WEBVTT

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applause 

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It's our honor to at Western to host the Senator and thank him for his long time support for

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Access to higher education and his support of things like the Pell Grant and

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First opportunities for those who are first in their families to go to school.

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Western continues to have fifty percent of our enrollment from

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Students who will be the first in their families to graduate

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From college. And that's so important today. Also I wanted to take a moment and thank him for his support

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Of our work with our DACA students and our DREAMers as we continue to be a place of access.

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applause

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We stand with you, Senator. Thank you.

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Now we would like to introduce the mayor of Independence, John McArdle,

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Who will go over the rules and introduce Senator Wyden for today's town hall. John?

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applause

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And now let me tell you about Senator Wyden.

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You know he's been the, he's the Senior Senator from the state of Oregon.

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He's done town halls all over our state for years and years and years.

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When he's in Washington D.C., he's the ranking member on the Committee of Finance and Budget.

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He's on the Intelligence Committee, Energy and Natural Resource

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He's the ranking member on the Energy and Natural Resource Committee.

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He has pioneered around the United States the concept of town halls. He's done it

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The Oregon way and we're really proud that this is

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Town hall number 864. Please welcome Ron Wyden. 

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applause

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My story about these microphones is when I was director of the Gray Panthers, you know, people

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Back then there was always a question of whether any of the microphones worked. This was a period when

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Often town had a meal site for senior citizens. It was a big deal.

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And so there was a major program of seniors. All these changes in Medicare.

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The mics go completely dead.

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And a senior stands up in the back and says, Ron, I can't hear any of it!

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And two seniors right up in front say We can hear it all! laughter

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Any interest in changing places?

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So you've got to kind of keep this microphone situation

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In perspective and

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And I just appreciate being back at Western.

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Wave at us if the mics go dead.

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President Rex, thank you for that gracious 

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Introduction and let's hear it for Western

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To be there again and again for first generation 

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College students. This is really special! This is the Oregon way.

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applause. Thank you very, very much.

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To get started I wanted to highlight particularly

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Western is so good on so many things I mentioned, first generation

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Students but also veterans. So could we have President Fuller come up

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As well as Andrew Holbert

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And staff from Western Oregon Veteran Services. Can y'all come on up?

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First

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President Fuller, I understand that last year you found

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that a group of Oregon National Guard soldiers deployed

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To a foreign country but they weren't being covered under the

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G.I. Bill with that deployment, so under your leadership,

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The university stepped up and actually

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Paid that part of their tuition when they came back.

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This in my view is what leadership.

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applause

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This is leadership for betterance.

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So one of the things that I get to do for

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Causes that are good is to get a flag flown

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Over the capitol that I can gift to President

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Fuller on behalf of all of us who are so

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Appreciative of his good work and that of veterans.

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So President Fuller, please accept this flag and our

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Appreciation for your leadership. Thank you. Thank you very much.

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applause. Alright.

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And we've got a little more recognition to be doing here.

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Andrew Holbert and his staff from the

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Veterans Support Services program here

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Received the chapter of the year award at the 2018

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Student Veterans of America national conference.

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There are sixteen hundred chapters as I understand it, including several of the really large

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Division one NCAA schools.

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So Andrew, we really appreciate your leadership and I gather that

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You have your troops, literally and

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Figuratively so to speak, here and it is

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Really with a lot of pride that I can present this to all of 

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You as well, and maybe some of you would like to say a word or two about why

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This is so important to you. We welcome any comments but

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I think everybody is really appreciative in the valley of your leadership on veterans. Thank you very much.

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Thank you. applause. If I may. Yeah, sure!

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applause. Shane here, is the Student Veterans of America chapter president and so

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I'm going to take this and present it to him if you don't mind. I'm a mere legislator. He's the president!

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laughter. chatter. 

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Would you like to say a word or two? You're welcome to. I think I'm good.

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You're good. laughter. 

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Now that's something that ought to be done in the Senate.

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Because we ask anybody if they want to have a word or two and and you come back after lunch.

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And Shane said. I looked at him, Would you like to say a word or two? He says, I think I'm good. laughter

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Thank you all. Let's give them a big round of applause.

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applause. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you guys.

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It seems like all the advice about what concerned citizens can do are vote and call your senators. 

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And I'm doing those things but

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Frightening things that affect me are still happening. What else can I do on top of that to help?

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I would tell you first of all, just always remember

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That those contacts, particularly something like a phone call

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Really makes a difference. I mean it's a 

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Direct kind of connection at a time when we've got so much flooding in

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Social media and texts and tweets. Those phone calls are really important.

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I also think a handwritten letter is important.

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Marches and rallies are important.

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Finding an issue

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Where you have a particular, you know, interest and you can

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In effect educate others. How many of you have heard of Net Neutrality?

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This is a really big issue right now and we've got a chance to make a huge difference.

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I introduced the first Net Neutrality bill back in 2006 in the Senate.

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It's the essence of, in my view, a smart communications policy.

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Because it means after you pay your internet access fee, 

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You get to go where you want, when you want and how you want.

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And there's a fellow by the name of Pai. He chairs the Communications Commission now.

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A new Trump appointment, he doesn't like that!

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Well, what a surprise. He's a big lawyer for all the

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Powerful communications companies

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And he wants to change it. He wants to go to something called Paid Prioritization. 

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Which is basically starting to move us back towards an information

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aristocracy. And he. It's kind of like a trickle down communication's policy.

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And you'll hear him. He calls it a soft touch.

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He wants a voluntary approach to Net Neutrality.

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So I got up on the floor of the Senate and I said

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There's about as much chance for voluntary Net Neutrality working 

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As there is to get my son, ten year old, William Peter Wyden,

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To voluntarily limit the number of his desserts. laughter.

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It isn't going to happen!

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Now this issue is very much in play right now.

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We need fifty one votes. We got forty four!

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We got our first Republican Susan Collins, so if you

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Have friends, for example, in other states

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Maybe somebody you went to camp with, maybe there's some

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Folks out there in the audience who

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You were part of a wedding for a friend in another state, or you

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Stole their cheeseburger when you went to sports camp or something.

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Call them and say You know, I've never called you before,

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But I read that your senator might make a difference

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And they don't care much about what I say because I'm from another state, but you call them.

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So political change is

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Not trickle down.

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But it's bottoms up, and I'd really encourage, and you're doing it

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Today to be out and talking about what's important to you. Look outside.

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I mean here we are at Western

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On an absolutely picture perfect

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Day, an Oregon way kind of day.

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When you could be doing a hundred things or just being

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You know, outside going for a walk and hanging out.

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And the fact that we've got such a big Polk County crowd

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Is a real message in and of itself

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About how people feel about issues.

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So the are some of the ways that you can be involved, but

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Do not underestimate just the power of a quick phone call.

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Hey, Senator Merkley! Hey, Congressman Schrader! Hey, Governor Brown!

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This is really important to me, here's why. Those things are important. Thanks.

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A member of the Intelligence Committee, I understand

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Ranking member. Where is the 

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Committee stand now looking into collusion 

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In our election process?

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My older child calls it the So Called Intelligence Committee.

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And I obviously can't get into classified matters, but here's 

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Here's where we are because this is kind of

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An inflection moment. And if any of you were

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Not sleeping well, I was on the radio at some ungodly hour.

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This morning talking about it and you can go back and hear a little bit about what

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I'm going to say. But the point really is this is really a key time.

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Robert Muller does the criminal side, okay?

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Our committee is supposed to tell the story

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Of how the Russians

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In affect, undermined our democracy.

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And I think it's really an important story to tell.

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I called Putin a fascist the other day. 

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He was pretty worked up about that. You know, he sent all his

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Embassy people out there say Who's this crazy senator? And all that.

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But that's what he is if you look at what he does to his political opponents and silencing and that kind of thing.

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And a big part of what our committee

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Should be doing is not getting done.

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And I call this the Follow the Money Issues.

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And in affect

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Follow the Money Issues are counter intelligence 101.

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Because if you really want to compromise somebody, one of the best ways to do it is with money!

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And so I have been pushing and pulling and kicking

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Trying to get the focus there. And in fact I put a big hold

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On one of the major Trump appointments until we can get these documents.

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But the Follow the Money Issues also give you a chance to connect

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The dots. Dot one

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The Trump family said much of their portfolio was made up of Russian money.

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Dot number two, this is the first president in forty years that hasn't disclosed his taxes.

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Dot number three,

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The Trump family, according to public sources,

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Much of their business is organized 

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In what are called Pass Through Entities.

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And this tax bill that was passed over my opposition

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Is really a gold mine for what are called Pass Through Entities, and we can talk some about it.

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So I'm committed to stay at this 

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And I will say here today at Western

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What I've said as I've gone around the state

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I'm your guy on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

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And on my watch, this investigation

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Is not going to get swept under the rug.

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Period. applause. It is not going under the rug.

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applause. It's not. It's not going to go under one of those

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Expensive rugs Paul Manafort was buying. laughter

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Okay? laughter

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What is your stance on Jerusalem as the capitol of Israel?

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The

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Indisputable fact, history

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And everything else in my view is that Jerusalem 

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Is the capitol of Israel.

