Press Releases

U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen (WA-02) testified before the House Budget Committee today on the importance of supporting drug courts and treatment providers and giving law enforcement the resources they need to continue their work fighting drug trafficking and criminal activity. Larsen, who serves as co-chair of the Congressional Caucus to Fight and Control Methamphetamine, has worked to… Read more »

On Tuesday, the House Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee – of which U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen (WA-02) is a member – held a hearing on the Coast Guard’s budget for the next fiscal year. The Subcommittee heard testimony from Vice Admiral Robert J. Papp, the Chief of Staff of the Coast Guard and Master Chief Charles W. Bowen, the Master Chief Petty Officer of… Read more »

Today U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash) and Rep. Rick Larsen (WA-02) announced that the U.S Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) began seeing patients at an interim clinic in Mount Vernon, Washington on Friday, February 15. Murray and Larsen continue to push the VA to open a permanent community-based outpatient clinic (CBOC) in Northwest Washington as soon as… Read more »

Today, U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) met with Gen. Lowenberg and the Washington State Domestic Security Executive Group in Olympia, Washington to discuss their ongoing work on security and other issues related to the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, B.C. In December, Larsen and other members of the WA delegation, including Senators Murray and Cantwell and Representives Dicks… Read more »

U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and Representative Rick Larsen (D-WA 2nd District) wrote a joint letter last week to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness David Chu in support of a proposed regulation that would increase TRICARE payments to Critical Access Hospitals to a level similar to that of Medicare.  This rule, if… Read more »

A final economic stimulus package that will provide tax rebates to millions of Americans, including over 700,000 Washington state seniors, has passed Congress with support from U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) and will be sent to the President’s desk for signature.  Earlier today, the Senate added an amendment to the legislation passed by the House last week to make… Read more »

U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) released the following statement today on President Bush’s budget request for Fiscal Year 2009: “Today President Bush released the eighth and final proposed budget of his presidency. Unfortunately, his budget proposal for the next fiscal year is more of the same failed policies:  more cuts in funding for local law enforcement… Read more »

U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen (WA-02) will head to the Gulf Coast on Thursday for a congressional fact-finding trip focused on Navy shipbuilding and Coast Guard shipbuilding and operations. U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor (MS-04) and House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (MO-04) are leading the trip, which includes Larsen and other members of the Seapower and Expeditionary Forces… Read more »

U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) voted today for an economic stimulus plan that provides tax rebates to 117 million families across the country, including 2.6 million families in Washington state. The Recovery Rebates and Economic Stimulus for the American People Act (H.R. 5140) passed the House today by a large, bipartisan majority of 385 to 45.    “This… Read more »

Today the GI Bill for Life Act (H.R. 2247) got a hearing for the first time in the U.S. House of Representatives. U.S. Representative Rick Larsen’s legislation would remove the 10-year time limit on GI Bill benefits to improve education and job training opportunities for veterans.  Larsen, along with Washington state veterans who have worked with him on the legislation,… Read more »