Rick represents Washington state's Second Congressional District, which includes portions of Snohomish, Skagit and Whatcom counties and all of Island and San Juan counties.
Rick serves on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the House Armed Services Committee. These committees enable Rick to focus on creating jobs and opportunity to meet the local needs of Northwest Washington.
As a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Rick is committed to investing in transportation to drive job growth and keep the economy moving. Rick will continue to fight for strong investments in roads, bridges, highways and transit to build a foundation for future economic growth. Rail safety is another priority issue for Rick, and he has worked hard to push for better safety standards for crude oil traveling by rail.
Our country’s budget should reflect our shared value of opportunity for all. The path to a budget that works for all Americans requires a bold and balanced approach that includes spending cuts, new revenues and entitlement reforms. I am working to implement a forward-thinking plan that invests in our economic growth to create jobs and opportunity in Northwest Washington.
I believe we can cut the deficit by reducing our spending on agriculture and oil subsidies and accelerating the drawdown in Afghanistan. Increased revenue can come through closing tax loopholes for massively profitable companies and restoring tax rates on the highest earners. We should build the middle class by easing their tax burden and making sure the wealthy pay their fair share. Controlling entitlement costs should come from cutting fraud and abuse, not health coverage for seniors. For every $1 spent on recovering taxpayer dollars from Medicare fraud between 2010 and 2013, taxpayers got back $8.10.
Congress returned to a rational budgeting process for 2014 by passing a spending bill that included several job-creating investments. I hope this process serves as a model for bipartisan cooperation to break the cycle of manufactured crises and shutdown politics moving forward.