grow the economy, become energy

Sen. Steve Daines has honored former Flathead High School star quarterback Brock Osweiler as one of a pair of Montanans who will be on the roster for Super Bowl 50. Osweiler and Dwan Edwards, formerly of Columbus, were named by Daines as Montanans of the Week. The senator paid tribute to the men in the Congressional Record on Thursday. Osweiler is the backup quarterback for the Denver Broncos, and started seven games for the team earlier this year while Peyton Manning was injured. Osweiler graduated from Flathead High in 2009, and went on to play for Arizona State before being

Tribal leaders and U.S. senators from across the Great Plains blasted the quality of care provided by Indian Health Services during a U.S. Senate oversight hearing Wednesday. Multiple speakers addressing the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs spoke of a health care system that is underfunded, understaffed, unresponsive and which delivers a substandard quality of health care that frequently results in a compromised quality of life for its patients. Montana mother’s lawsuit raises medical ethics questions “For decades and generations, IHS has had a terrible reputation in Indian Country,” said Victoria Kitcheyan, treasurer of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. “We don’t

Senators Jon Tester and Steve Daines today led the charge to push the Blackfeet Water Compact through the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and onto the Senate floor. This decades-in-the-making agreement will resolve water rights claims on the Blackfeet Reservation and ensure access to reliable and clean water for the communities within the Reservation, as well as farms, ranches, and businesses in the surrounding area.  This compact will save taxpayers millions by avoiding costly litigation between the Blackfeet Tribe and the federal government. “Reliable access to clean water is critical to the health and safety of every community,” said Tester, Vice-Chairman

A group of Republican senators is seeking to cut foreign to Ghana in the 2017 State Department funding bill if the country is unable to hold and monitor two Guantanamo detainees it recently accepted from the United States and ensure they do not reengage in terrorism against the U.S. Sens. Mark Kirk (Ill.), Roy Blunt (Mo.), James Lankford (Okla.) and Steve Daines (Mont.) — members of the Senate Appropriations Committee — are proposing to consider reducing assistance to Ghana by $10 million per detainee in the event that either of the detainees escape.  In a letter to Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (Miss.) and State and Foreign Operations and

GREAT FALLS –U.S. Senator Steve Daines announced on Wednesday that Air Force Major Benji L. Johnson has been selected to serve as a Military Fellow in Daines’ Washington, D.C. office through 2016.  The Air Force Fellowship Program offers participants the opportunity to work in the legislative branch of the federal government for one session of Congress.  Johnson most recently served as the assistant director of operations for ICBM codes for the 341st Operations Support Squadron at Malmstrom Air Force Base. In a press release, Daines said, “Major Johnson’s extensive experience will be an asset to our office’s efforts to best

A legislative package now before the U.S. Senate has a lot of Montana issues woven in, including possible permanent reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2016 began debate Thursday, and is expected to face amendments well into next week before a final vote. Also known as S. 2012, it affects energy-efficiency standards in buildings and cars, cybersecurity threats, next-generation nuclear plants, recycling and loan programs. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., spoke for the bill on the Senate floor Thursday after it cleared the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on a 18-4 vote. “The Energy

Twenty-one lawmakers have written Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald urging him to let VA doctors discuss and recommend marijuana as a potential medical treatment in states where it is legal. Under a VA policy that expires on Jan. 31, VA doctors are not allowed to discuss medical marijuana with their patients or recommend it as a treatment. Senators and representatives — 19 Democrats and two Republicans, including Rep. Joe Heck of Nevada, a physician and Army Reserve brigadier general who chairs the House Armed Services personnel panel — want a new policy that “removes barriers that would interfere with the doctor-patient relationship” in states

HELENA — When Sen. Steve Daines talked in October to a roomful of people at Fort Harrison about the importance of sharing their military history with others, he spoke from personal experience. Daines had a uncle aboard the SS Dorchester who died when the troop ship was sunk by a German submarine Feb. 3, 1943. The ship is famous for its story of the four chaplains who stood on deck, gave their life jackets to others and held hands praying and singing hymns as the Dorchester went down, killing nearly 700 people. But for some reason, his grandmother never talked