Rick Larsen is running for re-election as congressmen for Washington’s Second District this November. The Sounder sat down with Larsen to discuss his views on hot topics and the issues that affect San Juan County.
Gun control
Larsen started by talking about the recent sit-in done by House of Representatives Democrats demanding gun control.
“People want Congress to take action,” said Larsen, one of the nearly 170 politicians who participated in the protest. The sit-in began on June 22, led by former civil-rights activist, and current Georgia congressman, John Lewis, and lasted more than 24-hours. “This is a whole new book. It’s being written by advocates.”
The sit-in came after a nightclub shooting in Orlando on June 12, where a shooter killed 49 people and injured 53 others. The weapons the gunman used held 30 bullets and 17 bullets respectively.
Three days after the massacre, Senate Democrats held a 15-hour filibuster, followed by the Senate voting on on four different proposals which previously had bipartisan support. All four of the proposals failed. Democrats, irritated with the inability to make a resolution on gun control, held the rare sit-in to encourage the Senate to reform gun control.
Larsen expressed frustration with four aspects of gun ownership which he feels need to be addressed. First, from 1994-2004 there was a ban on a gun magazines that were able to hold more than 10 bullets, he said we need to reinstate that ban. Secondly, if someone is on the no-fly list, they should not be able to purchase guns. Third, there should be universal background checks on gun purchasers. Although there is a debate as to how many sales are made without background checks, private seller of firearms are not required by law to do so. The fourth and final aspect is to allow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to properly research gun violence. In 1996, the National Rifle Association accused the CDC of promoting gun control, and Congress threatened to strip the organization of federal funding if they did not discontinue its research on gun violence.
In 2013 and 2014, President Obama requested that $10 million dollars be allocated to the CDC to fund gun violence research, both times the Republican-controlled House rejected the request.
“It’s not a matter of one’s ethnicity or one’s background,” said Larsen, when asked about the correlation between mental health and gun control.
The United States Supreme Court has made it very clear that the second amendment is an individual right, he explained.
“They [politicians against gun control] use that as an excuse to do nothing,” said Larsen. “The Supreme Court is leaving a lot of room for Congress.”
Trans-Pacific Partnership
The Trans-Pacific Partnership has drawn heat from critics that claim the trade agreement allows copyright infringement cases to be punished too harshly; removes more jobs from U.S. soil to foreign countries; lowers wages for workers in the U.S.; threatens food safety; and more.
The 5,544 pages of the TPP trade agreement were released to the public in November 2015. The TPP was signed by participating nations in February and Congress is currently considering passing a bill in support of it.
Larsen said the public’s concerns are legitimate, but as to whether those fears are accurate is debatable because people are interpreting that the TPP allows corporations to overrule the government, and he does not agree with that.
“I believe that some people think the TPP allows corporations to make decisions government cannot stop,” said Larsen. “I don’t read it that way at all.”
He added the TPP would ensure the government has enforceable rules for trade rather than eliminating them, as many critics fear. According to the Office of the United States Trade Representative website, the U.S. would be able to, “regulate for the protection of food safety and plant and animal health.”
Larsen also mentioned that no trade agreement would stop the United States from establishing a labeling law for food products made with Genetically Modified Organisms if it wanted to, a common concern for organic farmers and consumers alike. In 2012, San Juan County overwhelmingly voted to ban all GMO farming in the islands. Local activists are concerned that the TPP could hinder transparency of food labeling nationwide.
“A trade agreement couldn’t stop one (a GMO labeling law) from being in place,” said Larsen.
An agreement may not be reached until after the election this fall, explained Larsen, and he wouldn’t want to make a prediction on whether or not it will pass.
“We’re the most trade dependent state in the country,” said Larsen. “It is important that I take a deliberate and methodical approach.”
Hillary Clinton
The Sounder asked Larsen about his controversial endorsement of democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
“Supporters are passionate about their candidates,” said Larsen, who is convinced that Clinton is the most qualified candidate for president.
Earlier this year, caucuses in Washington voted to endorse Senator Bernie Sanders’ bid for presidency. Critics of Larsen’s support of Clinton claim the caucus support of Sanders as reason for Larsen to change his support to the Senator. He acknowledges that many voters in his district were not happy with his endorsement choice, but explains that his position as a superdelegate is to represent the Democratic Party as a whole, not as a state representative.
Larsen does take his responsibility to the voters in his district seriously, explaining that last year he and his office responded to more than 60,000 inquiries, resolved 775 individual casework files, and helped military veterans recovering $600,00 in Medicare and Social Security benefits. Larsen’s district covers San Juan and Island Counties, and the communities that line the I-5 corridor from Mountlake Terrace to Bellingham.
Veterans
On a previous trip to the islands, Larsen discussed health care problems – primarily the lack of network providers – plaguing San Juan veterans.
The Veterans Administration Choice program has allowed veterans to seek physicians who agree to be contracted into the VA Health Network.
“It’s not a magical solution,” Larsen admitted, saying that the islands present a special set of problems not seen elsewhere in the country.
He says the VA did not consider the special challenges of veterans living in island communities when writing its plans.
The ultimate goal for Larsen is that when veterans do seek health care there is a physician available to them.
Growlers
“San Juan County is important to me,” said Larsen, he hoted holding town hall meetings for veterans; devoting 16 years to get Cattle Point Road built on San Juan Island; championing affordable housing; and working with the Navy to reduce Growler noise.
In mid-June, Larsen announced that he had successfully carved out $2 million of the Federal Military Defense Budget to research jet noise at Whidbey Island.
Residents of Island County and Southern Lopez Island have complained for years about the impact the jet training at the Navy facility on Whidbey Island has on the community. Multiple community groups have arisen from this concern. Groups such as Quiet Skies over Lopez and the Citizens of Ebey’s Reserve have come together to demand a change in the training practices.
“It came directly out of community concerns,” said Larsen, who created a seven-point plan in 2014 to address those concerns. His plan includes: assuring sure the public knows how many Growlers are at Whidbey Island (There are 82 active and 17 backup); and reducing noise from engine testing (initial testing had resulted in an 85 percent decrease in sound volume). Larsen also wants to use the funding to advance technology to reduce engine noise; support technology to reduce the amount of training flights while maintaining training standards. Part of his plan is to expand noise measurements to include all impacted communities; publicize flight training schedules for Ault Field (the Navy began sending out the training schedules for Ault field toward the end of May); and use community data to understand the jet noise impact on the San Juan Islands.
“My responsibility is to the entire district,” said Larsen, addressing the complaints raised by community organizations against the Navy using Whidbey Island as a training facility. “I don’t want to set up unrealistic expectations.”
Larsen says he’ll be visiting the San Juan Islands again in the fall to reach out to voters and find out which issues they care about.
“I don’t want to take any vote for granted,” Larsen said. “I want to find out what islanders want.”
