AP history students quiz Senator John Barrasso

WORLAND - Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyoming) told Worland High School seniors in the AP history class that Vice President Kamala Harris has been invited to Worland.

In his visit with students last Thursday, Feb. 18, at the Little Theatre, Barrasso relayed the story that two years ago then presidential candidate and now Vice President Kamala Harris came into the Capitol Building at the same time Barrasso was entering with Worland High School history teacher Randy Durr and his AP students. He took a photo of Harris and Durr. Fast forward two years to the recent budget vote where Harris was the tie-breaking vote and Barrasso spoke to her afterward, congratulating her on the election and the vote.

She said she has never been to Wyoming and Barrasso said, "I told her 'You need to get to Worland. And come to Worland High School.'" He then told Harris about the meeting and the photo that is on display in Durr's classroom.

"She said, 'I got to get to Worland.' She has now been invited. She has her own private plane so it should not be hard to get here. Hopefully she will come."

PRESIDENTS DAY

Sen. Barrasso, before taking questions from students on a number of issues congratulated WHS student Tanner Stott for his ACT score – a 36, and earning a full-ride scholarship to Brigham Young University.

He said he was able to take time this month to visit Worland since the Senate is on Presidents Day recess and proceeded to tell the students three lessons from three past presidents who spent time in Wyoming.

Theodore Roosevelt loved to come to Wyoming and delivered a commencement speech at the University of Wyoming in 1903. Barrasso said Roosevelt told the students, "'People of Wyoming I believe in you and in your future. It's not just about the education you get. It's about the character of the people.' That's what you have here in Washakie County, people of great character."

John F. Kennedy came to Laramie in September, 1963, six weeks before his assassination.

In his speech he told those gathered that "the future belongs to those who seize it."

Barrasso said, "Think about what you want to do, where you want to go in life ... we have a history in Wyoming of president's who believe in us."

The third president, Barrasso spoke about was Ronald Reagan, who said in his speech in Wyoming, "People here still believe the future is ours to shape." Barrasso added, "You have to seize it, you have to take action and we can shape it anyway we want it."

Q&A

•What is your vision for the Republican Party in the post Trump era?

Barrasso said, "The vision is the same vision I have for the country. This is a land of equal opportunity – not equal outcome; equal opportunity based on efforts not on existence.

Pointing to Tanner Stott, Barrasso said, "You didn't get the full-scholarship to BYU because you are alive, you got it because you got a 36 on your ACTs." He said students who earn the Hathaway Scholarship in Wyoming get it because they study hard, stay out of trouble and earn it.

He added that yes there needs to be a safety net so people don't fall through the cracks but it should not hold people down. "We want people to move from poverty to prosperity," he said,

•What are your thoughts on the $15 minimum wage proposal?

Barrasso said, "This is not a clean cut issue." He related a story about a Washington State waitress who benefitted with more pay from the increase in minimum wage. However, the dishwasher, who lost his job, because the owner could not keep all of the employees due to the increase, did not benefit from the new minimum wage.

He said some studies show that 1.4 million people would lose their jobs.

He spoke to a business owner in Lovell who has a gas station and eatery and he said he would have to close the business because he could not afford it.

•What are your thoughts on the response to the pandemic.

Barrasso said he would never have believed that there would be over 600 deaths from COVID-19 in Wyoming.

He has been impressed with Operation Warp Speed that provided a vaccine so quickly.

He noted that the vaccines approved have been shown to be effective against the first variance and against the United Kingdom variant, but not as effective against the South Africa variant. He said symptoms, however, with the South Africa variant and the vaccine have not been life threatening.

Barrasso said while he encourages everyone to get vaccinated he does not believe they should be mandatory.

The senator said he would like to see all schools open in the country, noting he does not believe Zoom learning is as effective as in-person learning that provides opportunities that the AP history students were having at that moment.

•What was the last thing you voted on? The last thing he voted on was the second impeachment of President Donald Trump. He said the Senate had two votes, whether the impeachment trial was constitutional and he voted that it was not – noting that Chief Justice John Roberts refused to preside over this trial for that reason. The second vote was on conviction of impeachment and he voted no. He said impeachment is meant to remove a sitting president from office, it should not be about a private citizen.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi did not send the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate until after President joe Biden had taken the oath of the office.

In a related question regarding Rep. Liz Cheney and the backlash she has gotten for voting in favor of impeachment (which was taken when Trump was still in office), he said "we had a differing opinion on impeachment but we need all three of us working for Wyoming and Liz has been effective in pushing back on the policies of the Biden Administration."

Wyoming has one lone representative in the House, she is in the top 3 of Republican leadership in the House. "I need her as part of the team fighting for Wyoming's future," Barrasso said.

•In an interview following the discussion with the students, can the Republicans get anything done in the next two years with the Democratic control in Washington?

"It's a 50-50 Senate and the House has a narrow majority margin. That really ought to be a mandate to move to the center to work together. It doesn't seem that the Democrats want to do that. The force in the Democrat party is the far left – wanting to shut down American energy, oil, gas coal, when we need all the energy. I'm hoping we can work together in a bipartisan way. There are areas I think we can – probably infrastructure is one of them, roads, bridges highway; with certain issues it's going to be tough.

"Part of it is the alarmist [attitude] on climate and wanting to do things dramatically, unilaterally and immediately no matter what the cost. We know we can protect the environment without punishing the economy. They don't seem to believe that."

•Will there be another stimulus package approved?

Right now there is not a bipartisan agreement, Barrasso said, but the bill could be passed with VP Harris breaking the tie.

He said under the Democrat plan a family of four making up to $300,000 would receive funding (the proposed $1,400 per person). Those people don't need help. People who haven't missed a paycheck [ referring to his staff] don't need the kind of help that others do.

"I would rather have it targeted to help the people who have been impacted the most from coronavirus."

He added that the Democrat package also has a financial bailout to states who have been irresponsible for decades.

"I'm ready to support something that is targeted and focused just on the pandemic."