Press Releases

 U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) today voted to approve legislation to make the single largest investment in college financial aid since the 1944 GI Bill, helping millions of students pay for college at no new cost to U.S. taxpayers.  The College Cost Reduction Act of 2007 (H.R. 2669), which passed the House passed by a vote of 273-149,… Read more »

 The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has passed a bill reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for the next four years.  U.S. Representative Brian Baird (WA-03) and U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02), together with their Committee colleagues, rejected the Bush Administration’s proposal to require new user fees and triple the fuel… Read more »

 U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) released the following statement today on President Bush decision to commute I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s prison sentence: “Once again, the President has rejected accountability for the actions of his Administration. Mr. Libby was convicted of lying to authorities and obstructing an investigation into the public… Read more »

 U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) has secured $231,000 in a House funding bill so the Northwest Agriculture Business Center (NWABC) can further its work helping Northwest Washington farms thrive.  This funding would be used to create a technological network connecting producers, retailers and distributors so local farmers can get their products to market more… Read more »

 U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) announced today that the U.S. House of Representatives has approved $500,000 to protect an additional 35 acres at the heart of Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve on Whidbey Island. The funding was included in the House Interior and Environment Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2008, which passed the House today by a vote of… Read more »

 U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) joined U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and U.S. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-05) today to introduce bi-partisan and bi-cameral legislation to provide targeted assistance for Washington state wheat farmers.  The Wheat Counter-Cyclical Payments Enhancement Act, introduced and supported by the three legislators, requires the… Read more »

 U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) today applauded House passage of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill for 2008 (H.R. 2642) which provides the largest single increase in the VA budget in the 77-year history of the Veterans Administration. The bill honors veterans and their families by increasing the VA budget by… Read more »

 U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) voted today to pass the Homeland Security Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2008 (H.R. 2638) which includes a provision to delay the next round of Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) passport requirements until June 2009, seventeen months later than the Department of Homeland Security had planned. The bill, which passed the House by… Read more »

U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) joined U.S. Representatives Patrick Kennedy (RI-01) and Jim Ramstad (MN-03), actor and drug treatment advocate Martin Sheen, former national drug czar General Barry McCaffrey, Snohomish County Superior Court Judge George Bowden and leaders of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP) for a press conference today urging… Read more »

 The House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation held a hearing today to receive a 120-day update from Commandant of the United States Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen on the steps he has taken to get the Coast Guard’s $24 billion Deepwater program back on course. Since Allen last testified before the Subcommittee in January,… Read more »