This week, my legislation, H.R. 2073, the Defending our Dams Act, received a legislative hearing by the House Natural Resources Committee. 

I have been working hard with allies of the Lower Snake River dams to ensure we do everything possible to protect them, and this hearing marks another success in that effort. 

This legislation guarantees that federal funds will not be used to breach, or even study breaching, the dams and protects the Army Corps and BPA’s rights to control spillage operations.

I was also thankful for Clark Mather, Executive Director of Northwest RiverPartners, who testified before the committee in support of these critical pieces of infrastructure. 

The Department of Defense has streamlined service records for reservists to better summarize their period of active and inactive service, as well as "points" earned toward retirement.

The new DD214-1 form will be used to recognize that a veteran's service record "plays a critical role in the allocation of veterans benefits, reemployment rights, and unemployment insurance," according to the Department of Defense.

The form is intended to better document total service in implementation guidance and should make it easier for members to access the benefits and entitlements they deserve at separation or retirement.

According to the Department of Defense, below are those who will receive the new form:

• Reservists who separate or are released from their reserve component
• Reservists transferred to the Individual Ready Reserve or the inactive National Guard
• Reservists transferred to the Standby Reserve or Retired Reserve
• Recalled retirees reverting to retired status
• Certain service-specific circumstances

While reservists can expect to receive additional guidance, below is information each service issued at the implementation of the form:

• Air Reserve Personnel Center (Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard)
• Army Integrated Pay and Personnel System (Army Reserve, Army National Guard)
• Coast Guard Personnel Service Center (Coast Guard Reserve)
• Marine Corps Manpower and Reserve Affairs (Marine Corps Reserve)
• MyNavy HR (Navy Reserve)

How the Committee on the Foreign Investment can secure American agriculture

By Rep. Dan Newhouse

Farmers are the backbone of our nation’s food security and rural economies. Having spent my life working in and advocating for the agriculture industry, I am familiar with the many challenges it faces. Today, the newest threat to the industry is not a pest or a weed, but our greatest foreign adversary.

Through my role on the House Appropriations Committee and the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, China’s efforts to quietly buy up American farmland over the last decade have become one of my top issues. In that spirit, we recently secured major victory in the fight to keep the Chinese Communist Party out of our food supply chains.

On July 10, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Treasury announced a landmark Memorandum of Understanding to have the secretary of Agriculture join the Committee on the Foreign Investment in the United States. This action implements Section 787 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024 directing the secretary to be added, a provision I secured as a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, and Food and Drug Administration.

While foreign investment in American property is not a new concept, the Chinese Communist Party’s strategic purchasing of land near national security sites, critical domestic infrastructure and food processing sites raises serious red flags, prompting a heightened need to have the secretary of Agriculture at the Committee on the Foreign Investment in the United States’ table.

The Committee on the Foreign Investment in the United States is tasked with reviewing foreign transactions within the U.S., particularly those with national security implications. Historically, the agriculture industry has been underrepresented on the agency, and a 2024 Government Accountability Office report identified serious flaws in the Department of Agriculture’s foreign investment reporting required by the Agriculture Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978.

This indicates to Congress, and farmers across the country, that Department of Agriculture cannot report reliable information about how much U.S. agriculture land is held by foreign persons, and where that land is located. 

The Government Accountability Office even recognizes that while foreign investors are required under Agriculture Foreign Investment Disclosure Act to submit the nature of transactions to the Department of Agriculture, it was not created as a national security measure and is inherently focused on data collection rather than national security concerns.

In the most recent years, as this issue has come into the spotlight, many skeptics suggest that the portion of U.S. farmland owned by the Chinese Communist Party-affiliated entities is insignificant when considering the total amount of foreign-owned land across the country.

In a 2022 report, the Department of Agriculture reported that Chinese affiliated holding companies owned around 1 percent of U.S. farmland. However, the agency explained that due to its reporting mechanisms, the amount owned should be interpreted as a minimum, and that individuals associated with multi-country investment groups or groups with complex organizational structures can lead to under-reported holdings.

