Government
One of my priorities in Congress is to improve the relationship that citizens have with their government. In many ways, government has gotten too big, too burdensome and is not efficient and responsive enough to fulfill the needs of the people.
I want you to know that I am committed to making our federal government more efficient and responsive. I believe Americans deserve a government that constantly changes with the times to meet their needs, and that we cannot solve the problems of today while saddled with the bureaucracies of yesterday. To ensure this change, we must be willing to seriously examine existing programs and agencies, phase out programs and subsidies that are no longer useful, and eliminate waste and ineffectiveness from all areas of our government.
I am also committed to the highest ethical standards throughout our government. I encourage the efforts Congress has made to develop a policymaking process as open and transparent as possible, and will continue to revise this process to ensure the strongest standards are enacted. I will continue to support initiatives that achieve these goals and remain open to any of your ideas and thoughts about how better to achieve these objectives.
Communication between the people I represent is vital to a strong and functioning democracy. Nothing is more important to me than listening to the people I represent, giving them straight answers about what I'm doing and where I'm coming from, and taking their opinions into consideration. While I won't agree with each and every one of the more than 700,000 people I represent on every issue, I can promise that I'll always listen and be straight-forward with you.
For more information on this issue, sign up to receive Congressman Smith’s email updates.
More on Government
“Today, I accepted Leader Pelosi’s appointment to be on the Select Committee on Benghazi. The loss of four brave Americans was tragic, and we must do everything possible to prevent such attacks from happening again. On that point, there is no debate. What is not clear is why this committee needs to be formed in the first place. What are Republicans trying to achieve?
Congressman Adam Smith released the following statement after the Supreme Court of the United States’ (SCOTUS) decision in McCutcheon v. FEC case:
“I am disappointed by the SCOTUS decision today that struck down limits in the federal law that restricted how much individuals could donate to campaigns, parties, or political action committees. This ruling will put even more political influence in the hands of an extremely small percentage of wealthy people and limit opportunities for candidates that lack the support of wealthy donors from winning office.
“For nearly 20 years, Doc Hastings has served the people of Washington State. He has been a very influential Member of Congress serving as the Chairman of the Natural Resources Committee and on the House Ethics Committee. I have enjoyed working with Doc over the years. I thank him for his service, and I wish him and his family all the best in the future.”
Congressman Smith (WA-09) released the following statement after President Obama gave the 2014 State of the Union:
"Tonight, the President laid out some great ideas about how to reduce income inequality, grow the economy, and ensure every American has equal economic opportunities.
“I am glad to see that Congress has agreed to legislation that ends the shutdown and keeps our nation from defaulting on our obligations, but this all should have been avoided. Republicans didn’t have the votes, yet still used the threat of a shutdown and default to try and force policies on Democrats that we cannot support. This approach to governance was doomed to fail from the beginning.
“Tomorrow we recognize the 20th Anniversary of AmeriCorps and the 80,000 members that help fight to expand educational and economic opportunities for our nation’s most vulnerable people.