It has been an exciting week for Washington State University (WSU) here in Washington DC. The week started in anticipation for President Obama’s State of the Union Address. On Tuesday, in the first moments of his speech the President spoke of farm exports, rural physicians and manufacturing. A few minutes later, he highlighted the need to find alternatives to fossil fuels. WSU is a leader in research that supports our farmers, rural communities and the vitality of our state. These are all areas that align with our institution’s federal priorities around agriculture, advanced technology and health sciences.
We were proud to see Washington state in the spotlight following the President’s speech when Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) gave the Republican response to the President’s State of the Union Address. A longstanding tradition of having the opposing party counter the President’s speech – our Congresswoman was the first woman to do this over ten years taking her opportunity to broadly outline the Republican’s alternatives to President Obama. The Congresswoman represents Washington state’s 5th district, including WSU Pullman and WSU Spokane.
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed the Farm Bill by a vote of 251-166. The bill is expected to save $16.6 billion dollars over the next 10 years. This is very good news for WSU as the legislation provides funding for programs, including the organic agriculture research and extension, specialty crop research initiatives. While language includes $8.6 billion in cuts from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) this number is far less than the numbers included the initial House version of the bill. The bill moves to the Senate where a vote is expected as early as Monday.
This week we also had several visitors in town, including Dr. Mark Stephan from WSU Vancouver. Dr. Stephan, a faculty member in the School of Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs, had the opportunity to meet with a member of Senator Patty Murray’s staff to highlight his research around environmental policy and an upcoming grant proposal to the National Science Foundation (NSF). Representatives from the Washington Grain Commission were also in Washington D.C. this week and we had the opportunity to sit down with them and identify overlapping research priorities.
As we lead into the weekend we are very excited about the Seahawks playing in Super Bowl XLVIII, and we are not alone. The Washington House Delegation announced they had extended a wager on Sunday’s game with their Colorado Colleagues. Members are offering up food and beverages from around the state and Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers has offered up Cougar Gold. While we love to share Cougar Gold with all Members, this week, we would prefer to keep Cougar Gold to ourselves.