At her 20th town hall, Congresswoman Kim Schrier answered questions asked by her constituents on topics ranging from healthcare and immigration to the presidential impeachment inquiry. 

Schrier was elected to her position as representative for Washington state’s 8th congressional district last November, beating Dino Rossi. Prior to that she was a pediatrician for over 20 years after graduating from the University of California Davis School of Medicine and the Stanford University School of Medicine. Her experience in the medical field has transferred over to her political career, as many of her campaign promises and policy decisions have focused on healthcare reform.

“When I was elected, I ran on just a few main principles,” Schrier said. “One of them as a pediatrician, and I’m the only woman doctor in congress, was healthcare and wanting universal care that’s affordable and accessible to everyone in this country.”

Schrier, so far, has followed through on those promises. She has helped pass five bills aimed at bringing down the cost of prescription drugs and protecting those with preexisting conditions, as well as capping insurance premiums for low-income families.

“We’re not just making little nibbles around the outside, these are really big bites,” Schrier said.

Following a question on gun control, Schrier again brought up her experience as a pediatrician. She spoke about taking care of depressed teenagers and referenced a statistic from stating that guns are the third-leading cause of death in children (a fact backed by 2017 research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Schrier voted for H.R.8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act which passed in the U.S. House of Representatives this February. 

“Gun owners, non-gun owners, if you just do a background check to make sure that the guns do not fall into the hands of people who would do us harm or do our children harm, then you’re making a big dent in gun violence,” Schrier said.

H.R.8. is among the bills still pending approval by the U.S. Senate, which Schrier expressed frustration about, especially towards current Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Schrier discussed many of the decisions made by the current presidential administration such as those on immigration and the local economic impacts of the ongoing trade war with China. She was then asked about the current impeachment inquiry underway investigating the Trump administration’s political dealings involving Ukraine.

“A couple months ago, I came out in support of an impeachment inquiry,” Schrier said. “I did it then because I know, because I hear it at town halls, the people in the eighth district and people across this country just deserve to know what’s going on. They’ve got to make a decision at the vote in November of 2020 for either Donald Trump or whoever the other candidate is. If you stonewall every attempt to get information for the American people, they can’t make a good decision.”