From ranchers driving their tractor across their property to truckers traversing I-80, AM radio brings information and entertainment to people throughout the Cowboy State. In many corners of Wyoming, AM radio is the only window to the outside world for news, sports and emergency alerts.

Coastal elites who design electric vehicles once again fail to understand our way of life in Wyoming. Recently, EV makers have been eliminating AM radio from their cars, limiting listening options and jeopardizing public safety.

It is critical that we protect AM radio and that is why I have joined U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) in cosponsoring the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act which would direct the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to require automakers to maintain AM broadcast radio in their new vehicles.

This bill would direct the NHTSA to issue a rule that requires automakers to maintain AM broadcast radio in their vehicles without a separate or additional payment, fee or surcharge.

The legislation is supported by a bipartisan coalition of 60 senators and 246 members in the House of Representatives. I look forward to the Senate taking up this bill and safeguarding the people of Wyoming’s access to diverse and life-saving information.

In Wyoming and rural areas throughout the west, AM radio is critical and sometimes the only means of mass communication. 

We must safeguard AM radio.

Happy Trails,

Always a great morning when it's Wyoming Wednesday.

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) has been a failed and flawed piece of legislation for more than 50 years. Instead of working with stakeholders in Wyoming to improve the ESA, the Biden administration chose to undo what worked and double down on what does not by rolling back a series of key Trump-era reforms that increased stakeholder engagement, defined critical habitat and ensured species recovery plans were effective.

U.S Senators Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Pete Ricketts (R-NE) and I introduced three Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolutions to overturn the Biden administration’s reversal of these critical reforms. These resolutions will ensure the highly-effective Trump-era reforms stay in place instead of being replaced by one-size-fits-all mandates from Washington bureaucrats that are disastrous to the western way of life.

The three rules are:

Blanket Rule Elimination  

• The 2019 reforms eliminated the “blanket rule” under Section 4(d) that automatically provides endangered level protections to species listed only as threatened and instead required threatened species to be managed with specifically tailored plans. 
• The Biden rule reinstates the blanket rule, essentially treating all threatened species as endangered once again. 

Critical Habitat Changes  

• The 2019 reforms allowed FWS and NOAA to research and share the economic impacts of a listing determination under the ESA and provided flexibility in defining critical habitat. 
• Under the Biden reversal, the agencies are no longer able to share or disseminate information on the economic impact of a listing and requires that unoccupied areas are designated as critical habitat. 

Section 7 Changes  

• Among the numerous changes to Section 7, the 2019 reforms established standards to ensure analysis for proposed actions is limited to only “activities that are reasonably certain to occur” instead of using hypothetical worst-case scenarios that were unlikely to happen.  
• The Biden rule would eliminate this clarification and allow radical environmentalist to depart from the facts before them and use fear-mongering as a pre-tense for sweeping regulations.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has unveiled $50 billion in grant funding as part of its Water Technical Assistance (WaterTA) program which provides funding for safe drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services in Wyoming.

The program supports communities in identifying water challenges, developing plans, building capacity and developing application materials to access water infrastructure funding. To implement WaterTA, the EPA collaborates with states, tribes, territories, community partners and other key stakeholders.

Click here to learn more and find out if you are eligible. 

Wyoming's own Andrew Pascoe was approved to receive his Combat Action Badge honoring his service in Iraq on May 2, 2005, but changing units and getting honorably discharged prevented him from recieving this recognition as originally intended.    

Thankfully, Andrew diligently maintained all his paperwork and after working with my team to communicate with the Department of Defense, I am happy to announce that his badge arrived this week. 

Thank you, Andrew for protecting our freedoms.