GREAT FALLS — U.S. Senator Steve Daines of Montana is making another push to reopen the U.S.-Canada border.
On Thursday night, the GOP senator spoke on the floor of the U.S. Senate to try to get his Restoring the Northern Border Travel Act bill passed.
The bill would require President Joe Biden to reopen the border.
Despite bipartisan support for reopening the border, Democrats in the Senate blocked the bill from passing.
Daines said the fact that the U.S. southern border remains open is hypocritical and that northern border communities, including Great Falls, are paying the price for the hypocrisy.
"In Great Falls, Montana, which Malmstrom Air Force Base proudly calls its home, they've reported that they've seen a 20-25 percent decrease in revenue due to the continued border closure. This is sadly the story we're hearing from many communities and business owners across Montana,” Daines said.
U.S. Senator Jon Tester of Montana also continues to push to get the border reopened.
Tester, a Democrat, was part of a bipartisan group that wrote a letter earlier this month to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) asking for clarification on the Biden Administration’s medical justification for the continued closure.
The letter, signed by five other northern-border Senators, stated: "We support efforts to curb the transmission of COVID-19 and appreciate the tireless, ongoing work being done to keep Americans safe and healthy. That said, we also share the concerns of our constituents and communities along the U.S.-Canada border who are being impacted by the decision to continue restricting non-essential travel at land border crossings."
It has been announced that, starting in November, people who are fully vaccinated will be able to enter the U.S. by plane but crossing the land border is still restricted to essential travel only.
