Congresswoman Emily Randall says ‘Keep organizing’ and ‘Stay engaged!’

Interview by Lisa Dekker, Clallam Democrats Rising newsletter

Congresswoman Emily Randall (Photo by Mikayla Podesta)

1.   What is your reaction to the latest add-on to the reconciliation bill that would put millions more acres of our public lands up for sale?
 
I will say that [the add-on] was taken off to get the votes off the floor in the House, and then the Senate added it on again. When I was on the Natural Resources Committee in the early stages, we debated this public lands sell-off. I joined the debate with my Democratic colleagues to talk about what we were putting at risk by entertaining a provision like this. Here we are surrounded by public lands. That’s what is so special. And also the environmental impact is huge. It was really great to hear some of the Republican members of the House push back, and say that they wouldn’t vote for a package that includes a sell-off of public lands. I’m hopeful that we see some Republican Senators join the right side before this bill moves off the Senate floor, but we will keep pushing.

2. There is much concern over the dismantling of the Department of Education and the Office of Civil Rights, and how this will affect prospective college students. Is there some progress in slowing this down?
 
Yeah, they’re working really hard to dismantle all sorts of federal programs — everything! I think it is part of their agenda to privatize every single piece of the federal government. And I share that concern about the Department of Education. As the sibling of a sister with disabilities, the daughter of a para-educator, and having chaired the Higher Education Committee in the [state] Senate for five years, I really worry about from-birth-to-3 programs, all the way through college graduate programs. What will happen to folks who, all of a sudden, don’t have the support to navigate barriers. We’re finding a way in our committee work. We’re talking about the impacts and, while I’m here in the community — we have this week off — I’ve been visiting a number of programs, including early learning programs, to talk about what’s at risk. I saw a lot of people [in the No Kings rally] on Saturday with signs about defunding the Department of Education. I imagine that we will see losses. The courts are one of the third places we’re fighting in Congress, and I’m hopeful that we’ll make some progress there. At least in Washington state, support for Special Education was always bi-partisan, but [this dismantling is] about profit.

3. What would you say/how would you encourage folks to keep coming out to protests, not to give up, to grow this ‘movement?’
 
I heard a faculty member, I think from the Harvard Kennedy School, refer to it as “The American Spring,” which is an interesting way to think about it. Yeah, I was really inspired by Saturday, particularly after the news Saturday morning of the political violence in Minnesota. I think it’s essential that we not be silenced by fear and that we continue to use all of the tools that we have. What was really inspiring to me was to see the protest numbers grow. Communities where in previous protests we’ve seen 200 or 500 people, all of a sudden we’re seeing a thousand, fifteen hundred!
 
[As] I walked [at the rally] in Gig Harbor where I stopped, I talked to as many people as I could to thank [them] for coming out. I reminded folks that this is something we have to keep up, certainly until we take back the majority of the House in 2026, but [also] through the Trump administration and then we have to keep organizing because our democracy is something we have to tend, like the garden, right? We’ve seen how quickly we can lose it if we don’t stay engaged. And maybe not everyone is going to go to every protest, but I hope everyone will think every day about what steps they can take that day, that week, to engage with their neighbors, to advocate for our democracy.
 
My favorite advice, especially in our district, is to look through your Facebook friends, your high school yearbook, and think about anybody you’d say hi to at the airport who might live in a Republican district. Make a list of five or 10 people and call or text them and make sure that they are calling their members of Congress, too. So many of us are like, “I’m not gonna waste my time because I know they won’t agree with me,” but now is the time for us to be really reaching out to the people that we have influence over and make sure that they’re staying engaged, too.

4. Has there been any headway or success, no matter how small, within the Oversight and Accountability Committee (that they’ve actually done their job)? 
 
I guess looking through the rosiest glasses possible, our Democratic members are getting more creative about how we use our platform in our committee to highlight what is actually happening, what the harms are to people, and who is profiting from the power grab that is happening in our federal government. But I’ve been frustrated so much by being on that committee. It feels like it’s the place where I see most Republicans abdicating their Congressional authority, just not even trying to be a check and balance the way that they should. We’ve introduced motions to subpoena Elon Musk, to take some different procedural action, to actually do some oversight. We just get foiled by Republicans and the Chair who holds the vote open until their members can straggle in to vote NO. Yes, [we are shining a light on the hypocrisy.] And this [the Oversight and Accountability] Committee, is going to be the busiest when we do take back the majority in the midterms, when we will actually be able to perform real oversight on the Trump administration, when we have the gavel and the power.  

[After asking how Rep. Randall is feeling during these challenging times]
Well, every day is a rollercoaster, certainly, high highs and low lows, but today we had a press conference to celebrate the launch of the Congressional Ferry Caucus, so there’s some bi-partisan work that can still happen even amid chaos. I invited John Garamendi from California and Republican members from New York and Alaska to join me in co-chairing a Ferry Caucus that will really advocate for funding for our marine highways!