In The News

Flathead Beacon: Montana Delegation Lauds Secure Rural Schools Funding

On April 14, the U.S. Senate passed legislation that would require the federal government to issue SRS payments beginning in June. The House of Representatives voted on a similar measure last month. Sens. Steve Daines and Tester and Rep. Ryan Zinke all supported the legislation. In 2014, Montana counties received $21 million in SRS funds, part of more than $300 million doled out nationally.

NBC Montana: MT Republicans push repeal of ‘Death Tax’

MISSOULA, Mont. – On tax day, Senator Steve Daines, (R) Montana, Representative Ryan Zinke, (R) Montana, and the Montana Republican Party touted their support of a bill that would eliminate the federal estate tax. Republicans call it the death tax. In a press release, the Montana Republican Party said the measure would “protect 28,000 Montana farms and ranches from being unfairly punished by the federal government and ensure that future generations don’t face bankruptcy when their family farm is passed down to their children.” However, we did some digging and found that the number of people affected by the estate

Helena Independent Record: Daines pushing for disaster funding for wildfires

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines said he is looking to add certainty to federal fire managers’ budgets by reforming the way the worst wildfires receive federal funding. Daines was in Clancy on Friday discussing the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act of 2015 with a roundtable of state and federal forest managers, conservation and forest dependent business interests. Daines signed onto the act as a senator in January, which would likely end the practice of “fire borrowing” when suppression funding runs out and must be pulled in from other programs. “The agencies have this cloud hanging over them,” said Richard Stem, retired deputy

KULR-8: Senator Steve Daines Talks Jobs and Coal in Indian Country

CROW AGENCY – Senator Steve Daines emphasized unemployment, the coal industry and jobs in Indian Country as part of a Senate Committee on Indian Affairs field hearing in Crow Agency on Wednesday. The hearing at the Little Big Horn College Health and Wellness Center lasted nearly two hours, and Attorney general Tim Fox and Crow Tribe Chairman Darrin Old Coyote were among the speakers. Sen. Daines discussed the importance of passing a permanent Indian coal tax credit. The temporary tax credit, which provides millions of dollars for the Crow’s economy, expired in December 2013. Daines and Old Coyote both testified

Missoulian: Senate’s Asbestos Awareness Week resolution takes special note of Libby

LIBBY – Among a lengthy list of a U.S. Senate resolution’s “whereases,” Libby’s long battle with asbestos has taken a special place. The Senate late last week unanimously passed a resolution – which specifically mentions Libby – designating the first week of April as National Asbestos Awareness Week. The resolution, sponsored by U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and co-sponsored by Montana Sens. Jon Tester and Steve Daines, also calls on the surgeon general to “warn and educate people about the public health issue of asbestos exposure, which may be hazardous to their health.” Linda Reinstein, president and co-founder of the