Perez weighs in on Barbie vs. Oppenheimer, Congress work in digital Q&A
In addition to in person town halls, U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, has taken to social media to answer questions from constituents.
In the first three installments of the digital Q&A, Perez discussed her decision to run for Congress, addressed voting with Republicans and weighed in on the Barbie vs. Oppenheimer film debate.
Below are excerpts from each of the three answers.
What inspired you to come to Congress?
“I love this question because I think that normal people look at Congress and they think, ‘why would you do that?’ … But I didn’t feel like my values, the values in southwest Washington would be represented by the other folks in the race, and I was also tired of feeling like their perspectives and values have been experiences of, like, people that work in the trades.”
“It’s on us if we want to have a Congress that looks like America, normal people have to run … I felt a sense of patriotism. This country has given me and my family so much and the sense of obligation that’s like, here’s a chance to try and make things better, and so we did.”
Why are you voting with Republicans so often?
“I’m a proud Democrat. My core values are best reflected by the Democratic Party. Right now I’m voting with the party eight out of 10 times. But there are good ideas everywhere, no party has a monopoly on the truth.
“These issues are nuanced. And the wild thing about the House is that if your party is not the majority, you have no control over what comes to the floor. And the Republicans are making damn sure that the kinds of bills that we are seeing come to the floor are ones that are supposed to divide our party and our country. And I’m not going to take the bait on those.”
Barbie or Oppenheimer?
“This is gonna make me sound like such a Luddite, but I can’t remember the last time I saw a movie, and we didn’t have Barbies in the house growing up. But I do love nuclear power. I’m vaguely aware of what’s going on in pop culture, and you know, someday I might get to engage in that. So I guess it was a dodge.”
— Carlos Fuentes
