Friends,
This week, I’m continuing to coordinate with local and state leaders to ensure that Wyoming’s ranchers, small businesses, and working families receive support during these turbulent times.
On Thursday morning, I met with the Wyoming Stock Growers Association at their annual Cattle Industry Convention and Trade Show. Wyoming’s cattle ranchers are playing a vital role in providing reliable food security, which is why I have been working with federal leaders to ensure that this industry receives support to stabilize market volatility in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Later that afternoon, I spoke with the Wyoming Association of Rural Water Systems (WARWS) about legislation I’ve sponsored to establish a bridge loan program for rural utility companies experiencing losses in the wake the pandemic. This legislation, H.R. 7680, will provide a lifeline to rural utilities during emergencies and ensure they are not forced to stop providing critical services in our rural communities.
Earlier this week, I spoke with leaders from the Wyoming County Commissioners Association about Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) distributions and the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic that has contributed to economic uncertainty, the timely release of these resources are critically important for the county governments in our state. I’m working with my colleagues in Congress to find a solution that permanently funds PILT and SRS.
I also met with a local constituent to talk about additional funding for Multiple Sclerosis research at the National Institute of Health (NIH). We also discussed legislation I recently introduced, the Advancing Telehealth Beyond COVID-19 Act, which will expand access and availability of lifesaving telehealth services for seniors even after the emergency declaration has ended.
Finally, I want to give a special thank you to Jennifer Walsh from Powell, Wyoming who is currently serving as U.S. Consulate General in Amsterdam. Jennifer invited me to speak with the American Women’s Club of Amsterdam to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment. It was an honor to tell them the story of Wyoming women who have been voting for over 150 years!
U.S. Forest Service Signs Shared Stewardship Agreement With Wyoming
This week, I was proud to participate in the virtual signing ceremony of a Shared Stewardship Agreement between Wyoming and the U.S. Forest Service. The Shared Stewardship Agreement establishes a framework for federal and state agencies to promote active forest management, improve collaboration, and respond to ecological challenges and natural resource concerns in Wyoming.
Instead of a top-down, Washington-knows-best approach, this agreement recognizes that Wyoming knows best how to manage our forests and grasslands. It empowers our local communities and stakeholders to have a seat at the table for important decisions that impact our state’s forests. The text of the agreement can be found here.
Democrats Are Fabricating A Crisis About The Post Office:
Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats demonstrated once again this past weekend that they cannot be trusted. After claiming the Post Office was facing a crisis necessitating an emergency session of the House, 68 House Democrats couldn’t even be bothered to show up to vote. They voted by proxy instead.
This is what we have come to expect from Speaker Pelosi and Democrats. Whether it’s instituting proxy voting so they can pass legislation they want regardless of who is present, promoting ballot harvesting so they can manufacture the results of elections across the country, or passing federal mandates that would give Washington, D.C. control over elections that should be run by state and local governments, they have a track record of railroading our democratic process so they can achieve their political goals.
Contrary to Democrats’ claims, the Postal Service is properly funded for the election and beyond. It is not being “sabotaged.” Under the USPS’ own analysis, the USPS is financially solvent through at least August 2021. The Postal Service currently has $14 billion cash on hand and, under the CARES Act passed earlier this year, has the option of receiving an additional $10 billion loan from the Treasury Department.
Career officials have said that this is a “conspiracy theory” from Speaker Pelosi and the USPS is able to allow mail-in ballots to be processed before the election:
- The Wall Street Journal: “‘This conspiracy theory is the most far-flung thing I think I’ve ever heard,” says Stephen Kearney, who worked at the USPS for 33 years, including as treasurer and a senior vice president. ‘DeJoy was not appointed by President Trump,’ but by the USPS’s bipartisan governors. (Who, as it happens, selected him unanimously.) ‘You can find valid operational reasons for the actions taken by the Postal Service so far,” says Mike Plunkett, another longtime USPS executive who now leads the Association for Postal Commerce. ‘In no way do I detect any criminality behind them, and I’m at a loss as to how one would reach that conclusion.'”
- The New York Times: “I served as a regulator of the Postal Service for nearly 18 years under three presidents and I urge everyone to be calm. Don’t fall prey to the alarmists on both sides of this debate. The Postal Service is not incapacitated. It is still fully capable of delivering the mail. The focus of our collective concerns should be on how the Postal Service can improve the speed of delivery for election mail.”
