WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Congressman Greg Walden (R-OR) will visit Klamath Falls on Tuesday, August 17. This will be Walden’s 34^th trip to the Klamath Basin and 213^th roundtrip between the Second Congressional District and Washington, D.C. since taking office. Walden’s schedule for the day is as follows.

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM: Walden will speak at the Klamath Kiwanis Club’s weekly membership meeting. At the luncheon, Walden will speak to members and leaders about important issues in Congress affecting the local area, including updates on local water issues with the Klamath Reclamation Project and H.R. 1662, legislation he has sponsored to modernize the 30-year-old Endangered Species Act (ESA). Walden remains an outspoken advocate for the farmers and ranchers of the Klamath Basin, and is working in Congress on projects to help the Klamath Project and update the ESA to include peer review of science used in major policy decisions like the shut-off of 2001.

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM: Walden, co-chairman of the House Rural Health Care Coalition, will tour the Cascades East Residency Program, a joint project between Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) and Merle West Medical Center to train medical students interested in serving Eastern Oregon in the area of family practice medicine. Walden will meet with Dr. James Calvert, residency director from 1992-2001, and several residents and faculty physicians to discuss the program as well as policy issues in Congress related to health care.

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM: Walden will give the keynote address at the grand opening of the Klamath Open Door Family Practice and National Health Center Week Celebration and will tour the facility, which opened for service on June 1, 2004. In 2003, Walden wrote a letter in support of the clinic’s expansion, which provides care to Klamath County residents in need of health care, but lacking quality insurance coverage. The new facility will allow the staff of 60 to better serve the more than 6,000 patients on file. As chairman of the House Rural Health Care Coalition, Walden continues his work to advocate for stronger health care, especially in rural communities throughout Oregon and the nation.

Congressman Walden represents the Second District of Oregon, which includes 20 counties in southern, central and eastern Oregon. He is a Deputy Whip in the House leadership structure and a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce as well as the Committee on Resources.