Thompson River Lumber (TRL) was privy to a special guest Tuesday morning, as Montana's Republican U.S. Senator, Steve Daines, made the mill one of his stops between Kalispell and Libby.

Daines donned a TRL hardhat and was joined at one of the county's largest employers by county commissioners Carol Brooker and Tony Cox, Sen. Jennifer Fielder and Rep. Bob Brown. They were led on a walkthrough of the facility by TRL vice president Dan Claridge. The tour touted the safety procedures and perks for employees, as well as new equipment the mill had invested in – with more investments to come, thanks to the confidence in the economy that is rippling to even the most rural areas of the nation.

Daines is on a tour of northwest Montana in what could be called a victory lap following the passing of tax cuts he had voted against in the first proposal.

"I immediately received calls from President Trump, the vice president, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and others in the administration," Daines shared of his dissent from the party along with Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson (the bill could only afford to lose two Republican votes). "I had to make it clear I wanted to work with my colleagues to create the needed tax cuts, but as it was presented I could not accept the proposed bill – it wasn't good for Montana."

The bill ended up passing with the change Daines wanted to see, garnering his affirmative vote.

"The original bill was perfect for corporations, but it put pass-through businesses at a disadvantage and didn't do enough to help the majority of Montanans," the senator explained. He noted that most of the Montana workforce was not employed by the big corporations that were favored in the first reading. "About 69 percent of working Montanans are employed through small to larger businesses (or pass-through businesses) – so just helping corporations was not going to help our workers," Daines added.

At the time of the first proposal in November, owners of pass-through businesses who booked profits as personal income could deduct 17.4 percent of their earnings from their tax bills. Daines was not going to support the bill until they could get that deduction percentage into the 20s.

"We landed it at 29 percent, which was good enough for me," Daines said. The new federal tax rate for corporations dropped from 35 percent to 21 percent.

Daines explained that the break to pass-through businesses such as TRL would make waves almost immediately.

"This mill, for example, is looking at some heavy investing in even more new equipment this year," Daines said. "The reinvestment into a business increases efficiency and directly improves the work day of an employee. I mean, you know that worker out there operating the brand-new forklift, his work days got a lot better when that equipment showed up. That forklift operator hasn't seen a change like that since 1993." Daines lauded Claridge and TRL for their plans to work to extend employee vacation time and purchase hardware that would make day-to-day operations easier for employees and more efficient for TRL.

Claridge led the tour of TRL, pausing to explain the functions of machinery, how the system has improved, and how it will improve in the near future.

"Come back in six months, and this area will look completely different, completely updated," Claridge told Daines, citing the plans to upgrade equipment.

Justin Harris

TRL TOUR - Sen. Steve Daines meets with employees at Thompson River Lumber in Thompson Falls on Tuesday. Daines complimented TRL for their plans to make day-to-day operations easier for employees.

Daines said he enjoys visiting facilities such as TRL. He likes being able to see how policy improves lives on the ground and the backbone of the economic drivers that keep Montana a potent competitor in the business arena.

Prior to visiting Thompson Falls, Daines met with constituents at Best Buy electronics store in Kalispell and ended his day in Libby at Cabinet Mountain Brewery with elected officials, press and constituents.