U.S. Representative
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Congress seeks ways to change wildfire funding as feds shift additional $250M to fight fires
With a vicious fire season forcing federal officials to use up most of the Forest Service’s budget on firefighting, the Obama administration urged Congress this week to treat the blazes like other natural disasters. The administrators say basic functions and programs – including efforts to prevent wildfires – are endangered by the increasing shift of the agency’s budget to firefighting efforts. This week, the Obama administration transferred an additional $250 million from the Forest Service budget toward the fight of wildfires scorching the West.
McMorris Rodgers, Newhouse to Inslee: Happy to talk trade
OLYMPIA — U.S. Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Dan Newhouse decline to fire back at Gov. Inslee over climate, Ex-Im Bank.
Inslee takes lawmakers to task over Ex-Im bank
OLYMPIA – Eastern Washington’s Republican members of Congress should stop being “climate deniers” and work harder to reauthorize a key financing mechanism for international trade that helps the state, Gov. Jay Inslee said Thursday. The Democratic governor shot back at Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, of Spokane, and Dan Newhouse, of Yakima, who two weeks ago wrote that his efforts to reduce carbon pollution “do not align with pro-growth policies.” The letter from the two House members was sent as Inslee prepared to leave for a trade mission to South Korea and Japan, and started by saying they appreciated his efforts to boost trade.
Inslee calls McMorris Rodgers, Newhouse ‘climate deniers’
OLYMPIA — Eastern Washington’s Republican members of Congress should stop being “climate deniers” and turn their efforts reauthorizing the Ex-Im Bank, Gov. Jay Inslee said today.
Paying for wildfire fight needs new tack, Washington congressman says
The nation needs to find a better way to pay for fighting fires and stop borrowing from money set aside for forest thinning and rehabilitation, said a Washington congressman whose district is being scorched by fires this summer. Rep. Dan Newhouse, a Republican from Yakima, became the first member of the state’s delegation to address the issue this week as Congress returns from its summer recess. In a floor speech, he urged the House to pass the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act, which would require using emergency funds to fight fires rather than taking money from the U.S. Forest Service.
McMorris Rodgers, Newhouse criticize Inslee on carbon efforts
OLYMPIA – Two Republican members of Congress from Eastern Washington think it’s great their Democratic governor is helping to boost foreign trade, but they want him to back off on carbon reduction plans and any efforts that could block new coal terminals. A spokesman for Gov. Jay Inslee said their opposition to his efforts to cut carbon pollution isn’t surprising. But spokesman David Postman said the representatives are wrong in implying Inslee has made up his mind on proposals to build new seaports to ship coal to Asia after it has been hauled across the state by rail.
McMorris Rodgers to Inslee: Boosting trade is good, carbon reduction plans bad
OLYMPIA – Republican members of Congress from Eastern Washington think it’s great their Democratic governor is helping to boost foreign trade, but they want him to back off on carbon reduction plans and any efforts that could block new coal terminals.
Patty Murray says she’ll support Obama’s Iran deal
The Washington senator joins 28 other Democrats saying they’ll support a nuclear deal with Iran brokered by the Obama administration.
Okanogan towns get respite from fires
Many communities across Okanogan County had a brief let-up from fires scorching the region Friday evening. Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers said the threat to people and homes was lower. In many areas the flames moved away from communities and into heavier timber, he said. Still, he emphasized that the threat wasn’t over.
McMorris Rodgers, at town hall, says Planned Parenthood investigation needed
The embattled Planned Parenthood organization should answer questions prompted by videos discussing sales of fetal tissue, or face defunding, U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers told a crowd assembled for her annual town hall meeting in Spokane on Tuesday. “I believe that we need to investigate. We need to better understand what they’re doing,” McMorris Rodgers said. “From what I’ve seen, these are illegal activities in which they are involved.”
Groups urge McMorris Rodgers to protect conservation funding method
For the past 50 years, oil and gas companies involved in offshore drilling have paid into a fund that has provided protection for the basalt formations in Riverside State Park, playground equipment at Friendship Park and countless conservation projects nationwide. The inaction of Congress to maintain the fund prompted real estate, conservation, and hunting and fishing groups this week to lobby U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers. The group met at the downtown Spokane offices of the Inland Northwest Land Conservancy.
Former state Sen. Bob Morton, 81, dies
Former state Sen. Bob Morton, a folksy conservative who kept a wary eye on natural resource issues and served as a mentor to young legislators, died Friday morning. He was 81. Morton, a Republican from Orient, Washington, had a varied background before winning election to the state House of Representatives in 1990. He grew up on a dairy farm, became a Methodist minister, raised cattle, flew as a bush pilot and a cloud seeder, and logged in northeast Washington.