In The News

The Great American Outdoors Act passed the Senate on Wednesday, which is a huge win for our national parks and public lands. While our country is obviously going through a very difficult time, this represents a bipartisan effort to preserve our nation’s natural beauty. This legislation addresses the $12 billion National Parks Service deferred maintenance backlog and permanently funds the Land and Water Conservation Fund. In Montana, our national parks are my weekend getaway. Being outside helps me clear my mind and just connect with the great outdoors, which is even more important now. It’s not only me, but many

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Steve Daines cosponsored the JUSTICE Act, a major police reform bill in the Senate, which aims to help improve the relationship between law enforcement and the communities they serve. “The men and women who serve our communities in law enforcement put their lives on the line every day to protect our families, and a few bad actors have reflected poorly upon the values of their service,” Daines said. “We must work to restore confidence between our communities and law enforcement, and this bipartisan bill does just that by increasing accountability, transparency and training. This provides real

The U.S. Senate passed a landmark conservation bill on Wednesday. The Great American Outdoors Act provides $9.5 billion to address deferred maintenance on public lands and puts $900 million annually from oil and gas royalties into the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Montana Sens. Steve Daines and Jon Tester, both bill sponsors, celebrated its success on Wednesday. “Today, this is about protecting our Montanan outdoor way of life for future generations and it increases public access to our public lands in addition to supporting our national parks and really preserving and protecting our western heritage,” said Daines, a Bozeman Republican who’s running for reelection.

Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) received bipartisan praise for his leadership in helping pass the Great American Outdoors Act through the Senate, a bill to preserve America’s forests and national parks. The Senate overwhelmingly passed on Wednesday the Great American Outdoors Act, 73-25, which serves as a strong victory for “conservative conservationist” Daines. The legislation would permanently provide $900 million in oil and gas revenues for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), which secures land for trails and parks. The bill also reserves $6.5 billion for ending the maintenance backlog for the country’s national parks. The legislation served as a

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Montana, is backing a police reform bill that would among other things promote body camera use by Montana law enforcement and require the footage be made available to the public. The bill, requiring more police accountability for use of force, calls for spending $100 million a year on police body cameras and body camera training. Police departments that accept the money would face future funding reductions for both turning body cameras off and for not releasing footage to the public under the terms of the law. States where body cameras aren’t used would receive less federal

The Senate passed the most significant conservation legislation in decades on Wednesday, clearing a package to secure steady funding for public lands that came together only after the popular bipartisan measure got a lift from election year politics. The core ideas in the bill — fully funding the Land and Water Conservation Fund at $900 million annually and providing billions to address maintenance backlogs on the nation’s public lands — have drawn significant support from both parties for years. But it was tough elections facing two of the package’s lead backers, Republican Sens. Cory Gardner of Colorado and Steve Daines

The passage of the Great American Outdoors Act in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday sparked praise statewide, with Montana’s two U.S. senators saying it was an example of Washington at its bipartisan best. The bill would spend about $900 million a year — double current spending — on the Land and, Water, Conservation Fund (LWCF), and make it a permanent fund. It would also spend another $1.9 billion per year on improvements at national parks, forests, wildlife refuges and rangelands, the Associated Press reported. If passed and signed by the president, it would reportedly be the most significant conservation legislation

The Senate will take the decisive vote around noon today on legislation that would authorize millions of dollars for maintaining public lands around the country. There is very little suspense about whether S. 3422 will pass. The “Great American Outdoors Act” would permanently and fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund and address a multibillion-dollar backlog of deferred maintenance projects across national parks and federally owned land. It is being touted as the most consequential conservation measure to be considered by Congress in decades and will be carried across the Senate finish line with bipartisan support. But wanting to take nothing

MISSOULA — There was cause for celebration on Wednesday, but also a little bit of surprise because of our political divisions, as the Senate passes the Great American Outdoors Act. It’s a sweeping piece of legislation designed to provide permanent funding to the 55-year old Land and Water Conservation Act (LWCF). Montana’s senators had been expressing confidence the Great American Outdoors Act would finally succeed where other efforts had failed, permanently allocating dollars for the LWCF, the primary tool for conservation and public lands access. When the votes were counted early Wednesday, the idea passed with a huge majority across