Posted on 03/17/2004 6:46:23 PM PST by qam1
Without mentioning she's running for a third six-year term this year, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray told a Vancouver audience Tuesday her tenure has given her clout.
"Seniority means a lot in the Senate. When you first come in, you think it's a terrible thing. But every year, it gets better and better," said Murray, a Democrat.
Murray spoke about the economy, transportation and other issues while a Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce crowd of 150 lunched on chicken at the Heathman Lodge.
The name of her main Republican opponent, Spokane Congressman George Nethercutt, never came up.
Murray did criticize the Bush administration and "the powers that be in Washington, D.C." for hindering Clark County's economy and then refusing to extend unemployment benefits.
Congress has extended unemployment benefits three times since the spring of 2002, but the latest extension expired Dec. 31.
Continuing aid for the jobless would make sense, but it also would undermine claims by others of an economic rebound, said Murray, who ridiculed the term "jobless recovery," likening it to chocolate without calories.
"It's just not the same," she said.
While Murray spoke, the state Employment Security Department released figures for February that showed a trend of continued job growth.
Washington's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped 0.4 percent in February to 6.1 percent. Clark County's unemployment dropped by 0.3 percent to 8.3 percent.
Murray touted her status as the senior Democrat on the Senate's transportation appropriations subcommittee as a "great position" to direct federal funds to regional transportation improvements.
She complained the Bush Administration did not include money to deepen the Columbia River in its 2005 transportation budget request. "It is one of my highest priorities because it means jobs," Murray said.
She also criticized the administration's effort to trim back the Senate-passed $318 billion, six-year transportation plan to $256 billion. The administration has its foot on the brake instead of the gas pedal, she said.
Another challenger, Reed Davis, former chairman of the King County Republican Party, is running a shoestring campaign against Murray.
Also while in Vancouver on Tuesday, Murray met with veterans at the Pearson Air Museum and then toured Oregon Iron Works.
Other comments to the chamber by Murray:
* About Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, a Massachusetts senator, Murray said: "He's a man of dignity and honor."
* Murray defended the No Child Left Behind Act but warned that unless the federal government financially helps schools comply with the act there will be a "backlash against the standards."
The act imposes tougher qualifications for teachers. Critics say it's federal intrusion and will make tough-to-fill jobs even harder to fill.
* Murray said she would "adamantly oppose" a move to reduce Social Security benefits.
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan last month urged benefits be lowered to accommodate the waves of baby boomers poised to retire.
* Murray said she favored reviving the now-expired moratorium on taxing the Internet.
She acknowledged that online buying has siphoned sales taxes from local governments. But she said she didn't think "we've worked out" how to collect the tax.
* She got a mostly positive response for saying she supported "three strikes" sanctions against lawyers who file "frivolous lawsuits." She called it an important part of an effort to lower medical malpractice premiums.
Does she think she'll get some Canucks to come and vote for her? She must think her chances aren't that good. :)
That, however, is much too large a concept for the "mon in tennis shoes" to grasp.
Sounds like the best argument for term limits that I've heard in some time.
"I voted for the $87B before I voted against it."
Funny how the woman who ran as the outsider mom in tennis shoes now considers seniority important.
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