Wyoming Republican gains power as he prepares to start fourth term in Senate

Sen. Mike Enzi considers Sen. Jeff Sessions a good friend.

The two Republicans, Enzi from Wyoming, Sessions from Alabama, entered the Senate in 1997 and were re-elected to fourth terms on Nov. 4. They have common views on most issues and are both eager to serve in the majority, since the GOP seized control of the Senate in the election.

But there’s the rub. Both men want to chair the Senate Budget Committee.

“We’re very good friends. We came in together, worked together,” Enzi told the Powell Tribune Tuesday. “Both of us would like to be chairman.”

Enzi has served longer on the committee than any other Republican, while Sessions is the ranking member. That post is, according to congress.org, the “most senior (though not necessarily the longest-serving) member of the minority party on a committee (or subcommittee). The ranking member typically oversees minority committee staff and may coordinate involvement of the minority party committee members in committee activities.”

Enzi could have been the ranking member, but he allowed Sessions to assume that role in 2012, a move he said he does not regret. He said he feels he would be a better chairman than a ranking member because of the different talents those jobs call for during a congressional term.

“The ranking member is a defensive position,” Enzi said. “Sen. Sessions is the best there is on defense. He’s a good attorney and knows how to ask probing questions. On the other hand, I’m one of the best on offense, attested by the number of bills I’ve passed.”

He said his primary goal is to produce a budget by April 15, and he and Sessions will work together on forging it, along with other members of the committee, since there is a “real mix of talent” on that panel.

It’s still a game of musical chairs in the Senate, as members decide where they want to sit and what committees they wish to lead.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, could move from ranking member to chairman of the Judiciary Committee, unless he wishes to reclaim the chairmanship of the Finance Committee.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the current ranking member on Finance, has let it be known he wishes to chair the committee. But if Grassley takes the Finance Committee reins, Sessions would likely take over Judiciary.

That would leave Enzi an unobstructed path to become chair of the Budget Committee.

“We’re still talking to see what roles each of us can play to get the jobs done,” he said.

Still another factor, Enzi said, is the Dec. 6 runoff election in Louisiana. Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Democrat, is seeking a fourth term, but Rep. Bill Cassidy, a Republican, is seen as the favorite. If Cassidy wins, the Republicans would hold 54 Senate seats, with 44 Democrats and two independents who caucus with the Democrats.

That would be a gain of nine for the GOP. Enzi said he followed the campaigns closely and predicted Republicans would pick up eight seats.

“I would like to be wrong,” he said with a soft laugh.

If the GOP has such a commanding majority, it would be able to have a two-member advantage in committees, as Democrats do during the current session. That means the committee membership still is up in the air as well.

That could be a factor, since if Enzi and Sessions cannot decide among themselves who will chair the committee, the Republican committee members will vote on it.

Committees and goals

Enzi currently serves on these committees: Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, which he chaired for two years and was the ranking member of for six; Budget, Small Business and Entrepreneurship; Finance; Homeland Security and Government Affairs. It’s likely he will remain on them.

Enzi said he plans to play an active role on the HELP Committee, since health and education are primary interests of his.

“I have a big role in that committee,” he said. “I’m considered the foremost authority on pensions.”

In addition, he wants to work with Democrats to get bills passed and signed into law. In the past, he teamed with liberal icon Ted Kennedy and other Democrats to do just that. Now, Enzi said he hopes to team with a Democrat on the Budget Committee.

“Somebody that really likes to legislate, not someone who is just an opponent,” he said. “I have found I can work with just about anybody.”

Enzi said his approach is to talk to people on a one-to-one basis.

“I haven’t found that speeches on the floor work all that much,” he said.

Enzi said he wants his fellow Senate Republicans to recognize his ability to get bills enacted into law, while also recalling that he has handled major conferences before.

“I’ve always been successful on all the committees,” he said. “I was always able to get my bills to move.”

Enzi claimed a fourth term in a landslide win over Democrat Charlie Hardy and two other challengers, but he said he still worked hard.

“I didn’t really consider it an easy re-election,” he said. “I always run for the job, not against anyone. I traveled 7,000 miles in the last five weeks and another 5,000 miles before the primary.”

With the election behind him, Enzi said he wants to continue his service to Wyoming. If someone has a problem that he can help with, he wants to hear from them.

“I never ask them if they’re a Republican or a Democrat,” he said. “I’ve solved over 12,000 of them.”

But he has seen little of that bipartisan spirit in Washington, which is one reason voters turned so strongly to the GOP, he said.

“I think the biggest one is that we didn’t process in the Senate and that made it a gridlock Senate,” Enzi said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid ignored historical patterns and would not allow bills to be worked on in committee or amended on the floor. That meant senators could not show their constituents they were representing their viewpoint, Enzi said.

