Pinedale on the Web!
Pinedale, Wyoming
Home | Calendar of Events | Photo Gallery | Local Businesses |

Sublette's GOP Bill Winney (candidate for U.S. House), Dave and Mary Lankford, and Katie McClure enjoy Saturday's GOP meeting in Casper. Susan & Barbara Susan Thomas greets U.S. Representative Barbara Cubin after Cubin's speech to the GOP. Cubin has a broken left foot, so she's currently on crutches.

U.S. Representative Barbara Cubin spoke to the Wyoming
Republican Party Central Committee meeting Saturday
morning, announcing she will not seek re-election.

This is the text of her speech:

I have come here today to talk with you about the 2008
election. Right now, many pundits in Washington, D.C. are
saying that the Republican Party is headed for another
tough election in 2008. Many of them have already
declared that Hillary Clinton will be the next president
and that the Democrats will stay in control of Congress
for the foreseeable future.

These pundits point to the obvious tell-tale signs of
impending doom for the Republican Party, like:

• The national Democrat parties have raised more
money than the Republicans,

• More Republicans are retiring from office than Democrats,

• Citizens overwhelmingly disapprove of the job that
the president and vice president are doing,

• Nothing has really changed politically since 2006.

My friends, these pundits are wrong.

If you believe them, then you believe the same people who;

• Predicted a John Kerry landslide in 2004,

• Who predicted a Democrat takeover of the House in every election since 1996,

• Who predicted that the Republican Party could never win a majority in the US House in 1994,

• Who were sure that Vice President George H.W. Bush was too unpopular
and weak to ever get elected president, and

• Who were certain that Ronald Reagan would cause World War III and would also wreck our economy doing it.

Now, the one thing that these pundits are getting right is that they don't think the Democrat Congress has done a good job either. It shouldn't be a surprise given that Nancy Pelosi just a week or so ago told the country that she also disapproved of the Congress she supposedly leads. If the Speaker of the House says her party is doing a bad job, how can you argue with that?

So, we all - the entire country - including the Democrats in charge - agree that the Democrats in Congress are doing a terrible job. But you may not realize just how bad. So let me tell you a little bit about their record.

Up until 2 days ago the Democrat Congress hadn't passed a single appropriations bill. There are 13 that need to be passed to have a completed budget and they still need to pass 11.

What about the SCHIP debacle??? They spend so much time voting to surrender to Al Queda and investigating the President they have no time for America.

And when they do scratch out some time for us, someone like the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Charlie Rangel from New York, introduces legislation that would not only eliminate the tax cuts we passed in 2001 and 2003, but would raise taxes on small business owners, the self-employed, investors, and millions of families with two wage earners.

Now let's be clear - we are NOT just talking about reversing the tax cuts that we passed in 2001 and 2003. The Democrat plan sponsored by Charlie Rangel would impose a 4% surtax on single people making over $150,000 and married people making over $200,000. That's a new tax, that's bad for the economy, bad for families, and just plain bad for America!

And that's the team Gary Trauner wants to join. We can't let him. No matter what he says, no matter what he wants you to believe, Nancy Pelosi and Charlie Rangel lead that party and he will gladly follow. Don't you ever forget what he said in the last election:

Eliminating a tax cut is not increasing taxes if the cut "shouldn't have happened in the first place.”

He also said with regard to Iraq:

“I'm against any war when I don't know what we're fighting for. I don't know why we're over there.”

I know why we are over there. We are over there to prevent more 9/11s from taking place in their country. We are there to help the Iraqi people stand up for themselves. We are there right now to advance freedom around the globe and to protect all mankind from the evil world cultivated by the Jihadists.

I know this because in September I was there. I saw for myself the progress we are making. I have seen with my own eyes the bravery and commitment of our troops. I have seen that the Iraqi people still need us. We cannot abandon them. We will not abandon them.

We cannot let Gary Trauner win. He is wrong for Wyoming, wrong for America, and I know we won't let him win.

It has been one of the highest honors of my life to represent you in Congress. It is still thrilling to me. Not so much the trappings of office, but the things that a citizen can accomplish for their fellow citizens in order to make their life better and to advance freedom.

Since 1994, I have;

• Won House approval of soda ash royalty relief on four separate occasions. The royalty relief language was signed into law October, 2006.

• After five years of work, won House and Senate approval of the Sales Tax Equity Act, which allows people in Wyoming to deduct sales tax on their federal income tax returns. The bill was signed into law October 22, 2004.

• I was able to pass and enacted into law legislation transferring ownership of Ranch A in northeast Wyoming near Beulah to the federal government. This historical ranch is now a source for wildlife research, a learning center for students and a historical landmark.

• I introduced and garnered broad support for, and championed through the House during the 109th Congress, legislation - now law - that repays Wyoming over $435 million owed under the Abandoned Mine Land (AML) rogram and an additional $1.6 billion over the next 15 years while simultaneously providing for the continued clean-up of abandoned mine sites across the nation.

• I have held dozens of hearings as Chair of the House Resources Committee's Energy and Minerals Subcommittee on issues like coal bed methane and domestic energy production.

• In 2001, I was elected by my colleagues to be the House Republican Conference Secretary. At the time, I was the 6th highest ranking member of the House.

• In 1994, I became the first woman to be elected to a federal office in the State of Wyoming.

• In 2006, I became only the second person in the history of Wyoming to win seven state wide elections.

• I have served longer in the U.S. House than any other Wyomingite save for Frank W. Mondell from Newcastle. He served 13 terms and became the Majority Leader of the US House in 1919 and served in that position until he retired in 1923.

I now know how Frank Mondell must have felt in 1922. For seven terms, I have served with my friends in Congress from Wyoming and other states, both Republicans and Democrats. I have served with Al Simpson, Craig Thomas, Mike Enzi, and Dick Cheney.

I have worked with you to make Wyoming and America a better place, to give our children a brighter future. Together, we have made history.

In contemplating 2008, my overwhelming consideration has been the need of my family for me to come home.

My friends, my service in Congress will come to an end in January of 2009; I will not stand for re-election in 2008.

I look forward to coming home to be a friend, wife, mother, and especially a grandmother. I look forward to being a private citizen and a good ol' Wyoming Republican. I look forward to watching a new generation of Wyoming Republicans assume the mantle of leadership in our state, and I relish the idea of never seeing another nasty headline about me again.

I want to thank you and all of Wyoming for giving me the opportunity to serve in Congress. I couldn't have done it without the help, love and support of many people in this room and throughout Wyoming. You have buoyed me when I was down, inspired me in difficult times, supported me in difficult elections, and, most of all, made me proud to call Wyoming my home. I cannot wait to come home and be with you all for good!

Thank you and God bless you all.
___________________________________
Photos by Cat Urbigkit

Related Links Barbara Cubin's website