U.S. Representative Harriet Hageman (R-WY) called into SVI Radio‘s Weekday Wakeup on Thursday, October 16 with her monthly report. Congresswoman Hageman discussed a recent trip to Lincoln County to visit with students and teachers in Cokeville and Kemmerer schools, the ongoing government shutdown, the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the war between Russia and Ukraine, and legislation in response spying on U.S. Senators under the Biden administration.

(0:00) Approaching 830 this morning live on Swift 98 and The Spur and welcoming on (0:06) the air with me live this morning U.S. Congresswoman Harriet Hageman for her (0:09) monthly report today. Good morning Congresswoman, how are you this morning? (0:13) Well I’m wonderful Duke, how are you doing? (0:15) Hey doing fantastic, appreciate your time and I actually understand you were in (0:19) Lincoln County recently visiting some students both in public and private (0:23) schools or a homeschool I should say public and homeschools in Cokeville and (0:27) Kemmer. Tell us about your visit.

(0:29) Just over the last couple of days I’ve spent quite a bit of time in I started (0:33) in Kemmerer with several families that homeschool their children or have a (0:38) hybrid situation some of them actually attend some of the actual the (0:42) extracurricular activities either in Cokeville or Kemmerer all of them seem (0:46) to be very musically inclined it sounds like they have great music programs over (0:51) there and then from there we went up to Cokeville and had an assembly with the (0:55) high school so I got to enjoy everything from what I would say about six six (1:00) years old five six years old all the way up to seniors in high school and I (1:04) truly enjoyed it. What was one of your takeaways you mentioned the music (1:08) programs and but when you look at the the ground level of education in Wyoming (1:11) what do you see with this what’s happening in the schools? I think we have (1:16) phenomenal educators in Wyoming our teachers our families who are so (1:20) incredibly engaged that was one of the things that was very apparent is how (1:24) important education is to these families whether they are in a (1:28) homeschool environment or they’re sending them to the public schools in (1:31) Cokeville. Very engaged students I was incredibly impressed with how articulate (1:36) they were how well read they were how interested they were in the outside (1:41) world and when I went around especially with the little kids in the first stop (1:47) outside of Kemmerer just talking to them about their aspirations and what they’re (1:51) interested in doing and boy they have some ideas about their futures that I (1:55) don’t think at seven years old I even knew about so it is clear they’re (1:59) getting phenomenal education their moms and dads are very engaged and and the (2:04) programs must be phenomenal but also again with the hybrid program almost (2:09) every single one of them talked about the importance of music to them and how (2:12) good the music programs are.

I did meet the music teacher in Cokeville very (2:17) briefly I know that they’re doing the the Phantom of the Opera which is a (2:21) pretty amazing program that they’re going to be doing I think they’re doing (2:26) junior high through high school and I thought that that was just fabulous he (2:31) seems like he was a great guy. Congresswoman Harriet Hageman this (2:34) morning on the Weekday Wake up well of course so much happening as always (2:37) government shutdown let’s let’s touch on that of course both parties have been (2:42) accusing the other when you look at the government shutdown in your view why is (2:46) this a Democratic caused shutdown Congresswoman and what do you think (2:51) needs to happen for this to end? Because the Republicans in the House passed a (2:55) clean CR a clean continuing resolution meaning we passed a bill that is not (3:00) what I would refer to as Christmas tree we passed a bill it was a very clean (3:05) that all it says is we’re going to continue funding at the same level that (3:09) we were funding the government under Joe Biden’s presidency so this is even the (3:13) budget that was in place last year that the Democrats have already voted for the (3:17) Democrats have voted for a clean CR 13 times they voted for this this funding (3:23) so I just have kind of mystified as to why they don’t want to vote in favor of (3:28) a bill to keep the government operating at the same levels as they were a month (3:32) ago or a month before that and that’s really the the issue they’re holding the (3:37) government hostage they’re holding the American taxpayer hostage demanding that (3:42) we spend in it or we appropriate an additional 1.5 trillion dollars in (3:46) spending in legal health care for illegal aliens one of the things that (3:52) I’m the most offended by is that in the one big beautiful bill in the (3:56) reconciliation package that we passed in July one of the things that the (4:00) Republicans prioritized was investing in rural health care so we appropriated (4:05) five hundred billion dollars excuse me fifty billion dollars for rural health (4:10) care half of that is to be divided equally among all of the states so (4:15) Wyoming is set to receive over 500 million dollars over the next five years (4:20) to develop and implement a robust rural health care program the Democrats are (4:26) demanding as part of their holding us hostage on this funding issue they’re (4:31) demanding that we repeal that funding for rural health care which makes (4:35) absolutely no sense to me some of the other things that they’re demanding is (4:39) that we