U.S. Senator Steve Daines, who represents Montana in the Senate and has served since 2015, appeared on Fox Business to discuss government funding and health care policy. Daines, who has a background in chemical engineering from Montana State University and experience in management at Procter & Gamble as well as an executive role at a Bozeman-based software company, addressed concerns about a potential government shutdown and criticized the Affordable Care Act.
During the interview, Daines expressed optimism about preventing another federal government shutdown. He said, “I hope we don’t have another shutdown. It’s possible if we can’t get cooperation. January 30th is the key date, that’s what the CR extends to. But we’re working very hard right now on the Republican side and the Democrat side, to their credit, to come together and get these last appropriation bills voted on and passed. So, I’m cautiously optimistic, Larry, we’re going to get the work done. We’ll get a lot of this finished up this week, perhaps, and then use January to finish it up. Fingers crossed, Larry, that we’re in a better spot than we were, certainly in September. That’s why just like what happened with the Schumer Shutdown, we needed eight Democrats to join us to get the government opened up again. And as I’ve always said, Larry, shutdowns begin with a bang, and they end with a whimper. They put their hand on the stove and eventually it doesn’t feel very good; you start having the flying public interfering with air traffic control. Democrats finally said, okay enough is enough and we got the shutdown stopped. I was proud of the Republican team. We held firm. You shouldn’t be allowed to take a government shutdown hostage in an appropriation debate, and let’s hope and pray as we go through January this nonsense won’t happen again in Washington, and we’ll get this work done.”
On health care policy—specifically Obamacare—Daines stated his belief that current policies are inefficient for patients: “I’m not sure they [Senate Democrats] want to solve this problem. What I hear quietly from folks across the aisle is they want to have this continue into the 2026 election because they think this is a winning issue for them. Sadly, frankly because the American people are being harmed. You look at Obamacare premiums are up half again as much as private health care insurance over the same period of time of the last decade. Anytime the government steps in and it takes over something it drives inefficiency and higher cost.”
He advocated for more consumer choice through association plans: “It’s all about providing more choice to the patient. Think about the idea of associations… For example Costco could have their own health care with 70 million Costco members… Let people have freedom associations where they could drive lower costs.” He also argued against subsidies directed only toward insurance companies: “Another problem is these subsidies… They go directly to insurance [companies] versus to consumer… That’s what we proposed in our plan is send that to HSA accounts… Let consumer let patient have power of deciding what do with way dollars are spent.”
Daines continues his public service through constituent assistance across Montana—including offices in cities such as Bozeman (where he grew up), Great Falls and Washington D.C.—and serves on Senate committees focused on finance; foreign relations; energy; natural resources; and Indian affairs (official website).