The U.S. should be in the business of allowing investments that contribute positively to our economies and supply chains. Ensuring that investments are not connected to the Chinese Communist Party, or other adversaries, is critical in creating growth in our economy and eliminating vulnerabilities in our national security.

Adding the secretary of Agriculture to the committee will not hamper the ability of Chinese citizens not affiliated with the Communist Party to purchase land. Rather, it will protect our domestic interests from those who seek to weaken our institutions. The U.S. is currently positioned to take preventive action to keep this trend from worsening and ensure we do not wake up in ten years and wish we had done something about it when we had the chance.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has committed to tackling this issue head on, and I look forward to working with her and the administration to protect the farmers and ranchers who can now look to the federal government to ensure land purchases are in the best interests of our food security and national security.

Back to Work in Washington, D.C. 

By Rep. Dan Newhouse

After a productive August district work period in Washington’s Fourth District, it’s back to DC for Congress. Passing H.R. 1 in July delivered much-needed relief for working families, small businesses, and farmers. Now, we turn our focus to federal spending through the annual appropriations process and passing outstanding Farm Bill priorities not included in H.R. 1. As a member of the House Appropriations Committee and House Agriculture Committee, I am bringing feedback from constituents across the district to the halls of Congress this fall. 

One of the top challenges we have faced in the House over the past several years is passing all 12 annual appropriations bills. Chairman Tom Cole has emphasized the importance of getting the Fiscal Year 2026 bills done before the October 1 deadline, and so far, we have passed nine of the 12 bills out of committee, with two having passed the House. This means the committee will be buckling down over the next several weeks to get these bills through the House.

The real challenge will be in the Senate, where 60 votes are required to pass annual funding legislation. If Congress is to pass all 12 bills, then it must be done on a bipartisan basis. I am committed to working with Members on both sides of the aisle to pass common-sense funding legislation to fund essential programs we count on in Central Washington and ensure we are good stewards of taxpayer dollars. 

Before the August recess, my colleagues and I on the House Agriculture Committee delivered the most significant investment in American agriculture in decades with the passage of H.R. 1. The outdated Farm Bill did not meet the current needs of the agriculture industry, and I worked closely with Chairman GT Thompson to make sure farmers had a seat at the table during the reconciliation process. Having secured critical funding for market access programs, specialty crop insurance, and agriculture research, we now must finish the job. 

As many producers work to recover from natural disasters like wildfires, block grants for disaster relief will be a key focus as we work on this legislation. We will also be addressing several rural development provisions that impact Central Washington such as rural broadband, rural hospital assistance through USDA, and conservation programs that protect our lands and natural resources. Farmers and ranchers deserve a comprehensive Farm Bill that spurs profitability, and we will be working hard on the Agriculture Committee to deliver real solutions in the coming months. 

No matter how busy we are this fall, I want to remind you that my office is here to serve you. If you or someone you know needs assistance with a federal agency, please reach out to one of my district offices who help thousands of constituents every year navigate the federal bureaucracy.

It’s an honor to represent Central Washington in Congress, and I hope those who call it home continue to share thoughts on the issues that impact us at home. 

The only hops farmer in Congress discusses Trump, dams, low prices, high costs 

By Matthew Weaver

SUNNYSIDE, Wash. — Hop harvest began on Rep. Dan Newhouse’s family farm on Aug. 25, a Monday, and workers and equipment were in full swing on Friday afternoon sorting the earthy green crop... read more. 

Rep. Newhouse promotes bill to safeguard American businesses and farmland

By Mark Rattner

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Representative Dan Newhouse from Washington's 4th District touted the House Appropriation Committee's passage... read more. 

Rep. Dan Newhouse | 460 Cannon House Office Bldg. | Washington, DC 20515 US

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