[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Pages 24479-24480]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    AMERICA'S ECONOMIC STATE OF MIND

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I rise today to submit for the Record a 
letter I received from the mayor of Evanston, WY, William Davis.
  Evanston is a wonderful community located in the Bear River Valley of 
southwest Wyoming. The town was founded in the 1800's during 
construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad. Today, over 11,000 
people call Evanston home.
  Mayor Davis wrote to me last week. He wanted me to know that 
individuals and communities across Wyoming are feeling the impact of 
America's current economic times. This does not come as a surprise. 
What I found of particular interest in Mayor Davis' letter was his 
observations regarding the primary factor driving our economy: 
Americans' anxiety about the future.
  Like Mayor Davis, I hear regularly from the people of Wyoming who are 
concerned about the future of our country. They are anxious about the 
changes being proposed in Washington. They are concerned about losing 
control over their own lives to Federal bureaucracies. They are angry 
about the financial train wreck called the Federal deficit that is 
picking up steam and headed their way.
  Mr. President, the mayor's sentiments are shared by thousands of 
people across Wyoming. I would ask that his letter be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                    City of Evanston, Wyoming,

                                               September 28, 2009.
     Senator Mike Enzi,
     Russell Senate Office Building,
     Washington, DC.
     Senator John Barrasso,
     Dirksen Senate Office Building,
     Washington, DC.
     Representative Cynthia Lummis,
     Longworth House Office Building,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Sirs and Madam, you have already heard that sales tax 
     revenues in Wyoming have been plunging for quite some time as 
     the economic times continue to challenge the people who live 
     and work here. I am also confident that you are all well 
     aware of the impact that these lost taxes have on local 
     governments in the state-- Uinta County's sales taxes for 
     this fiscal year are down nearly 35% from this same time last 
     year. Evanston's last distribution from the Department of 
     Revenue was 48% less than for this same month last year!
       It goes without saying that we are spending many hours 
     looking into our budgets for ways to provide city services to 
     our residents and citizens while facing head on the loss of 
     such important revenues. We will survive but it will be 
     painful to say the least.
       This brings me to the reason for this letter. I have been 
     giving much thought and consideration to the reasons that 
     people are not spending their money on those items that 
     generate sales taxes that the local governments depend so 
     heavily upon. Without trying to pick a fight I think that 
     Congress shares much of the burden for the fears and feelings 
     that are keeping citizens and businesses from spending money.
       Every day we hear the news of a new $800 billion program 
     here or a $1 trillion overhaul of the healthcare system. 
     Seniors hear about a potential loss of Medicare benefits that 
     will cost them more out of pocket for many of their daily 
     needs. Young families see the prices of groceries and 
     utilities on the rise. It is harder for them to afford the 
     basic needs of their children when it comes to school 
     supplies and new clothes. They hear that energy costs to heat 
     their homes and drive their cars are going to go up because 
     of a new cap and trade bill already passed by the House and 
     awaiting action in the Senate. Businesses are stagnant as 
     well while their owners and managers wait to see just what 
     the federal government is going to change that will affect 
     the way they do business. What costs will increase? Will I 
     have to pay even more out from my shrinking bottom line to 
     cover increased costs of unemployment? Healthcare? Utilities? 
     With shrinking sales can I even afford to keep my current 
     employees let alone hire anyone additional? The list just 
     seems to go on and on.
       Why would a business seek to expand or hire someone else 
     until these issues are all ironed out? Why would a mother and 
     father plan a vacation or purchase almost anything that is 
     not a necessity when there is so much that is unknown about 
     their future? Will there be an income? Will I have any 
     benefits? Will the prices continue to rise? How can I save 
     for my kids education expenses? What will my taxes be in the 
     future? How much higher can my credit card interest rate go?
       These are the questions in the real world that I live in 
     everyday. I don't have to travel back to Wyoming to get this 
     perspective. I hear about it everyday when I go the store or 
     out to dinner. People share their fears and anxieties with me 
     almost everywhere I go these days. Try as I might to offer 
     some assurances that we can work together to make

[[Page 24480]]

     things better my efforts are not very successful.
       My quick solution to these problems? Tell Congress to back 
     off for awhile. Certainly there are many problems that need 
     to be addressed on the national level. We all want to have a 
     clean and healthy environment but we all want to have a job 
     as well. All of us would like to see roads and bridges 
     improved and made safer but we also need food to eat and 
     clothes to wear. No one wants to see someone suffer because 
     they don't have adequate health insurance but no one wants to 
     lose that benefit themselves because their employer just laid 
     people off or, worse yet, just closed the doors. In most 
     communities people are used to rallying and supporting their 
     neighbors when they face a sudden illness or get a terminal 
     diagnosis, but if they can't pay the rent they can't do much 
     for their neighbor either.
       They read that the national debt ceiling just had to be 
     raised but only by a couple of trillion dollars, so not that 
     much more. The people that talk to me aren't stupid. They 
     know the day of reckoning for all of this spending is coming. 
     They are trying their best to be ready for it but they also 
     know that they won't be able to save enough today to be ready 
     for that tomorrow. They see the treasury print more money or 
     sell more of our debt to a foreign nation and they know that 
     this is not good. They used to be able to get some money to 
     cover their debts from their house but this has gone away. 
     They used to have some retirement funds in the market but 
     this has gone away. They used to think about retirement at 
     some point in their lives but now figure they will be working 
     much longer now than they had once thought.
       Their decisions to not spend money really hurt on the local 
     level in Wyoming. I suspect the same is true in many other 
     states because we (local governments) do not have the means 
     to reach directly into their pockets to get the necessary 
     funds for our services like the federal and state governments 
     do.
       People and businesses are hunkered down and holding tight 
     while they wait to see when the Congress is going to quit 
     proposing massive and expensive changes to the entire 
     landscape of the country. If this were a battlefront I would 
     say that the current strategies being employed are a well 
     thought out and all encompassing assault. We are effectively 
     being surrounded. We have no open flanks to escape through. 
     Almost every aspect of our lives appears to be exposed and we 
     have no way to cover it up.
       I ask the question then: are we creating more panic and 
     fear with all that is going on? If we just settled down and 
     got out of crisis mode would businesses begin to expand on 
     their own? Would people once again shop without fear this 
     could be their last shopping trip for awhile? If everyone 
     just stopped and took in a very deep breath and exhaled 
     slowly would the increased flow of oxygen into the body bring 
     clearer thoughts and a more relaxing mood?
       It is almost the first of October. It just doesn't seem to 
     me that we need to disarm and dismantle all of the world's 
     nuclear arms; create a massive overhaul of the world's best 
     healthcare system; return the atmosphere to a pre 1950's 
     condition; balance a federal budget; save every endangered 
     species; find a cure for H1N1 virus; create a vaccine for 
     HIV/AIDS; declare what is left of the public lands in the 
     west as wilderness; save the polar ice cap; become energy 
     self sufficient; tear down all of the coal fired generation 
     facilities; replace every incandescent light bulb with a 
     fluorescent one; paint every roof top in the United States 
     white; and do everything else that is being talked about and 
     have it all done by the end of this year. It makes no sense 
     to me and I don't think it makes much sense to anyone else.
       I realize that none of you belong to the party currently 
     ``in power'' (such an awful term), but there may be something 
     that you can do to just slow things down some. The people of 
     this country need time to catch their breath.
       Thank you for letting me share my thoughts with you. We 
     will continue to do the best we can at picking up the pieces 
     that are left to us. We will also continue to hope for bigger 
     pieces to come our way.
           Respectfully yours,
                                                 William R. Davis,
     Mayor.

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