Cathy McMorris Rodgers

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Cathy McMorris Rodgers

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Washington's 5th district
In office 2005 - present
Preceded by	George Nethercutt
Succeeded by	Incumbent

Born	May 22, 1969 (age 37) Salem, Oregon
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Brian Rodgers ^[1]
Religion	Christian^[1]

Fifth Congressional District of Washington

Cathy McMorris Rodgers is a Republican politician. She was born in Salem, Oregon on May 22, 1969.

She has represented Washington's 5th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives since January 2005. McMorris Rodgers defeated Democrat Don Barbieri in the 2004 Congressional elections and in 2006 defeated Democratic rancher Dr. Peter Goldmark.

1 Biography
2 Politics
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Biography

Cathy was born and raised on a farm. She worked in the family owned and operated business, the Peachcrest Fruit Basket Orchard and Fruit Stand, in Kettle Falls, WA for 13 years. ^[2] She is the descendant of pioneers who traveled the Oregon Trail in the early 1850s to the Pacific Northwest where her father's family pursued agriculture and her mother's family worked in the forestry industry.^[2] McMorris Rodgers has one brother, Jeff McMorris, who served as her campaign manager in 2004.

In 1990 Cathy earned a BA in Pre-Law from Pensacola Christian College^[3] (an unaccredited school^[4] ). In 2002 she received an Executive MBA from the University of Washington. ^[5]

On 5 August 2006 in San Diego, Cathy McMorris married Brian Rodgers, a retired Navy commander and a Spokane, Washington native. Rodgers is a U.S. Naval Academy graduate and the son of David Rodgers, the mayor of Spokane from 1967 to 1977.^[6] ^[7]

Cathy currently lives in Stevens County, Washington. She enjoys playing the piano, swimming, and reading American history. Cathy says she lives by former President Ronald Reagan's motto: "There's no limit to what a person can do or where one can go if one doesn't mind who gets the credit."^[2]

In January 2007 Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers announced that she and husband Brian Rodgers are expecting a baby boy the end of May.^[7]

[edit] Politics

[edit] State Representative

1994-2004 Washington State House Representative, 7th District.^[3] From 2002-2003, she served as the House Republican leader ^[2], the top leadership post for the House Republicans. She was the first woman to lead a caucus in the House, and the youngest since World War II. She chaired the House Commerce and Labor Committee, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee, and the State Government Committee. ^[5]

[edit] 2004 congressional campaign

In 2004 McMorris Rodgers received 59.7% [1] of the vote in an open seat. During her campaign, she gained many endorsements including the following groups:

Washington State Law Enforcement Association
Washington State Farm Bureau
Association of Washington Businesses
Western Fish & Wildlife Federation
Washington Property Rights Alliance
Associated Builders and Contractors

[edit] Freshman term 2005-2007

McMorris Rodgers was sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives on January 4, 2005. Her priorities included economic growth and job creation; access to quality, affordable health care; and keeping our nation and communities safe.

McMorris Rodgers has worked in a bipartisan fashion on issues important to Eastern Washington. She actively supports missions to protect and expand Fairchild Air Force Base and worked to keep the base off the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) list.^[2] McMorris Rodgers co-introduced Health IT legislation and is co-leading a statewide Health IT task force to position Washington state for future Health IT advancements with Congressman Adam Smith, D-WA.^[2] Understanding that a well-trained and competitive workforce starts with educational opportunities, McMorris Rodgers sponsored the American Competitiveness Amendment to the College Access and Opportunity Act. The bi-partisan amendment takes steps to improve math, science, and critical foreign language education.^[2]

[edit] Committee assignments

Armed Services^[2]
Natural Resources^[2]
Education and Labor^[2]
Speaker’s High-Tech Working^[2]
Chairwoman of the National Task Force on Improving the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)[2]

McMorris Rodgers also served as the Freshman Class representative on the Steering Committee and on the Republican Whip Team.^[2]

[edit] Leadership opportunities

McMorris Rodgers was selected to serve as the Chairwoman of the National Task Force on Improving the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). She oversaw the NEPA hearings across the country, reviewing the current implementation of the Act. It has been her goal to improve the process to protect our environment through sound decision-making. NEPA has broad economic impacts through permitting and study requirements for transportation, public works projects, important oil and gas development, healthy forests, mining, grazing and other federal projects. [3]

[edit] 2006 congressional campaign

In 2006 McMorris Rodgers received 56.4% of the vote. [4]

The Goldmark campaign made national Republican scandals an issue in the campaign, including Congressman Bob Ney (who plead guilty to bribery) and former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who gave the McMorris Rodgers campaign a $5,000 contribution through ARMPAC, Delay's political action committee.^[8]^[9]^[10]

Cathy McMorris Rodgers donated the $2,500 she received from former Congressman Ney to the Red Cross.^[11]

[edit] Sophomore term 2007-2009

[edit] Co-chair of Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues

Cathy McMorris Rodgers is the new co-chairwoman of the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues. The Democrat co-chairwoman is Rep. Lois Capps, D-Calif. The caucus has pushed for pay equity, tougher child support enforcement, women's health programs and law protecting victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.^[12]

[edit] Recognized for support of veterans

Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers received a 100% rating from key veterans groups including the American Veterans and the Vietnam Veterans of America for her work and votes during the 109th Congress.^[13]

McMorris Rodgers was rated 100% for supporting the following^[13]:

Flag Protection Act
Veterans Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act
Veterans Benefits Improvement Act
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Visiting Center Act
Department of Veterans Affairs Information Technology Management Improvement Act
National Defense Authorization Appropriation bills
Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs Appropriation bills.

The Veterans of Foreign War released a list of veteran’s accomplishments during the 109th Congress, all of which were supported by McMorris including^[13]:

Ensuring sufficient funding for the Veterans Health Care Administration
Ensuring the VA disability compensation program is preserved in its current form
Securing authority and full funding for the GI Bill for the 21st century
Authorizing a program to allow all disabled military retirees to full military retirement pay and disability compensation without offset

McMorris received a 0% on veterans issues for the year 2005 from the Disabled American Veterans (DAV). According to DAV it is possible that elected officials supported other veteran-related issues not recorded by DAV, as DAV's site is not a comprehensive voting record. The DAV selected specific amendments to rate, making the 2005 ratings highly partisan by rating 150 Democrats at 100% and 160 Republicans at 0% with only 2 Republicans rated over 50%. The DAV 2006 ratings are less partisan.[5] In 2006 McMorris Rodgers improved to 66% (as rated by DAV) [6] while voting for veteran's benefits only 25% of the time as a member of the 109th Congress[7]. For 2006 she also received a D Rating from the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America[8].