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I think there are a variety of issues with respect to timing

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And policy. I happen for example to feel

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Very strongly that we need to have a two state solution

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If we're really going to get lasting peace.

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In that area, I was one of twenty two who voted against going to war in Iraq.

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I voted for the Iran Arms Agreement, which was a

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Very hard vote for me because 

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I thought many of the arguments against it had validity. 

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But what ultimately swayed me is I thought we had to have a chance for something different.

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So I kind of call them like I see them.

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But that's my position on Jerusalem. In fact, 

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Over the years, I've even introduced bills 

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That would speed up the

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Change in the capitol to Jerusalem, so that's my view on it.

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Thank you, Senator Wyden.

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I have two questions about the Willamette River.

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One, the Portland Harbor is a super fund site, I believe. And we've been working on that for

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Twenty or more years. Longest running battle since the Trojan war. laughter

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laughter. Well, now we have a new sheriff in the EPA.

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What's going to happen with that? And then the second question is

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Why have the locks at the Oregon City falls been

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Taken out? There are no locking mechanisms there anymore.

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Let me do this. With respect

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You were talking about the lock at I couldn't hear where. Oregon City.

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In Oregon City. Mary Gautreaux is here from our office.

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And I'm going to see, Mary, if you. I'll do the first one.

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If you could then give an update of where things are with the lock at Oregon City.

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I know that. Let me just do the first part first.

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I want to give you an update because the staff has been

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Working very hard in trying terms of trying to look for

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Additional opportunities, economic development particularly.

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Over there. With respect to the Portland Harbor, I hope

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That the end is in sight. Certainly the

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Stakeholders and the city have all

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Felt there was progress. I still think this price tag 

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Really takes your breath away, so

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You know, my son says we'll probably see Mr. Pruitt unless he

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Decides he wants to become Attorney General, which is being, you know, talked about.

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Started spending some time on it. But the challenge is is to get the

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Stakeholders together around something that does not absolutely 

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Cause everybody to pass out with sticker shock with respect to the price tag. 

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Mary, what's the story on the lock up there? 

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Going right now, the economic development

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Issue for the walkway and the

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Plan that Oregon City and all of those stakeholders have together.

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You know, we're always going to face a challenge with the locks because the

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Way the economic value of the locks is

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Calculated doesn't make them.

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And if the Army Corps of Engineers, they would?

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I'm sorry. Would it be the Army Corps of Engineers that deals with the locks? Yes, it is.

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And they are no longer physically working there.

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No but we do have, there is an account of money, there is money they are trying to protect

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The locks from vandalism so that, you know, they don't

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Actually, we're trying to keep them from getting closed

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From deteriorating anymore or anything. Oh. So, yeah.

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Any hope for. That's a great boat trip down the Willamette. 

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It certainly is. Great trip. It certainly is.

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We need to get recreation to be the real value of something like that.

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If you'd like to follow that up, we'd be glad to have you 

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Involved in it. We've been meeting with this group of 

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For the economic development stakeholders. That whole Clackamas County area 

00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:59.000
Is finally getting some attention. As you know there's been changes with

00:17:59.000 --> 00:17:62.000
With the businesses on the river and the like.

00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:06.000
Have to try some fresh approaches, so we'd love to have you involved.

00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:12.000
Next Friday, when the government may run out of money unless the deal is made

00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:16.000
I hope that the federal retirement funds aren't

00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:19.000
Used to close the gap on the budget.

00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:22.000
And also we shouldn't be

00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:26.000
Attacking Social Security or Medicare because

00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:31.000
Those are not entitlements. Those are benefits that have paid

00:18:31.000 --> 00:18:35.000
Have been paid for by the citizens, so

00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:38.000
I hope you hold the fort on those things.

00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:44.000
I very much share your view. Those are earned benefits. They didn't just kind of fly out of the

00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:48.000
Sky and result in somebody getting

00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:52.000
A check. I mean those are earned benefits, and one of the 

00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:55.000
Aspects of this tax bill. I'm sure we're going to talk about it

00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:60.000
In the course of the afternoon. The state

00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.000
Just put out some projections on the tax relief

00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:08.000
That people, you know, would get. You know, two out of five 

00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:11.000
You know Oregonians are going to pay more in terms of state taxes. 

00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:17.000
On the federal side, we did some, you know, calculations

00:19:17.000 --> 00:19:20.000
That for the average Oregon

00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.000
Filer on the federal side 

00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:28.000
Each paycheck is going to give you about thirty to dollars more.

00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:33.000
Now what that means is that the middle class person's going to get peanuts.

00:19:33.000 --> 00:19:36.000
And the powerful are going to get steaks.

00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:40.000
Fillets! Whatever you want to call it. And 

00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:43.000
That's why I've been concerned about

00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:47.000
Where this is all going and as soon as the tax bill 

00:19:47.000 --> 00:19:52.000
Was finished, the speaker of the house said Oh, my goodness! We've got a big

00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:56.000
Deficit! And you go 

00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:58.000
laughter 

00:19:58.000 --> 00:19:63.000
Why did he push so hard to borrow

00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:11.000
If he was so concerned about deficits? 

00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:17.000
By the way, foreigners own about forty percent of that debt.

00:20:17.000 --> 00:20:20.000
So we're talking about, you know, really high stakes stuff.

00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:23.000
And then he said Well, what we're going to have to do

00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:28.000
Is deal with the deficit, which he just increased as a result of his very flawed

00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:33.000
Tax bill. And he said we've going to

00:20:33.000 --> 00:20:36.000
Cut the entitlement programs.

00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:40.000
Nobody really knows what it sounds like. But we're talking about our

00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.000
Retirement benefits for seniors who've earned them.

00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:49.000
Healthcare and hunger and housing programs

00:20:49.000 --> 00:20:53.000
For people who are walking on an economic tightrope. The other day

00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:56.000
I stood up and said Let's remember what happened

00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:60.000
At the end of the year. The multinational corporations 

00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:05.000
Got a big slab of permanent tax relief.

00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:10.000
And the poorest kids in America, who depend on the Children's Health Insurance Program

00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:15.000
They got themselves a temporary patch.

00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:21.000
What could illustrate the priorities more clearly than that?

00:21:21.000 --> 00:21:25.000
So we've seen this movie before. What you do is you

00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.000
Push tax policies that jack up the deficit

00:21:29.000 --> 00:21:33.000
By giving breaks to people who are already a wash in money.

00:21:33.000 --> 00:21:37.000
These multinational corporations are not short in money now!

00:21:37.000 --> 00:21:41.000
And so we just poured a whole bunch more

00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:46.000
On them and then the Speaker announced we've got to go after

00:21:46.000 --> 00:21:48.000
These critical domestic services. 

00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:53.000
We've seen this movie before. A lot of it would go to the Finance Committee. 

00:21:53.000 --> 00:21:59.000
Where I'm the senior democratic member, and I'm telling you I'm going to be pushing back hard. The last

00:21:59.000 --> 00:21:64.000
Comment I made at the end of the year was explaining this and I said

00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:07.000
I just think Americans ought to know

00:22:07.000 --> 00:22:11.000
That not long after they've taken their Christmas tree lights down

00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:17.000
For the holiday, they're going to be coming after Social Security and Medicare and these domestic programs.

00:22:17.000 --> 00:22:22.000
And the only thing that was slightly off in terms of what I said

00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:26.000
Was they went after it even before the Christmas tree lights came down.

00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:31.000
As member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, could you explain to us

00:22:31.000 --> 00:22:39.000
How it was decided where offshore drilling would be allowed.

00:22:39.000 --> 00:22:43.000
You're being logical. laughter

00:22:43.000 --> 00:22:47.000
Can't have all this logic breaking out over the nation's capitol.

00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:54.000
I think the way it was decided, administration sat down with their friends

00:22:54.000 --> 00:22:60.000
In the oil lobby, and they said This is your time, folks.

00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.000
Plan to bing out those tankers. Let's go to it.

00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:08.000
And suffice it to say

00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:13.000
This was kind of an ideological trophy

00:23:13.000 --> 00:23:18.000
For the oil industry. Mr. Zinke, as far as I know didn't go. He's

00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:23.000
Secretary of Interior. Go through a deliberate of process.

00:23:23.000 --> 00:23:28.000
And there's more than a little irony

00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:33.000
in the fact that off the coast of Florida 

00:23:33.000 --> 00:23:36.000
Where there is

00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:40.000
Oil and energy, they're trying very hard

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:45.000
To get the current governor to run for the Senate.

00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:48.000
And he said I don't want that!

00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:52.000
And it took about thirty six hours and he got what he wanted.

00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:57.000
I don't know where in the procedural 

00:23:57.000 --> 00:23:61.000
Process, administrative procedures, or I haven't researched the law.

00:24:01.000 --> 00:24:06.000
I don't know where in the procedural rule book it says

00:24:06.000 --> 00:24:12.000
You can just decide to give breaks 

00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:17.000
To your friends but not to people you may not think are your friends.

00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:20.000
So there's going to be a lot of pushing back and

00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:23.000
I've been part of a group of like about thirty five senators 

00:24:23.000 --> 00:24:29.000
That have made it clear we're going to fight this arbitrary 

00:24:29.000 --> 00:24:31.000
politically hot wired

00:24:31.000 --> 00:24:34.000
Kind of process. That's what it is, period.

