SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, MAY 31, 2017
Let me Showcase your property.
7 A
Western Lane draws interest of young and old
D
Desiree Clifton
Principal Broker
541 999-5223
anielle Hanson, an EMT
with Western Lane
Ambulance District, gives
information to a young
attendee at the organization’s
annual Open House on
Saturday. The district gave out
free information on emer-
gency preparedness and home
safety while serving up a
lunch of hamburgers and hot
dogs. “Thank you to everyone
who came to our Open House
today,” a representative said.
“It is nice to be able to open
our doors and meet our
neighbors in a better setting
than when medics are need-
ed.” Western Lane is at 410
Ninth St. For more informa-
tion, visit wlambulance.com.
494 Sherwood Lp – Gorgeous Florentine home
with RV garage. 1595 sqft 1995 built Goldenwest
home with 30 yr roof on house and garage, all
new hardiplank siding in ‘13. Stainless appliances,
Hi-Macs counters with seamless sink, and insu-
lated 28x44 RV garage with utility sink. $259,000.
#2686-17626085
1749 Highway 101 • 541-997-1200
Town Hall
TIRE
EVENT
10% OFF
list price on a set of tires
AND receive a free alignment!
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Offer Expires 05/31/17
Open
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Aj Shervin, Owner
4515 Highway 101, North Florence • 541-997-5049
from 1A
“This is the first president in
40 years to not disclose his
taxes. For four decades, dis-
closing your taxes was the low-
est ethical bar.”
Wyden explained the differ-
ence between the function of
newly-appointed
Special
Council Robert Mueller and
Wyden’s role on the Senate
Intelligence Committee.
“Bob Mueller’s job is to
work on criminal matters,”
Wyden said. “My job is to tell
you how our democracy was
attacked by the Russians.
These are really troubling
issues that are going to acceler-
ate in the next couple of
weeks.”
Wyden then pivoted to dis-
cuss former FBI director James
Comey.
“One of the first questions I
will ask Mr. Comey is, ‘Did the
president ask you to sign a loy-
alty pledge?’ If that is the case,
then that is an attack on an
American institution. As
Oregon’s man on the Senate
Intelligence Committee, I will
not let this be swept under
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~ Grad’s Name ~
School
Birth Date:
Parents:
Grandparents:
Coming Saturday, June 7th
“Baby to Graduate Review”
Deadline is Friday, June 2nd
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Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
Grad’s Name:___________________________________
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Parents:________________________________________
Grandparents:___________________________________
Your Name:_____________________________________
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Or stop by our offi ce at 148 Maple St.
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the rug. Period,” Wyden said.
A question was asked about
the administration’s proposal to
sell off the Bonneville Power
Authority’s (BPA) infrastruc-
ture.
Wyden said a former
Republican president had also
proposed to privatize the BPA.
“I said it then and I will say
it now — on my watch that will
not happen. I will shut down
the Senate if that’s what it
takes,” Wyden said.
When a question was asked
about impeachment, Wyden
explained that it was the House
of Representatives, not the
Senate, that had the power to
impeach.
“I’m not in charge of
impeachment, but I will use
every ounce of my power to
stand up for your rights and to
stand up for the values and
principals that are important to
us,” Wyden said. “A free press
is more important now than
ever. Our founding fathers said
that a free press was probably
more important than the gov-
ernment. What I tell people is
to get a good cross section of
everybody’s opinions. ... We
are obligated under the law to
do vigorous oversight and to
ask questions about key
issues.”
He went on to say the
Medicare and Medicaid agency
were “in complete stonewall
mode and don’t get back to us
on anything. They are tram-
pling on the separation of pow-
ers.”
Wyden said that because of
an agreement with the chair-
man and vice chairman of the
Intelligence Committee, there
is subpoena power.
“The Finance Committee
works a little bit differently,”
Wyden said. “The Chairman
and the ranking member
(Wyden) have the authority to
have the treasury disclose the
president’s tax returns, which
could be used to what amounts
to an executive session of the
committee. Democrats and
Republicans could meet pri-
vately and then, if we voted
after the private meeting, we
could vote on whether or not to
publicly disclose them. Suffice
it to say the Republican chairs
are not really moving in that
direction.”
Wyden said he has proposed
the
Presidential
Tax
Transparency Act. It would
require a presidential candidate
to disclose three years of taxes
prior to their running, and then
the president would have to
disclose taxes annually.
Then Wyden segued from
the president’s taxes to the
administration’s proposed tax
reform proposal.
“The president has not dis-
closed his tax returns. But you
may have heard his administra-
tion has proposed a tax reform
proposal — a one-page outline
that is shorter than a Fred
Meyer receipt,” Wyden said.
“Many businesses pay their
taxes as pass-throughs,” he
explained. “What the adminis-
tration’s tax proposal has done
is create a gargantuan loophole
in the pass-through law that
people who make lots of
money can convert ordinary
income into these pass-
throughs and be eligible for the
15 percent low rate and get out
of paying Social Security and
MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
payroll taxes.
