Lakewood Lyre Interview; Rep. Marilyn Strickland, 10th Congressional District - LakewoodLyre exclusive
Nov2, 2023
(edited for print)
Chas Ames
She represents the 10th Congressional District, much of south Puget Sound. She is a member of the House Armed Services Committee and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and co-chair of the Puget Sound Recovery Caucus.
Does having this new speaker, Mike Johnson, increase the likelihood of a shutdown? This is a profoundly important concern to the thousands of people that work on JBLM.
Rep. Marilyn Strickland
So we swore in a new Speaker of the House in January and that's because the Republicans took the majority, which means they have about a four or five vote margin in the majority. And Kevin McCarthy served until the end of September until he got the boot, and he got the boot, Charles, because he agreed to a provision called a Motion to Vacate where one member of his caucus could bring forth to the floor a motion to fire him. Eight Republicans voted to fire him and I think that's really important to make this abundantly clear. This was not 'the Democrats did this'. This is something that the Republicans did. So after that they had to find a new speaker. So they have cycled through Steve Scalise, Tom Emmert, Jim Jordan, and finally we landed on Mike Johnson. And to be honest with you, I think this is pretty true for a lot of people who haven't been in Congress for a long time, I had to Google him. I did not know who this gentleman was. He's from Louisiana. And as we get to know more about him, he is definitely a fundamentalist evangelical. So as we look at who has the gavel now, I think the question becomes, will the Republican Caucus be functional enough to bring forward a resolution that will keep government open? And I say this because last time when we passed something that will expire in mid November, it took 209 Democrats along with 140 Republicans to vote yes to keep government open. And the Republicans who voted for that were punished along with Speaker McCarthy. So long story short, I am hopeful that we will not have another government shutdown because as you mentioned, it will be catastrophic to our community. It will affect servicemembers, it will affect senior citizens it will affect local and state governments ability to do their work as well. So I tell folks, I remain an optimist, but in order for us to keep government open, it will require a bipartisan solution. And I don't know that the GOP is up for that. And one more thing I want to say too, as a member of the House Democratic Caucus, I will always work across the aisle to find common ground where it's possible. What I won't do is compromise my values. And so we want to work in a bipartisan way, but I don't know if the GOP is up for that.
CA
I'm hopeful that it's a good sign that 217 GOP representatives saw something of value in there. What happens remains to be seen.
I'd like to ask you- three years ago, we came perilously close to losing democracy. And so I'm wondering, shouldn't we hold GOP co-conspirators accountable?
MS
So, we came dangerously close to losing democracy because Joe Biden won the presidential election. It was certified by every single Secretary of State across the country, both Republicans and Democrats. And then there was an attempt to basically stage a coup and overturn the results of the election. And by the way, Mike Johnson who has the gavel, right now, he was one of the lead architects in the legal argument to overturn the election. With that said, there have been people who had stormed the Capitol, trying to do harm to people who are being tried just about every day. We know that there are probably people who are part of the GOP who had some role in it. Jim Jordan did, Michael Johnson did. And so holding people accountable is a little challenging when you're not in the majority. But as we look at the future election in 2024, we have to make sure a few things happen. Number one, that we have safeguards in place that do not allow this to happen again, where people are challenging the results of a legitimate election, making sure that every state has protection so that people's votes are in fact counted and the certification process continues to be legitimate, but also being mindfully aware of it. You know, one of my concerns with both Jim Jordan and with Mike Johnson, are that they were insurrectionists, and they were election deniers. And so I worry that if there's an outcome that Donald Trump doesn't want in 2024, doesn't like, will there be another attempt to stage a coup and to overturn the election, but I tell folks, the best way to do this is to win, is to win resoundingly and to make sure people understand what is at stake in the election cycle in 2024.
CA
It seems pretty obvious to the to the average voter that that should be the case.
All right. Let's keep moving on. I wanted to ask, in the case of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, he's been implicated in several ethical misconducts. How should Congress handle this?
