In The News

HELENA — A Montana case that’s become a politically charged battle over public aid to church-affiliated schools is before the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday, as school-choice advocates ask the court to strike down Montana’s constitutional ban on the aid. The case pits a trio of Kalispell parents whose children go to Stillwater Christian School against Montana and its constitution – but the decision clearly has national ramifications. More than 50 groups and individuals have filed “friend of the court” briefs, advocating for one side or the other. Two-thirds of those briefs are from supporters of private religious schools or “school

A signature effort for President Donald Trump passed Congress Thursday, with the United States-Mexico-Canada agreement intended to take the place of the 1990s North American Free Trade Agreement passing the Senate 89-10. Montana Farm Bureau praised the agreement’s passage. “Montana Farm Bureau has long been pushing for this agreement which will greatly benefit our state’s farmers and ranchers,” MFBF President Hans McPherson said in a press release. “Farm Bureau thanks Sen. Jon Tester, Sen. Steve Daines and Congressman Greg Gianforte for voting to ratify the agreement.” The release said USMCA is expected to result in a $65 billion increase in gross

Montana agriculture groups saw benefits in the first-stage U.S.-China trade pact announced Wednesday by President Donald Trump. Farm groups hoped for the return of progress on normalizing trade relations with China, which hasn’t been a major buyer of Montana wheat or beef, but had always been valued as potentially at top market for both. In the lead-up to the now-18-month-old trade war between the U.S. and China, Montanans appeared to be making inroads to sales in China. “We see this as a real positive movement for the beef industry,” said Jay Bodnar, of the Montana Stockgrowers Association. The trade pact

Sens. David Perdue (R-GA) and Mike Lee (R-UT) have introduced a bill that would end the IRS’s allowance of abortion as “medical care” and block the procedure’s tax deductibility as an out-of-pocket medical expense. “The government should not offer tax benefits for a procedure that kills hundreds of thousands of unborn children each year, nor should taxpayers subsidize such a practice,” said Lee in a statement to Breitbart News. He continued: This undermines the truth that all human beings have dignity and worth, and that the purpose of healthcare is to heal and care for them – not kill them. Our

As your U.S. senator, it’s been my top priority to bring Montana commonsense to Congress, and in spite of the partisan politics that exist in Washington D.C., I’ve been working across the aisle this past year to get results for Montanans. We recently secured the largest pay raise in nearly a decade for our troops, strengthened our southern border to protect our communities from illegal drugs, empowered law enforcement to combat Montana’s growing meth crisis, protected the mission at Malmstrom, and finally federally recognized the Little Shell tribe. We led the fight for our Blue Water Veterans and saw my

Pirate radio operators are one signature away from facing bigger fines and stronger penalties. On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate passed the PIRATE Act, which gives the FCC expanded tools to fight unauthorized radio broadcasters. If the President signs the bill into law, the FCC will have the additional help it had been seeking for years, to crack down on pirates.  On April 29, 2019, U.S. Senator Daines of Montana introduced S.1228, the PIRATE Act with Senator Peters (D-MI). Upon passage of the bill in the Senate, Daines said, “This is great news for Montana local radio and rural broadcasters. My bipartisan

According to US Senator Steve Daines, Qasem Suleimani posed an “imminent threat” to American lives. In an interview with KGVO News, Daines spoke about the US Military’s decision to strike down the prominent Iranian general, and the chain of events that followed. At around 3:30 PM MST on January 7, Iran launched over a dozen ballistic missiles at US bases housing American troops in Iraq. The missiles came in response to the killing of Suleimani on January 3. Missiles originating from Iranian forces struck the Ain al-Asad air base, a major American base located North and West of Baghdad, and

Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., introduced a pro-Second Amendment bill to the Senate last month aimed at easing restrictions on gun owners transporting their firearms across state lines. The bill would reform the Firearm Owners Protection Act (FOPA), clarifying the term “transport” to include “staying in temporary lodging overnight, stopping for food, fuel, vehicle maintenance, an emergency, medical treatment, and any other activity incidental.” Daines said Americans should not be afraid to transport their legally owned firearms. “This is about protecting law-abiding gun owners and their constitutional right to safely transport their firearms,” he told Fox News. “Montanans want their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms protected, and that’s what I’m fighting for.” The bill would

U.S. Senator Steve Daines today voted to advance a critical trade agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada, called the “USMCA,” out of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. Daines serves as Montana’s lone voice on the Committee, which has jurisdiction over international trade action, and has been a strong proponent of advancing the trade deal. “Today marks a very important step for farmers, ranchers, and small businesses across Montana as well as around our country,” Daines said. “Advancing this important trade deal between the United States, Canada and Mexico out of the Senate Finance Committee will bring us one