Weekly Columns and Op-Eds
"By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion….If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill!"
The words of the psalmist in Psalm 137 evoke the longing that the Jewish people felt during their captivity in Babylon for the ancient city of Jerusalem, the site of the original Temple of Solomon. The historic and spiritual link between Jerusalem and Israel harkens back thousands of years to biblical times. It is the location of the Western Wall, the last remnant of the Second Temple and the holiest site in Judaism.
The recent cases of sexual harassment allegations against lawmakers and their staff, past and present, demand a strong response from Congress. Our bosses are you, the American people, and you deserve accountability. Staff working in the U.S. Capitol, just like employees in the private sector, deserve to work in a professional environment that is safe. Investigations begun by the bipartisan Ethics Committee are appropriate because this is an issue that should go beyond partisan politics.
Life on our eastern side of Washington's so-called "Cascade divide" certainly offers many natural advantages: Less rain, more time spent outdoors in the sunshine, and an ideal climate for apples, wine grapes and many other crops, just to name a few. Communities in Central Washington, and across the West at large, depend heavily on capturing water through surface water infrastructure projects that support our way of life.
I was proud to support House passage last week of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. I am convinced that our tax reform bill not only fulfills our promise to take a historic step to simplify and modernize our tax code, but it is designed to help middle-income families in Central Washington.
What happens to the tax rate of families in Central Washington with the doubling of the standard deduction?
Have you met anyone who thinks the current federal tax code is simple or fair enough? As your congressman, I haven't either.
Clocking in at more than 70,000 pages, the current federal code is packed with confusing provisions and loopholes that tend to favor special interest groups and those lucky few "in the know."
The maze-like complexity of our current tax code renders it all but impenetrable to American families and business owners who do not have the resources to hire a specialist to decode it for them. The status quo is simply unfair.
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 November 11th, on Veterans Day, our nation will memorialize the sacrifice of veterans like my friend, Leslie Amundson.
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.
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.
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.S.
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 January 1st, more than eight million acres of land have burned in wildfires across the U.S.