(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . 'Twitter jail,' Chinese spy balloons, forest management: D.C. delegation addresses legislature – Daily Montanan [1] ['Nicole Girten', 'More From Author', '- February'] Date: 2023-02-20 U.S. Senator Steve Daines pointed his thumb at a blown up photo of himself, his wife Cindy and a pronghorn antelope on a hunting trip last fall that got him placed in “Twitter jail.” “What the San Francisco elite deemed — and I’m quoting this — ‘violent, and adult content.’ I consider this part of our Montana way of life,” Daines said. Daines mentioned his scuffle with Twitter, which the Republican said ultimately Elon Musk handled personally, as part of his address to Montana legislators on Monday. All four members of Montana’s D.C. delegation, along with Chairman Tom McDonald of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, addressed both chambers. U.S. Senator Jon Tester, the sole Democrat in the delegation, kicked off addresses to the chamber with across-the-aisle talking points, like denouncing the Chinese spy balloon, securing the southern border and support for the Keystone XL pipeline. “The truth is that we would much rather do business with our friends in Canada than with the folks in the Middle East,” Tester said of the pipeline project, which was terminated in 2021. Tester, a former educator and member of the Legislature, also spoke to the importance of funding public education in competing with adversaries. “Public education has been the bedrock of our democracy. If you’re able to destroy public education, our democracy thereby will be destroyed, and this country will be, too,” Tester said. “Don’t do it.” Daines followed Tester, and in addition to recounting his banishment and subsequent return from Twitter, also discussed the southern border and the Chinese spy balloon, shouting out Billings Gazette photographer Larry Mayer and saying without him, the federal government may not have let the public know about the situation. The state’s junior senator also spoke about his bill on timber management that would overturn the federal ruling known as the “Cottonwood Decision” that had the effect of pumping the brakes on timber projects. Daines said his bill would give tools back to Montanans to manage forests and grow timber jobs. “Because either we are going to manage our forests better, or forests are going to manage us,” Daines said. Minority House Leader Rep. Kim Abbott, D-Helena, tweeted in response to Daines’ address, saying he spent his time “fanning the flames of tired culture war nonsense & complaining about Twitter, instead of addressing how his constituents are stuck living in campers on 19th Ave.” Ryan Zinke, a Republican representing the new western House district in the state, took the podium next, saying the TV drama “Yellowstone” was how most of the country sees Montana. “The problem is, they don’t know where the Yellowstone River is,” Zinke said. “So how do you think you can manage our forests and our water unless you live here?” Zinke critiqued federal spending and said energy should be produced at home. “I spent most of my adult life fighting on foreign shores for someone else’s energy,” said Zinke, a former Navy Seal who served in Iraq. “I think it’s amoral that we send our troops overseas for someone else’s energy when we have it here.” U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale received the most applause when he walked into the chamber to deliver his address. The Republican spoke about the motives behind the Freedom Caucus’ decision to challenge the speakership of Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-California, as a negotiating tactic to get demands met like the ability for one member to call to oust McCarthy. Rosendale highlighted the ability for amendments to be brought on bills and a 72-hour waiting period to take votes. Zinke and Rosendale are both former members of the Montana Legislature. Rosendale also spoke to the national debt, saying that cuts wouldn’t come from benefits for seniors. “The problem is not just the spending that is taking place, the problem is where it is being spent,” he said. “We are literally funding the tyranny against us. Every time that you send money into an agency, it gives them the ability to expand to over-regulate the very businesses that we’re trying to help out.” Last to speak was McDonald with the Tribal address to legislators. McDonald was the only one to speak to specific legislation currently being proposed this session, shouting out several lawmakers and their bills that aim to curtail issues specific to tribes in the state, including: Rep. Tyson Running Wolf, D- Browning: A bill establishing a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Person task force grant program, House Bill 18 Rep. Lola Sheldon-Galloway, R-Great Falls: A study on missing youth, HJ 1 Rep. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder: A bill to codify the Indian Child Welfare Act in Montana law HB 317 McDonald said the Charles Russell painting of the meeting of the CSKT and Lewis and Clark served as a metaphor for how tribes and the legislature can work together today to solve problems like drug addiction, workforce development and housing. “And hopefully, we will all be able to always get through the mountains before the snow flies through being inclusive in our planning and working together to get the job done,” he said. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2023/02/20/twitter-jail-chinese-spy-balloons-forest-management-d-c-delegation-addresses-legislature/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/