Cynthia Lummis

Those of us who live in rural areas understand the importance of accessibility to postal services, particularly for those located in isolated areas. Many people living in Wyoming contend with great distances between communities, difficult terrain, and extreme weather conditions in order to pick up mail, packages and prescription medicines. Post offices serving rural communities in Wyoming and across the country have long been a crucial part of these communities’ daily routines and identities. D... Read more

The House Subcommittee on Courts, Commercial and Administrative Law today will review a bill from Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) to limit payments to attorneys of groups that sue the federal government. Under the 1980 Equal Access to Justice Act, citizens and small groups are entitled to reimbursements for attorney fees when they prevail in cases under statutes that do not specifically call for such fees to be paid by the government. The payments come out of the U.S. Treasury's "judgment fund." Lu... Read more

While speaking with students in the University of Wyoming’s College of Business Master of Business program Friday, Rep. Cynthia Lummis fielded a number of questions about fiscal policy in the federal government, ranging from Social Security reform to the work of the bipartisan “supercommittee” formed earlier this year to find $1.2 trillion in federal budget cuts over the next 10 years. Many of the questions and concerns mirrored those Lummis encountered during a dinner at the home of Sen. Mark W... Read more

House conservatives unexpectedly bolted from the Republican leadership on Wednesday and helped Democrats vote down a $1.43 trillion stopgap spending measure to keep the federal government operating when the 2011 fiscal year ends next week. The measure was defeated 195 yeas to 230 nays, and as the fifteen-minute vote stretched to a half hour, 48 Republicans ultimately voted no. Although no one in the Republican Party spoke out against the bill during the two hours of debate on the House floor, so... Read more

They say there's no such thing as a free lunch. Unfortunately, that notion is news to environmentalist groups who, for years, have been dipping into a bottomless, untraceable money pit to push their political agendas in court and grind the work of land management and other federal agencies to a halt. It may come as a surprise that you and I, as American taxpayers, are funding the endless money hole these groups are using to pay their army of lawyers in court -- win, lose or draw. The enabling of... Read more

With gas prices hovering near $4 a gallon, families are taking common-sense measures to tighten their belts. Carpooling, cutting back on driving and buying more fuel-efficient vehicles are among the solutions many Americans are using to deal with the pain at the pump and the havoc it is creating on their finances. But as Americans cut back on filling up, the federal gasoline tax is no longer filling up the Highway Trust Fund’s tank. Since the 1980s, the trust fund has been funded through a natio... Read more

Over the last weekend in Wyoming, my husband and I hauled cattle to summer grass (I’m sure few of you did the same, but stay with me here). Pulling a full load of cattle in a 24-foot stock trailer up a steep hill on a gravel road, my tires started to spin. Off to one side was a ravine. I slowly backed down the hill, contemplating one more attempt. I evaluated the risk: If I made it, I could unload the cattle in their pasture just a few miles away. But if the truck spins out again, the weight of ... Read more

‌If Washington continues the status quo, the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, the backbone of Medicare coverage, will go broke by 2020 and will be unable to pay out scheduled benefits. Anyone who says America can continue down the same old road is not telling the truth. Republicans know that proposing essential changes to our social safety net could open us up to cowardly political attacks like those claiming our efforts will abolish Medicare. But instead of putting our heads in the sand ... Read more

Abundant, affordable energy is inextricably linked to the economic health of our country – on that most of us can agree. Energy fuels American businesses and jobs, and access to it is essential to our national security. As people all over America witness the unrest in North Africa and the Middle East, we also feel its effects at the gas pump – prices are inching toward $4 a gallon – an unsettling reminder of our deep dependency on countries that teeter on the brink of instability. Which begs the... Read more

Is the President’s new “winning the future” slogan about America succeeding, or is it about his 2012 campaign hopes? President Obama’s FY2012 budget proposal makes it clear that he did indeed punt on making the difficult choices our country badly needs. He even failed to use the recommendations of his bipartisan deficit commission, instead deferring to some future bipartisan dialogue. Mr. Bowles and Mr. Simpson laid a platter of solutions in front of the President. The President turned his back ... Read more