In addition to these pieces, see the below document from House Oversight & Government Reform Committee Republicans, to get the truth about the Postal Service:
F.E. Warren Will Be First Base In The U.S. To Upgrade To The Ground Based Strategic Deterrent:
This month, the Air Force announced that F. E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne will be the first base in the United States to begin the process of replacing Minuteman III ICBMs with the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent, America’s new intercontinental ballistic missile and a critical leg of the nuclear triad.
I am proud of all the servicemen and women of F. E. Warren, whose hard work and leadership ensured that Wyoming will be first in line to upgrade to the GBSD. This new technology will replace decades-old Minuteman ICBMs and ensure that our nation is ready to deter or meet any threat for many decades to come. Wyoming is critical to America’s nuclear deterrent and I look forward to supporting F. E. Warren as the base transitions from the Minuteman III to GBSD. Click here to learn more.
Honoring The 2020 Wyoming Agriculture Hall Of Fame Inductees:
Congratulations to the 2020 Wyoming Agriculture Hall of Fame inductees, Brad Boner and Jack and Diana Berger, as well as Marissa Cornelison, the Wyoming Ag in the Classroom (WAIC) Educator of the Year.
I was honored to join Senator John Barrasso to recognize these individuals who have given their time and resources to strengthen Wyoming agriculture. In Washington, D.C. we are fighting for Wyoming agriculture every single day, and we will continue to do that. Nobody gets through the tough times the way Wyoming’s ag industry does. Click here to read more.
The President Delivers On His Promise To Get Government Off The Backs Of Energy Producers:
Earlier this month, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it would be revising unnecessary Obama-era methane gas emission regulations on the oil and natural gas industries. The new EPA revisions will streamline regulations, reduce regulatory burdens, and save the industry about $100 million per year in compliance costs.
Instead of a top-down, Washington-knows-best approach, the new EPA revisions recognize that our states know best how to manage our resources, and will enable Wyoming to continue its leadership role when it comes to managing these emissions. I’m pleased to see the Trump Administration taking further action that will allow states like Wyoming to have control over our methane gas emissions. Going forward, we must look for more ways to give control and decision-making authority to state and local stakeholders, rather than leaving power in the hands of unelected federal bureaucrats. Click here to learn more.
Converse County Final Environmental Impact Statement Released:
Recently, the Bureau of Land Management Casper Field Office published a final environmental impact statement and proposed resource management plan amendment for the Converse County Oil and Gas Project. If approved, the proposed project could generate up to 8,000 jobs and approximately $18-$28 billion in federal revenues which would be shared with Wyoming.
I’m pleased to see the Converse County Oil and Gas Project final environmental impact statement and proposed resource management plan have been released. This 5,000-well project, which allows for year-round drilling, will serve as a critical source of jobs and economic growth for Wyoming as we continue to recover from COVID-19. Our state’s fossil fuels are a national treasure and I am glad this important project is moving forward. Click here to read the final Environmental Impact Statement at the project’s ePlanning site.
EPA Signs Agreement To Boost Wyoming Uranium:
On July 23rd, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler met with Governor Mark Gordon, signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on the recovery process of uranium extraction. The MOU is an important step towards establishing a robust domestic uranium mining industry, which is increasingly important for the national security interests of the U.S.
I fully support the actions taken by the EPA to keep Wyoming in charge of our uranium mining oversight. This will enhance our state’s energy production, creating more jobs and economic growth, while also helping America restore our nuclear leadership. Click here to learn more.
Wyoming Delegation Flags Possible Antitrust Issues With Lamb Processing Plant:
Last week, I joined Senator Mike Enzi and Senator John Barrasso in sending a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture requesting an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the acquisition of a lamb processing plant for potential anti-competitive practices.
Brazilian beef packing company JBS S.A. recently acquired Mountain States Rosen, a lamb processing plant in Greeley, Colorado that filed for bankruptcy due to the decline of the domestic sheep industry and complications caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. JBS S.A. reportedly intends to remove the lamb processing equipment from the plant and use the facility for beef production, leaving only one domestic lamb processor in the region.
This acquisition leaves thousands of lamb producers in Wyoming and the region with a surplus of lambs that cannot be processed at suitable facilities. This sale leaves producers who have dedicated their lives to sheep production with little to no recourses to sell their product and almost absolute financial disaster when agriculture producers, supply chains, and markets are already struggling due to complications surrounding COVID-19.
