Daines in Senate Energy and Natural Resources Hearing: Pass the America the Beautiful Act and Delist the Grizzly Bear

• June 23, 2026

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Steve Daines today spoke with Kevin Lilly, President Trump's nominee to be Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks, in a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Hearing. He urged members to pass the "America the Beautiful Act" and delist the grizzly bear.

Watch the full exchange HERE.

Daines on the "America the Beautiful Act:"

Daines: I want to congratulate the nominees for your willingness to serve, also to your families who are here for their willingness to serve along. So, it is a team sport when you are involved in public service. So thanks to you all and to your families. Mr. Lilly, we had a great conversation prior to this hearing. I look forward to hearing more from you today about your priorities. Both the Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service have a large and lasting impact on the state of Montana. So I look forward to hearing how we'll be able to work together once confirmed. Last week, this committee advanced our bipartisan "America the Beautiful Act" to fund deferred maintenance projects on federal lands, including those managed by the Fish and Wildlife Services and the National Park Service. This is a big win for conservation for the American people. I again want to thank Chairman Lee and Ranking Member Heinrich for your support. I'm grateful. We are close to getting this to the President's desk before the 4th of July. That is our goal. I hope the Senate can pass our bill even this week, and we'll send it to the House for their action and get this to the President's desk as soon as possible. Mr. Lilly, after the "America the Beautiful Act" is passed into law, do you commit to working closely with the states and individual units to quickly and efficiently reduce the deferred maintenance backlog?

Lilly: Absolutely.

Daines on delisting the grizzly bear:

Daines: Mr. Lilly, the Fish and Wildlife Service is currently reviewing the Section 4D rule for grizzly bears. You knew I was going to talk about grizzly bears. Both the Greater Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide distinct population segments have been well over their recovery targets for some time now. Just to remind those who are playing at home today, the recovery target for the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is 500 bears. Our best science today says there are 1,030 bears currently in the Greater Yellowstone, over twice the recovery target. In the Northern Continental Divide, which is not too far from my great-great-great-grandmother's homestead, when she came from Norway to the United States a long time ago, that recovery target is 800 bears. The current best science tells us they're 1,138. I'm not sure why it's 1,138 versus 37 or 39, but they tell me it's 1,138. We need to celebrate the fact that this amazing species has recovered. They're no longer endangered. Frankly, what is in danger out West are people and livestock. It is time to delist the bears, celebrate their recovery, and return the management of that species back to the respective states. It's long past due. Mr. Lilly, do you support delisting and transitioning grizzly bear management to the states if the review shows that these populations warranty listing. And as an engineer by degree, I'm all about numbers. I'm all about objective facts, what the data tells us. The data to me is very compelling. I'd like to get your opinion.

Lilly: Yes, sir… I am very much supportive of working in any way that we can with the Secretary, through 4D rules, etcetera, in order to make this a reasonable process and a transparent one.

Daines: Thanks for that answer. I know I'm out of time. Just as a comment. I spent a lot of time with a rifle on my shoulder in the fall and spring with a spring bear hunting, as well as a lot of time backpacking, fly rods up above 10,000 feet in Montana. I can tell you anecdotally, having done this for a lifetime, I've never seen so many grizzly bears just out this spring and spring bear hunting. Truly, they're everywhere. It's an amazing species to see. And oh, by the way, when we return this responsibility to the states, the state of Montana will have a very strict control in terms of how we would hunt them and so forth to control the populations. Here's the irony. Hunters will go after the big boars. The big boars are the number one predator of cubs. You will actually reduce grizzly bear mortality for cubs by killing the boars. You will see an increase in overall bear population for a time once we turn this population control back to the state of Montana.

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