Cynthia Lummis

Cynthia Lummis has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the At-Large district of the State of Wyoming, since 2009.

Taxes and the Economy
On her campaign website, Lummis vows to keep taxes low and believes that money is spent best by the people who earned them and not by the government. She has also pledged to oppose all federal tax increase proposals, and instill fiscal discipline on the federal government.

Energy
Lummis says she supports increasing clean coal research, increasing delivery systems such as transmission lines and pipelines to transport resources, and increasing our share of wind, solar, and biomass generated power to improve U.S energy policy.

Second Amendment
Lummis believes that the 2nd Amendment guarantees the right of individuals to own and use firearms and that the government may not broadly limit private firearm ownership. She opposes firearms registration, imposing a new waiting period on the purchase of a handgun, maintaining records on any lawful gun buyer and federal legislation to require firearm owner licensing.

Healthcare
Lummis believes that the private sector will provide affordable healthcare options to all Americans. She supports changing the tax code to make all healthcare expenses tax-deductible, policies that allow families purchase health insurance nationwide, portability of insurance across jobs, development of safe, less-expensive generic drugs and the development of tax-advantaged healthcare savings accounts.

Agriculture, Environment and Water
Lummis opposes increasing capital gains taxes.She supports livestock grazing on public lands developing common sense ethanol policies that do not subsidize corn-derived ethanol, reform of the Endangered Species Act to protect the rights of private property owners. Lummis says she will oppose any legislation that seeks to federalize Wyoming’s water through legislation like the Clean Water Act and she will expose the damaging impacts and unforeseen consequences of misguided federal policies.

National Defense
Lummis supports General Petraeus' and the troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan, modernization of the military and its use of alternative forms of warfare. She also says she supports increasing benefits, access to higher education and healthcare for veterans.

Immigration
Lummis is opposed to blanket amnesty for illegal immigrants. She does, however, support strengthening national borders, ensuring that employers are certain that their foreign workers are properly documented, increasing enforcement of current immigration law, making English the official language of the U.S. She believes that the number of guest worker visas should be increased and that the application period should be extended. She also believes that that illegal aliens should not receive social security benefits, medicaid benefits, food stamps, drivers licenses, or other benefits.

Social Issues
Lummis says on her campaign website that "the social and moral values of this very diverse nation are best reflected and protected at the state level, not the federal level". She supports confirming judges that judges do not make law, but interpret laws. She believes that marriage should be defined as between one man and one woman. She believes that abortion is a sin against God. Lummis opposes the repeal of the federal ban on partial birth abortions, federal funding for abortion and codifying the principles of Roe v. Wade into federal law. She also opposes federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, and human cloning. Lummis also says she supports the right of home schoolers to teach their children without government interference.

Bio
Lummis was born September 10, 1954, in Cheyenne, Wyo. She graduated from the University of Wyoming and has J.D. from the University of Wyoming College of Law. Lummis was elected to the Wyoming State House of Representatives in 1979 and served there until 1983. In 1993, she was elected to the Wyoming State Senate where she served until 1995. From 1999 to 2007, Lummis was the Wyoming State Treasurer. She and her husband, Al Wiederspahn, have one daughter.

2008 elections
Lummis won the primary on August 19, 2008 for the Republican nomination to replace incumbent Rep. Barbara Cubin (R-Wyo.). She defeated Bill Winney, Michael Holland and Mark Gordon. Lummis went on to defeat Democratic nominee Gary Trauner in the November 2008 general election.

Money in politics
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External resources

 * 2008 Race Tracker page on Wyoming’s at-large Congressional District
 * Official Lummis for Congress website