Weekly Columns and Op-Eds
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 unified framework for pro-growth tax reform.
When consumers in Tokyo or Hong Kong want delicious fresh fruit, meat, or other products, they are likely to know that the best is grown here in the United States. American farmers produce the highest quality produce in the world, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) provides assistance that help our farmers gain access to foreign markets that can be tricky to tap into. Access to foreign markets translates into billions of dollars of exports and countless jobs here at home, but without additional support, USDA's tools for promoting exports will fall behind the competition.
When Barbara Johnston realized she was going blind, it changed everything. She could not read the numbers on her prescription, nor could she tell which medications needed refilling, including her blood pressure medication. She also realized her vision problems, the result of macular degeneration, were getting worse. I was thankful to hear from Yakima Neighborhood Health Services how they were able to connect her with a care coordinator where she received help for her vision problems and assistance with managing her blood pressure to prevent a stroke.
When President Trump's administration announced that it would give six months to wind down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, many young people called ‘Dreamers,' immigrants who grew up in the U.S., were once again faced with uncertainty regarding their future here.
In the Fourth Congressional District, the August district work period has been a busy time for me traveling up and down Central Washington to meet with constituents and hear their concerns firsthand.
The 2nd Amendment is an individual right guaranteed to Americans in our Constitution. Especially after the fight for independence against the British, the Founders understood the importance of an armed citizenry. In Federalist Paper 46, James Madison pointed out that in Europe, "[T]he governments are afraid to trust the people with arms." Not so in America, where our founding documents protect citizens' freedom to keep and bear arms.
In January, as soon as it became clear that former Texas Governor Rick Perry would serve as the next U.S. Secretary of Energy, I extended an invitation to him to visit Central Washington. Last week, I was pleased to welcome Secretary Perry to learn more about the contributions our community has made to our history and continues to make for our future as a country.
If you speak with any local veteran in Central Washington, as I do regularly, you will likely hear stories of frustration with the Veterans Administration. While there are many dedicated staff and VA providers, our veterans deserve so much more than long drives and long wait times to receive the care they have been promised.
Last Wednesday, President Trump signed bipartisan legislation into law that Congress had passed overwhelmingly to sanction hostile regimes in North Korea, Russia, and Iran. I joined my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the House on a vote of 419 to 3 to pass the Russia, Iran, and North Korea Sanctions Act. After House passage, the Senate voted 98 to 2 to send the bill to the President's desk. The unity in Congress' action shows how seriously we are taking adversaries who work to oppose American interests and those of our allies around the globe.
Delivering high quality health care in rural communities – including those in Central Washington – has long been a growing challenge. Access to primary care can be time-consuming and costly for medically-underserved rural residents. Less-populated areas are facing a devastating shortage of primary care physicians compared to urban areas. According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, while 20 percent of the nation's population lives in rural areas, only 10 percent of physicians practice in those same areas.