Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
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“My brother is an addict. I am raising his daughter.” That is one of the many responses I received when I asked constituents of the Fourth Congressional District how opioids and heroin abuse have affected people in our community. The responses are eye-opening to the heartbreaking cost of the opioid crisis in Central Washington: “The opioid crisis is destroying my family’s life,” and “my adult child has battled addiction for 20 years after taking post-surgery opioids at 18” are two more responses that are truly a call to act...
For months, my Pacific Northwest congressional colleagues and I have been raising our voices and working on legislation to prevent increasing forced spill at the lower Snake and Columbia River dams from raising electricity rates in our region by $40 million. That forced spill order, the result of a ruling of a single federal judge in Portland, took effect at the beginning of April. Last week, our work resulted in passing bipartisan legislation, H.R. 3144, introduced by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, myself, and members of...
I recently traveled across Washington’s Fourth Congressional District to speak with farmers from each county to hear their concerns about an upcoming Farm Bill. One of the largest concerns expressed by farmers had little to do with congressional action. However, Central Washington farmers expressed their anxiety about the impact of a potentially escalating trade war with global trading partners. President Donald Trump recently announced new tariffs worth billions of dollars on products manufactured by China. The reasons he c...
One of the most urgent issues we face right now in Central Washington is the ongoing threat to dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers. Just this week, a Ninth Circuit Court panel rejected arguments for an injunction to pause a forced spill order by an Oregon federal judge. The Oregon judge’s order requires an increase in spill for the eight lower Columbia and Snake River dams and now goes into effect as of April 3. Increasing spill comes with a $40 million price tag for ratepayers this year alone. That price is too high, a...
Joining together to combat the crisis of drug and opioid abuse that is harming our communities is a major issue that should unite Americans in common cause. The impact of drug addiction and overdoses has touched too many lives in our country and in our state. According to the American Society of Addition Medicine, in 2014, 1.9 million Americans had a substance use disorder involving prescription pain relievers, in contrast to the 586,000 Americans that had a substance use disorder involving heroin. The Center for Disease...
More than 36 years ago, three women in Central Washington pioneered their vision of serving their community through improving access to higher education opportunities for students who society may not have considered college-bound. Martha Yallup and Violet Lumely Rau of the Yakama Nation, and Sister Kathleen Ross of Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus, came together to found what would become Heritage University in the Yakima Valley. Their determined efforts continue to bear fruit in Central Washington communities and in the...
Something that has been lacking in the current national debate on firearms is trust and good faith. Responsible gun owners mourn the innocent victims of mass shootings. Responsible gun owners want to keep our communities safe. Parents on both sides of this debate worry about our children’s safety. All of us agree that mentally unstable or dangerous individuals should not have access to firearms. We must ensure that laws are effectively enforced – especially considering that there were clear signs that the Parkland, Flo...
The Pacific Northwest, and especially Central Washington, is rightfully famous for our abundance of natural beauty. The Methow Valley in the northwestern corner of Okanogan County is a spectacular example of the pristine Washington landscape that we have the privilege to enjoy. The scenic valley serves as a gateway to the North Cascades National Park and attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year to fish, hunt and hike. Recreation and tourism underpin the local economy. Working together, the local community in the...
What would life in the Mid-Columbia be like if dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers were removed? What would then be used to control flooding that devastated communities before the dams were put in place? How would we provide clean, reliable hydropower for hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses? How would our region’s farmers and agriculture industry replace lost access to water that is currently stored behind the dams? This worst-case scenario is not as far-fetched as we would hope, unfortunately. For some interests,...
Last week, the Trump administration released its proposal to modernize our nation’s infrastructure, a blueprint that gives hope for federal support and a positive path forward on projects across the country that are stalled due to bureaucratic red tape. America must address its aging infrastructure and streamline the process for projects that are needed to meet growing demand for water, especially in the West. President Trump’s infrastructure blueprint included a U.S. Department of Interior proposal to expedite the Bur...
The right to an individual’s life, liberty, and private property underpins any free society. It is a well-established principle enshrined in the Constitution’s fifth Amendment that under a limited government, no individual can be deprived of private property without just compensation. Back door methods of federal regulation, without titles or deeds ever changing hands, effectively result in the seizure or “taking” of private lands and violate of the spirit of law protecting private property. President Obama’s 2015 Clean Wat...
Last Tuesday, I listened carefully as President Trump addressed the nation in his first State of the Union. The President’s message aimed to unify Americans behind a common vision while sharing inspiring stories of service, heroism and sacrifice. The President pointed to legislative victories with Congress that are yielding benefits for workers and families across the nation. The passage of historic tax reform is fostering economic growth and opportunity: nearly three million workers have received bonuses. The Department o...
On Friday, Jan. 19, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators joined together and walked along the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for the 45th Annual March for Life. In full view of the Lincoln Memorial and the U.S. Capitol, and in the shadow of the Washington Monument, marchers raised their voices to show support for the cause of human life and dignity for every person, born or unborn. While marchers gathered outdoors, inside the House of Representatives, work was being accomplished on pro-life legislation. The House was...