MS
So anyone who engages in wrongdoing or takes advantage of their position should be held accountable. And there are two parts of this because there's the role of his wife, Ginni. In the January 6 insurrection, she had a very, very heavy hand in that. And then on top of that, there is a Supreme Court Ethics Act, which is going to form a judicial code of conduct for Supreme Court justices. And so you know, this has been in the news. We've talked about what we can do about it, but I come back to, and this is not an excuse, but you hear me say this a lot, with a Republican majority it makes things difficult, but there should be a code of conduct and the highest court in the land, at a minimum, should be held to this standard. I think the other thing that's important to recognize too, though, if the person at the top of your party and ticket is a known criminal, who is engaging in all kinds of scandalous behavior, who is now under indictment, who is sitting in court, who has his family members and different people testifying against him, it makes it hard to do the right thing because you're accepting it at the highest level. However, I do believe in due process, and I think as things unfold over time, Donald Trump will be held accountable and so will Clarence Thomas. But I think the conversation becomes, you know, at what point has it been bad behavior become so normalized that we don't even flinch anymore when it happens?
CA
I really appreciate your frankness on that matter. It does seem to be fairly straightforward that there should be a universal understanding when it comes to representing the people. Now, I did want to kind of back up a little bit and point out that our grandparents complained in their day about things that they thought were monumental, but now compared to current issues, their issues seem mild. Is there any chance we may ever return to normalcy or is this the new normal?
MS
I have talked to folks who have been in Congress for a long time, for decades, and they have seen a lot. And even when Mike Johnson was getting sworn in as speaker, Hakeem Jeffries, who's the minority leader of the Democrats, referred back to American history. He talked about the Civil War. He talked about the Great Depression. And he talked about America always finding a way to right itself and correct itself. So as a person who chooses to be here every two years, because I continue to want to serve, I have to remain optimistic. But the reality, Chas, is that we are in a situation in this country and around the world honestly, where we are more divided than ever. And I believe there are two reasons for that. Social media has made it very, very hard for government and I say that in the context of when I was growing up, or even when I started in politics back in the mid-2000's. You got your news sources from television, print, or radio. Now with social media and all these different platforms, it is so easy to be fed a steady diet of garbage. It is easy to be fed things that are not true. And it's easy to engage in what I call 'confirmation bias'. Because you may have a certain set of beliefs and someone may want to talk to you about a different perspective. And instead of engaging in a nuanced conversation, social media algorithms manipulate you into going to people you only agree with or people you vehemently disagree with. And so, I love social media for how it is disseminating information and uniting people and helps you communicate but at the same time there are things that happened in that on those platforms that just undermines democracy and our ability to be united instead of divided. With that said, in Congress there are times when we do come together, but I sometimes deeply worry about the divisions that we have not just in America, but around the world. And how do we find a way to come together. How do we get away from this move of authoritarian governments when you have strong men? It's a very gendered term, but strong men coming in doing what they want. Donald Trump, by the way falls into that category. And I just think about the fact that this is why democracy is so fragile and this is why we have to be present and one of the things I talk about all the time is we cannot sleep on local elections. This year there are important elections taking place, school board, city council, and all these local races are often the bench to build leaders to go into other office. And so every election is so incredibly important, but as far as division goes, I tell people stand by your values. And if there's someone who is willing to engage you with a different perspective, have the grace to listen to them even if you disagree, because I tell folks policy-making is about nuance. It's about listening and when you get the best policies because you've taken all perspectives into account, not something that's crazy, crazy and against our values. But just give me the grace to listen to someone else's perspective that may be a little different from yours. I just think we don't do that enough. So I'm hoping that we can try to bridge these divides, but we live in a changing world and a changing country. So with more different opinions you're going to have more division sometimes.
CA
Congresswoman, is there any final word, anything you'd like to leave us with?
MS
Democracy is in danger right now. And that is not an over-exaggeration. We must show up and vote in every election and take it seriously. Even with some of the outcomes of previous elections, if people who didn't show up showed up, we could have gotten a better outcome. And what I tell folks is, sitting out in the election is handing a vote to the people you oppose. So make it an important priority to vote in every single election. The other thing I would say too is we're having challenges right now in the United States and around the world. But we have to make sure that we stay vigilant and we don't lose sight of what this country is supposed to represent. It's a place that is opportunity for all people. Where people are treated with respect and dignity regardless of where they come from, who they love or what their affiliation is. And so we have to get back to those base values and ideals of what this country is supposed to be. It's not going to be easy because change is never easy, but we have to evolve to have a place that is more safe, more just, more secure, and more importantly, more inclusive.