00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:40.000
And by the way in terms of our public places, our land and our air and our water,

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.000
This is really big stakes stuff for Oregon.

00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:48.000
Because once you sell off

00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:52.000
Your treasures, you don't get them back, folks.

00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:57.000
You know if somebody makes a mistake in some government program or something

00:24:57.000 --> 00:24:60.000
Typical one. You know in the broad sweep of Western

00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.000
Civilization, it might not be the biggest problem we'll just go fix it.

00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:07.000
Once you sell off your treasures

00:25:07.000 --> 00:25:10.000
To exploiters, you don't get them back.

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.000
So I feel really strongly about it. I'm going to fight it hard.

00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:20.000
applause

00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.000
I just want to recognize. We've got some of our really good

00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:28.000
Elected officials here. Paul Evans doing a really good job in the legislature.

00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:34.000
Where's Paul? Appreciate him. applause

00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:37.000
A couple of our city counselors like

00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:41.000
John. They get a lot of perks and stuff. And

00:25:41.000 --> 00:25:46.000
And we still should appreciate them. John Kerry is here from Monmouth. Kathy Willis is here

00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:50.000
applause. From Independence. Thank you both.

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:56.000
Know of your good work and appreciate your accessibility, and so.

00:25:56.000 --> 00:25:62.000
Are there any other elected officials in the house, am I missing anybody? Byron Shinkle, Monmouth.

00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:04.000
Good! Alright, anybody else?

00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:06.000
applause

00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:12.000
Fred, so I'm not wearing my glasses, but I think I saw a hand somewhere towards you. Right here.

00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:15.000
Who'd we miss? Byron.

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:18.000
Oh, that's Byron. Okay, great good to see you, Byron. Thank you.

00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:21.000
Or glad you're here even if I can't see you. laughter

00:26:21.000 --> 00:26:24.000
I'd like to know what we 

00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:29.000
Can do about the divisiveness that's being promoted

00:26:29.000 --> 00:26:32.000
By this president.

00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:38.000
It's the first time I think I've ever seen such a 

00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:42.000
We're Republicans! We're going to defeat the Democrats.

00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:45.000
And it's promoted

00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.000
That way. Yes, the Republicans are ruling things.

00:26:49.000 --> 00:26:53.000
But it's not that way for Americans.

00:26:53.000 --> 00:26:57.000
It shouldn't be us against them. Now,

00:26:57.000 --> 00:26:60.000
The Democrats are trying to get

00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:05.000
Back at least to have a voice in the Senate.

00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:07.000
If not a majority.

00:27:07.000 --> 00:27:12.000
But what can we do to stop this Us against Them?

00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:20.000
That's I guess my question. What a wonderful point to make. And I have felt the 

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:26.000
Single biggest interest I would have in public service. 

00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:30.000
Is trying to find the ways to break the gridlock.

00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:35.000
Number one, single biggest thing for two reasons. First,

00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:40.000
Neither side has enough votes to have it their way.

00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.000
And so if you want to get something sustainable, something that's

00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:48.000
Going to last that's going to get both sides invested, 

00:27:48.000 --> 00:27:52.000
You've got to find some common ground. It has gotten a lot harder

00:27:52.000 --> 00:27:57.000
Than it used to be. I think we are going to have a couple of big wins

00:27:57.000 --> 00:27:61.000
Here fairly shortly that I put an enormous amount of time into.

00:28:01.000 --> 00:28:04.000
Orrin Hatch, the Republican chairman of the Finance committee. I'm 

00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:08.000
The senior Democrat. He and I have come together on the Children's Health Insurance Plan.

00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:14.000
Eighty thousand kids in Oregon, really important right now because Chip

00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:17.000
Looks like it's going to be a lot better

00:28:17.000 --> 00:28:20.000
Program from a price stand point than everything else.

00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:26.000
So I think we're going to be able to get it. It's going to be a good bipartisan program. Everybody knows 

00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:30.000
Chairman Hatch is going to retire, so we'd to do something that's good

00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:36.000
For the country, do it in a bipartisan way and obviously 

00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:40.000
He'll be very interested in that and has been working with me

00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.000
For some time in a bipartisan fashion. I think we are also on our way to a bipartisan fire fix.

00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:48.000
Which is very important after this horribly 

00:28:48.000 --> 00:28:52.000
Brutal fire season that we've had and it has been really hard of course

00:28:52.000 --> 00:28:58.000
On the valley. The problem with fire is that the system discriminates against fire prevention.

00:28:58.000 --> 00:28:62.000
What happens is there's not enough focus on preventing fire

00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:06.000
Not enough thinning and all the preventative work

00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:10.000
And then all of a sudden you have lightning strike or maybe somebody up in the 

00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:15.000
Gorge you know sets off some firecrackers. You've got an inferno on your hands.

00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:20.000
The government has to borrow from the prevention fund to put

00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.000
The thing out and then the problem gets worse because you're shorting prevention.

00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:28.000
So Senator Mike Crapo, the Republican from Idaho

00:29:28.000 --> 00:29:34.000
He and I have started to fight the biggest fires from the disaster fund.

00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:37.000
One or two percent from the disaster fund.

00:29:37.000 --> 00:29:41.000
And then we won't rob the prevention program anymore

00:29:41.000 --> 00:29:44.000
And the evidence is it's not even that costly.

00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:49.000
Because the little bit you spend on a handful of the really big fires

00:29:49.000 --> 00:29:52.000
You wouldn't have so many fires in the first place.

00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:55.000
I think we're going to have a couple of wins

00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:60.000
Here on a bipartisan basis. I will tell you 

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:06.000
That it is much harder now than I have ever seen it.

00:30:06.000 --> 00:30:08.000
The comments that were made

00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:11.000
In the last couple of days

00:30:11.000 --> 00:30:15.000
Have taken an enormous toll in my view.

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:20.000
And I want to speak about it in the context of us

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.000
As Oregonians because I think your point is a very good one.

00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:28.000
And we have what I call the Oregon way. 

00:30:28.000 --> 00:30:33.000
Which is kind of what you described is Hey, they're Democrats and Republicans, but

00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:36.000
You know the main thing is to get some stuff fixed.

00:30:36.000 --> 00:30:40.000
And we try to find a good idea no matter who's got it.

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:43.000
We've had Republicans who've 

00:30:43.000 --> 00:30:49.000
Shared that view Mark Hatfield, Tom MacCall would come to mind.

00:30:49.000 --> 00:30:53.000
My wonderful friend, the late Vera Katz, who just passed

00:30:53.000 --> 00:30:58.000
Mayor of Portland always cared about what happened in the rural parts of the state.

00:30:58.000 --> 00:30:65.000
Ran a watermelon spitting contest with Frank Harkenrider, the mayor of Hermiston. 

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.000
So that was kind oft he way we did it.

00:31:09.000 --> 00:31:12.000
And the comments, I'm not going to get into

00:31:12.000 --> 00:31:16.000
The comments of the last couple of days because

00:31:16.000 --> 00:31:20.000
I saw somebody from one of the family newspapers here and I'm not going to

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.000
Yeah, he made them.

00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:31.000
Mark Hatfield would be as opposed

00:31:31.000 --> 00:31:37.000
To what that was about as any Democrat. He would say That's not what our country's about.

00:31:37.000 --> 00:31:40.000
And the reality is that we're at our best

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:45.000
When we set the bar high.

00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:48.000
Those comments take the bar as low as you can 

00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:52.000
Possibly get. How do you condemn

00:31:52.000 --> 00:31:55.000
A whole continent? 

00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.000
And it has real consequences as you probably have seen

00:31:59.000 --> 00:31:64.000
And it's why when President Rex mentioned

00:32:04.000 --> 00:32:08.000
The DACA and the DREAMers 

00:32:08.000 --> 00:32:12.000
Before those comments were made, we were making a lot of headway

00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:17.000
On the DREAMers. We weren't there. I strongly,

00:32:17.000 --> 00:32:19.000
Strongly support the DREAMers.

00:32:19.000 --> 00:32:22.000
They've done nothing wrong. Great grades.

00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:27.000
applause

00:32:27.000 --> 00:32:32.000
They've done nothing wrong, great grades. Helping

00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:35.000
Parents, working two jobs.

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:41.000
One of the DREAMers came up one of the meetings said, Ron, you know, if they do this deportation

00:32:41.000 --> 00:32:45.000
Thing, they send us to Mexico. I don't even know anybody

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:48.000
In Mexico because my whole life has been here.

00:32:48.000 --> 00:32:52.000
And a lot of these DREAMers, they want to be in the military. They want to be First Responders. I mean

00:32:52.000 --> 00:32:56.000
How do you get young people

00:32:56.000 --> 00:32:61.000
Who are standing for more good things than these DREAMers?

00:33:01.000 --> 00:33:04.000
And a couple days ago we where on our way, 

00:33:04.000 --> 00:33:08.000
And now we are sliding back. So 

00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:12.000
I don't have any magical formula for this, 

00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:15.000
I called it principled bipartisanship. 