go right back into funding all of those horrible policies that we found (4:43) out that USAID had been funding various LGBTQ programs in Haiti and other (4:50) countries abortion on demand in other countries really some insidious things (4:54) that they’re demanding that we fund and they’re holding the government hostage (4:57) until we do when when you look at some of the government employees being (5:01) affected by this are there any measures being taken to as this continues to (5:07) progress this shutdown how are the people the government employees affected (5:13) what’s being put in place for them if anything so one of the things that I (5:17) appreciate is I really do believe that the president is trying to minimize the (5:21) impact on on Americans on on the actual Americans that pay for the government (5:26) and that the government is supposed to be working for so as you probably saw (5:30) they have found funding to be able to pay our troops that’s one of the things (5:35) that the Democrats have historically again held us hostage over because they (5:39) refuse to pay our troops knowing that we all hold them in such high regard and (5:43) want to make sure that they do not suffer the consequences of these bad (5:47) policy decisions but President Trump has found the money to go ahead and pay that (5:51) the other area where he has found the use of some of the funds he’s raised (5:55) almost 200 billion dollars with the tariffs that have been in place over the (6:01) last several months and he has directed a portion of that to fund the WIC program (6:07) women infants and children program so that our low-income mothers are able to (6:12) afford food and buy food for their children so that kind of a program is (6:16) continuing you know I’m not I’m not a huge advocate of doing cuts in (6:22) employment through this kind of a mechanism I think there are other (6:25) mechanisms to do that I think you reform agencies is the way you should go about (6:29) that but right now we don’t have any choice this is the decision that the (6:33) Democrats have made by refusing to vote in favor of a continuing resolution and (6:39) demanding an additional 1.5 trillion dollars in spending I am hoping that (6:44) perhaps next week after the I hate America rally takes place on Saturday in (6:50) Washington DC they’re referring to it as the no king’s day and so we would have a (6:54) king in the United States it’s such a ridiculous proposition but that’s the (6:58) rally or the riot depending on your point of view that we’re going to see (7:03) on Saturday hopefully after that the Democrats will feel that they could go (7:07) ahead and try to help us fund government and move forward so we can finish our (7:12) appropriations bills and actually represent our citizens congresswoman (7:16) Harriet Hageman on the weekday wake up this morning a congressman of course one (7:19) of the other big topics right now the ceasefire deal between in Gaza between (7:24) Israel and Hamas what can you tell us about this about this the ceasefire (7:28) agreement and do you feel like it has has the teeth to hold up not only in the (7:32) short-term over the next few days and weeks but does it have some long-term (7:36) implications to it oh boy I sure do hope so when you look at the 20-point plan (7:41) that President Trump put forward I think one of the things that he did that many (7:45) of his predecessors weren’t were unwilling to consider or even think (7:49) about was the fact that we have got to address the relationship between Israel (7:54) and the other Arab states within the Middle East and then we could (7:58) potentially address the Palestinian issue and that’s what he did what the (8:02) Palestinians have been able to do what Hamas has been able to do for the last (8:06) 20 to 30 years is essentially hold everybody in the Middle East hostage to (8:10) their demands and their demands especially for Hamas has been that (8:14) Israel no longer exists that there is no Jewish state in the Middle East what (8:18) Trump did and what his negotiators have done and his ambassadors have done is (8:23) they’ve said that is a non-starter we’re going to develop relationships between (8:27) Israel and their neighbors and Hamas and the Palestinians if they’re not on board (8:32) with that they’re going to be left to the dust Hamas needs to be removed from (8:36) any vestiges of power what we’ve seen even in the last couple of days is once (8:40) they’re not trying to kill the Jews in Israel they are focused on killing each (8:44) other and I am hopeful that they that that cooler heads will potentially (8:48) prevail but I don’t trust Hamas at the same time I think that this is an (8:53) incredible opportunity everybody in the world is tired of the war everybody in (8:58) the world is tired of the strife in the Middle East Israel has the right to (9:03) exist Israel has the right to defend itself and Israel has the right to win (9:08) the war that Hamas started on October 7th 2023 I am hoping that what (9:14) President Trump did and his negotiators have done is put us on a pathway to (9:18) peace so that we can stop the killing and the hatred and the terrorism that we (9:24) have been subjected to watching the hostages come home first of all my heart (9:29) filled with joy seeing them and knowing that those 20 young men are now back with (9:33) their families but it also filled my heart with dread and anger at looking at (9:39) those young men and what has happened to them over the last two years nobody (9:42) could look at the torture that they have suffered through and take the side of (9:47) Hamas or the Palestinians in this battle what they