Press Releases

Today the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee of the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee held a hearing on the Coast Guard’s capabilities in the Arctic region, as U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) had requested earlier this year. Larsen called for the hearing due to concerns that the Coast Guard’s polar icebreaking fleet is ill-equipped to… Read more »

U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) released the following statement on the announcement made today by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and top Air Force officials regarding the procurement process for the approximately $35 billion tanker program.  Larsen is a member of the House Armed Services Committee and his district is home to Boeing’s Everett plant where Boeing would… Read more »

U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) were joined today in Mount Vernon by VA Puget Sound Health Care System director Stan Johnson and local veterans and leaders to announce the permanent site of the Northwest Washington Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC). For a number of years, Murray and Larsen have pressed the VA to open a… Read more »

U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) has secured federal dollars for Skagit County priorities in a House funding bill passed by the Appropriations Committee this week. The Energy and Water appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2009 includes $250,000 for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to continue the Skagit Flood Control General Investigation Study and $380,000 for the U.S. Army Corps… Read more »

U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) has secured one million dollars in federal funding for Snohomish County’s new Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in a House funding bill passed by the Appropriations Committee this week. The Homeland Security appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2009 – which includes the EOC funding for Snohomish County -- must pass the House and Senate… Read more »

U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) has secured federal dollars to help local law enforcement fight crime and combat the meth epidemic as part of a funding bill passed by the House Appropriations Committee.  The final bill must pass the House and Senate before it can be signed into law. “It is critical that local law enforcement gets the tools they need to protect our… Read more »

U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) has secured $6.18 million in a House funding bill for a new academic fire instructional facility at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. The Military Construction appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2009 -- including the funding for NAS Whidbey – passed the Appropriations Committee this week and must pass the House and the Senate before it can… Read more »

In May, U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) -- joined by twenty six of his colleagues in the House -- sent a letter to President Bush raising concerns that the Air Force’s selection of the Airbus/ EADS consortium for the $35 billion refueling tanker contract exposes a troubling rift in U.S. trade and defense procurement policy. This week, Larsen received a response to his… Read more »

U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) released the following statement on the full text of the Government Accountability Office (GAO)’s report out today on the Air Force’s procurement process for the approximately $35 billion tanker program.  Larsen’s congressional district is home to Boeing’s Everett plant, production site for the 767 airframe… Read more »

U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) voted today to prevent a pending 10.6 percent payment cut for physicians providing care to seniors on Medicare and military families on TRICARE. The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (H.R. 6331) passed the House today by a large, bipartisan majority of 355 to 59. The payment cut is scheduled to go into effect on… Read more »