Congressman Doc Hastings

Serving Central Washington

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Yakima County

Hastings’ Work for Yakima County

  • Continues to support the extension of the Renewal Communities Program, which provides tax credits to Yakima to foster economic development.

  • Worked with county, state, FEMA, the Small Business Administration and the Federal Highway Administration to monitor and provide assistance following the landslide in the Nile Valley.

  • Supported efforts to increase TRICARE reimbursement rates for critical access hospitals like the Sunnyside Community Hospital.

  • Supporting Impact Aid schools, including the Granger, Mabton, Mt. Adams, Sunnyside, Toppenish, and Wapato school districts, by offering amendments to federal education legislation to give preference to Impact Aid schools in any new federal school construction program and encouraging the Department of Education to provide timely payments to these school districts.

  • Introduced legislation to provide a sensible, long-term solution that will keep cabins on federal lands affordable and accessible to Americans, while still providing fair compensation to the federal Treasury for the use of the land.

  • Leading efforts to persuade the Administration to resolve the trade dispute that has caused Mexico to impose a 20 percent tariff on 90 U.S. products, including pears and cherries in the Yakima area.

  • Leading bipartisan efforts to fight cuts to the Market Access Program, which provides valuable marketing assistance to many Yakima Valley growers and processors.

  • Led efforts to ensure that cherry shipments are not disrupted by new federal TSA screening requirements, by authoring an amendment to require TSA to increase the number of canine teams dedicated to air cargo screening.

  • Leading efforts to support passage of the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, which would immediately eliminate tariffs on a number of Central Washington products, including apples, wheat, and beef.  Also supporting action on the South Korea Free Trade Agreement and the Panama Free Trade Agreement.

  • Supporting the Washington wine industry by opposing a proposal to increase the excise tax on wine by 300 percent, and encouraging the United States Trade Representative to support the sale of U.S. wines with “traditional” names in Europe.

  • Encouraging the United States Trade Representative to promote a level playing field for American dairies during negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

  • Secured federal funds to help Yakima combat drugs, gangs and violent crime. 

  • Authored and passed law requiring federal action on new water storage in the Yakima River basin, including the proposed Black Rock reservoir.

  • Brought the House Agriculture Committee to Yakima to hear first-hand from local farmers and farm businesses as new Farm Bill was being written.

  • Persuaded Postal Service to save Yakima postmark and local jobs by not moving mail processing out of town.

  • Passed law to allow Yakima-Tieton Irrigation District to better manage its facilities.

  • Every year, secures funds for Wapato Agriculture Research Center for vegetable and pest control research important to local farmers.

  • Proposed and passed a new law to protect the survivor benefits for families of soldiers killed in action after the need came to light following the death in combat of a Yakima County soldier.

  • Secured funds for Capitol Theatre in downtown Yakima; improvement of Valley Mall Blvd. and I-82 interchanges in Union Gap; community of Parker’s water system; child safety walkway at Beaudry Road in Yakima; Port of Sunnyside wetland wastewater project; Central Washington Fair Association.