US Senator Jeff Merkley Holds Town Hall Meeting in Astoria

An audience of over 100 people packed the Kern room at the Columbia Maritime Museum for a Town Hall meeting held by Oregon US Senator Jeff Merkley this (Monday) morning.

     The first term Senator made a short summation of current issues before the Senate, including the last minute “fiscal cliff” compromise.

     Jeff Merkley1.wav  (:23) “We had a deal that was put together basically through Mitch McConnell, Senator McConnell, Tennessee, the minority leader, and uh, Biden, the Vice President.  They came to us seconds before midnight, literally seconds before midnight we were getting briefed on.  It had a few good things, and a few big problems in it.”

     Merkley said the good things were the continuation of unemployment insurance, which he said prevented over 30 thousand Oregonians from being cut off from benefits, also the continuation of the present level of Medicare doctor re-imbursement rates.

    But he said the bill set up a series of further fiscal cliffs, without providing enough revenue to fill the gaps.

     Jeff_Merkley2.wav   (:23) “The revenue was 600 billion over ten years.  One year is 60 billion.  A one-year deficit for the US is over a trillion dollars, so we’re talking about addressing 6% - 6% of the gap.  You can see by that, there’s a long ways to go to having a path to put ourselves back into fiscal sustainability.”

     Merkley said the short term fixes and the debt ceiling will be faced once again in two months, with no agreement on a solution in sight.

     Jeff_Merkley3.wav  (:14)  “So if you think, there’s like a master plan in place and we can all breathe easy for awhile, well, no.  (audience laughs) no, so I’m going to continue to be taking all the input I can possibly get, and be engaged in this.”

     Merkley then took questions and comments from the audience, ranging from what to do about gun violence, and how to sustain healthcare funding, to praise and applause over his stance on supporting local and state input in decision making regarding of LNG terminals.

     When asked about the effectiveness of communication from constituents, Merkley explained that some messages carry more weight than others.

      Jeff_Merkley4.wav  (:67)  “If you want to make your voice heard, an email is a significant way of doing it, but there’s kind of a hierarchy, and that is – the more effort a citizen puts in the making their voice heard, kind of the more weight it carries.  I you click on a box that says ‘click here to send an email’, I get 300 of exactly the same email, OK, well that’s important, its good to know that 300 people feel that but because its so easy for a person to do, it carries a little less weight than when people write a personal email.  And when they write a personal email, it probably carries even a little more weight if they also make a phone call to the office because that gets incorporated into it, and when people show up at town halls – a lot more commitment of  personal time and energy to make your point.  And so in those issues you care about, I encourage you not just to click boxes, but also to write a personal note, it can be electronic, but write a personal note, show up at town hall, as you all have  - is a very valuable way of making sure that your thoughts get ah, they resonate.” 

     A Merkley staff member said the Senator will likely return to Clatsop County during the next congressional recess, in February.  (:64)