Central Montana Times

U.S. Senator Steve Daines has criticized the Biden-Harris administration following the U.S. Department of the Treasury's recent guidance on the Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit (45X). The criticism comes after 700 employees were laid off at Stillwater Mine last month, prompting Daines to urge a reversal of what he termed as "anti-mining draft guidance" and to include extraction costs in the tax credit.

Despite some changes made by the Treasury, Daines argues that these adjustments are insufficient. He contends that they do not fully allow for mining activities or prevent Foreign Entities of Concern, such as China or Russia, from benefiting from the tax credit.

Daines stated: “The Biden-Harris administration’s pursuit of a radical environmental agenda caused 700 hard-working miners at Montana’s Stillwater mine to be laid off. This is heartbreaking." He further expressed his discontent with their handling of the situation: "Even worse, Biden and Harris have had years to fix this problem and refused."

While acknowledging that the announcement represents a positive step, Daines believes it falls short in prioritizing American miners over foreign suppliers. He remarked: "It has every appearance of a cynical and desperate political attempt to get votes right before the election. Montana’s mining families will see through it."

Daines concluded by emphasizing that if President Biden and Vice President Harris were genuinely committed to aiding miners, they would have altered their policies long ago: "If Biden and Harris were serious about helping our miners they would have reversed their anti-mining policies years ago.”