In the Senate, I've learned how to overcome partisan divides and gridlock to get things done for students, seniors, veterans, women, and working families who make Washington their home.

Working together, we can grow the economy, protect the environment, build clean energy jobs, provide educational opportunities for all people at all stages of life, protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and ensure that housing, health care, and retirement remain affordable for working families.

Jobs & the Economy | Environment | Health Care | Reproductive Rights | Women's Issues | Veterans | Education | Housing | Retirement Security | Agriculture | Cybersecurity | Opioid Crisis | Homeland Security

Many of the most successful businesses in the world were founded in Washington state, and  continue to grow here. Throughout my career, I've worked to support our state’s unique and enviable culture of science, innovation, and economic growth. I've seen how successful Washington companies operate, and I know what it means for our state.

It means jobs.

Not just jobs for tech workers, but across all sectors of our economy. My mission is to ensure that our prosperity is shared—so I fight for things working families need, like access to education and job training, and making housing, health care, and childcare more affordable.

I support the men and women of organized labor. I'm proud that Washington State is leading the nation in raising the minimum wage. I’ve worked hard to increase investment in workforce training and I’m fighting for more apprentice jobs so more working-class families can earn and learn.

I led legislation investing in 10 key technology areas – including semiconductor chip manufacturing – with funding for research and development in tech hubs and universities across the country so we continue to lead the world in science and innovation.

I supported the creation of a $30 billion lending fund to help small businesses, the great engine of our economy.

Working with women entrepreneurs, we increased access to capital and funding for business counseling so we could grow more women-owned businesses.

Today, it is not uncommon for workers to transition through multiple careers in their lifetime. We must prepare workers to thrive in a 21st-century global economy. We need to provide education and training for returning veterans and laid-off workers, and support our community colleges. 

Our state is at the forefront of the knowledge economy. Two key ways of staying ahead are affordable education and reduction of student loan debt. We must invest in making college more affordable. The benefits we gain from these efforts are further innovation and greater success.

Like many Washingtonians, one of my favorite things to do is go hiking. Whether it’s the Cascades, the Olympics, the Methow Valley, or our spectacular Pacific coastline, the incredible natural beauty and untamed wilderness of our state is a gift we share. One of my greatest responsibilities is to help protect this gift for future generations.

That's why I fought so hard to permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) in the Great American Outdoors Act and to address the maintenance backlog in our national parks and wildlife refuges. 

I've worked to grow Washington's leadership in new solar, wind, biofuel, and fuel cell jobs by promoting renewable energy over fossil fuels and maintaining fuel efficiency for cars.

I will fight any attempt to privatize Bonneville public power.

I fought to protect Puget Sound by creating a Puget Sound Office where the EPA, NOAA, and other federal partners will have an annual $50 million budget for research and recovery efforts to help clean up our Sound.

I believe in health care for all. I support universal coverage, and that’s why I’m fighting every day for all of our fellow citizens to have access to affordable, high-quality health care.

I helped pass the Inflation Reduction Act, which capped insulin prices at $35 for those on Medicare and extended health care subsidies.

I fought to stop President Trump and Republicans in Congress from stripping health care from 750,000 Washingtonians and eliminating protections for pre-existing conditions. I also support improvements to the Affordable Care Act, like expansion of the Basic Health Plan, to lower premiums and out-of-pocket expenses.

Medicaid has brought coverage to 650,000 people in our state. I’ve fought hard against proposals that would undermine Medicaid by repealing the expansion and turning the program into a block grant.

I am proud of Washington’s innovative health care system and world-renowned medical research institutions. I support strong federal investments in biomedical research and innovation in health care services to lower costs, improve results, and keep the focus on patients.

Prescription drugs must be more affordable. That’s why I co-sponsored legislation to allow the safe importation of prescription drugs from Canada and empower Medicare to negotiate prices directly with drug manufacturers. At every chance I get, I will join with legislators of both parties to work to end price-gouging of prescription drugs — such as when a bipartisan coalition successfully helped pressure Eli Lilly to lower the cost of insulin.

