Rep. McMorris Rodgers wraps tour at Colfax

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers made the last stop on her “Conversations with Cathy” tour in Colfax Aug. 22. She started her Fifth District tour in Walla Walla Aug. 19, then stopped in Dayton and Clarkston on Aug. 20 and finally Colfax.

She stopped at the Gazette office, where she sampled some rhubarb bread, and then spent about an hour in the Public Service Building auditorium.

McMorris Rodgers said when Congress gets back in session members will have a lot of work to do.

She said the appropriations bill is not done and members must pass the bill to keep the government running. She also said there might be a slight increase in the bill.

She wants to get the facts and find out what happened in Ferguson, Mo., where a young black man was shot six times by a police officer and civil unrest has enveloped the community.

“There are separate roles for the military and the police,” she said. “This is an important role for our police.”

She said she feels confident being the incumbent for this election and also feels confident in her past performance.

“People in Washington need to know what I’m doing,” she said. “I want people to know my record. A two-year term is good. Some say that House Representatives are the closest to the people.”

McMorris Rodgers said she is working on a second hydropower bill and a pediatric research bill.

“Hydropower is a great renewable energy source,” she said.

When she talked about her first hydropower bill last year, she explained that she became a leader of the bill after seeing a report from the Department of Energy which stated that only three percent of the nation’s dams with energy-producing potential contained water turbines. Relaxing licensing requirements processed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission became a priority for her.

The department’s study reported that adding energy production by retrofitting the largest 100 dams in the country could boost the nation’s energy production enough to power 3.2 million more homes.

McMorris Rodgers said the hydropower could double without building one more dam. Among the 100 dams in the study, 12 dams are in Washington and Idaho.

She said Rep. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) is working with her on the hydropower bill.

“My record is one where I can build relationships,” she said. “Being effective in Congress is building a relationship. Finding common ground and moving something forward.”

McMorris Rodgers said she is very concerned with sending more troops into Iraq.

“I agree with the President that we need to be engaged,” she said. “But I think we need a plan. There’s clearly still unrest. We should be a partner with other allies to put a plan together.”

She also believes relationships within Congress might be getting better.

“I hear, ‘Get the job done,’” she said. “There have been recent successes like health care act which had been divisive.”

She named other bills which made the different parties get together to successfully pass.

The Congresswoman also said it was important for people to see how the Veteran’s Administration program worked and didn’t work.

She said enough questions were found about the Spokane and Walla Walla VA hospitals that they are being investigated. She believes the average waiting period is 27 days which should be several days less.

She said although veterans are generally pleased with the care, it’s often time consuming and sometimes bureaucracy makes getting treatment more difficult.

At the public conversation forum, topics discussed included veterans’ issues, health care, dredging the Snake River and the Farm Bill.