Senator Barrasso: Biden's first year an 'epic failure'

WORLAND - U.S. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyoming) expressed frustration with the President Joe Biden Administration but said he is willing to work with Biden on key issues for Wyoming and will fight against issues that hurt Wyoming.

In an interview prior to Barrasso speaking to the Worland Kiwanis and Rotary club members Tuesday at the Worland Community Center Complex, Barrasso said he felt Biden would be easier to work with than he has been but added that Biden has changed since he was a U.S. senator. Barrasso said he had worked with then Sen. Biden on the Foreign Relations Committee but, while Biden was always "liberal" he has been pulled even further to the left.

Barrasso said that on Thursday, one year since Biden's inauguration, he plans to give a speech outlining Biden's "epic failures" in his first year in office.

He said the president spoke about unity a year ago but has been incredibly divisive including the executive orders that have hurt Wyoming's energy industry and hurt the country's economy. He said Biden's actions that created an energy dependence for the U.S. started the ongoing problem of inflation. Inflation that is at a 40-year high, he noted.

The inflation and Biden's policies have resulted in paying at least $1 more a gallon at the gas pump, paying more to heat homes, paying more to eat.

He said his border policies have allowed 2 million people to enter the country illegally last year. At the luncheon he noted that on a visit to the border, Barrasso saw children in facilities that were not large enough. One facility had about 7,000 children with 10% testing positive for COVID-19.

Regarding foreign policy, Barrasso said, "You can't imagine how bothered the American people are with Afghanistan" and Biden's promise to keep citizens and soldiers safe, remembering Wyoming's own Rylee McCollum who was one of 13 Marines who died in Afghanistan when the U.S. was pulling out of Afghanistan.

He said Russian president Vladimir Putin and North Korea Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un view Biden as weak and ineffective.

Barrasso said he is concerned with China and how much they are devoting to their military, while in contrast in Biden's budget he has less budgeted for the Department of Defense and Homeland Security.

As for what he will work with Biden on, Barrasso said it will only be on things that make sense such as the advanced nuclear reactor planned for Wyoming. He said the location has been selected and there is transmission lines already in the area.

He said everyone wants clean energy but they want affordable energy.

"We all want to make energy as clean as we can but in a way that doesn't cost more," he said.

Biden also promised to "put COVID behind us" but instead there are more cases now with the Omicron variant than ever before, although he noted it is a less stringent strain.

He said there have also been more deaths during Biden's first year than during the first year of the pandemic.

Barrasso said he has been vaccinated and received his booster shot. He said he supports the vaccine but not any mandates. He said mandates are a "massive overreach by government."

When asked how to reverse things that the Biden Administration is doing, Barrasso said the easy answer is "take back the House and Senate, but that takes a while. Right now, we are trying to prevent new bad things from happening."

He said while U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney has been under attack in Wyoming, he said the entire Wyoming delegation in Washington, D.C. is working together on the issues that affect Wyoming and they are working for the people of Wyoming.

When asked how to get all the product off of the barges and ships, Barrasso said, "The president says he has this all covered."

Barrasso had high praise for Worland, noting he visited two businesses before coming to the luncheon - The Other Store and Hake Realty. He also praised Worland High School students who he said are exceptional each time they visit Washington, D. C. as part of Randy Durr's AP history class. He said they always ask high quality questions "so you know the education they are getting is superb."

He noted that while he loves visiting Worland, he misses State Sen. Gerald Geis who moved last year. Barrasso said when he served with Geis in the State Senate whenever anyone got up to make a speech about 'we should take this Washington money for education, for health, for this or for that.' He would stand up and say 'blackmail, bribery, don't take it.'"

Barrasso, a physician whose motto for Wyoming Health Fairs is help you care for yourself, told Worland Rotarians and Kiwanians that they are helping the community care for themselves.

In closing Barrasso told a story about his father, a World War II veteran, who told Barrasso at a young age to "thank God every day you live in America because we are really blessed. I do. I am thankful you let me come and visit with you. God bless all of you, God bless Wyoming and God bless the United States."