In a new video, U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., responded to questions and comments about the Senate’s attempts to overturn the president’s veto on the Keystone XL pipeline bill and the Federal Communications Commission’s vote to put restrictions on the Internet. Wyoming constituents sent question and comments to Enzi during the past couple of weeks through Facebook and Twitter, from phone calls to his D.C. and Wyoming offices, and from email and written letters. 

President’s Keystone XL pipeline bill veto 

“The Keystone XL pipeline did pass Congress, but to override a presidential veto it’s going to take 67 votes. We don’t have 67 votes. In many instances similar to this we might pick up 66 but I guaranty you that the discipline on the other side will prevent them from getting to the 67 point.” 

“It makes sense to do the pipeline. It provides jobs immediately. It provides a way for us to get U.S. energy into a pipeline to get it to refineries. Which, if we increase the supply, will bring down the price. It is an environmentally responsible way to move the oil and we should be building the pipeline. We had the opportunity to do it now for several years. We passed the bill to get it done. The president vetoed it. Of course the president has promised to veto about 20 things already.” 

FCC’s vote putting restrictions on the Internet 

“As you know last month the FCC voted 3-2 to put restrictions on the Internet using burdensome and out of date telecommunication laws. These laws were written back when we had rotary dial telephones. I know a lot of people don’t even remember rotary dial telephones.”

 “One of those concerns is that the FCC is anticipating setting up a bureaucracy, a new utility. And utility restrictions will come into play and that will change the internet as we know it now. It’s been working fine, it can work fine, it should work fine, but the best way to do that is not to have the government get involved. I hope that we are able to overturn that FCC decision to put restrictions on there. We will have some opportunities to do that. I hope you follow the progress on that.”

Senator Enzi records “Collecting Common Sense from Wyoming for Washington” videos periodically when the Senate is in session. He encourages Wyoming residents to continue sharing their thoughts, ideas, and questions. For individual responses, constituents should email him through his web page – www.enzi.senate.gov.

It’s a new year, but we’ve got some familiar problems to contend with, according to U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo. With the new Republican majority in the Senate ready to tackle the most pressing problems facing our country, Enzi took to the Senate floor Thursday to stress the importance of working on real solutions in order to make things better for the American people, not just racking up political points. Enzi discussed his confidence that Congress will finally start making some real progress, especially on key issues such as the Keystone XL pipeline, immigration, Obamacare and more.

The following are excerpts from his speech:

“I intend to work this year to address our nation’s spending problems because I sit up nights worrying about our nation’s debt and how it will affect our children and grandchildren. And I am now the Chairman of the Budget Committee so I will have a hand in handling that, so I will have more responsibility. We have a spending problem in this country, and we cannot spend our way to prosperity. Rather, we must stop spending more than we take in and find a way to start paying down the $18 trillion.”

“We have a spending problem and it is catastrophic in the long run.”

“Additionally, I believe now is the time to deal with the problems we have seen each day since Obamacare was implemented. Premiums are skyrocketing for many people this year, while small businesses continue to hold off on hiring new workers or are keeping more people on part-time schedules…We should repeal this law because it is bad for consumers and bad for businesses. We need real health care reform that gets health care costs under control and ensures that rural health care providers can afford to continue to provide vital services.”

“We need to encourage coal production and prevent the Administration from restricting this low cost, reliable, stockpile able energy source. The coal industry provided – directly and indirectly – over 700,000 good paying jobs in 2010, but since being sworn into office, President Obama’s rule-making machine has released rule-after-rule designed to make it more difficult and more expensive to use coal. Instead of running from coal, America should run on coal, and I hope this Congress will embrace its abundance, in its power and its potential.”

“We also need to challenge the President’s other regulatory overreaches. President Obama has issued more Executive Orders, regulations, and other executive actions than either President Bush, Clinton, or Reagan…This year we need to fight the abuse of executive power, whether it’s used to grant illegal executive amnesty to illegal immigrants, to regulate all bodies of water on public and private land, or to make unconstitutional political appointments."

“I am confident that we can make some real progress for America this year on these and other issues because I believe the Republican Leader will re-establish regular order. I expect that we will use the committee process so that senators can offer constructive amendments and debate bills in that forum. I am hopeful that we will also have an amendment process on the Senate floor so that all 100 members of the Senate have an opportunity to improve the bills we consider. Each of us has a different background, and each of us looks at every proposal from a different point of view.  Working together, we can make things better for the American people, and I hope that we will do that this year.”

Click here for a copy of the full speech.

Click here to download video of excerpts of the speech.

Click here to download the video of the full speech. 

First opened in 1947 with only two types of soda and two full time employees, Admiral Beverages in Worland is a true Wyoming success story. They now employ 500 employees in Wyoming alone, along with producing and/or distributing Pepsi, Dr Pepper and MillerCoors products across eight states. Thanks to A.J. Jenness for showing Diana and I the bottling facility on October 20. It was interesting to see the state of the art bottling techniques they are using.

In a new video, U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., discussed the issue of skyrocketing student loan debt. The video addresses a few questions and comments Wyoming constituents sent him during the past couple weeks through Facebook and Twitter, from phone calls to his D.C. and Wyoming offices, and from email and written letters.

Student Loan Debt

“I understand that it’s getting more and more difficult to finance higher education. We have a real advantage being in Wyoming. Wyoming has the Hathaway Scholarships. If you get good grades and you stay out of trouble, there’s some available for University of Wyoming, community colleges, or tech schools, and those can be a tremendous help. Wyoming has actually lower rates than most of the other states.”

“We should not have the government making money off of student loans. Of course, most people don’t realize that the student loan rate was set so that there would be a differential between what the government borrows it for and what the students would have to pay it, and that was to go to Obamacare…So our side of the aisle came up with an idea that it ought to be cut in half…And we got that passed not as a 6 month deal or a 1 year deal, but we got that passed as a permanent deal.

 “There’s not going to be any silver bullet that will take care of all of this, but we are concerned about education. I’m trying through the Higher Education Act to simplify the way that the forms have to be filled out for you to get there, and so that there’s full disclosure of what your costs are going to be as you go there, so that you can see if you can afford it…But it is important to take a look at what that’s going to cost, so if you’ve got any suggestions for ways to make it better for students, I’m into that.”

Senator Enzi records “Collecting Common Sense from Wyoming for Washington” videos every other week when the Senate is in session. He encourages Wyoming residents to continue sharing their thoughts, ideas, and questions and he will address as many of the topics as possible. For individual responses, constituents should email him through his web page – www.enzi.senate.gov.