As your representative in Congress, I take the responsibility to provide for the federal government’s operations very seriously. Continuing resolutions, or extensions of funding from previous fiscal years, are a terrible budgeting option for our country. This fiscal year, the House of Representatives passed all 12 of our bills necessary for the appropriations process, but the Senate has still not even passed a single one. This leaves Congress only capable of funding the government in short spans, resulting in an unstable e...
On Martin Luther King Day, we celebrate the contributions of the civil rights icon whose famous “I have a dream” speech reminded Americans that ours strives to be a nation where no one is judged by the color of our skin, but by the content of our character. Through Martin Luther King’s work to realize the aims of America’s Founding, he has become a worldwide symbol of peaceful protest against injustice. An important reminder, not just for Americans, but for the entire world, comes from Reverend King’s Letter from Birmingha...
In our nation’s capital, there is a beautiful memorial of sculpted lions keeping watch that honors to the nation’s law enforcement officers. Among the quotes set in the memorial’s stone is one from Tacitus: “In valor there is hope.” Tuesday, Jan. 9, was National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day. It is a day that we recognize the service and sacrifice of the brave men and women in blue who put their lives on the line every day to keep our communities safe. We all should take the time to say “thank you” to a police office...
10 is now behind us; we are mid-way through the 115th Congress, and it is timely to take stock and focus on the progress made for Central Washington and the country during the past year. As your representative in Congress, two of the most important responsibilities on behalf of the Fourth Congressional District are responding to constituents’ questions and assisting constituent when they deal with the federal government. In 2017, my office has responded to nearly 30,000 letters, calls and emails from constituents. Over the...
Even well intentioned crusades in the name of the environment can cause real economic consequences for communities on our side of the “Cascade divide.” I was disappointed that Governor Jay Inslee recently chose to side with west-side interest groups that are seeking to increase spill or even breach the federal dams on the lower Snake River. Our Mid-Columbia communities would pay the price. The stakes for our region are too high for preserving the dams on the Columbia and the Snake rivers to be approached in a partisan way...
Much of the nation’s attention has rightly been focused on Congress’ current push for historic tax reform—the first major effort in more than 30 years. While pro-growth tax reform is a critical topic, I would like to share an update on recent legislative progress that is important for Central Washington but has not received as much focus. Just last week, Americans observed Veterans Day. I believe that the people’s representatives in Congress should honor veterans with our words as well as our actions. Every step we take to...
As Americans, our heartfelt hope is that all of our heroes receive due recognition for great bravery and sacrifice. Our collective memory as a nation must expand to include all of our heroes’ stories of honor and service. This Nov. 11, on Veterans Day, our nation will memorialize the sacrifice of veterans like my friend, Leslie Amundson. From my hometown of Sunnyside, ‘Les’ served as an Army Air Corps B-17 pilot during World War II. On his first mission in 1943, his plane was shot down over the Dutch countryside. Les and his...
The purpose of any legal settlement is to right a wrong against victims, not to enrich political allies of any presidential administration, Democrat or Republican. Under U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, it was no secret that President Obama’s Department of Justice steered settlements involving large companies to either supersede Congress’ appropriations authority or to support third-party liberal activist groups that were not parties to the case at hand. Billions of dollars in settlements have been used as a Justice Dep...
Speaking with students last week at Hanford High School in the Tri-Cities gave me a surprising realization. The students were curious about how our government operates and also about daily life working in Congress. I realized that more people might actually be interested in what it is like for me to work as your representative. To give you an idea, I wanted to share a few insights as well as important events last week in Central Washington. First insight: If you think representing more than 700,000 people in the Fourth...
The U.S. and the Paris-based United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have had a long, contentious history over the organization’s controversial stances. The aim of UNESCO, to promote greater cross-cultural understanding, is well intentioned. In fact, the U.S. had a formative role in creating UNESCO as an organization meant to promote freedom and democratic values. But in practice, UNESCO has departed from that mission and acted as a platform for anti-Israel and anti-Western totalitarians. U...
The past few weeks, much of the nation’s attention has focused on devastating hurricanes on the Gulf and Atlantic coasts as well as in the Caribbean. We have come together as a nation to care for those suffering and offer assistance to Americans affected by hurricanes. But in the Pacific Northwest and across the West, thousands of Americans have struggled with a very different kind of natural disaster: wildfires. Since Jan. 1, more than eight million acres of land have burned in wildfires across the U.S. Eight million a...
As a conservative who believes in the free market, I believe that American businesses hire more workers and families thrive when you are able to spend and invest more of your own hard-earned paychecks. The complexity and distortions created by our current broken tax code are holding back economic growth and job creation. Simplifying the tax code to make it more fair and allowing our businesses to be more competitive will help realize our nation’s economic potential. That is why last week; House Republicans released the u...