Visiting students, discussing the issues

US Representative Harriet Hageman recently visited Green River, stopping at a local school to meet a student who wrote her a letter and then talking with local officials at City Hall. 

A visit to school

Last Thursday morning, Hageman attended an assembly at Harrison Elementary School, showing up in response to a student's letter. 

"The Governor did the proclamation of 'Invite Your Elected Official to School,'" Hageman explained. "And so little Carter wrote me a letter in first grade and invited me to come to the school. And they didn't think I would ever do it."

Hageman's staff found out about Carter's letter through a Twitter post by a teacher, and asked if they could stop by and meet Carter while Hageman was in the area. In response, Harrison threw a whole assembly for Hageman to attend. The congresswoman answered questions from students, took pictures, signed autographs, read a book, and got a lot of hugs. 

"Those little kids were so sweet," she said. 

A visit to City Hall 

After the morning at Harrison, Hageman spent the afternoon at City Hall. Meeting in the council chambers, Hageman had an informal discussion time with local leaders including city council members, city officials, and representatives from Green River Police Department and Green River Fire Department. 

"We really appreciate you taking the time to come to the city of Green River," Mayor Pete Rust told Hageman. "We're really looking forward to working with you as you progress and help out the cities and the state of Wyoming."

"I work for you guys," Hageman told the city officials. "I represent you and I represent your communities. And so I want to amplify that voice."

Hageman and the attending officials discussed issues currently facing Wyoming and the nation, touching on topics including water rights, infrastructure, the border, housing needs, a current bill for veterans, and the balance between federal and local authority. 

Water and infrastructure 

Much of the discussion during Hageman's visit focused around the connected issues of water rights and infrastructure needs. 

Hageman explained her past work connected to water rights and said she is currently on the water subcommittee for the Natural Resources Committee, so she is dedicated to protecting water users in Wyoming.

"Wyoming has water in our bank," she said. "We need to protect that water resource for the long-term future of Wyoming."

She also said that infrastructure projects, especially those connected to water and sewer, are high on her list, and she wants to make sure the federal government is doing their part in those areas. 

"Our government is dealing with so many things that it shouldn't, it becomes incapable of doing the things that it should," she said. "And that's why we start seeing our infrastructure failing."

The border and housing

Controlling the border and illegal immigration into the US was another issue Hageman mentioned as one of her priorities. 

"Ten times the population of Wyoming has come across that border illegally in the last two years," she said. "And it affects every one of our communities."

Green River Chief of Police Tom Jarvie mentioned a recent increase in fatal overdose numbers in Green River, noting that the international drug trade can affect us in our own community. Hageman asked to be given information and data on local issues with fentanyl, drugs, human trafficking, illegal aliens, increases in crime, problems with housing, and related issues. 

Hageman also noted that people who come into the country illegally typically go into debt to the cartel and have to pay off their debt by running drugs or being involved in sex trafficking, and she referenced problems with rape and other issues that occur for people involved in illegal immigration. 

"It is a humanitarian crisis that we need to address," Hageman said. "So far there's just not people in DC with the guts to do it."

She also noted that a related issue is the housing shortages throughout the nation. This led into discussions of housing shortages in Wyoming, which City Administrator Reed Clevenger admitted there are no easy solutions for, even when housing shortages come from good things like economic development.

Hageman and others pointed out the developments coming to Sweetwater County, like mine expansions and the nuclear facility coming to Kemmerer. She also acknowledged that these opportunities create more need for solutions with housing as well as water usage and infrastructure.

A bill for veterans and congressional bill amendments

City Council Member Sherry Bushman brought up a recent bill designed to help veterans, the VA Same Day Scheduling Act of 2023, which Hageman acknowledged she is a co-signer on. The bill is designed to ensure that veterans who call to request care can schedule an appointment during that phone call. 

Bushman asked Hageman if there was language in the bill to cover other situations, such as if a caregiver for a veteran were the one making the phone call on the veteran's behalf. While Hageman admitted she wasn't sure about all the specific language in the bill off the top of her head, she encouraged Bushman to call her office to be able to find out, and said she also wants to be sure the bill is as helpful to veterans as it can be. 

"We have a suicide issue in the state of Wyoming and I know that a lot of our veterans are suffering, and so we need to make sure that we're providing them with the care that they're entitled to," Hageman said. 

Hageman also pointed out that in case there isn't specific enough language on the bill, she wants to know so that they can make changes to it. She pointed out that there are new rules in Congress to allow amendments to bills while they are still on the floor.

"Now with the new rules, which was part of what was negotiated during the standoff, if you will, in getting a speaker in place, we do and we will and we are making amendments directly from the floor," Hageman explained. 

Federal and local control 

Throughout most of the discussions, Hageman pointed out the need for finding the balance between what should be controlled and managed in Washington, DC and what should stay on a state and local level. 

"I am pretty much opposed, in large part, to the federal government taking over a lot of this stuff," Hageman said. "I don't want the Feds involved in a lot of the things that we do."

Along these lines, Chief Jarvie brought up the topic of potential requirements for law enforcement accreditation, and his belief that Wyoming should be evaluated differently than law enforcement in big cities. Jarvie also pointed out that many solutions larger groups are looking at for law enforcement involve community policing, which is what small communities like Green River are already practicing. 

Hageman agreed that things like law enforcement accreditation should be a state issue and that it is another area where she wants local authorities to get ahold of her and her staff so she can represent their concerns when dealing with bigger agencies and organizations. 

"One of the challenges that I have is getting people to understand what it's like to live in Wyoming," Hageman said, pointing out that things work differently in Wyoming than in lots of other places.

City Public Affairs and Grants Manager Ryan Rust pointed out that Wyoming's unique situations and needs can lead to challenges in things like getting grants, which Hageman acknowledged. 

"I would like to take more power out of Washington DC, return it to the states, keep our money in our states, in our communities. That's a long term goal," Hageman said. "I'm sure not going to fix that one in the next year or two. But it's something through spending reform in our budgeting process that I hope that we can do." 

Hageman ended the discussion by saying she's been impressed by the people she's met in Congress and believes they are there for the right reasons.

"They actually want to make some changes because they know we're going to have to make some difficult decisions," she said. "I'm not here to sugarcoat anything. We're going to have to make some difficult decisions, but we have to start somewhere."