Skip to main content

Weekly Columns and Op-Eds

November 16, 2015
Weekly Columns and Op-Eds

Washingtonians have a monumental reason to celebrate an exciting new development for the Tri-Cities community, our state, and our nation: the opening of America’s newest national park. The anticipation has been building for years, and the Manhattan Project National Historic Park was officially dedicated with much-deserved fanfare last week.


November 9, 2015
Weekly Columns and Op-Eds

In a nation of lovers of freedom and liberty, one needs to look no further for examples of patriotism in action than to our veterans. Their service kept us safe and defended the freedoms we enjoy as citizens. As Americans, we do not take that service for granted.


November 2, 2015
Weekly Columns and Op-Eds

Our nation’s fourth president and the architect of our Constitution, James Madison, once made the striking statement that, “I go on the principle that a public debt is a public curse, and in a Republican Government a greater than in any other.” The wisdom of this Founding Father’s words still rings true today, which is why last week, after careful consideration, I made the decision to vote in o


October 26, 2015
Weekly Columns and Op-Eds

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence…do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” With those words, the preamble of our Constitution, the supreme law of the land, illustrates one of the preeminent responsibilities of the federal government: to sec


October 19, 2015
Weekly Columns and Op-Eds

Hardly a day goes by without Americans seeing horrific news stories on the ongoing crisis in the Middle East. The unstable security situation due to terrorism and civil war has destabilized the region and created a tide of refugees sweeping from the Middle East and Africa into Europe. The U.S.


October 12, 2015
Weekly Columns and Op-Eds

In the latest in a string of attempts to impose bureaucratic federal control over Washington state waters, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is threatening to impose its own rules on the state. Despite the fact that the state’s proposal already meets required federal guidance, EPA has issued such as threat.


While we have engaged in a national debate on the President’s controversial nuclear deal with Iran, seemingly forgotten has been Iran’s horrific attacks on our fellow citizens. No matter how much time may have passed, however, we must not forget that justice remains to be won on behalf of the hundreds of American victims of Iranian state-sponsored terrorism.


September 28, 2015
Weekly Columns and Op-Eds

Pope Francis’ address to Congress last week was one for the history books: he is the first pontiff ever to address a joint meeting of Congress. As many know, as an Argentinian, Pope Francis is also the first pope from the Americas. This visit was his first trip to the United States.


September 21, 2015
Weekly Columns and Op-Eds

On September 17, freedom lovers across our nation observed Constitution Day, which we recognize as the day 288 years ago that the Founders signed the document that has guided us and protected individual liberties over the course of American history.


September 7, 2015
Weekly Columns and Op-Eds

August is when Congress adjourns during the hottest part of the summer, and it was a busy time for me traveling Central Washington, meeting with constituents and participating in local business and community visits.