Confrontational conversation with Cathy

They’re billed as “Conversations with Cathy,” but while last Friday’s town hall meeting at Cheney’s Wren Pierson Community Center with 5th District Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers was conversational, it was also somewhat confrontational and ended becoming emotionally-charged.

Arriving over half an hour late because of a previous meeting at Fairchild Air Force Base, the incumbent Congresswoman was frequently challenged in her positions on a variety of issues, but none so emotionally testy as the one audience member Nancy Street posed near the end of the hour-long meeting. Street said she was concerned about her daughter and granddaughter’s ability to get fair treatment in the workforce as women, and felt McMorris Rodgers’ votes seemed to conflict with her statements about being an advocate for women’s issues.

Street noted McMorris Rodgers’ had twice voted no on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which finally passed in 2009, reflecting a concern among many conservative lawmakers that the act would simply create more lawsuits.

“It’s like to see you, as a visible lawmaker, stand up and show me how to treat women,” Street strongly implored. “Teach the men. Stand up for us women.”

McMorris Rodgers, who had faced the equal pay for women question previously in the town hall, told Street that she had two daughters as well. When Street pressed the issue, noting that even if there are lawsuits they would be merited if it led to fixing the pay issue, McMorris Rodgers became visibly angry.

“Lilly Ledbetter passed in 2009 and the numbers did not change,” she said, jabbing her index finger forcefully towards the floor and her voice rising noticeably.

“Lilly Ledbetter did not solve the problems,” she added, reiterating that she does appreciate women’s issues and stands up for them in public.

Earlier in the meeting, McMorris Rodgers had told a questioner who identified herself as a 22-year-old master’s student at Eastern Washington University that she supported the 1964 Equal Pay Act and had introduced legislation to enforce the measure. She said that instead of more laws, what is needed is more study into the problem to determine its origin.

“Where is the discrimination taking place so we can get to the root of the problem?” she said.

McMorris Rodgers also said she has found that most young girls don’t imagine themselves in higher paying fields, such as those being focused on through science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) courses. She said women tend to want careers where they can work as a team and where they can work towards long-term impacts.

“They don’t see the STEM fields as being that,” she said.

Another questioner challenged her support for high education, specifically college students, by noting she had voted against House Resolution 2669 “Student Loan Lender Subsidy Cuts and Student Grants.” McMorris Rodgers questioned whether she had voted no on the bill, to which the questioner replied she had.

HR 2669 passed in 2007 and was signed by former President George W. Bush. Among many things it provided more funding for federal student loans while reducing Perkins loans rates.

“I would like to look that up because I have always supported student loan policies,” McMorris Rodgers told the audience, adding she and Republicans in Congress have reduced federal student loan rates and made them fixed rather than variable.

In response to a statement by another audience member that Congress needs to make the administration of President Barrack Obama clarify its policies, particularly on business issues, McMorris Rodgers said they are working on that by attempting to restore regulatory oversight to the legislative branch rather than the executive.

McMorris Rodgers also told the audience she is continuing to work on veteran’s health care issues, changing the debate over the Affordable Care Act away from repeal and more to allowing states to make health care choices, and creating high paying jobs that will keep college graduates in Eastern Washington rather than going elsewhere. She also held out hope for tax reform in 2015.

“We need tax simplification,” she said. “Too many companies have hired attorneys to figure out how to avoid paying taxes. It shouldn’t be that way. They should be paying taxes.”

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.