(The Center Square) – Washingtonians’ great love of coffee isn’t just a Seattle or even a Western Washington thing, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane, confirmed Tuesday in the first meeting of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee in the new Congress.
She had distributed to each committee member of both parties an Energy and Commerce Committee-branded coffee mug and advice on how to best use it.
“I want to challenge you,” she said. “I want you to think about somebody across the aisle that you would like to get to know – or maybe the person that you thought ‘I really don’t want to get to know that person’ – and I’m going to challenge you to go grab a cup of coffee.”
Her office elaborated in a news release that this was a “long-standing tradition she started serving the people of Eastern Washington – having a cup of coffee with someone across the aisle or someone you don’t always agree with to build unity.”
In her opening remarks, McMorris Rodgers boosted both “bipartisanship” and “oversight” and struck a slightly more market-oriented tone than her predecessor as chair, current ranking member Rep. Frank Pallone, D-New Jersey.
America has “lifted more people out of poverty and led the world in raising the standard of living through free markets and individual liberty,” she said.
In introducing the committee members, she also praised Republican Rep. Russ Fulcher, R-Idaho, for leading “the largest tax cut in Idaho’s history” when he served in the state Senate there.
Her Democratic counterpart had kind words to say for his successor as chair.
“You talked about the historic nature of the committee and being the oldest continuous committee – which is certainly true – but what you didn’t mention is that during that entire time, we only had men as the chairmen of the committee, and now we have a chairwoman, and that is a historic…” Pallone began to say. The applause didn’t allow him to finish that thought.
In addition to publicizing her opening remarks on the energy committee, McMorris Rodgers’ office also sent out a flurry of releases telegraphing issues that are important to the congresswoman in the new Congress.
Those issues that the congresswoman are taking a special interest include the fentanyl crisis, “discrimination against Americans with disabilities” in healthcare and “immediately freez[ing] the rollout of Oracle Cerner’s electronic health record modernization system” at any more VA hospitals until “significant improvements are made to prevent patient harm,” her office said.