00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.000
Bipartisanship is not about taking each others 

00:33:19.000 --> 00:33:24.000
Stupid ideas. Ok anybody can do that. 

00:33:24.000 --> 00:33:28.000
You know, a Democrat and a Republican, couple of long time senators can 

00:33:28.000 --> 00:33:33.000
Stand up in a dark suit and a red tie and go, ooh I am bipartisan. 

00:33:33.000 --> 00:33:36.000
That does not do any good, its about taking each others 

00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:41.000
Good ideas. I want desperately a bipartisan tax reform bill. 

00:33:41.000 --> 00:33:43.000
I wrote two of them. 

00:33:43.000 --> 00:33:46.000
The most recent one with a member of the president's cabinet, 

00:33:46.000 --> 00:33:51.000
Senator Dan Kotts of Indiana. 

00:33:51.000 --> 00:33:54.000
I am going to just continue to do everything I can to find common ground, 

00:33:54.000 --> 00:33:58.000
And I will call them like I see them. 

00:33:58.000 --> 00:33:61.000
The last couple days I have pointed out I think the president of the United States

00:34:01.000 --> 00:34:04.000
Is right when he stands up for our mills

00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:07.000
Who are getting ripped off by the Canadians 

00:34:07.000 --> 00:34:11.000
Who are subsidizing the lumber! I agree with him on that. 

00:34:11.000 --> 00:34:16.000
I am also going to be speaking out about his nominee, 

00:34:16.000 --> 00:34:20.000
The head of the department of Health and Human Services because he is a pharmaceutical rep, 

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.000
And on his watch the prices kept going through the roof!

00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:28.000
So that is the way we do it in Oregon. We call it like we see them, 

00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:32.000
And we stay out of this 

00:34:32.000 --> 00:34:36.000
Below the belt kind of stuff, and 

00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:40.000
focus on trying to find wherever possible common ground. If you can't find it, 

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.000
so be it. I mean I had to stand by myself 

00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:46.000
To protect Oregons death with dignity law. 

00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:52.000
And I did it because the people of Oregon voted for it, and because we 

00:34:52.000 --> 00:34:58.000
Understood that if you didn't have it you might not make headway on some of the things like hospice. 

00:34:58.000 --> 00:34:61.000
Which is really been the effect of our death with dignity law. 

00:35:01.000 --> 00:35:05.000
So that's the longer answer than you wanted but your question is a great one. 

00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:08.000
Thank you for doing it. Please, follow up. 

00:35:08.000 --> 00:35:12.000
Its a dammit doll. 

00:35:12.000 --> 00:35:16.000
And if you ever have to reach me to help you 

00:35:16.000 --> 00:35:19.000
With anything I am there. But, you use it 

00:35:19.000 --> 00:35:23.000
When things get really bad, it says what to do, 

00:35:23.000 --> 00:35:28.000
You just take the doll and just, dammit, dammit, dammit. 

00:35:28.000 --> 00:35:32.000
I thought maybe you could use it. 

00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:34.000
Applause. 

00:35:34.000 --> 00:35:39.000
I guess my question is, how do you, its like doubly hard now to

00:35:39.000 --> 00:35:43.000
Make any forward progress. Do you ignore that? 

00:35:43.000 --> 00:35:48.000
Do you as a Senate say well we have to make a decision. Do they feel like they are stronger

00:35:48.000 --> 00:35:52.000
The Republicans because they are backed by a president that is wishy washy? 

00:35:52.000 --> 00:35:56.000
So I guess I do not know if you could answer this question 

00:35:56.000 --> 00:35:60.000
but I guess I would like to have your feeling on the direction we are

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.000
Going with this. Senators spend a 

00:36:04.000 --> 00:36:08.000
Big chunk of their waking hours wrestling with what you just

00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:12.000
Asked, because this is very 

00:36:12.000 --> 00:36:16.000
Different. I mean if John McCain 

00:36:16.000 --> 00:36:20.000
Or Mitch Romney had been elected, 

00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.000
I certainly would of had differences of opinion. 

00:36:24.000 --> 00:36:28.000
But you would of had a sense with what you where dealing 

00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:32.000
With, and this is completely different, I will give you an example. 

00:36:32.000 --> 00:36:36.000
So the president asked  

00:36:36.000 --> 00:36:40.000
The Republicans on the finance committee 

00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.000
And the five Democratic Senators 

00:36:44.000 --> 00:36:48.000
From states that he won in 2016 to come to the 

00:36:48.000 --> 00:36:52.000
White House to talk about tax reform, not very subtle

00:36:52.000 --> 00:36:56.000
of the selection of those members. And after

00:36:56.000 --> 00:36:60.000
A while the press started saying, well why didn't you invite Ron Widen

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.000
He is the only one who wrote a bipartisan bill. So I was invited last minute. 

00:37:04.000 --> 00:37:08.000
And the may the meeting went is sort of 

00:37:08.000 --> 00:37:12.000
Illustrative of what you are talking about. 

00:37:12.000 --> 00:37:16.000
The president

00:37:16.000 --> 00:37:20.000
In effect, talked a bit first, and then he said 

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.000
Well Ron we are going to have everyone on board right? 

00:37:24.000 --> 00:37:28.000
And I said well, will everybody speak here? 

00:37:28.000 --> 00:37:32.000
And the Democratic Senator spoke, and one after another

00:37:32.000 --> 00:37:36.000
They outlined matters that could have

00:37:36.000 --> 00:37:40.000
Been critical to a bipartisan bill. 

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:43.000
The first one said it has to focus on the middle class. 

00:37:43.000 --> 00:37:47.000
I feel strongly about. Seventy percent of the economic activity

00:37:47.000 --> 00:37:52.000
The country driven by the middle class. The second one I said Let's

00:37:52.000 --> 00:37:56.000
Let's not jack up the deficit here because we understand that that has rea;

00:37:56.000 --> 00:37:60.000
Hard consequences. The third one said

00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.000
Let's not put at risk the

00:38:04.000 --> 00:38:07.000
Retirement programs and the like, and the whole thing went like that.

00:38:07.000 --> 00:38:12.000
And the president said to each one of 

00:38:12.000 --> 00:38:16.000
The Democratic senators that he agreed with them completely.

00:38:16.000 --> 00:38:19.000
One after another, one, two, three.

00:38:19.000 --> 00:38:23.000
So after all the Democratic senators spoke 

00:38:23.000 --> 00:38:30.000
He looked over at me and he said Ron, so we're on our way!

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.000
I listened, everybody speaking. We're all set.

00:38:34.000 --> 00:38:40.000
And I said Mr. President. 

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.000
Just so we get a sense of where we are

00:38:44.000 --> 00:38:48.000
It's certainly good to hear you say you agree

00:38:48.000 --> 00:38:52.000
With these issues that are so important to our country middle class.

00:38:52.000 --> 00:38:56.000
First, he said, in fact he said people like me shouldn't get anything

00:38:56.000 --> 00:38:60.000
In the tax reform bill. That's what he said to all the senators. 

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.000
So it's good that you agreed with

00:39:04.000 --> 00:39:08.000
These areas. It could be part of a bipartisan issue.

00:39:08.000 --> 00:39:11.000
He perks up. I said but

00:39:11.000 --> 00:39:16.000
That's not what's written down on paper!

00:39:18.000 --> 00:39:20.000
Not on paper!

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:25.000
And he looked at Mr. Mnuchin, the Secretary of Treasury,

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.000
And Gary Cohn, the National Economic Advisor goes

00:39:29.000 --> 00:39:33.000
Take care of it, take care of it!

00:39:33.000 --> 00:39:36.000
So that's 

00:39:36.000 --> 00:39:40.000
A little bit different than anything that I think

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:45.000
Democrats and Republicans have seen.

00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:47.000
And 

00:39:47.000 --> 00:39:52.000
We spent a lot of time trying to make judgements about exactly what you're talking about.

00:39:52.000 --> 00:39:56.000
I consider it political malpractice

00:39:56.000 --> 00:39:60.000
That they didn't come out of the gate on day one

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:03.000
And do roads and bridges and infrastructure.

00:40:03.000 --> 00:40:09.000
Because that would have been natural. Here's a president from the business community.

00:40:09.000 --> 00:40:14.000
You've got the industries and the labor folks and the contractors and all the rest.

00:40:14.000 --> 00:40:17.000
You're off to the races and you kind of get your feet wet.

00:40:17.000 --> 00:40:21.000
They didn't want to do that. They wanted an ideological trophy, immigration and 

00:40:21.000 --> 00:40:25.000
Healthcare and, you know, all the stuff that

00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:28.000
Appeals to the base rather than

00:40:28.000 --> 00:40:32.000
You know, trying to really nail down some solutions.

00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:35.000
To challenge us. So we're going to just

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.000
Keep looking to ways to take the high ground.

00:40:39.000 --> 00:40:43.000
To stick to the facts, to look at issues like ship,

00:40:43.000 --> 00:40:48.000
And fire and infrastructure and all the possibilities.

00:40:48.000 --> 00:40:51.000
To try to bring people together in hopes 

00:40:51.000 --> 00:40:56.000
That that will kind of ripple through some of the bigger challenges

00:40:56.000 --> 00:40:60.000
Which are obviously immigration. But the tweets

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.000
And the rhetoric take their toll.