The Department of Agriculture must act expediently to investigate these concerning circumstances and evaluate the potential for anti-competitive practices in the lamb market. The full text of the letter to Secretary Perdue can be found here and copied below:
Rural Telehealth Legislation Included In Senate COVID-19 Bill:
Last month, I introduced the Advancing Telehealth Beyond COVID-19 Act, which would have continued many of the successful telehealth provisions included in the CARES Act. I was pleased to see the Senate include some of the provisions I outlined in that bill such as extending the waiver that, prior to COVID-19, had prevented seniors from accessing telehealth services in their homes and allowing for the expanded use of telehealth services at Federally Qualified Health Centers and Rural Health Clinics. I will continue to advocate on behalf of expanding access to quality and affordable healthcare for all of Wyoming.
Additionally, on August 3rd, President Trump signed an executive order aimed at enhancing healthcare in rural communities, including a permanent extension of Medicare payments for telehealth services for certain medical providers. The President has taken an important step to ensure those living in rural communities in Wyoming have better access to reliable medical care. I’m very pleased that the executive order that President Trump signed today contains many of the principles and provisions that were included in the legislation I introduced in June. The additional resources included in this measure will enable healthcare providers to better serve the people of our state. Click here to learn more.
Operation Warp Speed: Delivering a COVID-19 Cure For The American People:
The Trump Administration’s Operation Warp Speed has a goal to deliver 300 million doses of an effective vaccine for COVID-19 by early 2021.
The program has already invested in six vaccine candidates and plans to invest in eight to ensure a successful vaccine is found and quickly distributed to Americans. Experts have agreed that Operation Warp Speed will increase the odds Americans will have access to at least one effective vaccine as soon as possible. More information about Operation Warp Speed is included here and in the documents below:
Socialism Has A Chokehold On The Democratic Party:
Recently, I joined Fox and Friends to discuss the dangerous policies being proposed by Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer, and Nancy Pelosi and their party’s embrace of socialism.
Watch the full interview here, and see an excerpt of clips with the transcripts below:
CHENEY: “Don’t forget, John Kerry was the architect of the Iran Deal – the Iran Deal which had absolutely no verification mechanisms in it, which gave the Iranians a pathway towards a nuclear weapon. And not only that, but John Kerry then traveled around the world acting as the head of the Chamber of Commerce for the mullahs in Iran, trying to get investment money into Iran. What President Trump has done is absolutely the opposite. He has said we are not going to be part of a deal that gives us false comfort and gives the mullahs a pathway to a bomb, we’re going to impose strict sanctions, we’re going to have a maximum pressure campaign. It is exactly the opposite of the disastrous policies of the Obama-Biden years. John Kerry, you know, is an example of the failed past, and I’m frankly pretty surprised that the Democrats have chosen to highlight so many of the failed leaders of the past at their convention this week.”
Cheney: Socialism Has A Chokehold On The Democratic Party
CHENEY: “Well look, and I think it’s absolutely clear to the American people. The Democrats have combined the failed policies of the past with this fraud of socialism that they see as our future and if the Democrats prevail, we will not have an economic recovery. Every single policy that they’ve put forward is one that will make it much, much more difficult for us to recover from the pandemic, to get the economy back going again where we need it to be. The economic policies that we have seen from President Trump and from the Republicans in the House and the Senate over the course of last 3 and a half years, the cuts in regulation, the cuts in taxes, those are the kinds of things that we have to see to bring the economy back again, to get people back to work. Socialism, which is the promise of Bernie Sanders and AOC, they have a chokehold on the Democratic platform, on Joe Biden’s policies going forward. They are the ones that will be setting the policy into the future. That would be an absolute devastation for this country.”
CHENEY: “Look, Bernie Sanders, AOC, Joe Biden, they are advocating the quicksand of socialism. They will absolutely sink and devastate this nation and they talk about giving power to the people. You know, Kamala Harris’ slogan is “For The People.” Every time I hear that I remember what they are actually doing is taking power from the people and giving it to the government. They are taking freedom, socialism doesn’t work, it has never worked, it will drive this nation into the ground and it’s crucially important that we don’t give them the opportunity to do that this fall. I think that the president being at the border reminded people once again, for example, of how important it is to secure the border but also that the Democrats want to use taxpayer funds to give health care, free health care, to illegal immigrants that come across the border. Those kinds of programs would absolutely be devastating. We have to get the economy growing again and the Democrats are not the solution to that.”
