February 16, 2023 |
Wyoming’s Congressional delegation was busy Wednesday making news on different fronts.
First-term member of the U.S. House Harriet Hageman released a statement announcing her endorsement of Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential run. The announcement was no surprise. Trump came to Wyoming last summer to stump for Hageman at a large rally in Casper.
“President Trump stood with me for my election in 2022, and I am proud to stand with him in 2024,” the attorney from Fort Laramie said in the statement.
Hageman derided Joe Biden, saying that because of his policies, “our fuel prices are too high, inflation continues to soar, our border is in crisis, and the Chinese our violating our airspace, stealing our intellectual property and flooding our country with fentanyl.”
Also on Capitol Hill yesterday, Senator Cynthia Lummis co-sponsored legislation to push back on COVID-19 vaccine mandates in hospitals.
Lummis joined Sen. Rand Paul in introducing a bill that prevents healthcare facilities from denying patients medical care, including life-saving surgeries, if they are not vaccinated against COVID-19.
Lummis said “medical facilities that receive federal funding have no reason to deny care to the people of Wyoming solely based on their personal choice to get vaccinated.”
Wyoming has one of the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the country.
Meanwhile, during a Senate Finance Committee hearing, Senator John Barrasso grilled Daniel Werfel, President Biden’s nominee to head up the Internal Revenue Service. Barrasso said many Americans view the White as “woke and weaponized against them,” and that the IRS, flush with massive new funding, is a big part of the White House arsenal.
How the agency plans to use the $80 billion appropriated in the Inflation Reduction Act was a top issue in yesterday’s hearing. Democrats said it will help clear a backlog of tax returns, while Republicans expressed concern that it will be used to step up audits on middle-class Americans.