00:41:04.000 --> 00:41:08.000
There's not question that the comments in the last couple of days

00:41:08.000 --> 00:41:13.000
Really affected where things were

00:41:13.000 --> 00:41:16.000
In terms of immigration because it's always

00:41:16.000 --> 00:41:20.000
About trying to build some trust.

00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.000
You know, people say I'll do this and you'll do that.

00:41:24.000 --> 00:41:26.000
And not because it's just

00:41:26.000 --> 00:41:29.000
Horse trading and pork but because

00:41:29.000 --> 00:41:34.000
Both sides so often have decent ideas.

00:41:34.000 --> 00:41:39.000
You know on the DREAMer issue, I'm not going to support

00:41:39.000 --> 00:41:43.000
Spending eighteen billion dollars on a wall!

00:41:43.000 --> 00:41:48.000
applause. Well, before.

00:41:48.000 --> 00:41:51.000
applause. Before you clap too much.

00:41:53.000 --> 00:41:57.000
I'm willing to support some security measures.

00:41:57.000 --> 00:41:62.000
Some sensible security measures that doesn't involve eighteen

00:42:02.000 --> 00:42:06.000
Billion dollars on some gigantic monument that just makes us

00:42:06.000 --> 00:42:09.000
Even more polarized than we already are!

00:42:09.000 --> 00:42:13.000
But if someone's got a sensible security idea,

00:42:13.000 --> 00:42:17.000
My bet is that a lot of people in this 

00:42:17.000 --> 00:42:22.000
Room would say Okay! You know we're for it, but we're not going to build an eighteen billion dollar

00:42:22.000 --> 00:42:25.000
You know, monument to divisiveness. 

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:31.000
We don't need to spent eighteen billion dollars on that. There's been plenty of divisiveness already.

00:42:31.000 --> 00:42:36.000
So another very good point.

00:42:36.000 --> 00:42:40.000
And that's how we're trying to work our way through it.

00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.000
The next question will come from 0127, zero one

00:42:44.000 --> 00:42:48.000
Two seven and 0137, zero one thirty seven.

00:42:48.000 --> 00:42:52.000
Get ready, please.

00:42:52.000 --> 00:42:56.000
I got it. Okay.

00:42:58.000 --> 00:42:64.000
Well, thank you for listening to the ninety nine percent of the people.

00:43:04.000 --> 00:43:08.000
And my question is about DACA also.

00:43:08.000 --> 00:43:11.000
So it's kind of redundant. But is there any chance

00:43:11.000 --> 00:43:16.000
Of a bill getting passed that is just strictly for the DREAMers

00:43:16.000 --> 00:43:20.000
Instead of being held hostage with

00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.000
The wall? And I heard an interview with

00:43:24.000 --> 00:43:28.000
Some med students that were DREAMers two nights ago

00:43:28.000 --> 00:43:33.000
And they were asked What will happen if you are deported?

00:43:33.000 --> 00:43:37.000
And the one girl said I will go to a country that will welcome me.

00:43:37.000 --> 00:43:40.000
And I thought How sad.

00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:43.000
We have such a despicable president.

00:43:43.000 --> 00:43:47.000
That it's just unbelievable what happens. But

00:43:47.000 --> 00:43:50.000
I hope that something will get passed so that

00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:55.000
The DACA kids can stay without fear. Yeah.

00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:60.000
As I said, you meet with these students

00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.000
And you just walk away with this

00:44:04.000 --> 00:44:08.000
You know, near kind of breathtaking judgement

00:44:08.000 --> 00:44:11.000
That the represent all the things

00:44:11.000 --> 00:44:15.000
That we like young people to be spending their time on.

00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:20.000
Working their heads off. They get good marks. Helping their families.

00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.000
Career interests that will clearly benefit

00:44:24.000 --> 00:44:30.000
You know, all of us. You know, so many of the DREAMers just kind of tell me

00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.000
I'd love to be in our military. I'd love to serve this country.

00:44:34.000 --> 00:44:37.000
I'd love to be a first responder. They don't say I just want to make

00:44:37.000 --> 00:44:42.000
Twenty zillion dollars and, you know, build a palace.

00:44:42.000 --> 00:44:46.000
They're really representing all the kind of values

00:44:46.000 --> 00:44:49.000
That we like to think

00:44:49.000 --> 00:44:52.000
Young people are going to pursue.

00:44:52.000 --> 00:44:57.000
So we're just going to stay at it because I think the alternative 

00:44:57.000 --> 00:44:59.000
Losing these youngsters 

00:44:59.000 --> 00:44:64.000
And all that they represent. We are a better and 

00:45:04.000 --> 00:45:09.000
Stronger country, I want to say this specifically, because of immigration.

00:45:09.000 --> 00:45:12.000
applause. We are a better and stronger

00:45:12.000 --> 00:45:18.000
Country because of immigration. applause.

00:45:18.000 --> 00:45:21.000
And first generation, second generation

00:45:21.000 --> 00:45:24.000
Third generation immigrants

00:45:24.000 --> 00:45:28.000
Many of whom I'm sure are in this room!

00:45:28.000 --> 00:45:32.000
Can tell each other about what

00:45:32.000 --> 00:45:35.000
It has meant. This has been hard

00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:40.000
For a lot of those traditions. My parents fled the Nazis in the thirties. 

00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:43.000
Not all got out.

00:45:43.000 --> 00:45:48.000
And I watched the Charlottesville 

00:45:48.000 --> 00:45:52.000
The Charlottesville demonstrations this year

00:45:52.000 --> 00:45:55.000
And the president said there were good

00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:58.000
People on both sides

00:45:58.000 --> 00:45:64.000
When people are walking down the streets in swastikas.  

00:46:04.000 --> 00:46:08.000
In our house we were never

00:46:08.000 --> 00:46:14.000
Discussing there being two sides to having a swastika. 

00:46:14.000 --> 00:46:18.000
It was not something that was up for debate.

00:46:18.000 --> 00:46:22.000
So we have great traditions here.

00:46:22.000 --> 00:46:26.000
And we're better than this and

00:46:26.000 --> 00:46:30.000
I will tell you as we leave today

00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:33.000
That even with all of these

00:46:33.000 --> 00:46:38.000
Challenges and concerns, around the world there are a lot of people who want to move here.

00:46:38.000 --> 00:46:42.000
And hardly anybody from here who wants to move there.

00:46:42.000 --> 00:46:47.000
But we've got to move now to protect these values.

00:46:47.000 --> 00:46:51.000
These values deserve, you know, protection.

00:46:51.000 --> 00:46:56.000
The constitution and the rule of the law thrive on

00:46:56.000 --> 00:46:60.000
Participation and support and activism.

00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:04.000
And they can 

00:47:04.000 --> 00:47:08.000
Lose their vibrancy,

00:47:08.000 --> 00:47:13.000
If people don't come forward and step up, so that's what's so great about having you

00:47:13.000 --> 00:47:17.000
On this kind of picture perfect day at Western.

00:47:17.000 --> 00:47:20.000
How'd you do this, Rex, did you pass a law or something?

00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:24.000
laughter

00:47:24.000 --> 00:47:28.000
My sense is they're one of the issues that

00:47:28.000 --> 00:47:32.000
President would want to, you know, talk about. My 

00:47:32.000 --> 00:47:36.000
Sense is that all of those issues are going to

00:47:36.000 --> 00:47:39.000
Come up in a comprehensive immigration bill.

00:47:39.000 --> 00:47:43.000
And I've been concerned that 

00:47:43.000 --> 00:47:46.000
If you just treat them in isolation, people

00:47:46.000 --> 00:47:51.000
Aren't going to come forward and help the police and the like

00:47:51.000 --> 00:47:56.000
Deal with those situations. I remember one of the meetings that I had

00:47:56.000 --> 00:47:59.000
We were wrapping up, stopped at a Walgreens 

00:47:59.000 --> 00:47:64.000
And a woman stopped me outside and said You're the senator, right? And I said Yes.

00:48:04.000 --> 00:48:08.000
And she said I'm afraid about going into that Walgreens

00:48:08.000 --> 00:48:12.000
Store because if I take a prescription

00:48:12.000 --> 00:48:17.000
Home, they might catch me because I am purchasing

00:48:17.000 --> 00:48:19.000
Prescription. They're medical records.

00:48:19.000 --> 00:48:25.000
And then she said But if I don't walk in. She was outside the store.

00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:28.000
If I don't walk in, my child

00:48:28.000 --> 00:48:31.000
Needs that prescription and I'm worried about

00:48:31.000 --> 00:48:34.000
What's going to happen to my child.

00:48:34.000 --> 00:48:37.000
So you know, again

00:48:37.000 --> 00:48:41.000
These are not sort of consequence free

00:48:41.000 --> 00:48:46.000
You know, judgements. There are consequence free judgements. Some senator stands up and gives a crumby speech.

00:48:46.000 --> 00:48:50.000
Western civilization isn't going to be over.

00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:53.000
But that woman was making a real life decision. 

