SHERIDAN — Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis, both R-Wyoming, recently discussed the bill that suspended the U.S. debt ceiling and what it’s like to navigate a hostile political environment.
Barrasso and Lummis, who both voted against the bill, spoke about it during a visit to Sheridan last week. U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyoming, also voted against the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023.
Wyoming Senators’ review of Fiscal
Responsibility Act
President Joe Biden signed the Act June 3. The bill suspends the U.S. debt ceiling until Jan 1, 2025, though it remains unclear what the ceiling will be Jan. 2, 2025. Barrasso said the Act didn’t cut enough spending.
“I’m not critical of those that voted for it, I just felt it really didn’t do enough,” Barrasso said. “It was a missed opportunity to fully go after the amount of spending we’ve been doing as a country and get spending under control.”
Despite voting against the act, both Barrasso and Lummis praised aspects of it.
“It still overspends and doesn’t get our unsustainable debt and deficit under control, but there were some good features in that bill,” Lummis said. “One being putting time limits on environmental assessments and environmental impact statements because they’re so strung out that projects cannot get off the ground in this country. So, I think that was a good component of a bad bill.”
The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act was amended by the debt ceiling bill to include provisions that would expedite the environmental assessment process for energy storage.
The environmental assessment modifications are part of a larger Congressional fight relating to energy. Barrasso said Republicans are currently trying to push back against the Biden Administration’s desire to develop renewable energy at all costs.
“What we’re doing right now is, it’s mostly a big fight going on over energy. American energy, reliable energy, affordable energy, versus where the administration is going, where they only want renewable energy, regardless of the cost and regardless of the consequences,” Barrasso said.
Navigating political hostility
Having served as a U.S. Representative from 2009 to 2017, Lummis made her return to Washington, D.C., in 2021. Upon returning, she said she has noticed more anger surrounding politics and government.
“Now I’m back during the Biden presidency. (I noticed) the acrimony is so much higher now than it was earlier. You can feel it, you can feel it in the air,” Lummis said. “There’s tension and there’s anger and there’s frustration in the air.”
In an age of increased political animosity, votes across party lines can be difficult to sell for politicians.
Lummis said bipartisanship is vital in the U.S. Senate, especially when most legislation requires 60 votes to pass the body and neither party has had 60 or more senators since 1969. The votes of three-fifths of the Senate, or 60 Senators, are needed to end a discussion or filibuster on a bill. She said elected officials must be prepared to defend a vote that crosses party lines.
“It’s a delicate balancing act when we do agree with the other party, knowing that we have made some compromises to what would normally be the hardline party position. We really have to be prepared to defend (the compromises),” Lummis said. “You have to be very comfortable that when you depart from the party line in order to get something passed that is good, that you do it in a way that allows you to fan out across the state (and) justify your position.”
While the number 60 is not likely to be met, Barrasso said the hope of Republicans is to regain control of the U.S. Senate during the 2024 elections, which he said he will also once again be a part of in another bid for re-election.
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