The town hall tour
Dear Friend,
I just wrapped up my week-long town hall tour this past Saturday. Following my “Town-Hall-a-Palooza,” Sophie, Tess, and I went up north and visited grandma and grandpa for a delicious meal. It was some great family time before flying back to D.C. today!
Over the course of the week, I held seven town halls, visiting every county in the district I represent. We had a terrific turnout and even had a few citizens attend multiple town halls (I kind of wanted to get them a “Town Hall Tour T-shirt” or something).
Notably, there were a couple of key differences between my town hall tour and the Bruce Springsteen Concert Tour that started in January. The biggest difference? I didn’t do any stage dives. In fact, I can’t hold a candle to the Boss when it comes to jumping around the stage. In addition, for my encore, I didn’t have anything quite as powerful as Born to Run.
Nonetheless, if you came to a town hall I hoped you enjoyed my update on the Good, the Bad, and Ugly in Congress and my answers to your questions. I want to thank the folks who made it for coming out. Our republic is stronger when citizens are engaged.
Wanted to attend, but couldn’t make it?
I’ll be hosting my eleventh telephone town hall on Wednesday, March 2 at 6 p.m. PT. Participants will have the opportunity to ask a question or leave a message with their comments. Folks who would like to join the call can sign up at kilmer.creativengine.com/contact/townhall or send an email to kilmer.teletownhall@mail.house.gov with their name and phone number by 3 p.m. PT on Tuesday, March 1. Those who sign up before the deadline will receive a phone call at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 2 inviting them to the town hall.
Now, on to the news.
The Future of the Supreme Court
During my town halls, I enjoyed talking about a whole range of topics. One issue that came up a lot related to the recent passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. A number of folks wanted to know the path forward and whether the President will have an opportunity to fill this vacancy.
To me, the path is clear since the Constitution says that the President “shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint...Judges of the Supreme Court...”.
I believe that the President should fulfill his Constitutional duty and pick a highly qualified replacement, and the Senate should give that nominee a fair hearing and an up or down vote.
The longest any nominee to the Supreme Court has waited to receive a vote was 125 for Louis Brandeis in 1916. There are well over 300 days left in the President’s term. I agree with former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor who said the President and the Senate should move forward. Presidential politics and excessive partisanship shouldn’t stand in the way of the functioning of our highest court.
Helping You
One thing I always like to remind folks is that I work for you. So it’s important that my office is doing what we can to make sure your government is treating you fairly. That’s why I view casework as one of the most important things we do.
I recently wrote about all the great work my team did last year helping our neighbors (and maybe some of you) save more than $226,000. It doesn’t matter if you are a veteran dealing with a VA that won’t release benefits you’ve earned or a federal worker that can’t access a retirement package, we will look into it.
Last week I kicked off a ‘Constituent Services Forum’ in Bremerton. This year our caseworkers plan to visit different areas of our region and meet with local social service providers. The goal is to give these providers additional resources and training regarding how they can help others get answers they need from federal agencies. I’m glad to say the first leg of this workshop was a success!
I had a great time kicking off the day in Bremerton. It was inspiring to see all the faces that came out to do some good for others. As always, remember that if you are grappling with Social Security, the IRS, the VA or any other federal agency please reach out to my office.
Welcoming a Guest
Something we don’t talk often enough about is the transformative role the arts play in our communities. It’s something I got to talk directly about as I welcomed Jane Chu, Chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), to our neck of the woods. We kicked off the morning in Tacoma at the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts for a discussion with leaders from museums, performing arts organizations, and other cultural institutions in the community. In Tacoma the arts have helped revitalized downtown, they’ve helped our kids grow in school, and increased the opportunities for people to come together and get to know one another a bit better.
Following that discussion, we visited the Museum of Glass and got to visit with some of the military veterans enrolled in the Hot Shop Heroes program. It was amazing to see up close the work these veterans create and to talk about what the program has meant to them. For some it has meant a new hobby. For others, it has shown the healing power of the arts. You can read more about that visit in the Tacoma News Tribune.