00:48:53.000 --> 00:48:59.000
She was saying to herself, If I walk in, I may 

00:48:59.000 --> 00:48:64.000
Be caught, and I may be deported, and my child won't have

00:49:04.000 --> 00:49:09.000
Anybody there. And if I don't walk in, I'm not getting the medicine my kid deserves.

00:49:09.000 --> 00:49:13.000
We're better than that, that's for sure.

00:49:13.000 --> 00:49:17.000
The individual mandate was attached to the

00:49:17.000 --> 00:49:22.000
Tax bill, no longer requires younger, healthy people to buy

00:49:22.000 --> 00:49:25.000
Health insurance. Is that going to completely

00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:28.000
Decimate the Affordable Care Act?

00:49:28.000 --> 00:49:32.000
Or will the Affordable Care Act be able to limp along and find some other way

00:49:32.000 --> 00:49:36.000
Of generating enough revenue to be able to

00:49:36.000 --> 00:49:38.000
Pay the medical expenses of sick people.

00:49:38.000 --> 00:49:44.000
Everybody know what we're talking about here, individual mandate? There's a purchase requirement

00:49:44.000 --> 00:49:48.000
In the Affordable Care Act, and obviously  people would

00:49:48.000 --> 00:49:52.000
Rather not have a purchase requirement, and in my bipartisan bill, we had one. 

00:49:52.000 --> 00:49:56.000
Because without some way 

00:49:56.000 --> 00:49:61.000
To know people are getting coverage, you can't even price these

00:50:01.000 --> 00:50:06.000
Products affordably. People aren't going to know how many people are in the plan.

00:50:06.000 --> 00:50:08.000
Spreading the cost and the risk and

00:50:08.000 --> 00:50:12.000
All that sort of thing, so what the Trump

00:50:12.000 --> 00:50:16.000
People said is Let's see if we can take a piece

00:50:16.000 --> 00:50:20.000
Out of the Affordable Care Act and really punch it 

00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:24.000
Hard and try to say Well, all we're doing

00:50:24.000 --> 00:50:28.000
Is taking out a part of it

00:50:28.000 --> 00:50:32.000
That is something that sounds unpopular.

00:50:32.000 --> 00:50:36.000
You know, who wants to tell anybody they 

00:50:36.000 --> 00:50:40.000
They have to purchase coverage. I remember we were having the

00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:44.000
Debate and I had this bipartisan bill. And we were in Bend

00:50:44.000 --> 00:50:47.000
a big ski are, and this young guy got up and said

00:50:47.000 --> 00:50:51.000
I love you, Ron Wyden! I love you, man. I love you!

00:50:51.000 --> 00:50:55.000
And he said Where does it say in the constitution that I got to buy healthcare?

00:50:55.000 --> 00:50:60.000
So what line is that there? And I said

00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:04.000
You know, it doesn't say it in the constitution, but

00:51:04.000 --> 00:51:08.000
What happens today is if you don't have coverage

00:51:08.000 --> 00:51:13.000
And people don't have coverage. They go to the hospital emergency room and everybody pays for it.

00:51:13.000 --> 00:51:17.000
Everybody who has coverage. And he said But I've got that all figured out.

00:51:17.000 --> 00:51:19.000
I said, Well what do you mean? He goes

00:51:19.000 --> 00:51:24.000
If I get hurt, and he pointed at the mountain in Bend, 

00:51:24.000 --> 00:51:27.000
He said If I get hurt in a skiing accident, 

00:51:27.000 --> 00:51:33.000
I'm going to go buy health insurance then to pay for my accident.

00:51:33.000 --> 00:51:37.000
laughter. Well, senators have to be real polite

00:51:37.000 --> 00:51:40.000
And all the rest. And so I said, Gee, I 

00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:44.000
Understand that but that's 

00:51:44.000 --> 00:51:48.000
Kind of sort of not the way insurance works.

00:51:48.000 --> 00:51:52.000
The way insurance kind of sort of works

00:51:52.000 --> 00:51:55.000
Is you buy it ahead of time.

00:51:55.000 --> 00:51:59.000
And if you buy it ahead of time, that kind of

00:51:59.000 --> 00:51:64.000
Sort of holds the cost down for all of us.

00:52:04.000 --> 00:52:08.000
He looks up and he goes That is really cool.

00:52:08.000 --> 00:52:13.000
laughter. And the point was nobody wanted a purchase requirement.

00:52:13.000 --> 00:52:16.000
But you need something or else

00:52:16.000 --> 00:52:20.000
For example you can't get coverage for people with preexisting conditions.

00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:24.000
Because there's no way to price

00:52:24.000 --> 00:52:28.000
The overall risk pool, you don't know how many are in it, so

00:52:28.000 --> 00:52:32.000
We're trying to work our way through it. We need more cost containment.

00:52:32.000 --> 00:52:36.000
That's why, for example, I'm leading the effort to change the Medicare Rules.

00:52:36.000 --> 00:52:39.000
So the government can negotiate the cost of medicine

00:52:39.000 --> 00:52:44.000
Hold down the cost of drugs. applause

00:52:44.000 --> 00:52:49.000
I've been walking people through this new nominee. 

00:52:49.000 --> 00:52:52.000
Had the health department, the president said the drug companies

00:52:52.000 --> 00:52:56.000
Are getting away with murder, and he appointed somebody who's got a long history

00:52:56.000 --> 00:52:60.000
Of raiding the prices, so I've been pointing that out. 

00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:04.000
If we would like to do something that we could do on our own,

00:53:04.000 --> 00:53:08.000
Because I got it in the Affordable Care Act. If Oregon,

00:53:08.000 --> 00:53:12.000
Washington and California decide they want to

00:53:12.000 --> 00:53:16.000
Be the first single payer program in the United States,

00:53:16.000 --> 00:53:19.000
They could join forces and do it now!

00:53:19.000 --> 00:53:25.000
applause. Without any additional action. Without any additional action!

00:53:25.000 --> 00:53:29.000
applause. So we've got to

00:53:29.000 --> 00:53:32.000
We've got to find ways to hold cost down.

00:53:32.000 --> 00:53:36.000
And that's going to be more of a challenge now.

00:53:36.000 --> 00:53:40.000
As a result of the Trump people because they thought they were just going to

00:53:40.000 --> 00:53:43.000
Kneecap the whole program, and certainly they've struck a pretty

00:53:43.000 --> 00:53:46.000
Aggressive blow against it.

00:53:46.000 --> 00:53:52.000
Senator Wyden, thank you for being here. We've always appreciated your willingness

00:53:52.000 --> 00:53:56.000
To come to Polk County and especially Western Oregon and Monmouth.

00:53:56.000 --> 00:53:59.000
My question has to do with what the

00:53:59.000 --> 00:53:64.000
Infrastructure bill that we keep hearing about might look like.

00:54:04.000 --> 00:54:08.000
What are the chances of that actually getting through in the next

00:54:08.000 --> 00:54:13.000
Session or so? And how might that

00:54:13.000 --> 00:54:17.000
Trickle down to counties and cities?

00:54:17.000 --> 00:54:21.000
We have huge needs, as you're aware.

00:54:21.000 --> 00:54:24.000
Just curious, we're not going to budget any money for it

00:54:24.000 --> 00:54:29.000
But we're kind of curious what our chances might be. Yeah.

00:54:29.000 --> 00:54:33.000
The way again that

00:54:33.000 --> 00:54:36.000
Infrastructure has been pursued

00:54:36.000 --> 00:54:41.000
In the last fifteen to twenty years, and it relates again to the question over there of

00:54:41.000 --> 00:54:44.000
Kind of how do you deal with these circumstances

00:54:44.000 --> 00:54:50.000
Is we've said that for financing, which is the harder question, 

00:54:50.000 --> 00:54:53.000
You need a public side and you need a private side.

00:54:53.000 --> 00:54:56.000
So on the public side, Paul Ryan 

00:54:56.000 --> 00:54:60.000
Took off the table at the beginning of this congress,

00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:04.000
Anything with the gas tax, okay?

00:55:04.000 --> 00:55:09.000
So as you know, our legislature made some changes, increased the gas tax.

00:55:09.000 --> 00:55:15.000
So that's the state side. Paul Ryan said Nope! We're not going to do that.

00:55:15.000 --> 00:55:17.000
I'm looking at Paul. I'm sure Paul

00:55:17.000 --> 00:55:20.000
Has the arrows in his back for that one.

00:55:20.000 --> 00:55:25.000
But the legislature voted to do that. Paul Ryan says Nope, we're not going to do that.

00:55:25.000 --> 00:55:28.000
So then the question was How are we going to get

00:55:28.000 --> 00:55:31.000
The money on the public side?

00:55:31.000 --> 00:55:34.000
I and other proposed, and it was bipartisan,

00:55:34.000 --> 00:55:38.000
We said Let's use some of the money

00:55:38.000 --> 00:55:44.000
That is stashed overseas, the 2.6 trillion dollars

00:55:44.000 --> 00:55:47.000
Let's use some of that money that would be

00:55:47.000 --> 00:55:52.000
That's called repatriated to the public's side

00:55:52.000 --> 00:55:56.000
Of infrastructure. Paul Ryan says Nope, we're not going to do that either.

