Daines visits Lake County
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POLSON — Fresh from a 2,000-mile sweep around eastern Montana, Steve Daines stopped for a visit with Lake County constituents at the Lake County Republican Women’s luncheon on May 16. Daines, Montana’s U.S. Representative, is running for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by long-time Senator Max Baucus.
Daines told the crowd of about 100 people that the U.S. House of Representatives is in recess.
But before they recessed, they found Internal Revenue Service employee Lois Lerner in contempt for failure to answer questions about the IRS’ decision to apply extra scrutiny to conservative political groups applying for tax-exempt status.
The house also voted to establish a Select Committee on the events surrounding the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi to be headed up by Trey Gowdy, R-South Carolina.
Daines also spoke about Honor Flights, which take World War II veterans back to see the National World War II Memorial.
Donald Buska, an 86 year-old WWII vet, had been in hospice care since Feb. 12, but he made the trip and loved every moment and then passed away the next day, on April 30.
Vowing to never let the “greatest generation be forgotten, Daines talked about threats to freedom and liberty. One example was the U.S. government’s plant to discontinue electricity powered by coal.
“President Obama had declared war on coal, and Montana has twice as much coal as Wyoming,” Daines said.
When Daines met with Darrin Old Coyote, chair of the Crow tribe, Old Coyote said, “A war on coal is a war on the Crow tribe.”
Daines also brought up the $18 trillion national debt, “which now exceeds the whole of the U.S. economy.”
He had words about the Keystone Pipeline, which Daines said President Obama has been considering for six years and Canada has passed in seven months. The pipeline would provide jobs and oil, which would reduce U.S. dependence on Saudi Arabian oil.
Moving on to foreign police, Daines said former Republican Vice-President Dick Chaney had been in Washington after returning from the Middle East and told Republican colleagues that U.S. allies no longer trust us and U.S. enemies no longer fear us.
On his way out the door, Daines said in his big circle around eastern Montana, Daines stopped in lots of rural communities, had coffee and met with Montananas in local government. Their biggest issue was energy.
“The war on coal is going to hit them hard,” Daines said.
Repeatedly he heard about the overreach of federal regulations and the loss of jobs and tax revenues due to the war on coal.
Daines will be back in Washington, D.C. on May 19 when the house reconvenes.
