Washington, DC – Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-WY) joined Aaron Gray on the “Go Be Wyoming” podcast to discuss the negative impact of Biden Administration economic and energy policies, the War in Ukraine, the need to secure our border, and more.
Listen to the full interview here and see excerpts of the transcript below:
AARON GRAY: Yeah, we’re, I think, everyone in Wyoming and especially us, we’re very excited to hear what you’ve got going on in D.C.. You’ve obviously got a reelection campaign, so we’re definitely interested to hear your thoughts on, kind of, a lot of the things going on.
REP. LIZ CHENEY: Sure. So, as you mentioned there, we’ve gotten very, very busy these days in a whole range of areas. You know, certainly, as you look out at the issues that matter so much to us in Wyoming, we’re really fighting against a whole range of bad policies coming from the Biden Administration. You know, I’ve spent a lot of time on things like our energy industry and our ag industry, obviously, our small businesses. You know, people across the state are hit hard by inflation. And, you know, I think you’ve got a number of things that have happened. I think the spending that we’ve seen from the Biden Administration in the months that they’ve been in office has really added to and encouraged and resulted in the inflation that we’re seeing. And I think that you’ve had a situation where, you know, the spending that many of us in the Congress voted against and urged them against, you know, there was a need to help people on some level through the COVID; and so, of course, you had some bipartisan efforts at the end of the last administration in that regard. But the spending that we’ve seen since then, I think, has too often been really irresponsible. And that’s hitting people hard, as I said, all across our state. On energy policy, you know, we’re really — we’re watching, obviously, what’s happening in Ukraine, and there was bipartisan support to stop the importing of Russian oil and gas. And then, the question then is what do you do to fill the gap? And, you know, the United States, and Wyoming in particular, has such an ability to produce the energy we need for energy independence and such an ability to ensure that we can be the arsenal of energy for the world, but we haven’t seen the Biden Administration be willing to take the step. And, in fact, they continue to work against that and continue to try to ban drilling on public lands, ban new oil and gas leases on public lands — certainly imposed policies that are harmful to our coal industry as well. So, while we’ve seen bipartisan support in some areas, we’re still certainly battling against bad policy in other areas.
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GRAY: Yeah, that’s wonderful. And that was gonna kind of be my next question — was kind of how to, you know, have you been working to maintain Wyoming’s sovereignty, and you kind of hit kind of all those right there. I do want to move into another question, though. Kind of on that same thread, you know, protecting Wyoming’s industries, you know, ag, energy, of course, and small businesses, but, you know, how have you been able to determine, you know, how to try and carry out Wyoming citizens’, you know, demands, even if it might conflict with your personal preference, or, you know, the kind of the next question is, how do you determine that judgment call, you know, and self-analysis when a situation does come up?
REP. CHENEY: Yeah, look, I think, again, you know, my responsibility is to be Wyoming’s voice. It’s a tremendous honor and responsibility and duty to cast a vote on behalf of Wyoming. And so I spent a lot of time — certainly when you run for office, you explain, sort of, what your views are, you do a lot of listening. And then people get to make a decision about whether or not, you know, your views are ones that they agree with and that they share. And not everybody in Wyoming has the same view on every issue certainly. I think that’s one of the things that makes our state special. And we’ve also had a real tradition in our state of neighborliness, of independent thinking, you know, of, you know, the government doesn’t tell us what to do. You know, I think about the people who settled our state, I think about my great grandparents, and my great, great grandmothers who actually, you know, walked the Mormon Trail. And, you know, many of the people who came to Wyoming first came in search of freedom and of religious freedom. And I think that there’s a sense of, you know — well, I guess it’s neighborliness, and a sense of respect for others that has really long been part of our state, and I think it’s very important. But certainly, as we’re talking about big legislative issues that come up, you know, having the chance to meet with constituents, having the chance to talk about what their views are, having the chance to understand views of different communities across our state and how different pieces of legislation affect them, having the chance to spend time talking to, meeting with, you know, our tribal leadership and understanding how these issues affect them, and the leaders of all of these industries. But, you know, also Wyoming’s teachers, our families, and the needs in Wyoming. You know, I think that many, many people in our state share some very, very important values, even if we don’t agree on all of the issues, but our communities are very different. And so, you know, what might make sense for Green River isn’t necessarily going to, you know, make sense for Laramie. And so I think recognizing and understanding the differences and the diversity of needs across the state has really an important part of my task as well.
Original source can be found here.
