Weekly Columns and Op-Eds

Recently, it seems the daily news is filled with rampant misinformation around the budget resolution passed by the House of Representatives and my vote to support it. Activist campaigns and false media reports are attempting to paint a picture that Republicans in the House voted to cut funding to Medicaid and Medicare. This is causing a public panic and suggesting people in need will not receive benefits. Therefore, I feel compelled to set the record straight and let you know this is not true.

As a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, my colleagues and I extensively fought the previous administration over their refusal to enforce laws addressing illegal immigration. Instead, their catch and release approach led to a record influx of migrants arriving at the border, a complete erosion of our nation’s border security, and an increase of fentanyl-related deaths in our communities. However, the tide is starting to turn, and I am encouraged by the progress to secure our border.

Last week, I led a resolution in the House of Representatives to censure Representative Al Green (D-TX) for his actions during the president’s address to a Joint Session of Congress. The House passed my resolution with a bipartisan vote of 224-198-2, with ten of my Democratic colleagues voting to support the measure. While I took no pleasure in leading this effort, I could not sit idly by after watching the decorum of our chamber be blatantly disrespected. 

The national debt continues to grow at an exponential rate, and with unified Republican control of the federal government, we have an opportunity to rethink how we manage taxpayer dollars. Spending more than we take in has become the status quo in Washington D.C., and regardless of which party is in power, reforms to this unsustainable practice have continuously been punted in favor of bloating the national debt.

As the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) deepens its roots in the United States and around the world, Congress must strongly respond and defend our sovereignty. The Trump administration has implemented a strong position on the efforts of our greatest adversary. In the interest of putting America first and securing our domestic supply chains, we must prioritize protecting American land from the CCP and ensuring we have a comprehensive understanding of which foreign entities are purchasing U.S. farmland.

In the fight against hunger, the United States has been the global leader in delivering much needed aid for decades. For nearly 70 years the Food for Peace program within the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has successfully fed over four billion people in more than 150 countries with American agriculture products. With the recent decision by the Trump administration to freeze all funds for USAID to examine and identify waste, fraud, and abuse, my colleagues and I introduced legislation to move the Food for Peace program from USAID to the U.S.

As fentanyl continues to ravage communities across the United States, the Trump Administration has taken measures to ensure Canada, Mexico, and China are doing their due diligence to address this crisis. With illicit drugs flowing over the southern border from Mexican cartels, serious security gaps at our northern border, and China manufacturing fentanyl precursors, the tariffs announced by the administration serve as a reminder of the responsibility these nations have in mitigating the crisis.

As a proven reliable and affordable source of baseload energy, hydroelectric dams supply the Pacific Northwest with nearly 90 percent of the region’s renewable energy. Here in Central Washington, these carbon-free sources are the key to our demand-driven grid and a variety of other benefits like transportation, barging, and irrigation.