McMorris-Rodgers holds town hall in Dayton

DAYTON–Congresswoman Cathy McMorris-Rodgers hosted a town hall event in Dayton at the high school auditorium on April 13, where she mostly listened to area residents' concerns, issues with government spending, election fraud, crop insurance, protecting the dams, education policies and infrastructure funding. She also highlighted the work she has been doing to establish the USA Act which would curb unauthorized spending.

McMorris-Rodgers opened the meeting to say that with ebb of COVID, "Now we are...pivoting to some inflation, issues with supply chains...every time we go to the grocery store, we're reminded as those rising costs continue to go up. Gas stations, mortgages, homes, and rent – it's just hard on the pocketbook."

She shared her visited to the Walla Walla VA Hospital earlier that day, expressing her gratitude to veterans. "We have the distinction of being the facility that is number two in rolling out the new electronic health record...I share the goal of having a health record that follows the individual from their time in active duty in the Department of Defense to actually in the VA," she said.

"I believe at a time when I hear the fear, the fatigue and unfortunately, division continues in our country. I want to be doing what I can to build trust. I believe that trust has also been shattered in the last couple of years and building trust is foundational to be able to live together in a community and address issues and also building trust starts by listening and hearing what's on your mind and your heart."

McMorris-Rodgers opened the meeting up to the attendees to raise their issues. Bill Combs proposed several amendments to the United States Constitution to which she responded to a few key items giving the example of her work on the USA Act which would create accountability for agencies and programs, that once the authorization has expired spending would be frozen. The issue is that once a program is approved, the funding goes on "autopilot" without the required congressional authorization. She also claimed she is an advocate for a new budget process for the federal government to no longer function with a deficit and on debt to other countries.

Another issue raised was about election fraud to which McMorris-Rodgers affirmed that voter identification is paramount and expressed hope that the US Supreme Court will act to enforce it.

Someone also questioned the open border policy and how it could be resolved. McMorris-Rodgers answered that she recognized the need to secure the border to prohibit known terrorists from crossing over and from drugs like fentanyl from being smuggled in. Once that happens the focus could be on fixing the broken immigration system.

Local farmers questioned whether the Congresswoman supported crop insurance. She acknowledged that crop insurance is fundamental to maintaining America's agricultural base especially during difficult seasons and that supply chain issues also affects the availability of crop fertilizer. She suggested that America needs to produce more and not rely on other producers.

Concerns about protecting dams for transporting wheat was mentioned particularly the four lower Snake River dams. McMorris-Rodgers shared that her goal is to reinforce that any changes have to be made through legislative action. She stated that mitigation efforts for fish passage are effective in inland Washington for most species of salmon and believe that those in danger such as the chinook are most threatened in the Puget Sound in which the discharge of raw sewage is permitted by the Governor. Another comment was in favor of hydro and solar power. McMorris-Rodgers agreed and supports pursuing all energy sources including natural resources to work toward the goal of energy independence. She shared she is working to expedite the permit renewal process of the dams producing hydro power.

School teacher Paul Bryan spoke of the mandate for schools to focus on the topics of diversity, equity and inclusion and said, "The problem with equity is the unequal treatment to achieve equal outcomes." He expressed support for sound policies to form children into leaders.

McMorris-Rodgers answered by expressing her appreciation for his work as a teacher and went to say that she believes in equal opportunity, but not the focus on equal outcomes. She expanded about bad policies to say that during COVID they caused kids to be in crisis and she fought against the mandates, support ending the masking for schoolchildren and is committed to work to get kids back on track.

Port Commissioner Seth Bryan stated that the President's infrastructure plan includes funding for an expanded definition of infrastructure that now encompasses "infrastructure of care." This can include special interest projects and he referred to local projects such as the daycare facility and the Touchet Valley Trail and argued that the focus should be on funding for actual infrastructure and its maintenance including roads and railways. McMorris-Rodgers affirmed that the funding should be for what she termed "true infrastructure" while "keeping money and decision making at the local level."

McMorris-Rodgers closed with remarks about the need for Medicare reform through the Medicare advantage program and generally that any healthcare reform needs to allow for choice of care. She said part of the reform needs to be price transparency.

One attendee closed with the remark, "We are so grateful that I think we are unique in our district that we get to work so closely with our congresswoman and State representative. It really helps us to do great work together." McMorris-Rodgers replied, "I believe in this great experiment in self-governance called the United States of America. We're not perfect. None of us are perfect, but we continue to strive for that more perfect union and what each one of you does matter."