Enzi hosts Saratoga re-election meet and greet

U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi (R) hosted a meet and greet at the Platte Valley Community Center on May 10 after touring the Saratoga Forest Management sawmill.

More than 20 people attended the meet-and-greet to hear what Enzi had to say.

He was introduced by Loren “Teense” Willford, Enzi’s Carbon County Campaign Chairman.

In the time that Enzi has been in office in Washington D.C., he has had over 100 bills passed, including seven bills that have been passed since President Barack Obama has been in office.

Enzi said he returns to Wyoming almost every weekend and travels throughout the state to talk to “real” people, instead of to the Washington D.C. people.

“Wyoming people tend to give me some suggestions and that is very helpful,” Enzi said.

He tries to visit a couple of businesses. “I have been in business, so I know a lot of what kind of business decisions have to be made,” Enzi said.

Running a business looks very simple from the outside, but when talking to businesspeople, one finds where a lot of the critical decisions are made and where the federal government is making it very difficult to operate a business, Enzi said.

Enzi said that happens sometimes with no purpose. In most cases, the businesses would probably be willing to meet the federal requirements, but they also need to be told why they need to do it.

That is where Enzi uses his role as U.S. Senator - to eliminate some of those unnecessary requirements. “I have had some success with it,” Enzi said.

During his visits to Wyoming, Enzi visits with people who are having problems with the federal government, and a lot of it does not need legislation to solve the problem.

“It does take finding out how the agency can get it screwed up that way,” Enzi said.

He used an example of the adoption of a child that is not a citizen of the United States. Enzi said unless a U.S. Senator gets involved, it’s a very long process. Enzi explained how making one phone call can speed up the process.

One couple had submitted paperwork for adoption of a child from another country, and was not getting any response. They contacted Enzi and he called the agency. They told Enzi they did not have the paperwork, but two days later the agency called him and said they had the paperwork.

“There is no reason for them to sit (on the paperwork) but they do,” Enzi said.

The senator has had to make about 12,000 calls for citizens since he has been in office. “That is about 10 per week,” Enzi said.

Enzi said he likes to audit government agencies that don’t take the initiative to get the work done.

“There is a lot more problems than I ever thought of and the federal government causes them,” Enzi said.

Enzi said he tries to come up with solutions so he can eliminate the need to make those calls.

Enzi, who is an accountant, has audited the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) because he wanted to find out why they were doing the things the way they were.

“That audit led to taxpayer friendly hearings,” Enzi said. People who came to testify were doing so behind a curtain and having their voice modulated for fear of retribution by the IRS. “That shouldn’t happen in America,” Enzi said.

“Now we are learning about some other things the IRS is doing, so I am looking into those as well,” Enzi said.

In Washington D.C., Wyoming is considered a rich state. Enzi said he has to keep an eye on the Wyoming money.

The Wyoming Legislature has a conservative budget and set money aside, and uses the interest. “The federal government is spending money they don’t have and I have plans to try and put a stop to it,” Enzi said.

“Part of it is we are not doing our work when we are suppose to,” Enzi said. “Harry Reid (D) brought one transportation bill and he didn’t like the first amendment put on the bill, so he pulled the bill.”

Reid never brought another spending bill to the Senate, Enzi said.

“The government shutdown was not the Republican’s fault, Enzi said, “It was (Reid’s) fault for not getting the work done.”

Editor’s Note: See Enzi’s response to questions about his running for re-election in next week’s edition of the Saratoga Sun.

 

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