Local News

The Associated Press A choked-up House Speaker John Boehner has interrupted a series of votes to praise a doctor who helped a congresswoman’s infant survive a rare condition. In a break from his chamber’s often acrid political divisions, the Ohio Republican prompted two bipartisan standing ovations Wednesday by introducing Washington state Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler…

Republican Pedro Celis is trying to keep the focus on Obamacare and the economy in his bid to unseat first-term Democratic Rep. Suzan DelBene this year. But at a GOP candidate forum Thursday night at an Everett restaurant, Celis was reminded that some conservative Republicans also care deeply about social issues, including abortion and…

Updated at 11:04 a.m. with Cantor’s planned resignation: WASHINGTON — House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s unanticipated defeat in Tuesday’s Virginia primary election has opened up a chance for promotion for Spokane’s Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers for the second time in two years. McMorris Rodgers, the fourth-ranking House GOP leader as chairwoman of the Republican conference, instantly vaulted to a…

Former state agriculture chief Dan Newhouse has emerged as the leading early fundraiser among a pack of Republicans vying to represent Central Washington’s 4th Congressional District. Newhouse raised $162,000 through the first quarter of the year, topping five other Republicans and one Democrat in the race so far, according to reports filed with the Federal…

WASHINGTON — The political spectacle over the Benghazi investigations has cost the Pentagons millions of dollars — and the tab shows no sign of ending soon. All 17 Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday demanded that its chairman, Darrell Issa, R-Calif., finally pull the plug on his probe into…

WASHINGTON — Some politicians knock on doors for votes. U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene will knock and deliver your UPS package. The freshman Democrat from Medina on Monday announced plans to go “undercover” as a Woman in Brown to make delivery rounds in Redmond Wednesday morning. The reasons? To bring attention to the benefits of higher minimum wage…

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…

Four members of Washington’s congressional delegation representing Snohomish County on Thursday asked the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to extend the tax-filing deadline for victims of the mudslide in Oso. The IRS in the past has granted such reprieve for victims of natural disasters. Most recently, it gave a six-month extension for people affected by September 2013…

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…