U.S. Senator Steve Daines spoke with Martha McCallum on Fox News on Mar. 24 about his recent meeting at the White House, focusing on efforts to resolve the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown and ongoing debates over voter identification laws.
The discussion comes as long lines and delays have been reported at airports nationwide due to the partial closure of DHS, affecting transportation security and federal operations. The situation has drawn attention to broader issues around government funding and public safety.
Daines described his White House meeting as “extraordinary” and said, “I got to give tremendous credit to President Trump and his team. The president saw what was going to happen right now at this moment in history a year ago when we put an extra $150 billion in the Homeland Security budget as part of the reconciliation package a year ago, anticipating the insanity and the craziness of the far-left who wanted to defund police, defund DHS, defund ICE, and completely go back to open borders.” He continued that these funds allowed for a deal that could reopen DHS fully: “Because we have those extra funds, we were able to create a deal that will allow us to open DHS back up in totality, fund the TSA agents, and make sure the flying public is not having to wait four, five, six hours in airports. These images of airports around the country, it looks like a Walmart on a Black Friday with these huge lines. This is nonsense. The Democrats have blocked this now 14 times in the last 39 days. It’s time to end the nonsense.”
On election security legislation known as the SAVE Act, Daines said: “You can’t pass a pure voter ID law only using reconciliation. You can put financial incentives to discourage voter fraud. We can do that. But this will be in addition to what Mike Lee is working on the floor.” He added that bipartisan consensus took time previously: “It took 60 days…to get bipartisan consensus…to actually get a law passed.” Daines noted ongoing negotiations would continue after Easter break.
Daines serves Montana as U.S senator while bringing experience from both private sector work and committee roles including Finance; Foreign Relations; Energy and Natural Resources; and Indian Affairs according to his official website. He supports public safety initiatives for Montana’s Indian nations according to his official website, advocates for jobs in energy sectors according to his official website, promotes sustainable forest management through committee assignments according to his official website, maintains offices across Montana according to his official website, advances pro-growth tax policies according to his official website, maintains deep roots as a fifth-generation Montanan according to his official website.
Looking ahead, Daines indicated continued legislative debate over both government funding measures related to DHS operations and proposals regarding voter identification requirements.
