McMorris Rodgers addresses luncheon

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers defended her support of legislation for national identification cards and the troop surge in Iraq on Tuesday as she began a week of public appearances around her district during a congressional recess.

The Eastern Washington Republican criticized the federal government’s treatment of veterans and farm products, and said she was still looking for a good explanation for why gasoline prices are significantly higher in Spokane than they are across the border in Coeur d’Alene or across the mountains in Seattle.

At a luncheon speech to the Downtown Spokane Kiwanis club and at an afternoon town hall meeting in Spokane Valley, McMorris Rodgers faced a range of questions over immigration and said she expects Congress to vote on a comprehensive reform package this session.

But she said the country could not – as one audience member at the town hall meeting suggested and others applauded in agreement – “stop immigration totally for 10 years” until the system can be fixed.

“I don’t believe we have the luxury of just saying, ‘No more immigration,’ ” she said. The United States needs to import workers for agriculture, the service industry, health care and other skilled jobs, she said.

She said that because the government needs to track those workers, she voted for a federal law that will apply stricter standards to the states for issuing driver’s licenses.

Some at the town hall meeting argued that this was akin to a national ID card and was a step toward a New World Order and globalization of government and even religion.

McMorris Rodgers argued it’s really a way of addressing their concerns about illegal immigration because a driver’s license becomes the main form of identification for a person seeking work, and in too many states, including Washington, they are too easy to counterfeit, she said.

At both the luncheon and the town hall meeting, McMorris Rodgers was asked about last week’s vote against the Democrats’ nonbinding resolution opposing higher troop levels in Iraq. At both places, the questions came from people critical of the war, but the majority of both crowds clearly agreed with her stance on the resolution.

Congress authorized the use of force in Iraq in 2002, she noted. “We all agree that it’s not going as we would like. It’s deteriorating,” she said. “I don’t believe in not supporting the troops.”

But she left open the possibility that her views could change if this troop surge doesn’t stabilize Iraq quickly. If the Iraqi government doesn’t do a better job of controlling the country with its forces after this troop surge, “then I think we are going to have to reassess.”

She was critical of the Republican administration for its handling of programs ranging from veterans to agriculture. The Veterans Affairs Administration needs to do a better job of reimbursing vets who are forced to seek medical care elsewhere, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture is dragging its feet on regulations to have meat products say where they come from, a system known as Country of Origin Labeling, she said.

The new prescription drug program for Medicare recipients, known as Part D, is complicated, but that’s to give seniors more options to find the best plan for them, she said.

When asked what can be done about high gasoline prices in her district, McMorris Rodgers said she has yet to find a satisfactory explanation. Some sources say Spokane’s prices are higher than Seattle’s because it gets its supply from a different refinery and pipeline system; others say it’s higher than Idaho’s because of the difference in state taxes.

“It’s a combination of factors. I’m still searching for a better answer,” she said.

That may not help ease the public’s cynicism about government and elected leaders, a member of the town hall audience responded.

“For people in Washington, D.C., to say ‘I’m working on it’ just doesn’t fly any more,” he said.