CHENEY: “We have amazing candidates all across the country – you guys had Sean Parnell on just a little while ago. Tremendous candidates and the Democrats, there’s something that is similar between Joe Biden and his method of campaigning, and what we are seeing from vulnerable Democratic House members across the country, and that is that they’re in hiding. They cannot go back to their constituents in their districts and talk about anything that they have accomplished because Speaker Pelosi has fundamentally failed to lead. They do not want to have to describe that back home. We feel really good about our chances to take a message to the American people that we are the party that is going to bring back economic recovery, that’s going to bring back national security, defeat this virus, and get the economy going again.”
Kamala Harris Was Picked To Placate The Far-Left Wing Of The Democratic Party:
Earlier this month, I joined KCWY’s “Wyoming News Now” to talk about a number of important issues impacting families across Wyoming, as well as the ramifications of former Vice President Joe Biden selecting California Senator Kamala Harris to be his vice presidential nominee.
Watch the full interview here, and see an excerpt of the transcript below:
WILL THOMAS: First of all, what’s the feeling right now – are you feeling pretty good going into next week?
REP. LIZ CHENEY:I feel very good about where we are. I look forward very much to getting through the primary, and then asking for everybody’s vote again in the general election. We have a huge amount of work to do, both in terms of making sure that we get President Trump reelected, making sure that we keep the Senate. One of the things that has been so important for us here in Wyoming has been the deregulation that’s gone on during the Trump Administration and the support for our fossil fuels, the support for our agriculture industry and we gotta make sure that that continues. We’ve got to make sure that we continue to have leaders that understand that the fundamental decisions about land use, and about our energy industry, and about grazing, that those decisions are best made locally.
THOMAS:Talk to me about some of the things you’ve been proud of in your term?
REP. CHENEY: In my second term I was elected to leadership in the House, the Republican Conference Chair, so that’s the third ranking person in Republican leadership, and that really means that I can give Wyoming a seat at the table on every issue we’re facing, and we’ve been particularly focused obviously on COVID-19, on legislation to provide relief to COVID-19 on what the Congress can do to help encourage the development of vaccines and therapeutics, and so it’s been really important to have that seat at the leadership table and I’ve been pleased to be in that spot. We’re going to continue to make sure that money that’s flowing through, comes to Wyoming in the way that we need it most. I also have legislation I just introduced last week focused on telehealth. We’ve really seen during the pandemic, people have been able to use telehealth, especially in our rural communities, and there were some changes that were made, sort of on an emergency basis, for the pandemic that we want to make permanent, so that people have the ability to stay in their homes if they can’t get out to their physicians, so that Medicare will cover those payments, those treatments and make sure that we’re giving people as much access as possible to telehealth.
THOMAS:Can you talk to me, kind of, your thoughts on Joe Biden naming Kamala Harris as his running mate?
REP. CHENEY: Her views are so radical, that just from a political standpoint it was a surprising pick to me because in order for Biden to win he has to appeal to suburban voters in a lot of swing states around the country. He’s got to appeal to people that are not California liberals, he’s already got the California liberal vote. So I don’t see that Harris helps him. I think what he ended up having to do was basically placate that far-left wing of the party. So I think in addition to the fact that she would be a terrible vice president policy wise for the country, it tells us something about Joe Biden, and it tells us that he’s not really leading his party. He’s not really in charge in putting his mark on the party the way most nominees do.He’s much more having to keep them happy, but I think by doing so, he made a pick that is going to be a mistake for him politically.
President Trump Helps Broker Historic Peace Agreement Between Israel and the United Arab Emirates:
President Trump announced on August 13th that his Administration had brokered an agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates that will normalize relations between the two countries. This historic announcement is an important breakthrough that represents real progress towards peace and security in the Middle East. We are stronger and the world is safer when America leads on the global stage, and I commend President Trump for this significant achievement.
I also applaud his Administration for always standing with Israel and continuing to push back against Iran’s malign activities in the region and around the world. I look forward to the United States, Israel, and the UAE partnering together on our shared global priorities.
Please follow this newsletter and the coronavirus page on my website for continued updates about COVID-19 and how government is responding to protect both the country’s health and our economic security.
Congresswoman Liz Cheney