“When the process gets stymied like that, bills don’t get passed,” he said. “Those amendments have to be done in committee. That’s how I like to operate, and that’s what works.”

Enzi said Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican who will be in charge of the Senate in the new year, has been listening to his colleagues.

“We’ve put pressure on him for a long time to declare we will go back to doing committee work and open amendments on the floor,” he said.

Enzi said there are many issues to work on, including fixing problems with President Obama’s health care reform law, the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

“Even he recognizes that the health care system we have in place is broken and needs some fixes,” he said.

No Child Left Behind, a reformed tax code  — “I’ve been talking about that for a long time” — and getting a budget completed on time are all things the veteran senator wants to see accomplished in the next two years.

His penny plan — which would cut 1 cent from each dollar spent by the federal government — would balance the budget in three years, according to the former accountant.

Enzi said he hoped President Obama would recognize the election outcome and seek to work closer with Congress. But he’s not holding his breath.

“From his comments so far, I don’t think so,” he said. “I’m really disappointed in that.”

Enzi said he talks with the president from time to time, but doesn’t feel Obama listens. That’s why things have been stalemated for years, he said, since progress needs to “start with a leader and work their way down.”

Enzi said he’s been told Obama does not listen to advice from numerous sources, from Democrats in Congress to former government officials.

“I know they’re not soliciting any comments,” he said.

Finding ‘common ground’

The state’s senior senator said he always has worked with people on both sides of the aisle.

“I collect votes from everybody. I’m bipartisan,” he said. “I’m willing to find common ground. The public really expects that.”

There is some speculation that Obama will use vetoes, or the threat of them, to limit what the Republican-controlled Congress can do. A presidential veto prevents a bill from becoming law and can only be overturned by a two-thirds vote of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Obama has used the veto sparingly, only twice vetoing bills, the last time in October 2010. Both of his vetoes stood, as the House failed to overturn either of them.

By contrast, President George W. Bush issued 12 vetoes and three were overturned.

During the half-hour discussion with the Tribune, Enzi surprisingly referred to a comment from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a liberal Democratic congresswoman from San Francisco, to make his point. While Republicans control both the House and the Senate, they do not have enough votes to overturn vetoes from President Obama, but Obama must be aware of the impact using the veto will have, he said. A veto “hands Congress a megaphone,” he said.

Then, citing Pelosi, a popular target for conservative Republicans, he said if Obama uses the veto, he will spotlight the lack of cooperation in Washington, D.C.

“When something doesn’t make it through the legislative process, no one knows,” he said, paraphrasing a line Pelosi used when George W. Bush was president. “But when the president vetoes a bill, everyone knows.”

Enzi said he didn’t want to say who he favored for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

He said if he did so, “I’d offend a whole bunch of the other ones.”

A lot of politicians are dreaming about the White House right now, he said, but the GOP process “hasn’t shaken out.”

Enzi said his party’s candidate may be a governor, noting several Republicans were re-elected or elected to lead their states. They are “administrative folks” and are often seen as better fits for the presidency than members of Congress.

The GOP may have a good chance to win the presidency, Enzi said.

“That depends on what the Senate and House do in the next two years,” he said. It needs to “set the stage for what needs to be done” and that can have a “tremendous influence” on the candidates.

As far as himself, Enzi said he “never considered it,” in part because his wife, Diana, told him she would leave him if he mounted a campaign for president. The couple has been married for 45 years, and he said he values her opinion greatly.

“That plays a big role,” he said with a chuckle. “She’s a real extrovert and knows how to advise me and is a better speaker than me. Wyoming’s fortunate; it gets two for one.”

Although he was just elected to his fourth term, Enzi said he isn’t ready to say his political career is winding down. He has saved and stored his campaign signs, he noted.

Enzi turns 71 on Feb. 1, but senators and House members have been known to serve in their 80s and even their 90s.

“You can get more done the longer you’re here,” he said. “People trust you if you’ve been doing a good job. You know better how the system works.”

Staffers for Sens. Mike Enzi and John Barrasso and Rep. Cynthia Lummis will be in Powell and Cody on Friday.

Field representatives Reagen Green (Enzi), Pam Buline (Barrasso) and Ryan McConnaughey (Lummis) are scheduled to be at the conference room at Cody City Hall, 1138 Rumsey Ave. from 10-11 a.m. and in the Powell City Hall Council Chambers, 270 North Clark St., from 1:30-2:30 p.m.

Area residents are encouraged to visit with the representatives to discuss issues or views regarding federal government issues. These ideas and concerns will then be relayed to the congressional delegation.