From there we drove over to Port Townsend and visited Fort Worden. As a kid, I attended music camp at Fort Worden. Now, it’s home to extraordinary arts education programs, festivals, and other amazing assets. It’s also home to Copper Canyon Press, an organization supported by the NEA that will soon be releasing a book of the lost poems of Pablo Neruda. We had a terrific dialogue about the transformational role of the arts in Port Townsend.
Finally we ended the day at the fantastic Bainbridge Island Museum of Art where we visited with artists, gallery owners, and others involved in Kitsap County’s cultural scene.
It was great to show a national leader for the arts like the Chairwoman the outstanding things happening here in our region. As someone who worked in economic development, I know the arts are an absolute game-changer for us. They add to the vibrancy of our communities, enhance our livability, and attract talented people and businesses.
To read more about the visit you can check out the Peninsula Daily News too.
Bringing Air Travel Back
I’m always looking for ways that we can help bring new businesses and visitors to the Olympic Peninsula. That’s why I’ve been looking at how we can restore scheduled commercial air service to William R. Fairchild International Airport in Port Angeles. It’s time that folks traveling finally have the option of starting their trip on a commercial flight closer to home. It’s time to bring commercial flights back to William R. Fairchild International Airport.
It wouldn’t just be an easy way for someone in Port Angeles to get to Seattle and other parts of the country. It would also boost tourism by making it easier for people to fly in and spend some time on the Peninsula.
So I’ve cosponsored bipartisan legislation that would help clear a key hurdle to restoring this service. Right now the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is not required to restore passenger screening services to small airports like Fairchild. It’s hard to bring in a commercial airline when their passengers would have to get out and re-enter the security lines in Seattle (never a fun time).
So our bill would guarantee that TSA would come back once we have a commitment from a commercial airline to return. In this way we can ensure that our airport has the capacity to handle folks flying in and out.
You can learn more about this issue in the Peninsula Daily News.
Getting Folks Excited
Since my last update I joined my Future Forum colleagues on the House floor to talk about how we can bring people-power back to Congress. I want young voters to be excited about the political process, not discouraged by the deep pockets and special interests that all too often drown out the voices of our communities.
To do that we need to stop the flood of money into our political system and ensure that people don’t face roadblocks when they exercise their right to vote.
Tune in to watch my discussion with other members of the Future Forum here.
Working for You
During my week away from D.C., I got to visit all sorts of great events in our neck of the woods.
Sophie, Tess and I had a great time in Tacoma celebrating the Vietnamese New Year. I had the honor of recognizing the contributions of Dr. Dung Xuan Nguyen on the House floor recently and was able to again honor him and his contributions to our community. We also ate some fantastic Banh mi.
I had a great morning with the Asia Pacific Cultural Center at their Annual New Year's Celebration at the Tacoma Dome. This is an event that I make sure to attend each year because it focuses on celebrating the diversity we have here in Washington state. Not to mention the incredible entertainment, arts, and food! Congratulations to Lua Pritchard, Patsy Surh O’Connell and others for putting together a terrific event.
I had some fun “Kilmer at Your Company” events in Mason County. I visited Hiawatha Evergreens, a supplier of fresh western greens and Christmas greens. I also had an awesome visit with the team at the Hama Hama Oyster Company in Lilliwaup. We got to dig into all sorts of policy issues (including ocean acidification)...and we got to dig into some delicious shellfish!
I was pleased to visit with the North Hood Canal Chamber of Commerce for a lunch discussion at the Gear Head Deli in Quilcene. We discussed the local business climate and opportunities for growth while eating delicious pulled pork.
As you can tell, it’s been a busy (and filling) week. Yes - I think I gained ten pounds this week.
Thanks for reading. As always, I’m honored to work for you.
Sincerely,
Derek Kilmer