{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.daines.senate.gov/2026/07/30/in-the-news-bozeman-daily-chronicle-daines-behind-the-scenes-on-transferring-babcock-post-office-to-bozeman/", "In the News: Bozeman Daily Chronicle: Daines behind-the-scenes on transferring Babcock Post Office to Bozeman", "2026-07-30", "2026", "2026-07", "Republican", "Senate", "MT", "Steve Daines", "D000618", "www.daines.senate.gov", "daines", "https://www.daines.senate.gov/news/press-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator Steve Daines spoke with the Bozeman Daily Chronicle about the recent transfer of the Historic Bozeman Federal Building to city management. Read highlights below.\n\nDaines behind-the-scenes on transferring Babcock Post Office to Bozeman: Federal Building\u2019s future was years in the making, senator says\n\nBozeman Daily Chronicle\n\nJuly 29th, 2026\n\nDan Astin\n\nMontana U.S. Senator Steve Daines said efforts to address the future of the Bozeman Federal Building housing the Babcock Post Office were underway for nearly two years.\n\nOn Wednesday, Daines revealed to the Chronicle his office worked behind the scenes with city and federal officials for years on a potential transfer of the Federal Building to municipal ownership. What began as an effort for the city to obtain a large parking area adjacent to the building turned into transferring ownership of the entire complex, per Daines.\n\n\u201cThis started nearly two years ago,\u201d Daines said, referring to a Bozeman meeting initiated by city officials and Main Street area business leaders, originally attempting to solve a lack of downtown parking.\n\nDaines first approached Ed Forst, administrator for the General Services Administration, the government\u2019s real estate management arm, which later announced plans to sell the Bozeman Federal Building on July 23.\n\n\u201cGSA is taking decisive action to offload properties that don\u2019t align with the government\u2019s real estate needs,\u201d Forst said in a news release previously emailed to the Chronicle. \u201cDisposing of the Bozeman Federal Building will reduce costs for American taxpayers by opening the property to new investment while benefiting the community.\u201d\n\nNo future use or owner for the property was publicly identified. Daines recalled broaching the building with Forst.\n\n\u201cI said, \u2018We\u2019d like to find a way to make sure that we can keep that precious ground that\u2019s so badly needed for downtown Bozeman,\u2019\u201d Daines said. \u201cThis thing was worked on for about a year and a half, and then that\u2019s when we got word just within the last two weeks that the GSA is planning to put the property under disposal status.\u201d\n\nFederal building disposal status is when a government-owned property is removed from the federal inventory. Via excess designation, property ownership can be transferred or it can be listed for public sale.\n\n\u201cThe federal government is going to be open to transferring it to different ownership,\u201d Daines said. \u201cThat ownership will be the city of Bozeman.\u201d\n\nRead the full article HERE.\n\n###", 1, "2026-07-31T07:49:23Z", "2026-07-31T07:50:48Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.daines.senate.gov/2026/07/30/in-the-news-bozeman-daily-chronicle-daines-behind-the-scenes-on-transferring-babcock-post-office-to-bozeman/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6511681713163853, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}