The Enzi Update – January 2017 Newsletter

WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 -- The office of Sen. Michael B. Enzi, R-Wyo., issued the following newsletter:

Senators seek to repeal death tax

U.S. Senators Mike Enzi and John Barrasso, both R-Wyo., joined Senator John Thune, R-S.D., to re-introduce legislation to permanently repeal the federal estate tax, better known as the death tax.

Enzi and Barrasso said the bill would permanently abolish the tax on family farms, ranches and small businesses. The senators believe a family's assets, sometimes built up over generations, should be left in the hands of the family and will be put to better use there in the local community than shipped off to a wasteful Washington.

Refreshing to see our government support energy development

Enzi issued the following statement after President Trump signed executive orders aimed at advancing the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines.

"It is refreshing to see an administration that is committed to energy production and job creation," Enzi said. "It's time the country stop yielding to the whims of unreasonable anti-energy groups and instead do what is right to provide its citizens with reliable and affordable energy. These types of infrastructure projects can provide a great benefit to our country and I look forward to working with President Trump to support American energy production across the country."

Senators intro bipartisan bill to delist gray wolf

U.S. Senators Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Barrasso, Enzi, Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., introduced bipartisan legislation recently that would delist the gray wolf in Wyoming, Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota from the Endangered Species Act. The bill restores the wolf to the status determined to be appropriate by Department of Interior wildlife experts.

The bill would also allow wolf management plans that are based on federal and state wildlife expertise to move forward without any legal ambiguity.

"The people who are closest to the areas where wolves are being delisted have the best understanding of how to manage them and should be left to do so. This bill would allow that to happen without interference from the courts," Enzi said. "This is an issue that Wyoming has been dealing with for decades. I trust local wildlife managers to manage wildlife better than judges, lawyers and the self-serving administrators and lobbyists of environmental groups in Washington thousands of miles away."

White House budget office will be critical to America's pressing fiscal challenges

During a hearing considering Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., to lead the White House Office of Management and Budget, Enzi, Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said he would like to see a director of the president's budget office in place as soon as possible. He noted that the nation has many pressing budgetary issues requiring the attention of the new Administration, foremost among these is the staggering $20 trillion debt burden America now shoulders.

"I am pleased that President Trump has nominated a fiscal conservative for this key post," Enzi said. "Mr. Mulvaney has been a vigilant budget hawk during his six years in Congress, including during his time on the House budget and oversight committees. He has been a vocal contributor to the great budget debates of recent years - focused on the question of how we ultimately stop the federal government from overspending, while continuing to fund the country's core priorities and responsibilities. Mr. Mulvaney has also been a prominent voice arguing for fiscal restraint, balanced budgets and honest budgeting that avoids the use of gimmicks such as emergency funding designations for non-emergencies."

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