00:55:56.000 --> 00:55:60.000
Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell said we're going to use it all for tax cuts.

00:56:00.000 --> 00:56:04.000
So that was off the table. Then

00:56:04.000 --> 00:56:07.000
We've always looked at the private side

00:56:07.000 --> 00:56:12.000
And I was able in President Obama's Recovery Act to get something called

00:56:12.000 --> 00:56:17.000
Build America Bonds involved and Paul and the state folks know about that.

00:56:17.000 --> 00:56:22.000
We sold 182 billion dollars worth of Build America Bonds in a year and a half.

00:56:22.000 --> 00:56:24.000
And the Democrats liked it, 

00:56:24.000 --> 00:56:29.000
The Republicans liked it. Everybody liked it. There were tax credit bonds,

00:56:29.000 --> 00:56:32.000
So there was a role for government, but they were liquid so you could

00:56:32.000 --> 00:56:36.000
Sell them. It was a pretty attractive way to go.

00:56:36.000 --> 00:56:40.000
The president doesn't seem to want to do that either.

00:56:40.000 --> 00:56:45.000
What he's talking about now to the extent we can even understand it

00:56:45.000 --> 00:56:48.000
Is that we should have

00:56:48.000 --> 00:56:52.000
Tolls for these 

00:56:52.000 --> 00:56:56.000
Projects. People are already starting to call them Trump tolls.

00:56:56.000 --> 00:56:60.000
He wants to allow

00:57:00.000 --> 00:57:07.000
The developers to take an equity interest in projects.

00:57:07.000 --> 00:57:12.000
That's really far out.

00:57:12.000 --> 00:57:16.000
That you know a developer might own one of your 

00:57:16.000 --> 00:57:20.000
Roads. And then of course

00:57:20.000 --> 00:57:24.000
All the things that are going to health and safety

00:57:24.000 --> 00:57:27.000
And the labor protections, all that is, you know, on the

00:57:27.000 --> 00:57:33.000
Side too. So I hope that they'll come sort of down to planet earth here

00:57:33.000 --> 00:57:36.000
On this and start working

00:57:36.000 --> 00:57:39.000
On the nuts and bolts of this because

00:57:39.000 --> 00:57:42.000
Democrats and Republicans again

00:57:42.000 --> 00:57:45.000
Overwhelmingly want to do a bipartisan

00:57:45.000 --> 00:57:48.000
Bill and Paul can tell you that was what happened in the legislature.

00:57:48.000 --> 00:57:52.000
There aren't any Democratic roads and Republican bridges!

00:57:52.000 --> 00:57:56.000
Stuffs falling apart and every time I'm walking through

00:57:56.000 --> 00:57:60.000
The Portland Airport, somebody says well, I was just on a trip here and a trip there

00:58:00.000 --> 00:58:04.000
Ron, why don't you get us the kind of roads and bridges they have?

00:58:04.000 --> 00:58:09.000
So this is really something apropos our country 

00:58:09.000 --> 00:58:14.000
Where it's just not defensible to not having a really bold

00:58:14.000 --> 00:58:19.000
Infrastructure program. And had the president done this first come right out of the gate,

00:58:19.000 --> 00:58:23.000
I think he would have met an incredible response

00:58:23.000 --> 00:58:29.000
From congress. People would've said Hey, he's a business guy.

00:58:29.000 --> 00:58:32.000
Contractors, business people, laborer, everybody we

00:58:32.000 --> 00:58:35.000
Would have got in a package if he had done it first.

00:58:35.000 --> 00:58:39.000
But then he sent the money on the 1.5 trillion dollar tax cut.

00:58:39.000 --> 00:58:43.000
So those are some of the challenges and I think

00:58:43.000 --> 00:58:48.000
Eventually we'll get a package,  but it's not going to be as of now

00:58:48.000 --> 00:58:52.000
Anywhere near bold enough for the challenge.

00:58:52.000 --> 00:58:56.000
The challenge really calls for something significant, dramatic

00:58:56.000 --> 00:58:61.000
To show that we're playing offense.

00:59:01.000 --> 00:59:06.000
Dwight Eisenhower played offense when he created the interstate highway system.

00:59:06.000 --> 00:59:10.000
Richard Nixon played offense on infrastructure.

00:59:10.000 --> 00:59:15.000
It's not just some kind of pie in the sky idea dreamed up by Democrats.

00:59:16.000 --> 00:59:20.000
But you have been a really strong voice on inclusive voting.

00:59:20.000 --> 00:59:24.000
And we're with like the vote by mail and things like that. And we're in a position

00:59:24.000 --> 00:59:28.000
Right now where we have an opportunity to get our country back

00:59:28.000 --> 00:59:32.000
But voter suppression in the form ID laws

00:59:32.000 --> 00:59:38.000
Gerrymandering and a primary system that lends itself to hyper partisanship 

00:59:38.000 --> 00:59:42.000
Really undermines the ideal of one person, one vote.

00:59:42.000 --> 00:59:46.000
This feels like something that we can all be attacking on a local level

00:59:46.000 --> 00:59:48.000
And so I guess our question is

00:59:48.000 --> 00:59:52.000
Your recommendations for those sort of on the 

00:59:52.000 --> 00:59:56.000
Ground things we can do in our own districts to address that challenge.

00:59:56.000 --> 00:59:60.000
And Angus would like to know if you have any advice for what kids can do

01:00:00.000 --> 01:00:04.000
When they're pre voting age to make the country a better place too.

01:00:04.000 --> 01:00:08.000
What a great, great question.

01:00:08.000 --> 01:00:11.000
And you're how old?

01:00:11.000 --> 01:00:17.000
Eight. Well, my twins are ten 

01:00:17.000 --> 01:00:20.000
And their sister is five.

01:00:20.000 --> 01:00:24.000
And there are a bunch of things that 

01:00:24.000 --> 01:00:28.000
You could do that would really help.

01:00:28.000 --> 01:00:32.000
I bet you're really interested

01:00:32.000 --> 01:00:35.000
In clean air and clean water

01:00:35.000 --> 01:00:40.000
And making sure we protect all the trees and the environment and stuff?

01:00:40.000 --> 01:00:44.000
Okay. Well, what we'll do

01:00:44.000 --> 01:00:47.000
Mary and our staff, there are a bunch

01:00:47.000 --> 01:00:52.000
Of ways here right in the community

01:00:52.000 --> 01:00:55.000
Programs and the like where they are involved in

01:00:55.000 --> 01:00:58.000
Clean up and environmental protection

01:00:58.000 --> 01:00:65.000
And the like. We'll get you some information on that.

01:01:05.000 --> 01:01:08.000
Also, something that's going to be 

01:01:08.000 --> 01:01:11.000
Really important because

01:01:11.000 --> 01:01:16.000
There are a lot of hungry people and

01:01:16.000 --> 01:01:20.000
Yesterday I was down at the University of Oregon, and I was helping

01:01:20.000 --> 01:01:23.000
All the programs to try to help the

01:01:23.000 --> 01:01:28.000
Older people, they're called senior citizens, who need food.

01:01:28.000 --> 01:01:32.000
And if you wanted to, maybe you could go door to door

01:01:32.000 --> 01:01:37.000
On your street and get some canned goods

01:01:37.000 --> 01:01:41.000
Like tuna fish and vegetables and stuff

01:01:41.000 --> 01:01:45.000
And you and your mom can take that over to the senior center, sound good?

01:01:45.000 --> 01:01:49.000
We'll find some other stuff for you to do, okay?

01:01:49.000 --> 01:01:54.000
Thank you for coming. You came voluntarily it looks like. laughter

01:01:54.000 --> 01:01:60.000
My children would never have come voluntarily. laughter

01:02:00.000 --> 01:02:04.000
With respect to voting, a couple of things.

01:02:04.000 --> 01:02:08.000
One of the things I feel really strongly about is voter suppression, just as you said,

01:02:08.000 --> 01:02:13.000
Is a really serious problem. A lot of states

01:02:13.000 --> 01:02:16.000
And the White House has this fellow, Mr. Miller, Steve Miller

01:02:16.000 --> 01:02:20.000
Who's always saying millions of people have voted illegally.

01:02:20.000 --> 01:02:24.000
And I said Look, I don't see any evidence of this, but if you think

01:02:24.000 --> 01:02:29.000
A lot of people are voting illegally, how about the Trump White House supporting

01:02:29.000 --> 01:02:33.000
My bill to take vote by mail national?

01:02:33.000 --> 01:02:36.000
Take vote by mail national. applause

01:02:36.000 --> 01:02:38.000
applause

01:02:38.000 --> 01:02:44.000
And we'll have a paper trail for every single ballot

01:02:44.000 --> 01:02:47.000
Cast, number one. Number two, we're really

01:02:47.000 --> 01:02:52.000
Pushing the social media companies that really missed it

01:02:52.000 --> 01:02:56.000
With respect to the 2016 election that they've got to do more

01:02:56.000 --> 01:02:60.000
To protect all the nonsense that's

01:03:00.000 --> 01:03:04.000
Going on on their platforms, and I actually wrote a law that gives them

01:03:04.000 --> 01:03:10.000
The protection to really go after those outrageous 

01:03:10.000 --> 01:03:12.000
Things that are being put on a lot of platforms.

