Congressional gridlock, the war with Iran and frayed relations with Canada could all be resolved soon, says U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman.

“Everybody is waiting until Nov. 3,” Hageman said of the upcoming general election.

Speaking at a Saturday town hall event she hosted at Northwest College, Hageman said there seems to be a lot of angst among voters.

“... and I understand why,” she said, “I can understand some of the challenges that we have, and the challenges that we have with some of the prices, and what’s going on in Iran, and we seem like things are disrupted.”

However, Hageman said she’s “incredibly optimistic” about the country for many reasons, including its “skyrocketing” economy.

While acknowledging that gas prices are “very high,” she said workers’ wages have risen in the last year-and-a-half due to Republican policies; she also described the pricey fuel as “situational.”

“Those prices are going to come down when this conflict with Iran is over,” she said, “and I think that’s coming soon.”

Hageman, who supports President Donald Trump’s actions against Iran, said she doesn’t necessarily have any special insight into the conflict. However, she thinks Iranian leaders are among those waiting to see the results of the upcoming election. Hageman similarly predicted that the United States’ strained relationship with Canada — which she described as “not ideal” — will be resolved shortly after Nov. 3.

“I think that’s what everybody is waiting for,” she said.

Data center legislation

The waiting game also applies to Congress, where Hageman said even bipartisan efforts have stalled out.

As an example, she referenced the Ratepayer Protection Act, a measure she’s cosponsored that’s aimed at mitigating the impacts of data centers and other large electrical customers. The act would require state utility regulators to “consider” implementing a set of standards aimed at ensuring that large-load customers like data centers don’t result in higher prices for everyday customers. Regulators would have up to two years to make a determination.

The bill passed the House almost unanimously before being blocked by Senate Democrats. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in September that the act was a “toothless messaging bill” that doesn’t require any new protections.

Hageman, however, said the bill was nixed because Democrats “don’t want any further wins” coming out before the midterm elections. 

She expressed optimism that the Senate will reconsider the act after Nov. 3, “so that we can make sure that we are providing some guarantees to those communities that, if a data center comes in, your rates and our other industry groups, their rates will not be affected.”

Taking a break

The House is in the midst of a seven-week campaign recess that started two weeks earlier than planned.

“I think that we needed to stay longer and do our jobs,” Hageman said, but she said it’s been difficult to find consensus among the 218 House Republicans. Additionally, many of the 700-plus pieces of legislation passed by the GOP-led House this session have been killed or tied up in the GOP-led Senate, “so continuing to send them additional bills in many ways probably doesn’t make sense,” she said.

Hageman is currently running for the seat held by retiring Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., and “if I am fortunate enough to be able to go over there, I will work to try to get more House agenda items through,” she said.

Trucking rules

Hageman spoke at length about trucking regulations, including the need to ensure that commercial drivers can speak and read English. She noted that truck drivers who were in the country illegally or who were unfamiliar with U.S. traffic have caused serious, fatal crashes along Wyoming’s I-80 corridor in recent years.

Hageman also said she’s working to detect and crack down on so-called “chameleon carriers” that rack up violations, then change the name of the company and keep operating.

Beyond being unsafe, she indicated that unscrupulous carriers and illegal drivers are suppressing wages in the trucking industry, which she described as vital. To boost opportunities for young Americans, Hageman is trying to pass an act that would allow 18- to 20-year-olds to drive commercial vehicles across state lines as long as they stay within 150 miles of their home base.

“The trucking issues have been kind of front and center for us this particular session, just because of so many accidents that we’ve been seeing,” Hageman said, “and it’s not only safety for our trucks and our trucking companies, but it’s safety and security for the traveling public as well.”

Fraud and assistance

Hageman also stressed the importance of probing healthcare fraud. She called the topic “some of the most significant work that we’re doing right now” and predicted investigators will eventually find that hundreds of billions of dollars of state and federal funds have been misappropriated.

Hageman said she wants programs like Medicaid and Medicare to work into the future for low-income women, low-income children, people with disabilities and seniors.

“We have to clean up this fraud if we are going to protect these programs so that they are available for the people who paid into them,” she said.

Hageman later added that it was a good thing that Wyoming didn’t expand Medicaid to cover able-bodied, low income-earning adults. When Republicans passed the One Big Beautiful Bill last year, they included a work requirement for the expansion population that Hageman credited with resulting in the removal of “several million” people from Medicaid’s rolls.

In response to an audience question, she described the wide-ranging bill as cutting the $40 trillion national debt.

During the event, Hageman also mentioned that she’s sponsored legislation to secure roughly $40 million for projects in Wyoming, ranging from replacing lead water lines in Casper to buying new patrol vehicles in Buffalo.

Hageman also encouraged individuals to reach out if they’re having issues with a federal agency, saying she and her staff have solved 5,862 cases on behalf of Wyoming citizens and businesses; she called that “some of the most important work that we do.”

Surrogate babies

Other priorities included seeking more transparency around court settlements paid out by the federal government, making it easier for citizens to sue federal agencies or employees who violate their First Amendment rights, removing Endangered Species Act protections for the region’s grizzly bears and tightening up laws related to surrogacy.

Hageman argued that the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on birthright citizenship “obviously opened the floodgates on a variety of potentially very fraudulent activities” and said women are being exploited.

“… Chinese nationals are paying surrogates to have American citizen babies for them, taking them back to China, raising them in China,” she added. “But at 18 years old, they will be fully entitled to vote in our elections to come here as full citizens.”

She called the topic “very troubling.”

‘A lot to be proud of’

Hageman spoke for 45 minutes, then fielded questions for about a half-hour.

In the final question, Hageman was asked about the Pentagon’s recent announcement that it plans to livestream the execution of the former U.S. Army major who murdered 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009. Hageman said she hadn’t had a chance to really think about it, apologizing for not having a better answer.

As she then closed out the event, the congresswoman referenced the general feeling of angst among the American public. While some people dislike Trump, “what has happened is that the United States of America is really the center of the world right now in terms of finances, in terms of freedom, in terms of the ability to to go out and create your own businesses and be able to thrive,” Hageman said, adding, “We have a lot to be proud of in this country.”

Roughly 40 people attended the town hall, which had reportedly been publicized in Hageman's newsletter. The representative did not appear to have listed the event on her website, posted about it on her social media channels or announced it via news releases.

She was accompanied by a Wyoming state trooper, who stood just off stage, while Powell police officers monitored the area outside with a drone.