ICYMI: Sheehy finds his footing after bruising campaign

Punchbowl reports that Senator Sheehy has hit the ground running on bipartisan legislation to overhaul how the U.S. government fights and prevents wildfires. Senator Sheehy is the only first-year senator to have passed a bill in the first 100 days of the 119^th Congress.

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Sheehy finds his footing after bruising campaign

Andrew Desiderio

April 16, 2025

Punchbowl

Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) was elected to the Senate last year as a full-throated supporter of President Donald Trump, promising to “back him up 100% of the time.”

But during his nascent Senate tenure, Sheehy — a former Navy SEAL who talks more like a hard-nosed military officer than a senator — has become known more for bipartisan legislating than anything else.

Sheehy, 39, has partnered with some of the chamber’s most liberal Democrats as part of his drive to overhaul how the U.S. government fights and prevents wildfires. Sheehy even got a bill through the Senate as the lead sponsor before he hit his 100th day, the only first-year senator to do so.

“I came here to solve problems and get shit done,” Sheehy said in an interview. “We have to stop watching our cities burn to the ground.”

Sheehy defeated former Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) last year after a bruising campaign. Sheehy pumped $2.45 million of his own money into his effort, per FEC records.

It’s rare for a freshman senator to find a legislative niche this early in his or her tenure, especially with no prior political experience. But Sheehy, an aerial firefighting pilot, came into the Senate as the nation was fixated on the devastating wildfires that ravaged southern California throughout January.

“We were never going to have as much national focus on this issue and as much of a mandate to fix this problem as in the wake of that terrible disaster,” Sheehy said. “The time to act was now.”

Less than 100 days later, the Senate unanimously passed a bill that would help facilitate the transfer of excess Defense Department aircrafts for aerial firefighting. The legislation was one of several Sheehy-led proposals intended to cut bureaucratic red tape that often hampers effective wildfire containment.

Small potatoes to some, maybe. And its outlook in the House is unclear. But it was just the 10th bill the Senate has passed all year, underscoring how difficult it is to get any legislation through the sharply divided chamber these days.

‘Sniper shots’: Wildfires used to be thought of as a localized issue, particularly in Western states. That’s no longer the case. And senators say the federal government has been derelict, as state and local governments are often left dealing with bureaucratic delays, no real coordination between different agencies and a general lack of resources.

“This is beginning to impact the entire country but has deeply impacted our states for a long time,” Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) told us. “It’s a natural fit for us to work together.”

While Trump can do a lot through executive action, there’s also a role for Congress to play. Rather than going for a comprehensive mega-bill, Sheehy and his Democratic partners want to chip away at the problems one-by-one — from the legislation on excess aircraft, to authorizing intelligence-sharing at all levels of government.

Sheehy said his goal is to take “targeted sniper shots at frankly dumb constrictions on our ability to protect American communities.”