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THE ASTORIAN • TuESdAy, AuguST 24, 2021
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
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Publisher
DERRICK DePLEDGE
Editor
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Circulation Manager
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GUEST COLUMN
‘Recalcitrant Nine’ hope for influence
C
ongressman Kurt Schrader
wants to slow a massive bud-
get bill pushed by his fellow
Democrats.
Schrader, of Canby, represents the
5th Congressional District and casts
himself as a centrist. He supported the
U.S. House’s infrastructure bill put
together by 4th District U.S. Rep. Peter
DeFazio, a progressive
Democrat from Spring-
field. However, the
U.S. Senate passed its
own infrastructure bill,
instead of handling the
House version.
Many Democrats
DICK
want to tie the fate of
HUGHES
the politically dicey
budget measure —
which will include the various social
priorities of progressives — to the more
popular and somewhat bipartisan infra-
structure bill.
Not so fast, say Schrader and eight
other moderate Democrats, whom I’ll
dub the “Recalcitrant Nine” for the sake
of this column.
This comes down to numbers. Oh,
and politics.
The Recalcitrant Nine threaten to
vote against the $3.5 trillion budget res-
olution. They demand that the House
first pass the $1.2 trillion infrastructure
bill, sending it to President Joe Biden
for his signature.
“Folks back home are starting to
get very concerned about how much
money we’re spending,” Schrader told
Bloomberg Government. “And I think
that’s a legitimate concern.”
However, progressives fear the bud-
get measure could fail in the House
unless linked to the infrastructure bill.
House Republicans need only a hand-
ful of Democratic defections to defeat a
measure.
The budget bill, which already faces
staunch Republican opposition, is
expected to cover such progressive pri-
orities as prescription drug costs, child
care and climate change. It’s being
developed as a budget reconciliation
measure, which is a way to prevent
Republican senators from blocking pas-
sage through a filibuster.
A majority of the Congressional Pro-
gressive Caucus reportedly said they
would vote against the infrastructure
bill in the House unless budget reconcil-
iation happens first.
The Recalcitrant Nine have written
to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a pro-
Evan Vucci/AP Photo
President Joe Biden arrives to speak about infrastructure spending in Wisconsin in June.
THE RECALCITRANT
NINE THREATEN TO
VOTE AgAINST THE
$3.5 TRILLION BudgET
RESOLuTION.
gressive Democrat from San Francisco,
saying: “Some have suggested that we
hold off on considering the Senate infra-
structure bill for months — until the
reconciliation process is completed. We
disagree. With the livelihoods of hard-
working American families at stake, we
simply can’t afford months of unnec-
essary delays and risk squandering this
once-in-a-century, bipartisan infrastruc-
ture package. …
“We will not consider voting for
a budget resolution until the biparti-
san Infrastructure Investment and Jobs
Act passes the House and is signed into
law.”
Pelosi and Democratic leaders appear
unfazed, planning a House vote for next
week on the reconciliation process.
As The Hill reported, “Balanc-
ing the differing priorities of moder-
ates and progressives is a major chal-
lenge for Pelosi as she seeks to pass the
infrastructure bill and a social spending
bill — both of which further President
Biden’s economic agenda.”
As for DeFazio, he noted in a tele-
phone town hall with 4th District con-
stituents on Thursday that he has been
working with the Biden administration
and the Senate to pass a long-overdue
infrastructure bill.
He lauded the “Buy America” pro-
visions, saying, “This is going to create
one heckuva lot of jobs over the next
five years.”
Miserable leadership: During the
town hall, DeFazio blasted Oregon’s
delays in providing pandemic-related
rental assistance, saying the state has
handled that program as miserably as it
did unemployment benefits.
Oregon’s next governor: A poll
conducted Aug. 4 to Aug. 7 suggests
Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum
would be Democrats’ preferred candi-
date for governor next year.
She was favored by 16.4% of regis-
tered Democrats and likely voters. The
surprise is that Yamhill County Com-
missioner Casey Kulla came in sec-
ond at 14.3%, ahead of Oregon House
Speaker Tina Kotek, 9.2%; State Trea-
surer Tobias Read, 6.2%; and Labor
Commissioner Val Hoyle, 4.4%.
Before anyone gets too excited about
who’s ahead, 41.6% of respondents said
they were undecided, and 7.9% said
they’d favor a Republican.
I offer a couple of caveats. First, of
course, is that lots will happen before
the Democratic and Republican primary
elections next May. Second, McKelvey
Consulting conducted the poll by text
message, with 661 people replying to
the poll via text.
dick Hughes has been covering the
Oregon political scene since 1976.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Lessons of Afghanistan
n 1521, during Ferdinand
Magellan’s circumnavigation, he died
in the Philippines because he was con-
vinced by an island leader to take his
powerful ship and firearms against a
neighboring island tribe, promising their
devotion.
This was an example of staying out
of foreign wars. George Washington
departed his presidency advising to stay
out of foreign wars. President Dwight
Eisenhower, and former general of the
Army during World War II, warned
against the military-industrial complex,
who promote foreign wars. Do I need to
mention Vietnam as another example?
These are just a few examples of why
we should stay away from the involve-
ment in foreign wars. Young people are
always told to look to the past if they
want to know the future. The future will
be Afghanistan won’t be our last foreign
war, because our so-called leaders don’t
know their history; how sad.
GARRY GITZEN
Wheeler
I
I say ‘no’
he way I see it: A sales tax of 5% in
Cannon Beach on prepared food is to
fund the Cannon Beach Rural Fire Pro-
tection District’s and City Hall’s new
buildings. How did this come about?
The fire district began by asking for
the sales tax of 5% from the City Coun-
cil. A couple of weeks after, the city
announced it had decided to take 2%
of that 5% to build a new City Hall
and police department. The City Coun-
cil quickly tried to approve the sales tax
amongst themselves.
It was stalled at the last moment by
the many citizens of Cannon Beach voic-
ing public opposition against the sales
tax at a council meeting.
The fire district can ask for an opera-
tion levy that would be tax deductible to
state and federal income tax for every-
T
one who pays for it. The fire district has
a plan on how to use the money. No one
wants to lose the services of the tireless
first responders. I support them.
On the other hand, the city has no
plans for a building, no place to put the
building, no budget for the building, and
would like to put their 2% into the gen-
eral fund, which the city can use on any-
thing they want.
I say “no” to the 5% sales tax vote.
We should wait on the city until they get
their plan put together. Where there is no
heart, there is no feeling.
PAUL NOFIELD
Cannon Beach
Closer to the truth
n Aug. 17, The Astorian printed
a remarkable hate-filled screed,
“Existential threat,” against a past pres-
ident. The remarkable thing is, that if
O
you change the names around, Joe Biden
for Donald Trump and DNC for GOP, it
actually comes closer to the truth.
The letter writer should take off the
hate-filled blinders, and look at what is
actually happening. He should also check
the definition of his bugaboo word, fas-
cism. One party rule. It is the unfolding
disaster we have now. It is the real exis-
tential threat to America.
ROBERT LIDDYCOAT
Seaside