Larsen Talks Trains, Planes, Votes and Education

Also answers questions on Trans-Pacific Partnership, Overseas Operations, Net Neutrality, Tribal Rights and Hope

— by Margie Doyle —

Rick Larsen, Federal Representative to Congress from Washington State’s District 2, came to the San Juan Islands for a round of meetings with the public last  weekend. He addressed a group of about 40 people at the Eastsound Fire Hall on Sunday, March 30. After noting publicly elected officials in the audience, Larsen spoke first of the legislation he is working on.

Transportation
Larsen is now the sixth ranking Democrat on the transportation and infrastructure committee. It faces a June deadline to present a Surface Transportation bill to fund roads, bridges, highways, and non-motorized roads(trails). “It is important to get [this bill ] done on the federal level because about 52% of every states’ highways is run by federal dollars,” Larsen said. President Obama’s version of the bill proposes revenue of approximately $456 billion, using an 18.4 cents per gallon federal gas tax, which would fund about half the measure. Larsen said the other half would be paid for by taxing the repatriation of overseas profits, at 14 or 19% tax rate.

Larsen is the ranking Democrat on the House Aviation Committee, and is working on a federal aviation bill with Republican Rep. Frank LoBiando of southern N.J. “If you don’t hear about it till it’s passed, it means there’s no controversy about it,” Larsen said. Developments in aviation include a movement from ground-based to satellite-based traffic control. Also emerging is the impact of drones, which bring with them “thorny privacy and operational issues,” Larsen said. “Don’t just think Amazon Prime; it’s only part of the world we’re now dealing with.”

His work in transportation legislation also includes regulation safety in moving crude oil by rail to refineries. He expects to see rules out by end of May dealing with tank car design — thicker walls, thermal jackets, and full protection of both ends and other measures. The regulations also include “tougher and more frequent safety inspections, requiring the use of new technology.” Larsen cautions that such regulations “will cost railroads and their customers more money.”

Education
Federal House Representatives are embroiled in the higher education budget blueprints debate, and have passed a bill that freezes Pell Grant funding (basic financial aid for college for many students). Larsen criticized the Republican push to cut Pell Grant funding in order to balance the budget in 10 years, and said that higher education is an investment today that will bring payoffs in the future.

He has also sponsored a Senate bill to relieve students, who are now locked in at higher interest rates for Pell Grants, by lowering those rates.

Voting Rights
Larsen supports a Constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United (allowing corporations to fund political elections). “It is a fundamentally wrong decision by the Supreme Court… [saying that] the more money you have, the more voice you have.” He underscored the importance of the amendment by noting that the U.S. Constitution has had 27 amendments in its 210-year history.

He also commented on last year’s Supreme Court decision that weakens protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 through a “pre-clearance provision” that has required those counties and states with a history of discrimination against minorities to consult with Federal authorities before change voting laws. Larsen said that the Voting Rights amendments of 2015, which are supported by members of both political parties, would allow the federal government to require voting standards and continued pre-clearance.

“We support low requirements for voting and high penalties for fraud,” Larsen said.

He then opened the floor up for questioning, and found close scrutiny on issues such as trade agreements, the Cherry PointCoal Terminal, Aging of the Baby Boomers, and the dysfunction of the U.S. Congress.

TPP trade agreement
The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is an international agreement being hammered out with other countries, with comparisons being made to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). A questioner introduced the treaty asking, “Will countries be able to sue other countries over national laws?”

In response, Larsen said that the TPP addresses environmental, labor and investment issues. It includes labor provisions which NAFTA didn’t have, requiring countries to establish laws on hours worked per week, minimum wage and working conditions. Regarding investment, the Investor State Dispute Settlements (ISDS) already allows foreign investors to sue the U.S. government,  and Larsen said that foreign companies are more likely to sue in U.S. courts rather than in corporate tribunals,  “because there’s an end to it.”

Larsen also said that it was his understanding that TPP could not be used to overrule local decisions such as might occur if the fishing rights of the Lummi Nation are abrogated.

