Congressman Greg Walden, R-OR the
Republican representative for Oregon’s 2nd
District, met for a roundtable at the Herald and
News Monday afternoon after touring the Barry
Point wildfire aftermath in Lake County.
Walden was faced with top concerns from a dozen Klamath County residents, including:
■ What’s likely to happen
with the Klamath Basin Restoration
Agreement?
■ What does the future hold
for Kingsley Field?
■ What’s the future for local
agriculture?
■ What’s the alternative to
the Affordable Care Act?
■ Considering present-day
politics, one constituent asked, “Is this
the best we can do?”
Klamath Basin Restoration
Agreement
Q: Toby
Freeman of Pacific Power asked about the
Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement. The
KBRA aims to remove four dams, establish
reliable water supplies and affordable power
rates for irrigators, restore fish habitat
and help the Klamath Tribes acquire a
92,000-acre parcel called the Mazama Tree
Farm. Since it appears to be stalled in
Congress, Freeman wanted to know about its
future.
A: The bills
in the House and Senate have no traction,
but perhaps there are less problematic
pieces of it. Without great public support
locally, he said, it would be difficult to
champion its passage and it’s unlikely to
succeed.
“It’s a pretty big elephant
in the Basin,” said Walden. “But you either
keep running into the same wall or you find
a way around it. When three-quarters of the
population says no to dam removal, that’s a
problem you can’t skip over.”
Q: Herald
and News forum editor Pat Bushey asked which
parts of the KBRA might be taken up
separately and moved forward.
A: Walden
said he’d posed that same question to
various governmental and citizen groups and
is waiting to hear their response.
Kingsley Field
Q: Lt. Col.
Lance McCuiston of the 173rd Fighter Wing
asked for an update on the possibility that
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta might use the
Defense Base Closure and Realignment
Commission to determine the fate of Kingsley
Field, and what Klamath Falls and Oregon
could do to prepare.
A: “Klamath
has made a strong case for itself,” Walden
said. “Kingsley is on the map in a good way
and should be the recipient for growth and
added investment.”
The representative added the
military’s presence in the Klamath Basin has
been a very good thing.
Q: Col. Jeff
Silver, also of the 173rd Fighter Wing,
asked about the national situation with
possible cuts to the Air National Guard.
A: “I’m a
big advocate for the Guard,” Walden said.
“The country has relied on the Guard and
we’ve pushed back against cuts.”
Local Agriculture
Q: Willie
Riggs, director of OSU Klamath Basin
Research and Extension Center asked about
the possibility of being defunded by as much
as $17 million.
A: Through
budget reconciliation, Walden said he hopes
to avoid this.
Q: Dan
Keppen, executive director of the Family
Farm Alliance, asked about the congressional
importance of irrigated agricultural lands
in the West, given the fact that families
now pay much less for food as a percentage
of total income than they did in World War
II — 7 percent rather than 25 percent he
cited.
A: Walden
first noted his co-sponsorship of the Reins
Act, which requires any rule that would
affect the economy by $100 million to
require a vote of Congress and approval by
the president.
He then lamented that
regulators are in charge of the Democratic
Party, and argued that regulators are a big
threat to agricultural interests he
supports.
Q: Herald
and News editor Steve Miller followed up by
asking whether Walden notices a difference
between representatives from agricultural
areas and those from urban areas.
A: Walden
again mentioned a pervasive attitude against
agriculture and related growth in regulatory
agencies, which he called a cancerous growth
on our economy.
Energy Issues
Q: Sara
Marcus, geoscientist with Oregon Institute
of Technology, asked for an update on what’s
happening in Congress regarding energy
policy.
A: Greg
Walden said we need the whole portfolio,
including what’s already happening with
research and applied research at OIT.
We need a big and broad
debate in D.C. about how tax subsidies are
used in regard to energy, Walden said. “I
want to see the U.S. become more energy
independent.”
