• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Subscribe
  • Donate

WyoFile

Indepth News about Wyoming People, Places & Policy. Wyoming news.

  • Latest News
    • Education
    • Energy
    • Legislature
    • Native America
    • Natural Resources
    • People
    • Photo Friday
    • Places
    • Policy
  • Voices
    • Drake’s Take
    • Madden’s Measure
    • Guest Column
    • Studio Wyoming Review
  • Supporters
    • Membership
    • Underwriting
    • Foundations
  • COVID-19
  • Latest News
    • Education
    • Energy
    • Legislature
    • Native America
    • Natural Resources
    • People
    • Photo Friday
    • Places
    • Policy
  • Voices
    • Drake’s Take
    • Madden’s Measure
    • Guest Column
    • Studio Wyoming Review
  • Supporters
    • Membership
    • Underwriting
    • Foundations
  • COVID-19

Enzi says “sequestration is going to happen”

February 18, 2013 by Dustin Bleizeffer 1 Comment

Tweet
Share
Pin
Email
0 Shares
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Enzi says “sequestration is going to happen”

by Dustin Bleizeffer
— February 18, 2013

While on his public “listening” tour in Wyoming Monday, Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming) told a small audience in Casper, “Sequestration is going to happen. The plans that are being offered won’t pass,” echoing comments made by his U.S. Senate colleague John Barrasso (R-Wyoming) on CNN Sunday.

Sen. Mike Enzi at the Petroleum Association of Wyoming meeting
Sen. Mike Enzi at the Petroleum Association of Wyoming’s annual meeting in Casper in 2012. (Dustin Bleizeffer/WyoFile — click to enlarge)

Enzi said because it was a “listening” event, he wasn’t there to go into great detail on any one issue, but he did underscore the GOP argument that the federal government should focus on spending reductions.

U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming) made similar comments last week, suggesting that more than $1.2 trillion in automatic federal spending cuts will begin March 1, spread among defense and non-defense spending.

Enzi heard comments and questions from about a dozen citizens, and briefly offered his thoughts on issues ranging from gun control to energy and climate change.

In response to a question about his recent “no” vote on the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, Enzi said his opposition was not at the general goal of reducing violence against women, but at new language in the bill that would subject non-Native people to being tried in tribal courts for violent crimes.

(Click here for a perspective on this issue from Winona LaDuke, and click here for a recent New York Times article on the subject by Jonathan Weisman.)

Enzi described tribal jurisdiction language in the Violence Against Women Act re-authorization bill as a “poison pill.”

“We get bills with great titles and poison pills, and then no way to amend out the poison pills,” Enzi said.

On the renewed push to reduce gun violence, Enzi said Wyoming has a long-standing appreciation of guns. He said hunting isn’t the main reason for most gun ownership in Wyoming. Rather, people here in the Cowboy State enjoy target shooting. Enzi said he also worries that the term “assault weapon” is already too broadly applied to a variety of guns.

Responding to questions and concerns about energy policy, Enzi said there needs to be more permitting of oil, natural gas and coal on federal lands. As for climate change, Enzi said, “There’s $5 billion being spent to prove there is climate change, and $5 billion being spent to prove there isn’t. What do you suppose we could do if we took $10 billion to actually do something about it?”

Enzi said he wished there was more research money spent on developing cleaner coal technologies to aid with a shrinking coal market in the U.S., due to tightening environmental regulations.

“There is an effort in the U.S. to end the production of coal,” said Enzi.

— Contact Dustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile editor-in-chief, at (307) 577-6069 or [email protected] Follow Dustin on Twitter, @DBleizeffer

REPUBLISH THIS STORY: For details on how you can republish this story or other WyoFile content for free, click here.

If you enjoyed this story and would like to see more quality Wyoming journalism, please consider supporting WyoFile: a non-partisan, non-profit news organization dedicated to in-depth reporting on Wyoming’s people, places and policy.


Popular Articles:


State Capitol locked down as D.C. delegation condemns riots


It’s time for Wyo electeds to acknowledge the presidential winner


Largest development proposal for state’s Teton parcels withdrawn


Filed Under: The Pitch, Uncategorized

Dustin Bleizeffer

About Dustin Bleizeffer

Dustin Bleizeffer has worked as a coal miner, an oilfield mechanic, and for 20 years as a statewide reporter and editor primarily covering the energy industry in Wyoming. Most recently he was Communications Director at the Wyoming Outdoor Council, a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford, and WyoFile editor-in-chief. He lives in Casper. You can reach him at (307) 267-3327, [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @DBleizeffer.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ruby says

    February 20, 2013 at 12:01 am

    Mike Enzi and Cynthia Lummis are dinosaurs, and not very smart ones either. We need to get rid of these jokers the next time around.

      Reply

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Want to join the discussion? Fantastic, here are the ground rules:
    - Identify yourself with full name and city. WyoFile stands behind everything we publish and expects commenters to do the same.
    - No personal attacks, profanity, discriminatory language or threats. Keep it clean, civil and on topic.

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Primary Sidebar

    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Twitter

    Tweets by @WyoFile

    Search WyoFile

    Become an Underwriter
    Sign Up for Free Weekly Newsletters

    Recent Comments

    • Robert Nickens on Cheney’s ‘vote of conscience’ deserves respect
    • Dewey Vanderhoff on Cheney’s ‘vote of conscience’ deserves respect
    • Eric R Eltinge on Cheney’s ‘vote of conscience’ deserves respect
    • Josh Harrison on The unsupportable cost of Wyoming’s tax giveaways
    • Scott Woodruff on Cheney’s ‘vote of conscience’ deserves respect

    Footer

    Recent Posts By Date

    January 2021
    M T W T F S S
     123
    45678910
    11121314151617
    18192021222324
    25262728293031
    « Dec    

    From The Archives

    • About Us
    • People
    • Careers
    • Freelancing
    • Underwriting
    • How to Republish
    • Subscribe
    • Contact Us

    Copyright © 2021 by WyoFile