We still have a lot of work to do. That's why I continue fighting for lower costs, expanded access, and better health care outcomes for all.

Since the Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade, I have been hard at work pursuing every possible avenue to protect reproductive freedom both at home in Washington state and across the country.

When “trigger laws” in more than a dozen states enacted abortion bans after the Court overturned Roe, pro-choice states like Washington experienced an influx of out-of-state patients. That’s why I worked to protect our state’s health care delivery system and ensure providers can continue helping patients.

I fought for clarity from the Department of Justice on potential federal actions to protect patients and providers, regardless of where the patient comes from.

I introduced legislation to protect health care privacy and keep personal data safe from being misused against a patient.

I worked to protect providers from prosecution for providing essential reproductive care to patients traveling from anti-choice states – which Republicans blocked.

I fought for access to contraception in the wake of conservative states’ attempts to ban or limit individuals’ access.

These are just a few pieces of the ongoing fight to restore and defend abortion and privacy rights. I will continue pushing forward against extremist attempts to roll back progress.

While we have made progress, we must continue the fight to protect the rights of women and for fair pay at work.

We passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to do away with gender-based compensation discrimination and help ensure fair pay. Now we are fighting to ensure that there is equal pay for equal work.

Our state has passed paid family and medical leave and the nation should follow suit. We must also continue working to help make child care more affordable. We lead the nation in this respect but we’ve still got to keep moving forward.

In the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, I fought to extend the protection of this legislation to the most vulnerable women in our society.

We must continue to raise awareness of, and speak out against, sexual harassment in the workplace.

Working with women entrepreneurs, I helped pass a law to ensure women-owned small businesses have equal access to federal contracting. And we are continuing to push for policies that increase access to capital and funding for business counseling so we can grow more women-owned businesses.

After the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team won the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, I introduced the Equal Pay for TEAM USA Act which was signed into law by President Biden. The law requires that the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and sports’ governing bodies provide the same pay, medical care, travel accommodations, and coverage of expenses to U.S. athletes regardless of gender. Now when women win, they no longer have to worry that a men’s team will somehow be paid more.

Access to affordable educational opportunities is the key to a thriving economy and a productive workforce. That’s why I fought to protect funding for K-12, worked to expand GI Bill education benefits and sponsored legislation to increase Pell Grants and allow refinancing of student loans. I’ve fought to protect Impact Aid and secured increased funding for schools in rural counties through the Secure Rural Schools program.

In particular, I believe in life-long learning opportunities, from Head Start programs for early childhood, to adult basic education funding and programs to help displaced workers.

I am a strong supporter of STEM programs (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) because our future success will require skilled scientists and engineers.

Veterans put everything on the line for us—and we, as a nation, have a responsibility to do all we can to assist their transition. That means ensuring timely access to quality health care and GI benefits.

I’ve worked to bring job training, skills transition programs, education, and small business assistance to help veterans convert their experience and discipline into economic success.

To help those who provide daily care to many veterans, I supported expansion of the VA’s Caregivers Program. We expanded the term of eligibility for GI Bill loans and I supported laws to provide tax incentives for employers to hire veterans. And in my efforts to address affordable housing, I passed legislation to open up more housing units for homeless veterans.

I’m fighting to ensure all veterans receive the care, benefits and respect they’ve earned through their sacrifice.

Everyone in Washington should have access to safe, affordable housing. For too many in our state, the lack of affordable housing makes it difficult to just get by, let alone save for retirement.

Increasing our housing supply is a big part of the solution and that’s why I've sponsored and helped pass the first federal increase in the affordable housing tax credit in a decade. This legislation helps fund increased housing production around Washington state. I’ve also fought to address affordability, promote anti-discrimination protections, and increase funding for low-income and veterans’ programs within the federal budget.

Housing affordability is reaching a crisis stage and it's time for us to step up and take on the complex issues surrounding housing costs. I will continue working at the federal level to enact policies and gain needed resources to ensure all in Washington have access to affordable housing.

Cybersecurity is an issue that keeps me up at night. Each day we face an increasing number of cyber attacks, including attacks from state actors, to our electrical grid and energy infrastructure. 

