KENNEWICK, Wash. – Senator Patty Murray visited the Tri-Cities and had a busy schedule.
The senator started with a press conference at Tri-Cities Community Health to address Medicaid cuts in the Big Beautiful Bill Act. She was joined by local healthcare CEOs and providers.
Senator Murray emphasized the impact of these cuts, stating they would be a significant setback for hospitals and clinics in central and eastern Washington. She noted that around 250,000 people could lose Apple Health coverage.
“The fourth Congressional District has the highest Medicaid enrollment of any district in our state,” Senator Murray said. “This is an area where lots of working-class families benefit from the health care tax credit, and this is an area with a health care provider shortage now. And the rural hospitals and community health centers like the one we’re in today are crucial to families.”
The state anticipates losing between $31 billion and $51 billion in federal Medicaid funding over the next decade.
Senator Murray then toured the Grid Storage Launchpad at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), a project focused on advanced energy storage and battery technology. She voiced concerns about proposed budget cuts from the Trump administration, saying these cuts would negatively affect PNNL, the Hanford cleanup mission and the LIGO Hanford Observatory.
“Slashing D.O.E. investments by over a third, with funding for some programs eliminated outright. That would devastate groundbreaking research,” Senator Murray said. “Not to mention the entire Tri-Cities economy and the thousands of people whose jobs would be put on the chopping block. The Trump budget would mean more than a thousand jobs lost here at PNNL.”
Murray stressed the importance of investing in clean energy innovation and scientific research in the region.
“If the budgets get enacted as proposed by the president, it is going to be impossible to make up the economic loss to this community, really to our country, to our scientific research,” Senator Murray said. “I mean, if you just take LIGO, if that’s gone, you don’t just say, oh, in two years, we will bring that back. It’s gone.”
To conclude her visit, Senator Murray joined the Hanford Reach Citizens Committee to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Hanford Reach National Monument, a protected area she helped establish. She delivered keynote remarks and reflected on the monument’s history.
