Stories by Cathy McMorris Rodgers

Sometimes it takes just a single moment to remind us of why we love home. Just last week, I was reminded, yet again, of why Eastern Washington remains in my heart even when I’m 3,000 miles away walking through the halls of the United States Congress.

As I wrap up another week in the other Washington – all the way across the country from the one I call “home” – I am reminded of the wisdom left behind by one of America’s greatest leaders, President Ronald Reagan. He once said, “All great change in America begins at the dinner table.”

I recently had the opportunity to visit Fairchild Air Force Base again, home to more than 4,000 active duty servicemembers and their families, National Guard, Reserve, and civilians, and the largest employer in Eastern Washington. Fairchild

At a time when America’s economy is still fragile, job creation is stagnant, and energy prices are rising, we should be looking at every opportunity to put Americans back to work and increase domestic energy production. America’s hydropower industry is ready to meet this challenge.

When a service member joins the military, it’s not just a job; it’s a family commitment to our country. And yet, we, as a nation, tend to focus almost exclusively on the service members who put themselves in harm’s way, while often forgetting about the family members they leave behind who also make tremendous sacrifices on our behalf.

When a service member joins the military, it’s not just a job; it’s a family commitment to our country. And yet, we, as a nation, tend to focus almost exclusively on the service members who put themselves in harm’s way, while often forgetting about the family members they leave behind who also make tremendous sacrifices on our behalf. These family members are affected in countless ways, and we have an obligation to do right by them.

With the markets seesawing and unemployment rising, creating and maintaining jobs remains Americans’ top priority. Spurring job creation in a field that actually improves people’s lives would be doubly beneficial, which is why health innovation remains a top public policy objective.

At a time of so much economic suffering, a flawed decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is threatening to add further harm to Eastern Washington’s economy, specifically our forest industries. The Court’s decision that forest stormwater runoff produced during logging must be regulated by the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) rather than by state forestry laws overturn 35 years of federal environmental policy.