“Based on press reports,
President Trump seems to have
a lot of his business activities
structured as just this kind of
pass-through. A number of
Republicans have said recently
that they think the president
should release his returns for
his next campaign in 2020. The
point is, we need that account-
ability now,” Wyden said.
The
most
contentious
moment of the meeting was
when Wyden said he had decid-
ed to support the elimination of
the Electoral College. Some in
the audience did not agree with
this position, claiming it was a
violation of the Constitution.
Wyden said, “If the votes of
Oregonians were going to
count to the maximum degree
in this very different political
climate, I felt it is time to go to
the popular vote.”
Wyden took a question con-
cerning consumer protection
rights and pointed it back to
healthcare.
“To me, consumer protection
right now starts with holding
down the cost of prescription
medicine,” he said. “I’m lead-
ing the fight to lift the restric-
tion on Medicare so that
Medicare can bargain to hold
down the cost of medicine. I
don’t know anybody that goes
to Costco and buys toilet paper
one roll at a time. Everybody
uses his or her bargaining
power.”
He also talked about elimi-
nating pharmaceutical benefit
managers.
“They are the middlemen.
The people in the healthcare
area we should be most con-
cerned with are the middlemen.
I propose lifting the veil of
secrecy on these pharmaceuti-
cal managers,” he said.
In referring to the attack in
Portland last week, Wyden
said, “We must say as
Oregonians, whether you are a
Republican, a Democrat, a lib-
eral or a conservative, in our
great state there is zero toler-
ance for hate.”
Wyden spoke about states
rights and said he supported
Oregon’s Death With Dignity
Law when other senators want-
ed to criminalize the act.
“Some of these people, when
it comes to things like death
with dignity and the like, they
believe in state’s rights if they
think the state is right,” Wyden
said. “Some of these issues that
have generated so much pas-
sion and anger over the years
are really matters of individual
privacy.”
When the issue of climate
change was brought up, Wyden
said, “I think the problem is
very real and what I base this
on is the data from National
Oceanic and Atmospheric
Agency. These are scientists,
not politicians.”
Wyden gave the audience his
sobering views on the current
healthcare situation.
He said, “The next week to
10 days are going to be really
crucial to the future of
American healthcare, because
Mitch
McConnell,
the
Republican senate leader, is
trying to figure out a response
to the house bill. It is very
unpopular and Republican sen-
ators do not want to vote for it.
They are trying to figure out a
response. They will probably
try to come up with some cos-
metic changes, but the basic
frame is going to stay the same.
That is $800 billion cuts in
Medicaid. Then hundreds of
billions of dollars in tax breaks
for those at the top.
“I’m doing everything I can
to derail this. The Affordable
Care Act is far from perfect,
but I do not want to turn back
the clock to the days when the
insurance companies could dis-
criminate against people with
pre-existing conditions.”
The final major topic Wyden
talked about was illegal immi-
gration.
“The first thing we need to
do is tighten up the visa waver
program. I am supportive of the
proposition that George W.
Bush and the late Ted Kennedy
came up with,” Wyden said.
He listed:
1. Toughen up what you do
on the boarder.
2. Enforce the laws on the
books.
“We believe in the rule of
law,” he said.
3. “If illegal immigrants
come forward voluntarily, pay
a fine because the law has been
broken, demonstrate that they
have not broken any other laws
and demonstrate that they have
mastered English, they should
be able to go to the end of the
citizenship line,” he said.
Wyden said it was not practi-
cal to administer the deporta-
tion of 11 million undocument-
ed individuals.
Wyden also talked about
doing things “the Oregon way.”
He said, “When the Trump
administration says that it is for
cutting Medicaid $800 billion
and have all these tax breaks
for the wealthy too, I look back
at Republicans (Oregon Sen.)
Mark Hatfield and (Oregon
Gov.) Tom McCall and others
who had a great sense of fair-
ness. They would not have
been for this, nor am I.”
Wyden then said he support-
ed the president’s response to
the Assad attack.
“The president decided it
was important to have a mili-
tary strike to send a strong mes-
sage,” he said.
Wyden ended the town hall
with an explanation of how
bipartisanship works.
“My first choice is to try to
find common ground. My view
of bipartisanship is not about
taking each other’s crummy
ideas. It’s about taking good
ideas. That’s what I have tried
to talk about today with immi-
gration and healthcare,” he
said.
After the town hall, Wyden
said, “This is vintage Oregon.
These are people who feel
strongly
about
issues.
Obviously there was concern
about a number of the policies
of the Trump administration,
like the failure to disclose tax
returns. People saw that I call
them as I see them. I agree with
the president on his (military)
response to Assad. This is the
Oregon way.”
Wyden said he was surprised
to see so many people at a
Sunday morning town hall
meeting, his second in Florence
in 17 months.
Over his 20 years as a sena-
tor, Wyden has conducted 822
town hall meetings.