(The Center Square) – Out-of-towners outnumbered local residents at the 5th Congressional District town hall meeting held Monday morning in Ritzville. When asked to estimate the percentage of locals among the 130 or so attendees, Sheriff Dale Wagner responded, “About 2%.”
Those whose names were drawn to ask questions identified themselves as coming from Spokane, Cheney and Pullman.
U.S. Rep. Michael Baumgartner welcomed the crowd filling the American Legion Hall and passed along a message from his former colleague, state Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, with a smile.
“Anyone who drove in from outside Adams County, you have to shop while you’re here and support local businesses,” he joked.
The 5th Congressional District includes 10 counties and parts of two other counties.
“My goal is to do a town hall in each and every county this first year,” Baumgartner said. “Big picture, I’m trying to push power back to the state and local level and reinvigorate the authority of Congress as the most important branch of government.”
Federal government reorganization efforts under President Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, were the focus of questions from many of Baumgartner’s constituents.
“I was a federal worker, we want good federal workers,” Baumgartner noted. “I wish there wasn’t so much animus right now.”
He referred to the previous bipartisan federal reorganization under President Bill Clinton, saying America needs to be put back on a sustainable path.
“Right now the executive branch is out in front of the legislative branch on that,” Baumgartner said.
On immigration policy, Baumgartner said the U.S. Supreme Court will have to intervene in federal court rulings.
“The American people knew Donald Trump was very serious about the southern border. If he has a mandate on anything it’s on securing that southern border,” Baumgartner continued.
In Washington, “state sanctuary policies create a much more dangerous situation because those guys get released and then ICE has to go get them at their homes or on the street where they’re all loaded up with weapons, and more folks who would not be a high priority are picked up in the sweep.”
On Ukraine, Baumgartner referred to the time he has spent working in war zones.
“We cannot have Putin be successful in Ukraine,” he said. “We can also not be naïve about the Ukrainian government and what kind of country it is, and we cannot have troops on the Polish border. I appreciate there is an attempt to bring that to a close.”
In response to concerns about protecting Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security, Baumgartner said there’s no intention to touch Social Security or Medicare, and Medicaid spending will continue to go up.
“There are a lot of working-age males on Medicaid; we need to get them back working like Bill Clinton did,” he told the crowd.
Several people referred to the extension of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, or TCJA, rates scheduled to sunset in 2025 as a vote for a tax cut for billionaires. Baumgartner responded with a history lesson.
“Only half of those taxes were made permanent and the other half go back to the way they used to be … if Congress were to take no action on the taxes, the average American family would get a 22% increase in your tax rate overall,” Baumgartner explained. “I’m in favor of extending the tax reductions; we disagree on that.”
At one point, the crowd’s outbursts drowned out the speakers, with one person saying loudly, “The problem is there’s no rebuttal.”
“Why would you want to rebut? Let him speak. You don’t live here,” Ritzville City Councilman Dennis Chamberlain said before standing up and walking out of the meeting.
Baumgartner, a native of Colton, in the heart of Palouse wheat country, said he was hoping for more questions from Adams County residents on agriculture and rural issues. The only agriculture question was asked by an attendee identifying themselves as a nonbinary employee of Washington State University in Pullman on actions Congress could take to protect wheat growers from the impact of tariffs.
“90% of our wheat goes overseas, down the Snake River and out through Portland,” agreed Baumgartner. “Trump was clear on the campaign that he likes tariffs. I disagree with him on that issue, he likes it as a negotiating tool. In general, I’ll continue to work within the administration and with stakeholders on the tariff issue because all our wheat has to go to market.”
Baumgartner pointed to the necessity of a secure border in getting control of other issues in healthcare, the fentanyl epidemic and spending.
“This is your government,” he said, “it doesn’t mean we’re going to agree.”
A similar town hall was held Monday evening on the campus of Whitworth University in Spokane.
