Kudos to Jaime Herrera Beutler.

Few, if any, have hammered Jaime Herrera more than I have since she came back to be appointed in the 18th District House here locally, and particularly since she was elevated to Congress back in 2010.

Partisan politics is less important to me for the past few years and into the indefinite future: I'm much more results oriented and to date, I have believed (and repeatedly stated) that our congresswoman has been a do-nothing wall-flower since her arrival.

Some are, apparently, born great.  Some have greatness thrust upon them.

This is one of those times.

From all appearances, Jaime Herrera Beutler has FINALLY stepped up.  Thanks to her efforts, the following language was put into the Transportation budget bill:

As a Member of the U.S. House Appropriations subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (T-HUD), Jaime helped craft the fiscal year 2014 T-HUD Appropriations bill.  The legislation keeps in place the criteria of the New Starts grant program that provides federal transit money for transportation projects, which includes: 

• A project must have its operations & maintenance funding in place;
• A project must have the local funding match in place;
• All necessary permits must be granted. 

The CRC does not meet these criteria.  Meanwhile, 17 other projects around the nation are already permitted, locally funded, and stand ahead of the CRC in line for New Starts funding.  Members of the T-HUD subcommittee are expected to approve the bill on Wednesday.

This is certainly a start.  Jaime goes on to get to the heart of the matter by closing her press release with this:

“Project advocates continue to state that the main priority for the CRC is safety,” Jaime continued.  “If that's really what they believe, then they should have no problem taking the divisive, controversial, and local light rail portion off the table.  Let’s concentrate on building a bridge that can safely and efficiently move people, goods and services and can actually earn the support of the taxpayers and commuters who will pay for it.”

The Willamette Week has done a story on it here:

That is not to say that it's a done deal.

On the other side of the Rotunda (as they say) are Sen. State Cow and Sen. Round Heels.

The Cow has thrown a fit over the CRC Scam and has demanded the funding be included.  As long as Herrera sticks to her guns, however, any changes made by the Senate will have to be approved by the GOP-controlled House... so this is likely not the end of this issue.

Again, I admit that I have beat on this woman for years because of her failure to act.  If she sees this through, then I can no longer make such a claim.

It was good for us, and it's good for her politically as well, since that would remove a major impetus for a primary challenge from anyone wired into the majority of the people in this congressional district.

While this is arguably a step that should have been taken much earlier than this, that it's taken at all is the thing... and I appreciate her efforts on this.