Republican John Barrasso, the junior senator from Wyoming, was appointed in June 2007 after Republican Sen. Craig Thomas died in office of leukemia. Barrasso was then elected in November 2008 to fill the remaining four years of Craig’s unexpired term. Barrasso’s intellect and unwavering conservatism have helped him quickly climb the GOP leadership ladder; he is vice chairman of the Senate Republican Conference. Read More
Republican John Barrasso, the junior senator from Wyoming, was appointed in June 2007 after Republican Sen. Craig Thomas died in office of leukemia. Barrasso was then elected in November 2008 to fill the remaining four years of Craig’s unexpired term. Barrasso’s intellect and unwavering conservatism have helped him quickly climb the GOP leadership ladder; he is vice chairman of the Senate Republican Conference.
Barrasso (bah-RAH-soh) grew up in Reading, Pa., the son of a World War II veteran who made a living as a cement finisher and who took his family to Washington every four years for the president’s inauguration. John Barrasso got his undergraduate and medical degrees from Georgetown University, and then moved to Wyoming in the 1980s and set up practice as an orthopedic surgeon in Casper. Barrasso quickly made his name in local Republican politics, serving as a Republican national committeeman and as state party treasurer. He also was a local radio and television personality, dispensing practical medical advice on news programs and in public service announcements. He also hosted the annual Jerry Lewis telethon for muscular dystrophy.
In 1996, Barrasso ran for the U.S. Senate when Republican Alan Simpson retired. He faced then-state Sen. Michael Enzi in a crowded GOP primary where the abortion issue played a key role. Running as a moderate, Barrasso favored abortion rights and had opposed a 1994 constitutional amendment to ban most abortions. Enzi, who had support from social conservatives, opposed abortion rights and narrowly edged out Barrasso 32% to 30%. The two then joined forces for the general election, with Barrasso serving as Enzi’s finance chairman in the fall.
In 2002, Barrasso won election to the state Senate, where he worked on health care issues and chaired the Transportation, Highways and Military Affairs Committee. He sponsored a bill to increase the criminal penalty for killing a pregnant woman, but then-Democratic Gov. Dave Freudenthal vetoed it. He occasionally crossed the political aisle to join with Democrats, backing a bill to exempt food from the state sales tax and supporting a ban on smoking in public buildings. He also sponsored a law enabling physicians to talk freely with patients about medical complications, without the risk that the conversations could be used against them in a lawsuit.
After Thomas died on June 4, 2007, the state Republican State Central Committee had 15 days to select three candidates to fill the vacancy, from which the governor was required to pick the successor under Wyoming law. That triggered a scramble by 31 candidates who applied for consideration. They conducted a week-long beauty pageant among the 71 members of the party committee. The roster of applicants included state Rep. Colin Simpson, the son of former U.S. Sen. Simpson, and numerous state legislators, attorneys, ranchers, and other professionals. Barrasso emphasized his strong conservative credentials, saying in a statement to the committee, “I believe in limited government, lower taxes, less spending, traditional family values, local control, and a strong national defense.” He noted he had an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association and that he had voted for prayer in public schools, sponsored legislation “to protect the sanctity of life,” and opposed gay marriage
The Republican committee named three finalists: Barrasso, Cynthia Lummis, who served 14 years in the legislature and two terms as state treasurer, and Tom Sansonetti, who had been Thomas’ chief of staff and an assistant attorney general in the Bush administration. Barrasso’s competitors had drawbacks: Lummis was not on good terms with the governor, and Sansonetti had been a lobbyist for mining, energy and ranching interests at a time lobbyists were unpopular with the public after a series of bribery and influence-peddling scandals involving lobbyists and members of Congress. Barrasso had worked with Freudenthal on health care issues in the legislature, and on June 22, the governor announced Barrasso as his choice.
In the Senate, Barrasso quickly won recognition from his peers. Washingtonian magazine’s anonymous survey of Capitol Hill staffers named him “brainiest senator” in 2010, along with Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse. In May of that year, the Republican attacked the Democrats’ health care law in a closed-door meeting that President Barack Obama held with Republicans. Obama became so irked by Barrasso’s comments that he reportedly reminded him there were no TV cameras in the room, prompting the senator to answer, “I’m saying this out of my most firm beliefs.” Barrasso became Republican Conference vice chairman in September, after Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski stepped aside when she decided to run—successfully—as a write-in candidate for election that fall. He was re-elected to another term in the position in November.
National Journal’s 2010 vote ratings tied Barrasso with six other Republicans as the most conservative members of the Senate. Although he opposed the Democratic proposal to extend the State Children’s Health Insurance Program in 2009, he successfully included a provision in the bill to benefit rural doctors and hospitals. Among his first bills was a proposal to withhold 10% of highway funds from states that issue driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. He does break with some conservatives in calling for lifting the U.S. ban on travel to Cuba, saying citizens should be free to visit relatives in the Communist island nation.
Barrasso focuses heavily on energy and public lands issues. He has been a particularly vehement critic of the Environmental Protection Agency and introduced a bill in February 2011 to bar the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. “This is not your parents’ EPA,” he said in a May 2011 speech. “ ... Your parents’ EPA focused on rebuilding the environment. This EPA is focused on remaking society.” In 2009, he and Oklahoma Republican James Inhofe, Congress’ leading climate change skeptic, accused the Obama administration of suppressing an EPA memo that criticized the science behind labeling carbon dioxide a greenhouse gas. Agency officials responded that the memo’s author was an economist, not a climate scientist, and denied it was kept under wraps.
Barrasso said the cap-and-trade bill regulating carbon emissions that failed to get through the Senate that year would unfairly punish his state’s farmers and ranchers. In opposing similar legislation in 2008, he said the bill would harm Wyoming’s coal industry, and he sought amendments to increase funding for states to implement the new standards and also to allow more types of coal to qualify for program incentives, benefiting Wyoming coal plants. On a bill to ban the exportation of elemental mercury, Barrasso got an exemption for mercury found in coal.
Continuing work on an issue that was dear to Thomas’ heart, Barrasso pushed for more protection of Wyoming wilderness and wildlife. He proposed legislation to protect undeveloped areas of the Wyoming range from oil and gas development and to preserve 387 miles around the Snake River. It became law as part of a larger land management bill in March 2009. Barrasso also supported removing gray wolves from the Endangered Species List because of the danger they pose to livestock. He told the Associated Press, “This is a Wyoming concern that requires a Wyoming solution. It does not require interference from Washington.” The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service eventually removed gray wolves from the list.
After the BP oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, Barrasso sought to create an independent commission to investigate the spill after questioning the expertise of the Obama administration’s bipartisan panel conducting its own probe. Also that year, Barrasso joined Senate Republicans in opposing the Interior Department’s new oil and gas leasing regulations. He joined West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin in 2011 on a bill seeking to expand use of alternative fuels, including those made from coal.
As the vice chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee, Barrasso also has been active on Indian-related issues. He introduced a bipartisan bill in April 2011 to pave the way for tribes to pursue homeownership and other economic development opportunities on tribal lands. A year earlier, he questioned a $3.4 billion settlement against the federal government for mismanaging Indian trust funds and suggested revisions to the settlement, including capping attorney fees and costs.
In 2008, Barrasso was unopposed in the Republican primary, and his eventual Democratic challenger was Gillette attorney Nick Carter, a political newcomer. Barrasso stressed his many years in public service in Wyoming and highlighted his early successes in the Senate. Carter tried to tie Barrasso to national Republicans and corporate special interests, but the assertions didn’t stick. Barrasso vastly outspent Carter, $2 million to $273,000. Barrasso won easily 73%-27%, carrying every county.