Q: Trey Senn
of the Klamath County Economic Development
Association asked whether Walden could
streamline the process for getting the Swan
Lake North Pumped Storage Hydroelectric
Project operational, from four years to two
years, which requires working with the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
A: Walden
did not directly respond to the future of
the project, but did mention small-scale
hydroelectric projects in both Klamath Falls
and Bend which passed with less regulation.
Medicare and the Affordable
Care Act
Q: Dr. Bob
Jackman of Cascades East Family Medicine
said the United States has poor health care
statistics and in Klamath Falls the
statistics are “terrible.” Acknowledging the
country does have a variety of effective
socialized health care programs, Jackman
wanted to know what Walden sees as important
steps forward in medical care and coverage.
A: Walden
mentioned his experience as a former
employer in the radio industry and paying
his employees’ health care, and also his
expansion of medical coverage while working
in Salem as a state representative and state
senator.
Walden voted to repeal the
ACA and cited a Congressional Budget Office
report which found that 11 million employees
will not be offered insurance due to high
costs for employers, and also that many
Americans will elect not to get insurance
because the fee is small — $650.
The representative advocated
replacing the Affordable Care Act with a
competitive marketplace and tort reform. “I
wouldn’t do one giant bill again,” Walden
said.
Q: Fran
Gearhard, a retired teacher and member of
the Herald and News reader advisory board,
asked what informs Walden medically. She
also wanted to know, if the Democratic plans
are so bad, why Republicans don’t propose a
better plan.
A: He cited
his life experience and especially the
difficulties of his mother-in-law with
rheumatoid arthritis. He said he likes to
see the consumer in the driver’s seat and
never wants people making choices between
medicine and food.
Walden also said other states
are not as effective as Oregon and he is
looking for solutions which won’t bankrupt
the country in future generations, which he
argued is the current fate of Medicare.
Issues of Governance
Q: Stan
Gilbert of the Klamath Youth Development
Center and the Klamath County Chamber of
Commerce said a Gallup Poll indicated
Congress has an 11 percent approval rating,
and he wondered how Congress can work better
for its constituents.
A: The first
thing, Walden said, is passing a budget,
which the House has done but the Senate has
not. He added checks and balances are
important, though Congress has worked
together on veterans issues, avoiding
military cutbacks and extending the existing
tax code.
“After the elections we can
get serious,” Walden said.
Q: Mayor
Todd Kellstrom said the mood of Klamath
County is very sour, noted the low
congressional approval ratings, and asked
whether this is the best we can do.
A: He said
the country is divided and Congress is a
reflection of the country. Congress needs
plans to solve problems, he said, and, yes,
it can do a lot better.
Q: Charles
Massie, executive director of the Klamath
County Chamber of Commerce, asked which
areas were possible for reaching across the
aisle to seek common ground.
A: Walden
mentioned the expansion of wireless
broadband internet, which he said could
provide 300,000-700,000 jobs. He also
pointed out that congressional subcommittees
should act nonpartisan and can be very
effective.
Q: Charles
Massie followed up by asking for specific
commonalities between the parties for the
upcoming congressional session.
A: “We need
to get America’s fiscal house in order,”
Walden said, adding no one could bail out
the U.S. if we were to become financially
insolvent.
Dealing with taxes,
entitlements, reasonable budgets and energy
independence in our hemisphere, with a
regional partnership of Canada-U.S.-Mexico,
are places to start, Walden said.
Barry Point Fire
Response
Q: Herald
and News editor Steve Miller asked for
Walden’s response to his tour of the Barry
Point fire site.
A: Firstly,
Walden acknowledged there is more than one
side to every story, though he said he
wasn’t pleased with what he heard of
backfires and property damage.
He said it raises a lot of
issues of how local knowledge is ignored by
managing agencies. The next step, Walden
said, is the recovery phase, and he noted
one landowner with 25 miles of burned fence
and similar conundrums.