In the News

A few key federal grants announced this week could help Whatcom County berry farmers improve growing efficiency and export sales.The U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded $3.2 million in Specialty Crop Block Grants to Washington state, with about $345,000 going toward programs that will benefit local farmers. The funding for these grants is already in place and shouldn't be affected… Read more »

MOUNT VERNON — Concerns over cuts to the federal nutrition assistance program were discussed Tuesday when U.S. Reps. Rick Larsen and Suzan DelBene met with anti-hunger advocates at the Community Action Agency.To read the full story, click HERE. Read more »

Politics, for all its sound and fury, still signifies something. Ideally, it's an expression of public values. Thursday in the U.S. House, "ideally" was nowhere to be seen.The U.S. House voted 217 to 210 to give 3.8 million Americans on food stamps the heave-ho.To read the full story, click HERE. Read more »

Republicans and Democrats have been debating a bill that would cut $40 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program over the next 10 years. House Republicans argue that the food stamp program has grown too large and unmanageable.  Representative Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., has been an active advocate against the Republican-backed bill. She explains the implication of this… Read more »

We are fortunate that Washington state's economy has a diverse array of strengths as we work to continue our recovery from the Great Recession.We build the world's best airplanes. We design software that's changed the way we work and socialize. We grow some of the country's best fruits and vegetables, producing, in fact, 92 percent of the nation's red raspberries. But… Read more »

A special guest will tour sites in the Skagit River Valley today. Nancy Sutley, the chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality will be in Mount Vernon to discuss the impacts of climate change on communities in Washington state.Sutley has been touring the country to talk about the climate action plan President Barack Obama unveiled in June.In Mount Vernon, she’ll be… Read more »

BELLINGHAM - Bellingham International Airport is receiving two federal grants totaling about $1.1 million to upgrade the aircraft de-icing facility and to fix an apron used by private aircraft.The de-icing project is meant to enable crews to handle more aircraft quickly during the winter, at a cost of $500,000. A second grant of $655,000 will help rehabilitate a general aviation apron… Read more »

The revelations of secret government surveillance programs earlier this year were deeply troubling. Specifically, the bulk collection of the personal phone records of millions of Americans, whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing or not, has raised serious constitutional concerns.The disclosure of these programs revealed just how little the American public knows about what their… Read more »

D.C. — Congresswoman Suzan DelBene joined a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers led by Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) to introduce legislation this week that would enable companies to shed light on the number of surveillance orders they receive and how many of their users are affected by those demands for information.Under the Surveillance Order Reporting Act,… Read more »

EVERETT -- Members of Congress are asking the U.S. Forest Service to delay plans to move the Green Mountain forest fire lookout out of the Glacier Peak Wilderness.Rep. Suzan DelBene, Rep. Rick Larsen, both Democrats who represent portions of Snohomish County, and a member of the House Natural Resources Committee sent a letter Friday to the chief of the Forest Service describing their… Read more »