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Wednesday,June9,2021
Columbia Gorge News
www.columbiagorgenews.com
Sen. Merkley honors Medical Corp volunteers
Mark Gibson
■ By Columbia
Gorge News
THE DALLES — Oregon
U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley
honored Wasco County
Medical Reserve Corps
volunteers during a virtual
town hall Tuesday, June 1, for
Wasco County residents.
“At the start of every town
hall, I like to shed light on a
group that has done some
good work in building
community, and today we’re
going to shine that light on
the Wasco County Medical
Reserve Corps (MRC),”
Merkley said.
“This medical reserve
corps has been working in
partnership with the North
Central Public Health District
to really enhance the vacci-
nation clinics, with 70 some
volunteers serving hundreds
of hours throughout the
tri-county area, helping
people get vaccinated. You
need the medical profession-
als, but you also need lots
and lots of volunteers to help
them out. “
Merkley noted NCPHD
has gotten attention for both
its volunteer support and its
innovative approaches to
increase vaccination rates,
including use of music, food
and prizes to encourage
people to come out, be en-
tertained, and get vaccinated
at the same time,” Merkley
said. “There is no question
that creative, aggressive
approaches to getting the
vaccine distributed to folks
has saved live,” he said.
Tanya Wray, volunteer co-
ordinator for Wasco County
MRC, thanked Senator
Merkley for his support. “We
are so proud of our volun-
teers, and we are always
trying to find ways to show
that appreciation. So having
you acknowledge them in
this way is really wonder-
ful,” said Wray. “We always
say, ‘We can’t thank them
enough,’ so this is really great.
Thank you for doing this.” She
said the flag and certificate
Merkley sent them would be
shared with the volunteers
at a “thank you” lunch. She
said the volunteer hours have
been critical throughout the
pandemic.
“I can’t imagine how we
would have gotten through
this without all the hours they
donated,” she said. “All of
our staff is honored to work
alongside such compassion-
ate, hard working people.”
Those wishing to join
Wasco Co. MRC can go to
serv-or.com and choose
Wasco Co. MRC, or go to
NCPHD.org — Medical
Reserve Corp page for more
information and a link to
SERV-OR.
Dr. Mimi McDonell, health
officer with NCPHD, agreed
with Wray, saying volunteers
“have volunteered over 1,000
hours toward getting vaccina-
tions to Wasco, Sherman and
Gilliam County residents.
We truly could not do this
without them. That’s a very
significant thing.”
•••
Merkley then updated
county residents on progress
— and lack of progress — in
the Senate.
The American Rescue Plan
is now being implemented,
Merkley said, with funds
rolling out to the counties
and cities, including about
with about $5.2 million
going to Wasco County and
about $3.4 million being split
between various cities in
the county based on pop-
ulation, including Maupin,
Antelope, Mosier, The Dalles
and others. “Those are pretty
flexible funds, the goal was to
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“Ourfutureeconomyis
forcountriesthatinvestin
peopleandinfrastructure.
Wearedoingneither,and
wereallyneedtodothis.”
Jeff Merkley
Oregon Senator
put that money in the hands
of those who know what is
needed most."
Another win is his work
with Senator Ron Wyden
to renew payment in lieu of
taxes and secure rural school
funds for Oregon counties,
which combined will bring
about $1 million to Wasco
County, he said.
“Another good develop-
ment is that for years, I’ve
been trying to fulfill the
promise of $10 million for
the scenic area that was
authorized by congress by
not funded. After a couple
close calls, we think we are
on track this year to get that
funding on both sides of
the Columbia River Gorge,”
Merkley reported. “That’s a
decades old commitment by
congress that may now be
fulfilled.”
Also making some progress
in Congress, with the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, is
the rebuilding of some of the
tribal fishing sites along the
river and some of the villages
that were supposed to have
been rebuilt back when the
dams were built, Merkely
said, another of the “decades
old challenges that have not
yet been fulfilled.”
Merkley said in addition to
water and transportation in-
frastructure plans, he is sup-
port the American Jobs Plan,
which focuses on funding for
housing, rural broadband
and forest maintenance.
“I’m trying to get Congress
to think of our forests as part
of our infrastructure. The
president’s budget is about
two-thirds of what is needed
to treat our second growth
forest (for fire resilience).
“That work of thinning and
mowing and some logging,
could be a real win-win situa-
tion,” he said.
Following an overview on
work being done, Merkley
began fielding questions,
the first being from Leo
Lemann, a sophomore at The
Dalles High who asked how
likely it would be the federal
minimum wage will be raised
this year.
“I think the odds are pretty
low, because of the filibuster,
which requires bipartisan co-
operation to pass any policy
bill in the senate,” Merkley re-
plied. “This shows how really
broken our system is in the
senate. It’s fine to slow thing
down in a 'cooling saucer,' as
President Washington said,
but we have S
a freezer. It’s like,
of coffee per month.
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U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, top left, honors Wasco County Medical Reserve Corps volunteers during a virtual town hall June 1. Pictured at
to right is Tanya Wray, volunteer coordinator for the Corps, and volunteers Judy Richardson, MD MBA, bottom left, and Kristen McNall.
Mark B. Gibson photo/via zoom
'an eye for an eye makes the
whole world blind.' We have
to get rid of the filibuster.”
Kim Morgan, The Dalles,
asked what the prospect for
community college being
fully funded was, Merkley
President Biden’s idea was for
community college to be free,
and four-year college to be
debt free. “It’s not impossi-
ble,” Merkley said, noting that
as a high school graduate he
was able to work a summer
job and pay for schooling.
“Today, the cost is a barrier.
The idea is the feds would
supplement local, state fund-
ing of college. There really
are no reasons not to do this
in the world we live in today.
Most countries are investing
in this,” he said.
In regards to the American
Job Plan, Merkley said it
was unclear if it would pass.
“I support the bipartisan
approach. Europe, Canada,
China and Japan are all doing
much better on infrastructure
Wasco County Medical Reserve Corps volunteer coordinator Tanya Wray shows off a flag and certifi-
cate presented to the Corp by U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley.
Mark B. Gibson photo/via Zoom
than we are.
“Our future economy is for
countries that invest in peo-
ple and infrastructure. We are
doing neither, and we really
need to do this.”
•••
Merkley said working with
legislation and policy related
to competition with China,
it was clear more investment
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was needed in the U.S.
“This goes to the point
of the difference regard-
ing China’s investment in
infrastructure and ours,”
he said. “I do not think the
future belongs to the nation
with biggest military budget,
but to nations that invest the
most in their people and their
infrastructure. The battle is
really about your economic
strength, not your military
might,” he said.
"China has an internation-
al strategy of investment, they
are investing in renewable
energy, electric cars, rare
earth minerals ... we don’t
have a strategic plan like
that.”
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