U.S. Senator for Wyoming John Barrasso is traveling the state and meeting with counties and is checking in on the vaccine rollout. He met with SVI and spoke of various topics.

COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout in Lincoln County

He says he met with Patrice Baker who serves as Public Health Nurse Manager for the county and she highlighted the amazing volunteers that are helping with vaccinations.

“She says she couldn’t do it if it weren’t for the volunteers,” Barrasso said.

He says it is not a long process when you show up for your appointment. The biggest wait is once you have received the vaccine, you have to wait 15 minutes to make sure you do not have a reaction. Otherwise you’re there less than half an hour.

“It’s going very well,” Barrasso said. “More and more people are getting vaccinated.”

He says this doesn’t just apply to the county, but across the state as well.

Problems at the border of Mexico

Barrasso says he was part of the 18 Republican Senators that went down there to do a night patrol with the border patrol.

He says they wanted to see what they’re up against every night. He went out at midnight and also investigate the facility which is supposed to house up to 250 minors.

“They have 7,000 crammed in there,” Barrasso said. “Which is a complete failure by the Biden administration. It’s a humanitarian crisis.”

He also says there is a public health worry as well as 10% are all infected with coronavirus. He believes it is a national security crisis as well.

“Just a couple of days ago, some of those that have come across illegally were identified as being on the terror watchlist and they were from the country of America,” Barrasso said. “So, it’s not just central America and Mexico. The border patrol agents said they’ve intercepted people from 54 different countries.”

He says we need to go back to former president Donald Trump’s policies and continue construction on the wall. Another thing he says we need to do is get the “remain in Mexico” policy going again. This is when people apply for asylum have to wait in the country to do that application and not get released into the United States.

He also says this is an important issue to his constituents as well.

“It’s the number one topic people talk to me about as I travel the state,” Barrasso said. “It’s on the minds of the people of Wyoming and none of us are happy with what Biden and the administration are doing.”

He says if you talk with the border patrol, those officers feel they are only one-third capacity for protecting the border. This is because the other two-thirds of them are spending time taking care of the children and escort migrants safely into the United States.

Continuing Fight on pause of oil and gas leases

When Biden first took office he wrote an executive order to put a moratorium new oil and gas permits on federal lands. The senator pointed out that it was only supposed to last 60 days and his understanding is there hasn’t been any release of new leases.

“In so many ways oil and gas is our bread and butter in Wyoming,” Barrasso said. “Oil and gas is what pays the bills in many ways because it’s the taxes from all of that, that go to help pay for our schools, and on our hospitals, and our roads, and all of the things that are so important to us in Wyoming.”

He says the Biden administration has put a target on the back of American energy. He also says this does not just affect Republican states. New Mexico has a Democrat governor and senators and the state relies on energy as well.

“So their schools and students are hurting just like ours are in Wyoming,” Barrasso said.

He says they are seeking to build a coalition from both parties to show how these states are losing revenue. He worries that these regulations could result in losing over 1 million jobs in the United States.