6A • COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL • MARCH 1, 2019
Wyden
from A1
YAC: National Legislation
YAC co-Chair MJ Raade and
Vice Chair Courtney Owens,
referring to recent passage of
a YAC-sponsored state bill
restricting the sale of nitrous
oxide to individuals under 18,
asked what steps they could
take if they wanted to make the
law national.
Wyden recommended re-
searching how nitrous oxide
moves throughout the states
and how that might apply to
the nation’s Commerce Clause,
applauding their effort to ex-
pand their project.
after the Republican-con-
trolled House passed a bill Nov.
16 to drop legal protections for
Gray Wolves across the contig-
uous United States, reopening
a lengthy battle over the spe-
cies’ status.
The senator likened the sit-
uation to enforcing traffic law
and supported the enforcement
of local laws against those who
violate it.
Foreclosure Fraud
A community member num-
ber was called next, eliciting a
question from a Eugene resi-
dent who asked what has hap-
pened to money which came in
to the state years ago to address
foreclosure fraud, adding that
he was forced to sell a property
that morning “because of the
mess.”
Wyden replied that this
was the reason he was one of
the few who voted against the
“bank bailout bill,” referring to
the Emergency Economic Sta-
bilization Act of 2008, so as to
deny bonuses to executives and
instead direct funds to home-
owners who were taken ad-
vantage of. Wyden sent one of
his staffers to the questioner to
walk through his situation and
find a solution.
Depression
Next a student asked about
psychological depression rates
in Oregon and how the prob-
lem could be addressed.
Wyden acknowledged that
the state has serious problems
in rural areas, particularly with
veterans and those with opioid
addictions. His own brother
was a schizophrenic, he said,
who died too young.
The senator bemoaned an
effort in Washington D.C. to
cut Medicaid, which would de-
crease funding for people with
mental health problems.
He also criticized insurance
companies for not treating
mental health as seriously as
they treat physical health. “So
I’m going after them as well,”
he said.
Giving mental health sup-
port to people experiencing
homelessness, he said, was
another issue needing more at-
tention.
Climate Change
A community member
thanked Wyden for voting for
the Green New Deal and raised
concerns about climate change
as related to the Department of
Defense.
“Our U.S. military is the
largest in the whole world in
the use of fossil fuels,” she said,
adding that the military was
exempted from greenhouse gas
emission limitations as part of
the Kyoto Protocol and Paris
Agreement.
“The first thing we ought to
do in January of 2021 is rejoin
the international climate ef-
fort to deal with this problem,”
the senator said to applause.
“I think we have to kick the
carbon habit in America, and
it actually ought to start with
people in the Department of
Defense.”
Wyden also brought up the
Green New Deal, calling it as-
pirational rather than a piece of
legislation.
“There are 40 separate tax
DAMIEN SHERWOOD/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL
A Cottage Grove High School student asks Sen. Wyden
about gun control during the Feb. 19 town hall meeting.
breaks for energy and most
of those tax breaks for ener-
gy in effect support the ener-
gy tax relics of yesteryear,” he
said, adding that he wanted to
“throw them all in the garbage
can” and replace them with
only three tax breaks for clean-
er and more efficient energy.
Gun Control
A student next asked if the
senator supported more gun
restrictions in light of a seem-
ing “epidemic” of mass shoot-
ings.
Wyden responded that there
appear to be bi-partisan, “prac-
tical, common-sense steps”
to deal with gun violence that
don’t involve violating the Sec-
ond Amendment.
He supported putting up
roadblocks to gun ownership
for people with mental health
challenges, are on the terror-
ist watchlist and who have
been convicted of domestic
violence, promising to work on
legislation that creates a safer
environment for students as
well.
Marijuana Law
A community member com-
mented that banks will not
award home loans “to anyone
even tangentially related to the
marijuana industry.” She said
veterans who come out of the
military and look for security
work have run into obstacles
when those security compa-
nies are in some way related
to the marijuana industry and
veterans are thus denied their
entitlement to VA home loans.
“These are ridiculous re-
strictions,” said Wyden. “I am
a sponsor of legislation that
would allow folks in those
businesses to use the banking
system, which they’re prohib-
ited from doing.”
The senator criticized a
“patchwork” set of rules re-
garding marijuana through-
out the country and said he in-
troduced legislation the week
before which would make one
uniform set of rules.
Electoral College
Next, a student asked the
senator if he thought the Unit-
ed States Electoral College was
TURNING 65 AND NEED HELP WITH
YOUR MEDICARE CHOICES?
Call Paul to
help simplify
the complicated.
a help or a hinderance to the
democratic process.
Wyden said his view has
changed on this over the years,
commenting that the system’s
original aim was to give more
voting weight to states with
smaller populations and “that
probably made sense for many
decades.”
Today, however, because
our information, travel and
communication systems have
spread to a national level, “I
think it’s time, and it ought to
start for the 2020 Election, to
have our president decided by
popular vote,” he said.
Homelessness
A Creswell resident asked
about homelessness, wonder-
ing if the idea of using bank-
owned homes as homeless
housing before auctioning
them off could be introduced
as national legislation.
Wyden said the first step
would be to see if banks could
be incentivized to come for-
ward. On other fronts, the
senator said he wanted to see
money being used more ef-
fectively by using the nation-
al Low-Income Housing Tax
Credit scheme to make better
facilities.
The senator sent staff to
speak with the resident about
his plan.
Universal Health Care
A community member asked
what the senator’s thoughts
were on universal health care
in the United States.
“First of all, I think health
care is a basic human right,”
Wyden said to applause, “and
it ought to be secure for all
Americans. Second, we are
spending enough money today
for good, universal coverage.”
Wyden said the country is
expected to spend $3.5 trillion
on health care this year, which
is enough to send every fami-
ly of four a check for $40,000.
“We’re spending enough,” he
said. “I think we’re in agree-
ment there.”
He characterized his role in
Congress as a bulwark against
Republican efforts to “repeal
and replace” the Affordable
Care Act, citing the unad-
dressed problem of about 165
million people as receiving
health care through their pri-
vate employers.
He also castigated an over-
ly bureaucratic billing system
bloated with administration
costs, which said should be
streamlined by centralizing the
process.
Border Security
A student then asked what
the senator’s views were on
immigration and the proposed
border wall between the Unit-
ed States and Mexico.
“First of all, so that nobody
is confused, I think this idea of
declaring a national emergency
to build the wall is one of the
most horrible precedents I’ve
heard about ,” Wyden stated, to
which the audience resound-
ingly cheered.
He said the idea of building a
wall “is based on a fable,” refer-
ring to the promise that Mexi-
co would pay for the wall.
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