Q&A: Rep. Baumgartner addresses “Safe and Welcome in Spokane” ordinance

SPOKANE, Wash. — Eastern Washington Representative Michael Baumgartner returned to the nation’s capital as Congress returned to session this week.

4 News Now’s Kirstin O’Connor spoke with the congressman about voter concerns including immigration policy, crime and education funding.

The following is an edited transcript of that conversation.

Q: While you were home in Eastern Washington during the recess, tell us about some of the concerns people brought to you?

Baumgartner: People have a lot of concerns about things like housing affordability. Certainly crime in downtown Spokane is something of concern. And people also with kids going back to school, not least which my own, five kids back in school this fall. Education of course is on top of people’s minds right now as well, too.

Q: The City of Spokane has enacted the “Safe and Welcome in Spokane” ordinance that restricts federal immigration enforcement. Have you been talking to people in Spokane about crime, ICE agents that have been here and the protests?

Baumgartner: You know I’ve long been outspoken that it’s a mistake for Washington state to be a so-called sanctuary state, Spokane to be a so-called sanctuary city. We need law enforcement at all levels to work as close as they can together. And it’s better for everybody, including immigrant groups, if law enforcement folks are able to talk to each other and work together.

The recent Spokane City Council ordinance you speak about is largely window dressing from some pretty far left members of our Spokane City Council in terms of political signaling. But it would be better for everybody in our state, in our community, if Spokane were not prohibiting law enforcement officers from speaking at the federal level, because when they do that, it means that intelligence isn’t shared. It means that instead of being able to pinpoint the truly violent illegal immigrants in the country, it means that ICE has to spend more resources and bring in more people in these sweeps. So, I will continue to urge everyone to put politics aside and to have law enforcement speak and communicate freely.

Q: There’s discussion about rebranding what was formerly called “one big, beautiful bill.” Can you speak to that at all, if that has anything to do with Medicaid spending cuts?

Baumgartner: The White House has been signaling that they would apparently like to talk about what was formerly known as the One Big, Beautiful Bill as a working family’s tax reduction, which illustrates it was the largest tax reduction in American history. But there were reforms to Medicaid in the bill, primarily, which were to make sure that illegal immigrants were no longer incentivized to be put by states on Medicaid and also that there was work required for Medicaid, that able-bodied adults that could work would be able to work.

Q: Local school districts have expressed concerns about federal funding being pulled due to conflicts between state and federal policy on gender issues. Should districts be worried?

Baumgartner: Well, funding for K through 12 education has always been primarily a local and state issue. So it’s not primarily a federal issue in the way that the United States is run. But certainly, I don’t think boys and men should be playing in girls and women’s sports. That’s where the majority of the country is.

Unfortunately Washington state, there’s been a pretty radical left movement out of Olympia and the state legislature to have these transgender issues in sport. So I would urge all of our local school boards and anybody involved in education to make sure that girls’ rights are representative.

Q: To clarify, should local school districts continue to express concern about the difference between federal and state policy?

Baumgartner: Very much so. I think it would be important for the school boards to speak out in terms of fairness in girls and in females in sports. I think anybody that’s a parent that has daughters competing, you think about how hard those girls work and all the effort they put in, and they want a level playing field and ability to compete. I don’t think they have to do that in a way that demonizes anybody or adds to political divisions. But I think just common sense and fairness in girls sports speaks to the need for these school boards to speak out and enact policies. Obviously that can be tough in a state like Washington state that has a lot of radical left wing leadership from Olympia. But it’d be good for the school boards to speak out.

Q: As a father, how do you view school safety concerns during this back-to-school season as the conversation continues to shift back to school safety?

Baumgartner: I think anybody who’s a parent, your worst nightmare would be to have violence at that level at your child’s school. So obviously our hearts and prayers and thoughts go out to all those kids. School safety is extremely important. When I was treasurer of Spokane County, we helped fund measures to make the physical infrastructure more secure at our schools. That’s a process that needs to continue. We need to continue to have mental health and put more troubled, more violent folks in jail. But it’s something that there’s no silver bullet to school safety issues — it’s something we all have to be aware of.

Some of this politically charged rhetoric contributes to some of this violence. And I hope everybody can kind of take the temperature down on those issues as well. But certainly it’s a terrible tragedy when anything like that happens.

Q: Anything else you’d like Eastern Washington residents to know as you return to work in Congress?

Baumgartner: Just like a lot of us this fall, I was excited for good football starts, the Cougs and the Eags and also enjoy watching the Vandals and Whitworth. So it’s always fun in Eastern Washington at the start of the fall just for all the sports and the general excitement of what goes on. I’m not just a member of Congress but a member of the community as well, and all the things that everybody else in Eastern Washington is enjoying, I’m certainly sharing that as well.