Jacob Farmer / jfarmer@yelmonline.com
U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez stopped by the Rainier Senior Center on Wednesday, May 28, to meet and speak with around 20 area residents as part of her Thurston County tour.
After introducing herself to individual attendees, Gluesenkamp Perez spoke for about 11 minutes, appealing to the rural crowd with anecdotes about living in Skamania County and co-owning an auto repair machine shop with her husband.
A fifth-generation Washingtonian, Gluesenkamp Perez is the great-great-niece of Andrew Wilson, the Tenino stonecutter and owner of Hercules Quarry. Her mother was born in Forks.
“Being a member of Congress was not on my bingo card,” Gluesenkamp Perez said. “My dad was a pastor growing up, and our family has always believed in to whom much is given, much is required. And I felt like a lot of the things that I was hearing about in the news just were not that reflective or relevant to my experience trying to run a small business.”
Gluesenkamp Perez, 36, is in her second term as a Democratic congresswoman serving Washington’s Third Congressional District. She defeated Republican Joe Kent in both 2022 and 2024. Gluesenkamp Perez is co-chair of the Blue Dog Coalition, a caucus of Democrats from the U.S. House of Representatives known for its fiscally conservative positions.
In her wide-ranging speech, the congresswoman spoke to issues such as the rising cost of homeownership, food preparation licenses that prohibit daycare workers from peeling a banana, and the importance of recognizing — and promoting — a variety of intelligences, especially in the trades.
“And I think that we’re really impoverishing our national strength when we shoehorn everybody into one path,” Gluesenkamp Perez said. “We are a nation of self-sufficient people.”
Gluesenkamp Perez said she’s talked to farmers around the state who are having trouble finding buyers, like a chicken farmer in Lewis County who used to sell to 12 different clients; now he only has two.
According to the congresswoman, the United States imports 40 percent of the fresh fruits and vegetables it consumes.
“That should freak us all out,” Gluesenkamp Perez said. “Like, that is not a good thing.”
Speaking about veterans, Gluesenkamp Perez said she learned that only around 30 percent use their VA home loans. Additionally, veterans cannot use their loans as an owner-builder. She added that she’s trying to incorporate her own personal construction blueprints into a pilot program that would allow veterans to build a three-car shop with an apartment on top. She’s run into pushback from the Ethics Committee, who said that visual information cannot be introduced in a bill’s text.
“And so now I’m fighting to get the rules changed so you can have visual information in bill text,” Gluesenkamp Perez said.
Gluesenkamp Perez added that she thinks “most of us don’t believe that housing is a human right, but that the right to build a house is a human right. You should be able to make your life you live.”
The congresswoman finished her speech by saying that she’s trying to reflect the community’s experience in Southwest Washington, “and not let Washington, D.C. come here and tell us who we are and what we want, but to be very clear about what we believe is worth fighting for and who we are fighting for.”
Gluesenkamp Perez then opened the floor to questions and comments. One resident spoke about a neighbor who wanted to build a shop without power or water in Thurston County.
“It took him 18 months and $8,000 to get the permits,” the resident said.
Gluesenkamp Perez agreed that permitting reform is an urgent matter, and said she’s in a bicameral bipartisan working group that’s addressing the issue.
Another resident questioned whether some homeless people in the county would be able to build and maintain their homes, even if regulations and costs decreased.
Laura Immel, a retired elementary school teacher, spoke about her concerns regarding Medicaid cuts, calling the program a safety net.
“Where are we going to put all these seniors?” Immel asked. “Where are we going to put people who are disabled? Veterans in wheelchairs. They’re young, they’re not old, but that encompasses a lot of the population. And so that really concerns me. I just don’t know what the answer is.”
“Well, that’s exactly right,” Gluesenkamp Perez responded. “I mean, the Medicaid cuts have gotten way less attention than they merit. I mean, this is going to kill people. And it’s a reflection of who we are as a nation, what you’ve done for the least of these, you’ve done for me, and that’s a core part of who we are. And yes, we want a system that is more efficient, where there’s less paperwork and more patient-facing roles, but you don’t get there by just randomly throwing people off, you don’t get national health by ignoring the problem.”
The congresswoman referenced her Bible study group, paraphrasing the Book of Leviticus by saying, “you leave the corners of the field for the orphans and the widows and the bastards. There is a system in place for people to not starve, and we have to hold those things in balance.”
Throughout the question-and-answer portion, Gluesenkamp Perez touched on other issues she’s prioritizing in Congress, including making medicine more affordable.
“Basically, the pharmaceutical companies can change the delivery method of a drug, they can move it from a pressed powder pill to a gel pill or move it from an injection to a nebulizer, and then they can keep their patents, and they can continue to charge, it doesn’t go into the generic,” Gluesenkamp Perez. “And so, they can keep charging people who need this medication higher rates. And I voted for a bill to remove the pill penalty and say if it’s the same active ingredient, you don’t get to reup your patent.”
Later in the discussion, Gluesenkamp Perez returned to her experience running an auto shop with her husband, saying that she’s trying to level the playing field between smaller and larger shops, so the former can compete for apprenticeship positions, stipends and tax rebates. She’s also looking into expanding the 529 college savings plan to include the tools needed to run a business in the trades.
“I think part of the problem could be solved if a lot of the money that’s going to Ivy League colleges went to trade schools,” local resident Nancy Bay said. “It’s already been proven that kids that graduate from trade schools or apprenticeship programs aren’t in debt for the rest of their life for their college education. And they come out of the classes, and they’ve got a job.”
“Yeah, I agree entirely,” Gluesenkamp Perez said. “I was one of two Democrats to vote against the student debt forgiveness plan.” She added that the bigger question is why tuition has increased 240 percent since she was born.
Gluesenkamp Perez concluded her time at the Rainier Senior Center by encouraging residents to reach out if they are having an issue with a federal agency.
“I can’t do my job without you all telling me what you’re seeing and what your experiences are,” Gluesenkamp Perez. “I cannot tell you how useful casework is.”
George Johnson, who helps run the senior center along with his wife, Linda Johnson, said that he was pleased with the congresswoman’s visit.
“You know, it did change my perception of her a little bit — in a positive way,” Johnson said, adding that he thinks the congresswoman is a “decent human being.”
“I would love to have her stay here for two hours so that we could really have in-depth conversations about different things,” Johnson said. “But I think she got a feel for the people in the community. And I just like the fact that she is more interested in rural than she is cities, city living, and the problems that we face because she’s been through a lot of them.”
All told, the congresswoman from the 3rd District was at the Rainier Senior Center for about 40 minutes, before heading to Tenino for the grand opening of Agriculture Innovation Park.
“Most Americans, regardless of where they live, want similar things in life — strong community, good health, and economic self determination — but without going into all sizes and types of communities it’s impossible to really get at what the challenges and opportunities are in achieving our goals,” Gluesenkamp Perez told the Nisqually Valley News via email after the event.
“Whether good health is achieved through better access to the VA or ensuring folks can stock their freezer with salmon, the details matter, and I consider it a privilege that so many communities have open their doors to me and shared candidly what their priorities and concerns are.”
Gluesenkamp Perez said she also wanted to hear from seniors about how she can best support them living on fixed incomes, and share with them how her team can assist with federal agencies like the VA and Social Security Administration.
