Friends,

Upon news of the Blackjewel mine closures last week, I traveled to Gillette to speak with those affected and met with city and county officials about the devastating impact on the community. While assessing the situation, I assured community leaders that they have the full support of the Wyoming congressional delegation. We will do everything in our power to assist local efforts to help families through this difficult time until the mines can reopen and people can get back to work.

Back in Washington, I joined President Trump at the White House for his social media summit aimed at combatting the censorship of conservatives. I will continue to work with the Administration to ensure the First Amendment is protected in all arenas.

In Congress, House Democrats continued to add partisan, far-left amendments to the traditionally bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act. These amendments negatively impact Congress’ ability to provide our military with the tools and resources they need to keep us safe. Congress has no more important responsibility than to provide for the defense of the nation, and if we don’t get that right, nothing else we do here matters. For 58 years, the NDAA process has been handled in a bipartisan fashion. This week, Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats decided to upend that tradition by playing politics with this crucial issue. We are now facing a situation where their actions are helping America’s adversaries. This is unacceptable, particularly at a time when we are facing threats from Russia, China, and Iran. The Democrats refused to provide America with the resources needed to develop and deploy weapons systems similar to those our adversaries are working on developing and deploying. It’s absolutely inexcusable, it’s absolutely shameful, and Democrats should have worked with Republicans to do the right thing for our troops and the nation. Instead, Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic leadership decided to placate the far-left wing of their party by providing cuts to the President’s top-line request, cuts to our missile defense, cuts to our modernization of our nuclear forces, and a refusal to allow the U.S. to deploy low-yield nuclear weapons that our senior military leaders have testified are absolutely critical to deterring a resurgent Russia. In passing this partisan NDAA, House Democrats fundamentally failed to uphold their constitutional duty to provide for the nation’s defense. They also failed at the most important thing we do, which is to be worthy of the sacrifice of the men and women who put on the uniform to protect us all.

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

This week, the Committee held an oversight hearing regarding the future of the federal coal program. Unfortunately, House Democrats decided to use this hearing as a platform to express support for the failed Obama-era regulations on the coal industry, even inviting witnesses who politicized the mine closures in Gillette. This was offensive and unacceptable. I made clear that I will not standby and allow D.C. politicians to use the tragedy in Gillette to further an anti-coal agenda.

Visits

It was a pleasure meeting with Samantha Weston, a rising high school senior from Lyman, who was visiting D.C. during a week-long Constitutional Academy.

I enjoyed visiting with Wyoming 4-H students who are learning the skills and the values that make them leaders in their communities. The four “H’s” – head, heart, hands and health – are great words to live by. The future of Wyoming is bright.

It was great to meet with CUFI Summit attendees from Clark, Casper, and Buffalo to talk about the importance of supporting the U.S.-Israel relationship.

I had a great conversation with Holden Cooper from Powell about his work with JDRF.

Wonderful to meet with Shannon Wachowski, who serves as the academic outreach coordinator at the University of Wyoming’s School of Teacher Education.

Congratulations to the winner of Wyoming’s 2019 Congressional Art Competition, Christina Brown from Fort Washakie High School. Christina’s piece, titled “Arapaho Horse,” features a beaded horse medallion that represents Wyoming and will be displayed in the Capitol for one year.

Newsworthy

Fox News I Rep Cheney: We’re seeing the unraveling of the Democratic Party

The Washington Free Beacon I Cheney: Many Democrats want the United States to be a “socialist nation”

The Washington Examiner I ‘Absolute irresponsibility’: Liz Cheney rips AOC’s call to abolish DHS