Shift to Republican leadership needed, McMorris Rodgers says

DAYTON–Some thirty Dayton and Columbia County residents turned out to greet and hear from Congressman Cathy McMorris Rodgers when she made a campaign stop here last week.

"The best thing we can do is get a Republican majority," McMorris Rodgers said to the some 30 Columbia County residents who gathered to hear her at Annie's Attic in Dayton.

McMorris Rodgers said the actions of the Biden Administration have been detrimental to the United States and pointed to information from the Wal-Mart Corporation. "Wal-Mart told me people used to put 20 percent of their purchases toward food," McMorris Rodgers said. "Now they say it's 50 percent."

She pointed to a Republican movement called "Commitment to America," developed by Republican Kevin McCarthy with assistance from former Speaker Newt Gingerich and Kelly Ann Conway. The four pillars are "An Economy That's Strong, A Nation That's Safe, A Future That's Built on Freedom, and A Government That's Accountable.

"Since 1994, every cycle, people will say 'What about doing another Contract with America?' Well, this is our 'Contract with America' 2022," she said.

Newt Gingerich and Kelly Ann Conway and others have helped put together the four-point document. "We have been working on this for months," McMorris Rodgers said. "This is from the Republicans in the House and this is us being ready on Day One. That is the goal. We've been anxious for this day; we've been preparing for this day. We recognize we have a lot of work to do.

"We're living the impact of forty-year high inflation, and that has been drive by the reckless spending. Trillions of dollars of spending. It just blows my mind what's been passed in Congress.

As well as energy costs. When President Biden, on day one, shut down the Keystone Pipeline, the price of gas was $2.32 a gallon on average in the United States of America. When you shut down energy, when you start making those decisions, it raises the price of gas, of natural gas, of what it takes to heat our homes. Those energy costs are one of the biggest drivers of inflation overall.

It also hurts the low income the most, as the percentage of their income that they have to spend on their energy bills.

Voter turnout for this election is crucial, she said. "We need to break all records for voter turnout in Columbia County," McMorris Rodgers said.

She urged local Republicans to follow up with the county auditor to get lists of voters whose ballots haven't been received.

"In the primary election, there was a depressed vote among Republicans, all across the state," McMorris Rodgers said. "In Spokane County there were 1,400 ballots that weren't counted because the were late getting their ballots in. These elections, quite often, are very close."

"We can get voter identification and legislation passed to clean up the voter rolls.

McMorris Rodgers said she has co-sponsored legislation at the national level that would have voter identification. She said people receive ballots at their homes or apartments for people who lived at that address years ago. This is a big problem.

McMorris Rodgers warned about what happened in the 2020 Georgia Senate run-off. Many Republicans opted not to vote out of protest and the result was Georgia got a Democrat in the Senate and that body is split 50-50 and Vice President Kamala Harris "time and time again has broken the tie," McMorris Rodgers said. "The Democrats, in effect, have the majority, they get the chairmanship, they get the gavel, they control the agenda, and the way from here to where we want to be is voting and getting everyone possible out to vote," McMorris Rodgers said.

We need to make America energy independent.

Energy is foundational to everything. You can't do anything without energy: it's our national security, it's our way of life, it's our standard of living.

We are blessed ... with abundant energy resources and I am in support of all of the above approach in support of energy.

Any business the moves to Washington State will tell me 'The reason we're coming to Washington state is because of low-cost hydro power.' We have some of the lowest electricity rates in the country, right?

I am just aghast that this drumbeat that has been around for decades by those who believe we should tear out the dams is being momentum it makes no sense and it's not based on science.

"We have an exciting candidate for the United States Senate in Tiffany Smiley," the congresswoman said. I know she's just working her tail off and she's pushing to the finish.

"I was at her debate in Spokane on Sunday, and she crushed it," McMorris Rodgers said. "She believes in this country. She and her husband, their whole family, they are fighting for this country and she's run an extraordinary campaign. She's been all over this state for 18 or 19 months, and the best thing we can do is get everybody possible out to vote in Columbia County."