That’s why I worked with Democrats and Republicans to pass critical legislation out of the Senate to help strengthen our preparedness and resilience to energy-sector cyber attacks.

This bipartisan legislation will help the Department of Energy to identify vulnerabilities, strengthen response capabilities, promote public-private information sharing and address workforce training and shortages.

I’ve worked with our National Guard to strengthen its preparedness and response capabilities and introduced legislation to authorize the deployment of cybersecurity first response teams in all 50 states.

Previous generations worked securely in the knowledge that they could rely on pensions and Social Security in retirement. But more and more these days, workers aren't staying in one company for their whole career, and many lack adequate pensions. We’ve even seen pension funds fail.

In addition, we’ve had to fight repeated attempts by unscrupulous politicians to raid the Social Security trust fund and hand it over to Wall Street.

We need to do everything possible to safeguard the financial security of American citizens, who are rightfully concerned about their future. And to do that we must do more to help workers save. That’s why I introduced legislation that would create incentives for employers to match workers' contributions, and a new retirement plan option for workers who do not have access to a 401(k).

I will not allow Social Security to be eroded by those in Congress who are more interested in the health of financial industry profits than they are about the people of America.

Our diverse agriculture industry, driven by farmers and ranchers across Washington state, supports 164,000 jobs and more than $10.6 billion in agriculture production. Washington state is also the third largest exporter of food and agricultural products in the nation, with exports totaling almost $7 billion annually.

That’s why I fight for policies and programs that support farming and ranching families and help us to compete in international markets. I’ve worked to expand the Market Access Program which helps farmers gain access to consumers in emerging markets like India and China, and crop insurance to help families weather natural disasters and catastrophic crop loss.

I’ve fought for agricultural research funding to help address falling numbers in wheat; added peas and lentils into our national school lunch program; expanded research and development funding for specialty crops; and backed increased funding for the National Clean Plant Network that helps keep plants virus free.

I’ve also supported funding for Washington State University’s agriculture extension network, conservation programs like the Conservation Reserve Program, and rural development programs that support housing and other important economic investments in farm communities across our state.

I’ve been vigilant against unfair trading practices and have worked with our growers to hold our trading partners accountable. A new trade enforcement trust fund that I helped create will help provide dedicated funding to enforce trade agreements. I will fight to ensure that Washington’s farms, ranches and other export-dependent businesses do not turn into collateral damage.

As I’ve traveled across our state, I’ve seen the devastating impact the opioid epidemic is having on our communities. From Longview to Port Angeles and Everett to Spokane, I’ve held forums to hear first hand about the difficult fight our families, community leaders, health care providers, and law enforcement officials are up against.

That’s why I supported the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, legislation that dramatically increased federal resources for treatment, recovery, supportive services for families and law enforcement.

I introduced a bill, supported by 39 state Attorneys General, to increase the penalties on drug manufacturers when they turn a blind eye to the reckless distribution of opioids in our communities. We need greater transparency and accountability into the production, marketing and distribution practices of drug manufacturers and that’s what my bill does.

There is no greater responsibility of our federal government than to ensure our national security and that of every American. Washington state faces a unique set of security challenges. We are a major gateway to trans-Pacific trade and we’re a border state. We’re experiencing record-setting growth at our airports, even as aviation security requirements increase. I take my responsibility to help keep our state safe very seriously.

I’ve passed bipartisan legislation to help law enforcement identify and evaluate potential terror suspects at foreign airports before they're permitted to board a flight for the U.S.

I’ve worked to increase the deployment of technology to monitor and better secure remote portions of our northern border. I’ve sponsored legislation to bring federal funding to support law enforcement in our border communities with the cost of prosecuting drug trafficking and other crimes. I’ve worked to increase the security of container cargoes so they are identified and screened before they leave foreign shores destined for our ports. And I’ve worked to increase the deployment of K-9 units and specialized security teams at our airports to improve safety and to move passengers through security lines more quickly.

We must remain ever vigilant in our efforts to protect our nation. But we must do so without ever compromising our values, our humanity, the rule of law, or due process.