Newhouse champions bipartisan legislation

April 23-- Apr. 23--WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Dan Newhouse is used to being in the minority.

The Republican was outnumbered by Democrats in his four terms as a state representative, and it's happened again now that the U.S. House of Representatives is mostly blue.

"This is not something that is new to me," he said. "I've always prided myself on being able to work with others and try to get the best ideas from everybody, not just one party or the other. That's how I'm approaching this year, willing to work with all of my colleagues -- not just in the state of Washington but around the country. I've been able to do that and will continue to do that."

Newhouse, R-Sunnyside, is in his third term serving the 4th Congressional District, which includes most of Douglas County outside of East Wenatchee. April 12 marked the first 100 days of the 116th Congress.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell's public lands package was signed into law last month. It included a bill that Newhouse voted for to protect the Methow Valley watershed from mining.

The package also included Newhouse's bill for the Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Project, which would improve water storage and delivery, fish habitat and infrastructure. U.S. Rep. Kim Schrier, D-Issaquah, co-sponsored the bill.

"I learned a long time ago that many of the issues they work on here are more state issues or Pacific Northwest issues and not necessarily Republican or Democrat," Newhouse said. "When we have things that we can agree to on a bipartisan basis, it absolutely makes it easier. We have a lot of examples of that, and we have for a long time. I think our delegation works together quite well most of the time."

He and Cantwell are also leading the state congressional delegation in seeking access for Washington apples to Japanese markets. The delegation sent a letter last month to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, calling out Japanese policies that have restricted apple growers from shipping to that country.

There are still some issues that show the distinction between Republican Newhouse and his Democratic colleagues, like health care and clean energy.

He praised Washington's use of hydropower and nuclear energy and said both should be used more. However, he has some concerns about the future of clean, renewable energy.

"We have to be careful that we don't put our economy at risk by trying to move too quickly and eliminating fossil fuels in an unreasonable way that would truly increase the cost of power to citizens around this country and put us at a competitive disadvantage," he said. "As we move to cleaner forms of energy, we just have to be mindful of that and not hamstring our economy unnecessarily."

On the topic of health care, Newhouse said he supports protections for pre-existing conditions and making health care more affordable. Although he acknowledges the importance of Medicare, he is leery of a single-payer system.

"As some are proposing now on the other side of the aisle, advocating a Medicare-for-all kind of system -- frankly, a one-size-fits-all health care system -- that to me, is concerning," he said. "The single-payer health plan is projected to cost over $32 trillion just in the next 10 years if we move to that. Part of that proposal eliminates private health insurance. It would increase the amount of taxes to pay for this on everybody in the country."

Among Newhouse's priorities this session is immigration reform, partially to stabilize the agriculture workforce. He supports a pathway to citizenship for people who are already contributing and have no criminal record, and he wants to streamline and modernize guest-worker programs.

After the Easter break, he plans to work on addressing cases of missing and murdered Native American women. Washington has the second-highest number of cases in the country, according to the Urban Indian Health Institute.

"There are some systems that we're hoping to put in place to bring that issue some attention that it deserves so that those cases and the causes of those disappearances can be fully investigated," Newhouse said.

Reach Bridget Mire at 509-665-1179 or (javascript required to see email). Follow Bridget on Twitter at @bridget_mire.

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