Legislative Actions:

• I cosponsored the Simplifying Timelines and Assure Regulatory Transparency (START) Act to simplify and expedite the permitting process for energy and infrastructure projects
  
  • Numerous energy and power projects are undergoing permit reviews throughout Wyoming, and the average permit takes 4.8 years to complete. This bill will cut red tape, create good, high-paying jobs in Wyoming, and help relieve high gas price.
• I introduced the ORBITS Act with Senators John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) to create a program to help spark private sector innovation in the removal of orbital debris from space.
  
  • Space junk poses a major risk to satellites that people around Wyoming rely on for basic communication. The ORBITS Act kickstarts the process of removing debris from the orbit, which protects these satellites.
• I cosigned a letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack encouraging him to reject any efforts to alter the current structure of domestic US sugar policy.
  
  • Sugar beets are a large and vital part of Wyoming’s agriculture sector. Any effort to alter current domestic sugar policy, which has worked well for decades, would threaten the economic viability of the domestic sugar beet and sugar cane industry, and put Wyoming sugar beet producers at risk.

Committee Hearings:

Committee on Environment and Public Works

• I participated in a hearing on the nomination of Shailen P. Bhatt to be Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration of the Department of Transportation. To watch my remarks, click here.
• I questioned Mr. Bhatt on a variety of transportation issues that impact Wyoming such as the implementation of electric vehicles in high-altitude areas and semi-truck parking on interstate highways. 

Committee on Housing, Banking, and Urban Affairs

• I joined an oversight hearing of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with Chairman Gary Gensler to discuss my Responsible Financial Innovation Act. To watch the hearing, click here.
• I discussed how the SEC plans on defining disclosures and charges when it comes to cryptocurrencies.

I have been hearing your frustrations about President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan. Instead of fixing the systemic issues with our higher education funding model, President Biden has instead chosen to bail out a select group of students and college graduates. No one can simply “cancel” student loan debt – someone has to pay for it. What the Biden Administration is doing is not only unfair to those who have not attended college or received an education without taking out any loans, but it will inevitably raise inflation, which is at a 40-year high. I joined Senator John Barrasso in introducing the Debt Cancellation Accountability Act that prevents loan forgiveness without the explicit appropriation of fund by Congress. Actions like this serve as a wake-up call to the Biden Administration. Unfunded mandates like this are unfair to middle class families who face the brunt of taxation. I will continue to do all that I can to make sure that spending like this is stifled moving forward.

Media:

I spoke with Valeria Fugate on KGWN about the profound effects that the railroad strike would have had on Wyoming's economy.

News Around Wyoming: 

Senate Passes Bipartisan Legislation Led by Senator Lummis to Reduce the Spread of Toxic Substances at Commercial Airports
Sheridan Media
The bipartisan The bipartisan Preventing PFAS Runoff at Airports Act authored in part by U.S. Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) was unanimously passed in the Senate.

The Preventing PFAS Runoff at Airports Act would allow commercial airports to leverage additional existing Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) funding to purchase devices necessary to test their firefighting equipment without discharging toxic polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS chemicals. This legislation would incentivize commercial airports to purchase the relatively low-cost devices – also referred to as an input-based testing system – to help limit and prevent exposure to PFAS, which are known as “forever chemicals” because they do not naturally break down.

Barrasso and Lummis Announce Support for Republican Permitting Reform Bill
K2 Radio
Announced in a press release, both of Wyoming's Senators, John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis, joined other Republicans in the Senate in introducing legislation the Simplify Timelines and Assure Regulatory Transparency Act.

The START Act includes changes to the federal regulatory permitting process that aim to make it easier to approve energy projects, while also codifying several rules that former President Donald Trump temporarily put in place.