01:03:12.000 --> 01:03:19.000
There are a lot of rules to it because under our law, you really can't

01:03:19.000 --> 01:03:23.000
Deal with political campaigns, you can't regulate political campaigns 

01:03:23.000 --> 01:03:28.000
But you can do a lot with respect to issues and issue advertising.

01:03:28.000 --> 01:03:32.000
So there's some real opportunities there. And 

01:03:32.000 --> 01:03:36.000
Has your son ever been back to Washington, D.C.?

01:03:36.000 --> 01:03:41.000
Okay. Want to come see where the president lives? 

01:03:41.000 --> 01:03:44.000
laughter. He wants to stay home!

01:03:44.000 --> 01:03:47.000
He loves it here. Well, when want to come, someday you will.

01:03:47.000 --> 01:03:50.000
We'll make sure you get to do some cool stuff. Thanks.

01:03:50.000 --> 01:03:56.000
I've been reading a lot about the two thousand, the 2020 census.

01:03:56.000 --> 01:03:60.000
And how it's inadequately funded and how it's going to do things that will

01:04:00.000 --> 01:04:04.000
Keep people from even identifying that they're here

01:04:04.000 --> 01:04:07.000
And I'm afraid it could cost us our sixth

01:04:07.000 --> 01:04:13.000
Congressional seat in this state, from what I hear. What can congress do

01:04:13.000 --> 01:04:16.000
To ensure that we get a fair census in 2020

01:04:16.000 --> 01:04:19.000
So that we don't have a permanently stolen electorate?

01:04:19.000 --> 01:04:24.000
The first thing we can do is commit to doing the hard work of

01:04:24.000 --> 01:04:29.000
Birddogging this whole process because, as you know,

01:04:29.000 --> 01:04:31.000
This is something that the congress does have 

01:04:31.000 --> 01:04:35.000
Oversight over. This is not something where people can say Oh,

01:04:35.000 --> 01:04:38.000
It's like the Federal Reserve or something and that

01:04:38.000 --> 01:04:44.000
Has a different role and different independence, so we have got to make

01:04:44.000 --> 01:04:47.000
The case that the census

01:04:47.000 --> 01:04:52.000
Is a sacred process and not a political football!

01:04:52.000 --> 01:04:56.000
The idea is to accurately count 

01:04:56.000 --> 01:04:59.000
The number of Americans and ensure that

01:04:59.000 --> 01:04:63.000
Nobody is left behind. Now I realize that some might

01:05:03.000 --> 01:05:08.000
Consider that kind of a pie in the sky kind of notion.

01:05:08.000 --> 01:05:12.000
But remember the sword cuts both ways. You know, sometimes

01:05:12.000 --> 01:05:16.000
People think Oh, we can keep somebody

01:05:16.000 --> 01:05:21.000
From participating and being involved in an election and then all of a sudden they wish 

01:05:21.000 --> 01:05:25.000
They had been. My favorite story is vote by mail

01:05:25.000 --> 01:05:28.000
When it came up in Oregon for the first time

01:05:28.000 --> 01:05:32.000
The general feeling was that the Republicans

01:05:32.000 --> 01:05:35.000
Thought it was a great idea because the

01:05:35.000 --> 01:05:39.000
Democrats, in their view, wouldn't be smart enough to fill out

01:05:39.000 --> 01:05:44.000
ballots. laughter. I'm serious. So,

01:05:44.000 --> 01:05:48.000
Among the Democrats, it was largely Phil Keisling's idea.

01:05:48.000 --> 01:05:52.000
Young guy, Secretary of State, good government

01:05:52.000 --> 01:05:57.000
Phil Keisling's idea, and all the Democrats 

01:05:57.000 --> 01:05:61.000
Except for Phil Keisling and I were

01:06:01.000 --> 01:06:05.000
All the Democrats were against vote by mail.

01:06:05.000 --> 01:06:13.000
Because the same reason it wouldn't work and it was tampering on a democratic tradition and the like.

01:06:13.000 --> 01:06:16.000
So the Republicans were for it

01:06:16.000 --> 01:06:20.000
The Democrats, overwhelmingly, myself and Phil Keisling

01:06:20.000 --> 01:06:24.000
Was the exceptions, were against it. So we

01:06:24.000 --> 01:06:28.000
Had it. It was working fairly well. The Senate's special election

01:06:28.000 --> 01:06:31.000
Was the first time we had ever really done it on a big

01:06:31.000 --> 01:06:35.000
scale. We had huge turn out. And the winner of 1996

01:06:35.000 --> 01:06:41.000
I won the election, as we like to say, by 18620 votes.

01:06:41.000 --> 01:06:43.000
Who's counting?

01:06:43.000 --> 01:06:48.000
And then everything changed. Then the Republicans 

01:06:48.000 --> 01:06:52.000
Hated vote by mail and Democrats loved vote by mail.

01:06:52.000 --> 01:06:56.000
Oregonians said apropos of your point,

01:06:56.000 --> 01:06:59.000
About our institutions. Oregonians said

01:06:59.000 --> 01:06:64.000
Nuts on this, we're putting this on the ballot. And it passed overwhelmingly

01:07:04.000 --> 01:07:09.000
With both Democrats and Republicans voting for it. It got like seventy five

01:07:09.000 --> 01:07:14.000
I don't know, whatever it was. Huge vote because people said it made sense.

01:07:14.000 --> 01:07:16.000
And the same thing is true with the census.

01:07:16.000 --> 01:07:19.000
You might think Hey! Let's undercount

01:07:19.000 --> 01:07:24.000
Over here in this particular area because we might get a temporary advantage.

01:07:24.000 --> 01:07:28.000
But it really doesn't work that way and you can't, you know, predict

01:07:28.000 --> 01:07:34.000
A lot of these kinds of things. And that, because I've seen people heading for the door

01:07:34.000 --> 01:07:36.000
I think is what

01:07:36.000 --> 01:07:41.000
Is on my mind as we wrap up, you know, this town meeting. There hadn't been a bad question in the house.

01:07:41.000 --> 01:07:45.000
Not a single bad question today.

01:07:45.000 --> 01:07:49.000
I've already said, looking outside, all the things you could be doing on a 

01:07:49.000 --> 01:07:52.000
Gorgeous day other than educating me.

01:07:52.000 --> 01:07:56.000
This is the Oregon way.

01:07:56.000 --> 01:07:60.000
And I'm going to do everything I can to bring a little bit of the Oregon way

01:08:00.000 --> 01:08:05.000
Back to Washington D.C. You would not see

01:08:05.000 --> 01:08:08.000
Mark Hatfield stooping

01:08:08.000 --> 01:08:12.000
To some of what we've heard

01:08:12.000 --> 01:08:16.000
And these kinds of polarizing,

01:08:16.000 --> 01:08:20.000
Divisive approaches and strategies.

01:08:20.000 --> 01:08:24.000
You wouldn't see Mark Hatfield do it, and you won't see me

01:08:24.000 --> 01:08:31.000
Do it either. I don't have all the answers, not close to them. Not close.

01:08:31.000 --> 01:08:36.000
My wife sometimes calls me after a big vote. She says You blew that one, buster. 

01:08:36.000 --> 01:08:40.000
laughter. Bad vote. Very often she's right, I'm not.

01:08:40.000 --> 01:08:45.000
But what I know for sure is this is the way the founding 

01:08:45.000 --> 01:08:49.000
Fathers wanted it to look!

01:08:49.000 --> 01:08:53.000
Gorgeous day, terrific crowd, your friends

01:08:53.000 --> 01:08:56.000
And neighbors.

01:08:56.000 --> 01:08:60.000
I never dreamed I would have this kind of opportunity. 

01:09:00.000 --> 01:09:06.000
First generation Jewish kid, I wanted to play in the NBA.

01:09:06.000 --> 01:09:08.000
Absurd idea.

01:09:08.000 --> 01:09:12.000
Too small make up for it by being really slow.

01:09:12.000 --> 01:09:13.000
laughter

01:09:13.000 --> 01:09:17.000
Never had these kinds of opportunities when I was 

01:09:17.000 --> 01:09:21.000
Coming up thinking that this was possible, so I

01:09:21.000 --> 01:09:26.000
Feel I owe Oregon. Somebody said Oh, they couldn't believe he did 860 meetings.

01:09:26.000 --> 01:09:32.000
I feel I owe this to the people of the state. This is the Oregon way.

01:09:32.000 --> 01:09:35.000
This is really Oregon at its best!

01:09:35.000 --> 01:09:41.000
Looking for ideas from both sides. Trying to bring young people into it and

01:09:41.000 --> 01:09:45.000
Comes and says he wants to help and be involved in his community.

01:09:45.000 --> 01:09:48.000
So I really appreciate President

01:09:48.000 --> 01:09:52.000
Rex, Mayor John, all of you and as

01:09:52.000 --> 01:09:56.000
Long as I have the honor to represent you in the United States Senate, 

01:09:56.000 --> 01:09:58.000
This is the way we'll do it. Thanks, everybody!

01:09:58.000 --> 01:09:63.000
applause. Thank you. Thank you.