Update

Friends, Each day, millions of Americans are bothered with irritating robocalls and while some may be harmless advertisements, often they are illegal attempts to scam seniors out of their money. In 2018, there were 48 billion robocalls made in the United States, with Wyoming constituents alone receiving 64 million. We’ve seen an over 56% increase in illegal robocalls since 2017, and that number is likely to increase again in 2019 if nothing is done about it. Just last year, the Wyoming Highway Patrol had to alert the public about a robocall scam that caller-ID said came from a local 307-number. The recording told the listener that a relative had been in a motor vehicle crash and arrested for driving under the influence. The listener was then instructed to send money for bail, attorney fees, and health care costs.     The FCC has advised Americans not to answer calls from unknown numbers and report any scam calls to the proper authorities, but more needs to be done to prevent these calls from being made. That is why I offered an amendment today to the Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) Appropriations bill to prioritize funds in the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to combat illegal robocall schemes. This amendment was adopted unanimously and will take important steps to protect our nation’s seniors.  I also joined Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and Rep. Paul Cook (R-CA) on a call to talk with the Office of Management and Budget about reducing the federal royalty rate on soda ash in Wyoming and California. During the call, I shared with OMB how important reducing the royalty rate is to ensure U.S. producers remain competitive with Turkey and China, which are subsidizing production and creating synthetic soda ash. I will continue working with the Trump Administration and my colleagues in Congress to resolve this critical issue for our state. Additionally, I joined several of my colleagues in sending a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, encouraging him to finalize his proposal to modernize the Medicare Part D program to ensure beneficiaries receive the best possible price when when they fill their prescriptions at the pharmacy counter. You can read a copy of the letter here. This reform, proposed by the Trump administration, will significantly lower patients’ out-of-pocket expenses and promote a more competitive marketplace for prescription drugs.

On the immigration front, the House finally moved to pass bipartisan legislation that would provide humanitarian assistance requested by the President for the southern border after weeks of obstruction by Democrats. The vote revealed deep cracks within the Democratic caucus, with several Democrats forcing Speaker Pelosi’s hand and others publicly criticizing her for agreeing to pass the Senate’s bill. America is facing a humanitarian and security crisis on our southern border. Speaker Pelosi should be ashamed she wasted valuable time playing politics while lives are at stake. For months, House Democrats have sought to undermine law enforcement and ignored President Trump’s repeated calls to take action, secure our borders.  I hope everyone has a happy and safe 4th of July and enjoys their time with friends and family. Please see below for a roundup of other actions I’ve taken over the past week to fight for our state in Congress. Sincerely,

Congresswoman Liz Cheney

Natural Resources Committee

On Tuesday, the House Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on on H.R. 3405, the Uranium Classification Act, sponsored by Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), which would remove uranium from a U.S. list of critical minerals. While Wyoming is America’s leader in uranium production, domestic uranium production makes up less than five percent of total domestic uranium consumption. This means we import most of our uranium from places like Kazakhstan and Russia. Interestingly, while the Democrats have obsessed over phony Russian collusion, they are now attempting to force U.S. dependence on Russia for a key national security need. I delivered remarks objecting to this bill, which you can view below.

On Wednesday, the Committee held a full committee markup on two pieces of legislation that I opposed. The first bill, H.R. 823, the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act, was a tremendously large land grab that sets a terrible precedent for Western states. The other bill, H.R. 1225, the Restore Our Parks and Public Lands Act, aims to address the deferred maintenance backlog at our National Parks. However, it does this by increasing mandatory, automatic federal spending. For too long we have tried to throw money at this problem only to see the backlog grow. During the markup, I supported several amendments offered by my colleague Rep. Garrett Graves (R-LA) to improve the bill including an amendment to require any additional funds be subject to Congressional appropriations, which would have prevented this bill from creating another mandatory federal spending program. Unfortunately, this and several other good amendments were not adopted. Therefore, despite my support for eliminating the NPS deferred maintenance backlog, I ultimately opposed the bill.

Armed Services Committee

Iran continues to dangerously escalate tensions in the Middle East, recently shooting down an American drone over international waters near the Strait of Hormuz just days after detonating mines on two international shipping vessels. This week, the Armed Services Committee received a briefing on these latest provocations. It’s crucially important that the Iranians recognize this kind of behavior will not be tolerated. I fear that a failure to respond to this kind of direct provocation by the Iranians could be a very serious mistake.

Visits

Last Thursday, I met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to discuss the importance of advancing the pro-Wyoming USMCA trade deal. The Prime Minister expressed his interest in completing this agreement quickly. I agree and have urged Speaker Pelosi to stop delaying a vote on this important agreement for our state and nation.

It was an honor to help commemorate the 100th anniversary of the establishment of American Legion Post 1 in Van Tassell, Wyoming, where I thanked the state’s veterans and spent time learning so much about the history of this important landmark.

It was a pleasure meeting with the Randall family of Wheatland to discuss the need for increased access to care for patients suffering from Crohn’s disease in Wyoming.

Great to talk with Wyoming Presidential Scholars Scott Orton and Lillian Brazil.

Had a great time meeting with Peter Huntsman, chairman of the Huntsman Center Institute in Salt Lake City, which provides cancer care for patients from Wyoming.

Newsworthy

Wyoming Today I Cheney blasts attempt to move Uranium off of ‘critical’ minerals list

The Daily Caller I Cheney: ‘Congress should never limit the president’s ability to defend our nation’

The Hill I Liz Cheney hits back at Ocasio-Cortez over concentration camp comments: ‘This isn’t model Congress’