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One of the central promises made by the President and supporters of the new health care law was that if you liked your health care plan, under the new law, you could keep it. Unfortunately, that promise would not be kept. More than 290,000 policy-holding families and individuals in Washington and more than 4.8 million nationally have received notices that their current plans are being cancelled. The massive problems with the health care exchange websites have only compounded folks’ anxiety about... Read more

In the Pacific Northwest, salmon play a unique role in our culture, our recreational lives and our economy. Unfortunately, the numbers of salmon and steelhead in our backyard have dwindled over several generations. Currently, 13 different runs of salmon and steelhead in the Columbia Basin are listed as either “threatened” or “endangered.” In 2000, Congress tasked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with enhancing salmon habitat in this region with the goal of strengthening these species’ numbers. T... Read more

Question: what do gravel and mud from forest roads have in common with factories? Answer: Very little. But there are efforts to impose the same regulations on our nation’s forest roads that are required of industrial facilities. These efforts are unnecessary, unfair, and unhelpful to our region that continues to need economic recovery. In Lewis County and throughout Washington state, working forestlands support more than 76,000 jobs. My top priority in Congress has been and will continue to be g... Read more

For more than 200 years, millions of men and women have become American heroes by bravely serving our nation in the armed forces. Yet the service of these individuals is formally marked only twice a year—Veterans Day and Memorial Day. As your representative in Congress, I continue fighting to ensure that the memories of those who died in service, as well as the veterans who made it home, receive the respect they deserve and the support they were promised during the rest of the year. Whether it i... Read more

It’s now been three years since the President and Congress passed a massive overhaul of our health care system. While I didn’t support this specific bill, I embrace the idea that folks in Southwest Washington should be able to afford quality care for themselves and their families. Unfortunately, the health care bill’s three year checkup reveals that we’ve drifted farther from this goal. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was ushered through Congress under pledges of lower health care premiums for har... Read more

Next week, the U.S. House of Representatives will likely vote on extending the current income tax rates for one year. Set to expire this December, these tax rates were established in 2001 and 2003, and most recently signed by President Obama in 2010. Read more

On Friday, The Columbian examined my mail piece to seniors throughout Southwest Washington on actions I’ve taken to protect Medicare. My votes, and the solutions I’ve supported, are based on important facts showing that Medicare is in jeopardy if no action is taken. A few important details were missing from the original article, and I appreciate the chance to air the facts here. Read more

The average family in Longview feels every dollar they have to spend at the gas pump. When they write the check for the monthly utility bill, every penny matters. So, when gas prices soar above $4.00 a gallon as they have recently, there's a real impact on the rest of the family budget. Read more

Recently our local media paid considerable attention to my effort in Congress to amend a bill and require a public vote in Clark County on light rail as part of the Interstate 5 Columbia River Crossing project. Read more

In recent days, Clark County Commissioner Steve Stuart and Vancouver Mayor Tim Leavitt issued a statement about the I-5 bridge over the Columbia River. Read more