Pentagon Funding for Overseas Operations
Larsen said he supports closing the Pentagon Overseas Contingencies Operation Account (OCOA), which he described as “a slush fund for war.” He explained that it is a new name for a fund congress started in the Global War on Terror, and the fund is designed for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan to replace materials. However, Larsen says that one of the criticisms of OCOA is that it is used to fund the  base Pentagon budget — not only for Iraq and Afghanistan.

Larsen said that with the sequestration budget limits, Democrats can counter Republican support for Pentagon funding with requirements for funding domestic discretionary programs such as Head Start, Meals on Wheels, and senior services: “It’s a negotiation and we have to create leverage, to say no on OCOA and get back to making the Pentagon stick to its base budget.”

“Silver Tsunami” Aging of the American population:
Larsen referred to the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act [ACA or Obamacare], which extends the life of the medicare trust fund. He also noted that, in March, the House of Representatives passed a resolution “that moves Medicare from a program that pays on volume and quantity to value and quality.” [Nowadays] 65-year-olds are ‘younger’ than older 65-year-olds used to be. The shift if the program promotes senior health. “Seniors have 25 more years of living pretty well,” said Larsen.

Later, he addressed the impact of the budget on Social Security, saying, “Sequestration is coming with a vengeance, again. We need to address budget caps; domestic programs such as Senior Services and Meal on Wheels, are going to get hurt again.”

Dysfunction in Congress
Larsen agreed with one questioner’s opinion that, with approval ratings down at 13%, Congress is”extremely partisan; in the last three months even worse than in the last two to four years.” His assessment is that both houses of Congress, throughout U.S. history, “are built for a two-party system. Congress has a “history of absorbing third parties.” Now there are “functionally” three parties in the House of Representatives with Democrats representing the largest block, then Republicans and then the Tea Party, with 51 votes. The Tea Party has its own director and legislative strategies, challenging Republican leadership at every chance, “which explains the problems in passage of Homeland Security [funding legislation],” Larsen said.

“So long as that dynamic exists, Congress will continue to seem dysfunctional. This is a Republican problem .. either absorb [the Tea Party] or get rid of it.”

Lummi Treaty Rights
Larsen justified his support of the expansion of the Gateway Pacific Terminal for coal shipping, even though the Lummi Tribe opposes the project because of 19th-century national treaty rights, their economy, and way of life, supported by the Washington State Boldt Decision of 1974. He strongly repeated his support for the expansion because of the increase in good-paying jobs that it will create and said, “I won’t apologize for focusing on jobs… it is an opportunity to
create thousands of jobs… there are good economic reasons for the project.”

Larsen went on to say that the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process “has generated thousands of comments, mostly negative. [Whatcom] County is responsible for responding to those comments and creating a draft EIS.

“The Lummi are a sovereign nation and they have every right to pursue it [their opposition] and they should. They are capable of doing it without me.”

Net neutrality
A high school student asked for Larsen’s stance on net neutrality, and he replied, “I would like the resolution to be a technological resolution. The FCC [Federal Communications Commission] has a high hurdle to jump by using Title II of the telecommunications act. They will have that opportunity in the courts [as] Congress has said we’re not going to address that.”

Larsen encouraged the student to propose a way to meet the increasing demands on internet delivery: “if you can figure out a way to move more Netflix through the same size metaphorical ‘pipe.’ It has a limit, believe it or not, and if more people are using it, you’ll have slowdowns without net neutrality. There simply won’t be enough room for the data to travel.”

Maintaining hope
Larsen said that, as a member of the 114th Congress, he derives hope from “the 228 years we’ve been a functioning democratic republic. No matter what’s happened, we’ll be around, the constitutional system we have holds up pretty well despite approval ratings, despite the mistakes we make.

“The foundation remains flexible enough to bend but not break, despite the best efforts to do that.”

He added that “There are many people, young and old, who love what this country continues to offer them and they want to continue to take advantage of that through private, non-profit and public sectors to pursue their dreams.”