Gluesenkamp Perez Statement Ahead of Presidential Address to Joint Session of Congress

Today, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03) released the following statement ahead of the President’s address to a joint session of Congress:

“Across Southwest Washington, folks are experiencing challenges. Fentanyl continues to hollow out communities, it’s still too difficult to start a small business, run a family farm, or buy a home, and prices for everyday needs like groceries, childcare, and more remain too high. During tonight’s Presidential address, I hope we will hear a unifying message focused on how we can work together to address these challenges.

I would like the President to share plans to prevent a looming catastrophic government shutdown, support Ukraine against Putin’s unprovoked invasion, and find common ground to keep our woods working, expand opportunities in the skilled trades, and reform permitting to bring down costs of energy and housing. Neither executive actions nor resulting litigation are a substitute for durable, bipartisan legislative work by Congress.

The President should also provide clarity about how we can steward taxpayer dollars and cut burdensome red tape in a way that respects the institutional knowledge and hard work of federal employees working timber sales, preventing wildfire, dredging our rivers, stringing power lines, delivering rural mail, and keeping fishermen safe with vital weather information.

Partisan tensions are flaring in the media – but it doesn’t eliminate the need to solve the problems that matter to Southwest Washington and that most of us agree on. I’ll continue to do what I’ve always done: steer clear of clickbait politics, make bipartisan progress as a member of the House minority, and remain fiercely loyal to what I’m hearing in our communities, red and blue, and from our coast to our woods.”

Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez will be bringing a Clark County corrections officer as her guest for the address, to highlight challenges faced by local officers. In prior years, she brought a Pacific County shellfish grower and a Kalama High School trades educator as her guests.