FILE PHOTO — After accepting an award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for her support of businesses on the House floor, U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, speaks to a small crowd gathered in the banquet room of the Holiday Inn Express in Chehalis in June 2015.
Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, used the first segment of her telephone town hall on Monday evening as a victory lap of sorts.
The Republican representative from Washington’s 3rd Congressional District was celebrating the fresh end of the three-day federal government shutdown. That resolution was reached when a temporary funding bill was passed in Washington, D.C., only hours before the telephone town hall was scheduled to begin back in her home state.
“I had planned to be home, but because of the shutdown, and now reopen, we have been stuck here and it has actually been a crazy couple of days,” said Herrera Beutler.
The congresswoman touted the end of the stalemate as a victory for Republicans while simultaneously decrying the pervading corrosive culture of partisan politics, noting that she’s had to use her “mom voice” with some of her colleagues in recent weeks due to a frustration with their lack of cooperation.
“I should note that the bill that went through tonight is almost the exact same one that my colleagues and I voted off the floor previously,” said Herrera Beutler.
Though Republicans control the White House, the House of Representatives and the Senate, Herrera Beutler made sure to blame Democrats for the temporary government shutdown due to their dissenting views on immigration policy.
“Here’s the thing. I have never thought that shutting down the government should be used as a negotiating tactic. It is a strike against the people when either party does it. In fact, when my own party used that tactic in 2013, I took my own party leadership to task,” said Herrera Beutler.
“I will tell you, we need to find a fair and just solution for those children that were brought here illegally without their own consent,” added Herrera Beutler in reference to the imperilled Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, immigration policy.
“One thing that is important though is to stop this open port flow through the southern border so we don’t have to do this again in five years, and again in five years, and again in another five years,” added Herrera Beutler.
Taking a look back to recent political victories, Herrera Beutler spent time extolling what she believes are the virtues of the tax cuts recently passed. She says those tax cuts should represent money in the bank for about 75 percent of her constituents in southwest Washington who opt for the standard deduction on their tax return.
“It allows businesses to invest in their employees, quite frankly, which is the right thing to do,” said Herrera Beutler.
The Congresswoman also decried what she construed as misinformation and scare tactics targeted at senior citizens that have led many people to believe that the tax cuts will lead to reductions, or the complete gutting, of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
“The people who had the largest tax cuts are the middle and lowest income families,” insisted Herrera Beutler, who promised to sponsor a bill to make those types of individual tax cuts permanent by next January.
Once the phone lines were opened up for direct questions from citizens, it didn’t take long for the conversation to switch from tax returns to a porn star payout.
A caller named Christie, who declined to provide her hometown, asked Herrera Beutler what she and the rest of Congress plan to do about allegations that President Donald Trump’s camp paid off a porn star in advance of the 2016 presidential election in order to keep an extra-marital affair secret
“I don’t know that it is alleged. I’m pretty sure that his lawyer paid her,” said Herrera Beutler, who noted that she is prevented from filing a federal suit simply based off of the exchange of money. She added that she did not cast her support behind Trump until late in the game during the runup to the 2016 election, much to the chagrin of party leaders, and she believes the character and behavior of the president is a valid concern for Americans. However, she argued that the voting record of her constituents makes it difficult for her to position herself in stark opposition to the president’s sordid infidelities.
“I could spend a lot of time doing press conferences about it and talking about it and it wouldn’t change the dial,” said Herrera Beutler. “And quite frankly, a majority of people in our region supported Trump, so I’m trying to be respectful to what they want.”
Improved management and protections for Washington’s natural resources was also addressed during the telephone town hall. Herrera Beutler defended herself and other congressional Republicans from assertions that national parks and national monuments are under attack by the Republican Congress and the Trump administration. She said she’s heard political ads making those claims but dismissed them as scare tactics paid for by “radical environmentalists” who are driven by an unchecked lust to keep the people out of national forests in order to protect “purple unicorns” and “hallucinogenic butterflies.”
“I would oppose any attempt to sell off, gut or remove protections for any of our national parks or national monuments,” promised Herrera Beutler. “It’s just an important measure for those of us that are from here, or who have moved here, to protect public access.”
Herrera Beutler also held up her recent letter that urged Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to hold off on opening up Washington's coastal waters to oil exploration and drilling as an example of her willingness to protect the Evergreen State and her constituents, even if it means crossing the Trump administration.
“That’s a great example of an area where I disagree from the administration,” said Herrera Beutler. “They (Washingtonians) just don’t want us exploring for oil … We’re not interested and I told them that.”
