Cathy McMorris Rodgers launches leadership institute after leaving Congress

WASHINGTON – In her first public move after retiring from Congress at the end of 2024, former Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers announced Tuesday that she is launching a nonprofit foundation that aims to cultivate a new generation of American leaders.

The Cathy McMorris Rodgers Leadership Institute will “connect people to purpose-driven lives and ensure America’s enduring role as a beacon of hope and freedom” through local and national initiatives, according to a news release announcing the launch. In an interview, the Spokane Republican said she wants to help shape future leaders and instill in them the values of freedom, faith, justice, opportunity and equality.

“In my time representing the people of Eastern Washington, I got to see a lot of good, and it’s my desire to really help fan the flames on that,” she said, adding that one of the institute’s guiding principles is “making goodness fashionable again, with acts of kindness that improve the lives of both the giver and the recipient.”

After two decades in the House, McMorris Rodgers stunned Capitol insiders when she announced in February 2024 that she would retire at the relatively young age of 55, soon after attaining one of the most influential positions in Congress as chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee. Back home in Spokane, she said she wants to foster the good that she saw in communities throughout Eastern Washington during her time in office.

“I think a lot of people don’t see that,” she said. “It just seems like you see a lot of brokenness. You walk the streets of Spokane, and you see a lot of broken lives. You see families that are in crisis. You see this increased homelessness and drugs and just division. Everywhere we turn, we see this division.”

The foundation, through a pass-through fund established at the Innovia Foundation in April, will support several programs that align with the former lawmaker’s priorities. The institute will conduct research and advocacy for “policies that align with America’s founding principles.”

Through what it calls the Good American Project, the organization intends to educate citizens through seminars and publications about “the importance of nurturing a nation grounded in virtue, faith, and moral clarity.” Those values, according to the announcement, draw on “America’s unique religious and moral heritage” and “continue to shape the nation’s greatness and future.”

Two annual fellowships will support local and national prayer networks, echoing the prayer groups McMorris Rodgers used to connect with her constituents and fellow lawmakers during her two decades in Congress. The institute will support a fellow at each college and university in Washington, according to the announcement, “to help establish local chapters for national organizations that align with our mission to inspire a rebirth of faith and freedom in this next generation of leaders.”

The institute will work with teachers and school districts to celebrate Constitution Day, Sept. 17, which commemorates the signing of the U.S. government’s foundational document in 1787. Through the “Flag Project,” it will work to ensure that the American flag is “more visible in our communities” as a “powerful representation of American ideals for future generations.”

As she often emphasized during her time in office, McMorris Rodgers said there’s a need to build greater trust among Americans – both trust in each other and in the country and its institutions.

“America is not perfect, by any means,” she said. “We’re not perfect individually, we’re not perfect as a nation, but I believe that America has been a force for good. America has been the beacon of freedom and hope for so many people – not just Americans, but people around the world.”

To illustrate that point, she mentioned the United States’ role fighting fascism in World War II and the values and principles on which the country was built.

“One of them is the rule of law and making sure that the law is equal,” she said of those principles, “that we have equal protection under the law, equal application of the law.”

Asked what the rule of law means in the context of the Trump administration’s expansive view of executive power – including the deportation of migrants without a chance to appear in court – she affirmed that due process is a constitutional right while adding that the government’s highest responsibility is to protect the nation.

In her final months on Capitol Hill, McMorris Rodgers lamented that members of Congress have given up much of the authority granted to them by Article I of the Constitution, which establishes the executive, legislative and judicial branches as coequal parts of the federal government.

“I want people to understand our Constitution,” she said. “I believe that Congress – the House and the Senate – needs to exercise their authority as well as responsibility under Article I. I’ve often celebrated the wisdom of our founders in establishing three branches of government.”