Wyoming’s Cynthia Lummis acknowledges that fellow Republican senators haven’t accomplished everything they wanted, but she says Democrats should get the blame in the midterms.
As one of her examples, she spent over a year trying to reach a bipartisan cryptocurrency regulation deal with Democrats, who ultimately opposed it unanimously.
Now, just weeks before Election Day, the senator says she has lost a lot of hope in working with Democrats.
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“The Democrats … have expressed their hatred for President Trump in ways that blind them to good policy,” she said Wednesday in an interview with The Washington Times at her Capitol Hill office. “Trump needs the support of a Republican Senate and hopefully both houses to move his agenda forward.”
Ms. Lummis says she negotiated with Democrats for 13 months on the Clarity Act, legislation designed to clear up confusion on how federal regulators share oversight of cryptocurrency.
Every Democrat blocked the bill, with figures such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts demanding additional restrictions on the president’s ability to profit from crypto and objecting to how it would expand the role of digital assets in the financial system.
“I did not see that coming,” said Ms. Lummis, who decided not to run for reelection so she could devote her energy to negotiations, leaving GOP nominee Harriet Hageman as the favorite to fill the seat. “What they proved is they’re not honest brokers, that they are anti-digital assets.”
In the closing days before the elections, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, has similarly portrayed Democrats as the “party of no,” pointing to their blocking of funding measures, as well as bills meant to confront insider trading and data center-related rate hikes.
But Republican senators are the ones who often get the blame for bills stalling in the Senate.
The president, the party’s base and House Republicans often chide the Senate GOP for not overriding the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster — a century-old rule that lets the minority block legislation.
Specifically, Mr. Trump has said the chamber should pull out all the stops to pass the SAVE America Act — legislation requiring photo identification and proof of citizenship in elections.
“I want to keep the filibuster,” said Ms. Lummis. “What I would have done differently is vote every Monday night … on the SAVE Act.”
She says the filibuster “strengthens the hand of the smaller states,” and her party should not be blamed for the SAVE Act not passing.
“We voted on the SAVE Act multiple times, and the Democrats voted against it,” she said. “It’s a two-party system, and the Democrats have killed good policy, not the Republicans.”
At the same time, Ms. Lummis says Republicans have had great success in “lowering taxes and closing the border and reducing crime,” although they struggle in “articulating that message.”
Ahead of the midterms, Ms. Lummis has her hands full at her Wyoming ranch, which burned in a fire in September.
But if she can find time to hit the campaign trail, Ms. Lummis says she’d like to help two Republican Senate candidates: Mike Rogers in Michigan and Michele Tafoya in Minnesota, both running against hard-left candidates.
Of Ms. Tafoya, the Wyomingite said, “She’s not as conservative as I am. I don’t care. She’s an honest broker with integrity who deserves to win.”
Ms. Lummis takes the Democratic Party’s shift to the left seriously and hopes the party’s nonsocialist wing wins the ideological battle.
“I’m worried that it has grassroots appeal to young people who don’t realize the harm of socialism,” she said. “I’m afraid that by being weak-kneed towards these socialists and communists that are running as Democrats, the Democratic Party is ceding itself to those people. And it’s dangerous.”
Even more dangerous, she said, is her party’s lack of enthusiasm heading into Nov. 3.
“The Democrats seem more animated. Right now, Republicans seem less committed to turn out to vote,” she said. “I’m worried about Republicans not voting at all. … Republicans need to spend a lot of time on turnout.”
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