Press Releases

U.S. Representative Rick Larsen joined a bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives today to pass landmark legislation that will end unequal insurance coverage for mental illness and help ensure that patients seeking treatment for mental illness get the care they need. The House passed the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act by a vote of 268 to… Read more »

U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) joined a bipartisan and bicameral delegation from Washington state and Kansas -- led by U.S. Senator Patty Murray -- to call on Defense Secretary Robert Gates to ensure that the Air Force briefs Boeing this week on the justification for their tanker contract decision.  On Friday, the Air Force announced plans to award the $40 billion… Read more »

U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) released the following statement today:  “Boeing’s tanker is the best tanker. Boeing has 75 years of experience building the tankers our military flies. Washington state's workers are second to none and so is their product. “I am very concerned that this decision means that the women and men in our military will not… Read more »

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 »