Local News

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert on Tuesday introduced a bill to ban the use of welfare benefit cards at stores selling marijuana, adding them to a prohibited list that includes casinos, liquor stores, strip clubs and tattoo parlors. Reichert, a Republican from Auburn, joined 11 other lawmakers in sponsoring the “Preserving Welfare for Needs…

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings said today he would leave his House seat at the end of this Congress, ending two decades of representing central Washington’s 4th District. Hastings, a Republican from Pasco, is the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee and frequent target of conservationists and environmentalists. He also is a strong fiscal…

Washington state’s congressional delegation on Monday submitted a strong entry into this year’s political Super Bowl betting sweepstakes, announcing a mass wager with Colorado’s delegation. That means all members of Congress representing Washington and Colorado — 17 in all; 10 from Washington and seven from Colorado — are offering to give something to the other side…

The union representing Boeing Machinists has rescinded its endorsement of Democratic Congressman Rick Larsen, saying he took Boeing’s side by pressuring the union to accept a contract that ended its pension plan. The action is largely symbolic since Larsen, an Everett Democrat, has no major opposition for his re-election campaign this year. Still, the action…

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray says the budget deal she and Republican Rep. Paul Ryan announced Tuesday will “restore trust that had been lost by people across the country that we could function as a Congress and as a democracy.” In an interview with The Seattle Times shortly after a news conference announcing the deal, Murray, the…

WASHINGTON — U.S Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers on Sunday gave birth to her third child — all born during the Spokane Republican’s time in Congress. McMorris Rodgers released an Instagram photo of her daughter, Brynn Catherine Rodgers, who was born at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.. The congresswoman and her husband, retired…

Updated at 1:35 p.m. with DelBene’s comments: WASHINGTON — Washington state’s U.S. House delegation voted along party lines — with one exception — on a bill that would allow insurers to keep selling canceled health plans that ran afoul of coverage requirements under the Affordable Care Act. The House voted 261-157 for the GOP-sponsored Keep Your Health…

A 16-year-old immigration activist from Redmond High School was one of two girls who confronted House Speaker John Boehner over the issue of immigration reform as he tried to get breakfast on Capitol Hill Wednesday morning. Jennifer Martinez, who is a U.S. citizen, is active in the OneAmerica Youth Program, which engages high school students across…

WASHINGTON — The cable channel TVW will air Friday’s public memorial service in Spokane for former Speaker Tom Foley. The event, set to begin at 11 a.m. will be held at St. Aloysius Church near Gonzaga University. TVW will carry it live on television and stream it on the web. Gov. Jay Inslee, and Sens. Patty…

WASHINGTON – Pausing for a rare detente, President Obama and members of Congress  gathered Tuesday for a memorial service for former House Speaker Tom Foley, praising the Spokane Democrat as an ideal embodiment of a public servant whose type of bipartisanship many said was lamentably lacking today. The invitation-only event at Statuary Hall inside the…