Hageman provides update in visit to Sheridan

SHERIDAN — U.S. Congresswoman Harriet Hageman, R-Wyoming, is hopeful some of her legislation will reach the President’s desk and encouraged Wyomingites to be ready to take power from Washington, D.C.
 
Hageman attended Eggs & Issues, an event for the local delegation to review the Wyoming legislative session. She also attended this month’s Patriot Chat, a forum hosted by the Sheridan County Republican Party.
 
Hageman said she was appointed to her preferred committees.
 
“My first two choices for committees were natural resources and judiciary, and I was appointed to both of those,” Hageman said. “I was very excited to get appointed to both of those.”
 
Hageman was also assigned to five subcommittees: 
 

The Subcommittee on Administrative State, Regulatory Reform and Antitrust

The Subcommittee on Constitution and Limited Government, both under the House Committee on the Judiciary

The Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs 

The Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries, both under the House Committee on Natural Resources

The House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.

 
“That is the (subcommittee) where we are going to expose what the FBI has done, what Anthony Fauci has done, what the (National Institutes of Health) has done, what the (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) has done,” Hageman said of the House Select Subcommittee. “We are going to expose these agencies.”
 
She also said the many Speaker of the House votes helped members of the U.S. House become better acquainted with one another.
 
“One of the things that a lot of people may not realize — and I didn’t realize — is that people in Congress do not necessarily spend a lot of time together,” Hageman said. “... When we go into the chambers, we only go in to vote. So we may only be together 20 minutes a day… Every one of those votes, and we took 15 of them, everyone one of those votes took 90 minutes, which means that over those four days, we were together for (about 22 hours).”
 
Hageman spoke about some of her legislation during both events Wednesday.
 
H.R. 1246 would allow Native American tribes to lease their land for up to 99 years.
 
“Our federal government, in all of its infinite wisdom, has made it so that our tribes cannot lease their trust land for longer than 25 years, with some very limited exceptions,” Hageman said. “Well, if you’re going to do any kind of economic development that requires hard infrastructure, you have to have more than 25 years… So, I introduced a bill to make it 99 years.”
 
Trust lands qualify as reservations but are held by the U.S. government, rather than a tribe, “for the benefit of American Indian tribes…” according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
 
H.R. 1245, the Grizzly Bear State Management Act of 2023, would remove the Greater Yellowstone population of grizzly bears from the endangered species list.
 
“I’m actually fairly optimistic on that one because we have Democrat support, especially in the Senate,” Hageman said. “I think that we might actually get that one through and we might be able to get it to the President’s desk and get the grizzlies delisted, which would be absolutely fabulous for the state of Wyoming.”
 
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced in February that it would review the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly bear population’s health and viability. The results of the review would help determine whether to remove the population from the endangered species list.
 
Hageman spoke about a wider range of topics during Patriot Chat Wednesday night. She was met with waves of applause from those in attendance several times throughout her speech.
 
She said a lot of investigative work being done by the U.S. House is in preparation for the 2024 general election.
 
“A lot of this is to set up for 2024, as to why we so desperately need to retake the Senate, we need to retake the White House,” Hageman said. “... We need to expose what (has) been happening… We have to have these investigations so the citizens of the United States know what (their) government has been doing.”
 
Hageman said a lot of problems in the United States today are a result of big government. The supply chain, banks and the health care system were among the topics she listed as problems.
 
“And, everybody, you kind of want to think that these [problems] are isolated, they’re not isolated,” Hageman said. “They’re interconnected because it’s way too much government control coming out of Washington, D.C., by people who don’t know what they’re doing and have never held a real job in their lives.”
 
Bryan Miller, chair of the Sheridan County Republican Party, praised Hageman for involving herself with bills in the state Legislature.
 
“You took some heat for interjecting, as they put it, into some bills and some things that happened down in Cheyenne,” Miller said. “... I want to thank you very much for doing that.”
 
Hageman said her involvement focused on subject matter being taught in Wyoming schools and transition-related medical care for trans people.
Hageman encouraged those in attendance to remain engaged with local and state politics and government.
 
“Make sure that we have a strong government here in Wyoming, that we have a strong Legislature, that we have good policies here in Wyoming,” Hageman said. “... And then, as I try to pull more and more power out of Washington, D.C., you guys are ready to take it.”
 
Hageman is set to return to Washington, D.C., after the U.S. House Republican retreat in Orlando next week and resume Congressional work.
 
This story was published on March 17, 2023.