Emma Marsing, [email protected]
ROCK SPRINGS, WYOMING — U.S. Wyoming Representative Harriet Hageman held a Town Hall meeting in Rock Springs regarding current legislative bills that many constituents have had their eye on and questions about. Among those topics, Hageman also held a question and answer portion where other concerns were brought up by the constituents.
In the four short months U.S. Wyoming Representative Harriet Hageman has been in office, she has been elected as the Freshman Representative for the Policy Committee for Congress, been appointed to the Judiciary Committee and Natural Resources with her subcommittees being Constitution and Limited Government and Regulatory Reform, and has been chosen as the only Freshman Representative on the Select Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.
A popular topic around Sweetwater County involves the Flaming Gorge Reservoir and more specifically Buckboard Marina and water rights. At this time, Buckboard Marina is wanting to trade water rights for land rights. County Commissioner, Robb Slaughter, stated that the Commissioners have received a copy of the permit that was issued to the prior owners for Buckboard Marina. The Commissioners have sent a Freedom of Information Act request to get the permit for the entire perimeter that is out by Buckboard. At this time they have not received the request back. Commissioner Slaughter explained that what they are planning to do is take 20 acres that is currently under the South Buckboard Bay and converting that to 20 acres on land just north of Buckboard. An area that many community members use regularly. Congresswoman Hageman stated that someone has been in contact with her office regarding this issue and has asked to be kept in the loop of what is going on so this can be resolved.
Congresswoman Hageman stated that the 117th Congress’s main priority was “Election” whereas the 118th Congress’s main priority is “Energy Independence and Energy Security”. With that, Hageman is a co-sponsor of H.R.1 which represents the main goal of Congress. Hageman stated, “It is a brilliant bill. It is one of the most important energy bills that has ever passed out of the House of Representatives”.
Located within the “Limit, Save, Grow Act” is that the debt limit be increased to $1.5 trillion dollars but over the next 10 years, spending be cut by $4 trillion. The entirety of H.R. 1 is located within this bill as well as repealing the money for the 87,000 IRS Agents. Also within this bill is the blocking of President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness effort (estimated $500 billion), and pulling back over $100 billion unspent COVID funds back into the General Fund.
The Judiciary Committee just recently passed a bill out of committee which revolves around border security. “It is the strongest border security bill to ever come out of the House of Representatives. Build the wall, build the wall.”
A very hot topic around Rock Springs, Green River, the State of Wyoming, and even the nation is the education system, especially with parents involvement. Recently, Congresswoman Hageman signed onto a Parent’s Bill of Rights bill. Congresswoman Hageman noted, “These should not be federal issues, these are state issues. But when you have a Federal Department of Education who is using Title IX and funding coming to our schools to dictate policy, we don’t have any choice but to act. All the Parents Bill of Rights says is that it puts parents not bureaucrats back in charge of their children’s education.”
Joe Biden introduced the 2023 Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule that has caused much controversy and litigation cases around the nation. The rule decides between two standards to determine the federal regulation, the relatively permanent standard and the significant nexus standard. As told by Michael W. Daugherty, “The first identifies relatively permanent, standing, or continuously flowing waters connected to water subject to the Clean Water Act, and the second identifies waters that significantly affect the chemical, physical, or biological integrity of water subject to the Clean Water Act. The House and the Senate both passed the “Congressional Review Act Resolution” that nullified the WOTUS rule which was vetoed by President Biden and could not be overruled. “We will continue to fight against that”.
The House Natural Resources Committee has passed H.R. 1245, to the House floor. Originally sponsored by Congress Hageman, this bill removes the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem population of Grizzly Bears from the federal endangered and threatened list. “I am confident they will pass in the House, and they very well may even pass in the Senate. I am not sure what Joe Biden will do.” The Secretary of the Interior has tried to delist the bears twice now but kept being blocked by activist courts.
“I truly believe that if we’re going to get this country back on track, #1 we need to take power out of Washington, D.C. and return it to the people who represent us here in this community, in our states, in our counties, in our city councils, in our communities, because I can ensure you that there is nobody in Washington, D.C. that cares about Rock Springs and Green River and the Flaming Gorge Reservoir as much as the people in this room do.”