did to those 20 men and the (9:52) 28 that are still missing that the bodies I guess it’s 24 bodies that they (9:57) have so far refused to return the murderous thugs in power over there (10:02) what they did should be a wake-up call for the entire world to understand that (10:08) Israel has to protect itself that Israel has the right to do that and we (10:12) have to have a change of regime in terms of representation of the Palestinians (10:17) Hamas has got to go and along those lines you talk about still the war (10:22) happening between Russia and Ukraine do you see maybe a potential light at the (10:26) end of the tunnel there is there any hope for some sort of agreement well I (10:31) sure hope so again I would love to see cooler heads prevail one of the things (10:35) that has always struck me about this particular war especially in terms of (10:39) our European brethren they have slammed the table pounded their fists on the (10:43) table rendered their cold clothing screamed and yelled that the United (10:47) States had to send billions and billions of billions of dollars to Ukraine to (10:51) save them yet they have been funding Russia’s war because they have such (10:54) horrible failed energy policies so Germany the European Union England (11:01) France all of those countries have been funding both sides of the war they have (11:05) been funding Ukraine not to the extent that the United States has but they have (11:09) been spending sending some money to Ukraine but by refusing to look elsewhere (11:16) for their energy from rather than Russia they’ve been funding Russia as well and (11:21) it to me it just demonstrates the failed states that we have in the European (11:26) Union right now just this week Hamburg in Russia one of the larger excuse me (11:31) brought in in Germany one of the largest cities in Germany on Sunday had a (11:36) referendum only 43% of the people in that city voted but they voted to (11:42) deindustrialize what do I mean by that they voted to get rid of all the use of (11:46) all fossil fuels well you want to turn your your city or your country into a (11:51) third-world hellhole just get rid of all your fossil fuels just (11:55) deindustrialized just make it so it’s impossible to manufacture within your (11:59) own community and you’ll see what’s happened get that is exactly what (12:03) Hamburg did in Germany talk about a horrible policy and should get (12:07) subjecting their citizens to just abject poverty it’s it’s crazy what they have (12:13) done in that regard but again if they would stop buying fuel and energy and (12:19) oil and gas from Russia we could the war would probably end because Russia (12:23) wouldn’t have the finances to continue prosecuting it so I would love to see (12:28) the Europeans turn elsewhere and actually get some common sense back into (12:33) their energy policy that’s us congresswoman Harriet Hageman of Wyoming (12:36) on the weekday wake up this morning congresswoman while we have yet (12:39) anything else that you’re working on specifically that you’d like to mention (12:42) while we have you on the air today well I think that probably many people in (12:46) Wyoming learned last week that the Biden administration was spying on our (12:52) senators and US representatives including our very own senator Cynthia (12:56) Lamas and tracking her movements and I I don’t know how to what extent they (13:01) accessed the information on her cell phone but we know that they were (13:04) attempting to do that and in fact did that in surveilling senators I find that (13:08) to be reprehensible I think it’s in a horrific abuse of power it’s it’s an (13:13) issue associated with separation of powers I can’t believe that they did it (13:17) and I don’t think that those are the only people they most likely did it too (13:21) so we need to get to the bottom of that but one of the bills that I have been (13:25) pushing since I’ve been in Congress is called the First Amendment (13:28) Accountability Act and what this bill would do is it would allow someone such (13:32) as Cynthia Lamas who has had her her First Amendment rights violated by the (13:38) federal government she could sue the individuals responsible for that for (13:41) damages for injunctive relief and for attorneys fees we need to have some (13:47) consequences and accountability when people violate our rights and invade our (13:51) privacy and especially if they are federal employees and have the power of (13:55) the FBI behind them so I am pushing forward with that bill I think that it is (13:59) important that our our representatives and senators get on board with that get (14:04) it to the president’s desk for signature because I want to make sure that no one (14:09) else suffers this kind of an invasion of privacy from our government I mean (14:12) I’ve said this over and over again and everybody knows that if they know civics (14:15) the government works for us not the other way around the federal government (14:19) is not our overlord it is our servant and it is a government of by and for the (14:24) people and the idea that a president would use the FBI to spy on the (14:30) opposition party the political leaders of the opposition party is absolutely (14:34) shocking to the conscience we need to make sure it never happens again and so (14:38) that’s one of the efforts that I’m pushing forward with right now (14:42) congresswoman thank you so much for your time as always for the updates and we’ll (14:46) look forward to next month and talking again thank you that’s the weekday wake (14:51) up this morning and Wyoming’s u.s. congresswoman Harriet Hageman it’s on (14:53) the SBI radio network