PORT ANGELES — A little more than 100 days ago, Emily Randall was stepping into her first day of service as Washington’s 6th Congressional District U.S. Representative.
Now she has a plethora of actions and experiences under her belt: 55 bills she’s cosponsored, introduced or amended; efforts to build bipartisan relationships; and symbolic and procedural measures taken as a stand against presidential administration actions that Randall disagrees with.
Legislative efforts
Out of all the bills Randall has worked on this year, one that sticks out to her is the bill that would have created an inspector general at the Office of Management and Budget.
“At a time when this administration says they want to root out inefficiencies in our budget (and that they) want to be responsible with taxpayer dollars, this bill is sort of a challenge to actually do the work to make that happen,” Randall said.
However, in a Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives, the bill immediately hit roadblocks. Although some of the bill’s language was pulled from an amendment introduced by a Republican in the 117th Congress, she said that, this time around, the member declined to cosponsor her bill.
“Because of the polarization, it’s not going to get a hearing,” Randall said.
On the flip side, she said the most notable bill she declined to support was the House’s budget resolution.
“That has a goal of gutting so many federal programs in order to pay for tax breaks for billionaires,” she said, mentioning the widespread impacts that would occur if Medicaid were cut.
“I got into politics because I care about healthcare,” Randall said, noting that many rural hospitals in her district rely on Medicare and Medicaid to keep their doors open. “We should be investing in our rural access healthcare.”
Other locally invested dollars, such as the allocated Hurricane Ridge Lodge funding, also might be on shaky ground, Randall said.
“I think everything is on the line to be cut,” she said.
Public engagement
As a public servant, Randall said she strives to prioritize engagement with her constituents.
Since she was sworn in, Randall has held seven in-person town halls across all six of her counties, as well as a telephone town hall that had more than 16,500 call-ins. Additionally, she said she comes home every weekend.
“I have to be accountable to the folks I represent, and that means showing up,” she said. “I’m in the district as much as possible.”
When she talks with people in her district, Randall said she tries to bring those stories back to Washington, D.C., “to try and put pressure on this administration and the Republicans in Congress to stop some of the worst actions.”
She also has utilized symbolic actions — such as walking out of President Donald Trump’s first joint address to Congress — to make a statement about actions with which she disagrees.
That decision to walk out was not calculated, Randall said. Instead, when Trump began uplifting a child cancer survivor while working with Republicans to pass Medicaid cuts that would gut funding for cancer research and children facing cancer, she said, “I could not sit through it anymore.”
And, while actions like that aren’t going to sway Trump’s policy stances, Randall said, “sometimes they make people in our community feel less alone.”
As an elected representative, Randall said she does have some procedural tools — such as subpoenas — that can push back against Trump administration action. And, although the Democratic attempt to subpoena Trump’s senior advisor Elon Musk was unsuccessful, Randall said it is still important to take actions like that.
“It creates a record of what is happening,” she said. “For journalists, the historical record and the public, who want to know … this is important to us.”
Randall said she also utilizes her platform to tell the stories of people whose lives are being impacted by federal actions. This is an action step that anyone can take, she added.
“Each of us has a power to use our voice and build relationships and persuade people,” she said. “Regular people are the backbone of our democracy.”
Despite the polarization present at a federal level, Randall said she still has hope that collaboration between Democrats and Republicans can occur.
“I still truly believe that we can build bipartisan relationships,” she said.
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Reporter Emma Maple can be reached by email at emma.maple@peninsuladailynews.com.
