U.S. Representative Cynthia Lummis (WY)

Hello, and welcome to my forum! It’s my hope to have a more interactive discussion on the federal government with Wyoming’s citizens. I welcome all comments and concerns about what you would like to see, or not like to see, happen on the Hill. This blog allows me to answer your questions about my stance or about specific pieces of legislation, so I invite you to join in on the conversation. I look forward to hearing from you soon! For additional information, visit my official website lummis.house.gov. Sign up for my e-newsletters. And of course you can always stay connected through twitter, facebook and YouTube.

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As the law currently stands, emails left on online servers for over 180 days are considered “abandoned property” and can be obtained for investigations without a warrant. This is why we in the people’s House acted this week with an overwhelming bipartisan majority to pass H.R. 699: the Email Privacy Act.  I cosponsored and voted for this legislation to ensure that emails are protected by requiring law enforcement to obtain warrants for this virtual property when conducting criminal investigations, bringing email standards in line with those already established for wire-taps.  Security and law enforcement are critical parts of our society, but we cannot afford to sacrifice our constitutional liberties.

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Met with some students from Wheatland High School who were here visiting Washington. Always pleased to talk to people from Wyoming. Thanks for stopping by!

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This week in Washington I held two hearings and participated in a third on how to make the Endangered Species Act work better for species and people.  Two Wyoming witnesses joined us this week to testify on the issues that Wyoming communities face when lawsuits tie up boots-on-the-ground conservation in courtrooms.

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In Washington this week I had the pleasure of welcoming a group of upstanding 4-H students from Wyoming who were visiting for the National 4-H Conference.  My experience in 4-H as a kid was very formative and memorable, both showing livestock as well as participating in other activities.  These young people from Wyoming will be better leaders for our communities, our state, and our nation thanks to their participation in 4-H.  So hats off to 4-H, their participants, and their volunteers!

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Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting with a group of Wyoming 4H students in our nation's Capitol. These upstanding young people will be excellent leaders for both the state of Wyoming and the nation.

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As we prepare for Easter I want to remind you of the many people who need our prayers and support during this Holy Week. After being given a deadline by Congress, and under pressure from the House in particular, Secretary of State John Kerry last week designated the violence and murder committed by ISIS in the Middle East as genocide. Religious minorities and especially Christians are facing this radical Islamic terrorism every day. This terrorism also spread to Europe yet again on Tuesday with suicide bombers in Brussels, Belgium killing more than 30 and wounding over 200. We need to stand strong against the threat of radical Islamic terrorism, especially as regards ISIS, and the President needs to present a clear, decisive strategy to defeat and destroy this threat before more innocents suffer. Please keep these victims and our troops defending us from such attacks in your prayers this Easter weekend and a blessed Easter to you and your families.

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Today I enjoyed meeting with an upstanding group of High School students from Saratoga during their visit to Washington, D.C.

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It was a real pleasure to meet with Justine, to my right, a young woman from Lander attending UW's School of Pharmacy.

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This week in the House Natural Resources Committee, we sent legislation to the floor to celebrate the National Park Service’s 100th anniversary. The bill would create a Centennial Challenge Fund that would match private donations dollar for dollar with government money and establishes a permanent endowment fund. This enables and encourages private citizens to invest in our National Parks and addresses the $11.9 billion dollar deferred maintenance backlog. As a country we have been very successful in preserving our natural wonders and treasures, but recent data shows that participation in the parks with 15 year olds and younger has dropped by almost 50 percent. We need to refocus and encourage all Americans to take advantage of our Parks with responsible, low impact recreation that will then encourage them to be good stewards of our entire nation.

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This week I spoke to Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell about the new federal land coal leasing moratorium and other anti-energy policies that are devastating to our economy and jobs in Wyoming.  President Obama and his Administration continue pushing regulations and policies to keep our natural resources in the ground and cheat the American people out of a fair return on the production of publicly-owned resources that goes to support everything from schools to transportation.

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Yellowstone, with over 90% in the state of Wyoming, was established this day in 1872.  That makes it 144 years old!

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Today we in the House passed the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement (SHARE) Act. I worked with a bipartisan group of colleagues to amend the bill to restore the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s science-based decision to delist the gray wolf in Wyoming and the Western Great Lakes from the Endangered Species Act. Today’s cattle call is a video of my speech on the House floor in support of the amendment. If I seem a little upset, it is because the previous speaker opposing the amendment grossly misrepresented the issue.

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Today I enjoyed visiting with Christie, one of five native youth leaders nationally recognized as 2016 Champions for Change, about her efforts and accomplishments in art, culture, volunteering, and leading youth in her community in Riverton. Congratulations Christie and keep up the good work!

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Was pleased to meet with Special Olympics athlete James and his dad Phil of Gillette, Wyoming during their visit to Washington, D.C.!

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With yesterday’s Supreme Court stay of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan we have a chance to see the case brought by the states against the Clean Power Plan come to fruition while protecting working families’ from this overbearing federal mandate that will increase energy prices if left unchecked. I applaud this decision on the part of the Supreme Court to give states a meaningful day in court to fight this rule before it inflicts lasting damage on the nation.

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This week I joined my colleagues on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee to hold a hearing investigating the Flint, Michigan water crisis and the Environment Protection Agency’s (EPA) role in the situation. Though the EPA is not the only level of government at fault, they had knowledge of the contamination for months and failed to notify the people of Flint of the danger.  The Regional Director for the EPA, as well as the State Director of the Department of Environmental Quality, have since resigned.  We will continue our oversight of this crisis, hold those responsible accountable, work to help the city of Flint and the state of Michigan ensure that the people of Flint have safe drinking water, and ensure this man made crisis does not happen again. 

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This week, the House joined the Senate in passing bipartisan legislation officially rejecting the EPA’s Waters of the U.S. rule. This is one of the worst rules I have seen since I’ve been in Washington and it is a blatant attempt by the EPA to seize control of state managed waters. And though the courts have stayed the rule, we need to stop this rule legislatively before it can take effect. This is a clear choice for President Obama to side either with hundreds of years of law, tradition, and local water stewardship or the power hungry EPA seeking to usurp state water authority. It’s time to ditch this bad rule for good and I will continue using every tool we can including legislation and defunding measures to rein in the EPA and other out-of-control agencies in Washington.