NEWS UPDATE FROM STATE REPRESENTATIVE DAVID GOMBERG: September is Proving to be Very Busy 

Having just returned from the Gaza border, I was startled by the characterization. I was in Portland on Monday. People were shopping, eating out, riding bikes, and walking their dogs in the sunshine. Portland was anything but war-ravaged…

The president’s announcement — made on social media — promised to provide “all necessary troops” and use “full force” to protect the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement base in South Portland. The declaration was made without any prior communication to local or state officials, who learned of the plan from social media.

Governor Tina Kotek and Portland Mayor Keith Wilson responded within hours, stating that Portland is “safe and calm” and that the number of necessary troops is “zero.” Kotek said she spoke directly with Trump to oppose the deployment and confirmed the state would consider legal options to challenge it.

Oregon legislators met with the Governor Sunday evening. She confirmed that she had spoken with the President on the phone to express her displeasure with the proposed troop deployment. “I conveyed that directly to him — that we got this. We are good. We are doing fine,” Kotek said. “Any federal takeover with military troops in our state is a threat to communities across Oregon. It violates our right to govern ourselves.”

The president replied, “Let’s keep talking,” according to Kotek.

The consistent response from Oregon leaders has been to stay vigilant, but don’t overreact. Don’t provoke. Don’t engage in political violence. Don’t take the bait.

Saturday, I joined statewide elected officials and legislative leaders in a Call for Unity that said in part, “we firmly oppose any deployment of federal troops to our city and reject the negative characterization of our citizens. Recent statements by the president suggesting Portland needs federal military intervention are inaccurate and counterproductive to Portland’s recovery and success in improving public safety.”

Sunday morning we learned that the President has used his authority to activate 200 members of the Oregon National Guard to be deployed in Portland “immediately” where protests are occurring or likely to occur.

I continue to see peaceful protests at every community in our district – both opposed to and in support of the president. As always, I implore people to be peaceful, lawful, and respectful of private property.

It is also important to remember who the Oregon National Guard is. These are our neighbors and friends who signed up to support our communities, fight wildfires and floods, and defend us all. They serve under a legal obligation to obey lawful orders. Their chain of command has suddenly shifted from the state and the Governor to the federal government and the President. But they are not the enemy.

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield has filed a preliminary injunction against the order. “In America, we don’t use our United States military on our own citizens, except in extreme circumstances,” Rayfield said. These are not extreme circumstances. Stay tuned.

Oregon considered a bill to prevent the president from deploying Oregon’s National Guard, but it failed to come up for a vote in the state Senate after passing the House. HB 3954 would have blocked the Oregon National Guard from supporting federal law or immigration enforcement except for “indirect support or surveillance duties that are part of a border security operation,” and sought to prevent the adjutant general from allowing National Guard members to be called into active service if it would leave the guard incapable of responding to statewide emergencies like wildfires.

You can view the Governor and Mayor’s press conference here. You can read the response of the Oregonian here. You can read the “Call for Unity” I signed here.

I have written at length about the Transportation Package, which is actually less than one-third of the new taxes originally proposed earlier this year. The proposal follows about $50 million in budget reductions and 100 positions cut.

The House voted on the measure to maintain our state and local roadways several weeks ago. As I have reported, two coastal legislators voted in favor – one a Democrat and one a Republican. One Republican voted against, and one Republican chose not to attend. A Senate vote had been delayed because one member has been hospitalized. That vote is now scheduled for later today.

The Bend Bulletin opined last week.

If we can say two good things about Oregon’s special session on transportation that seems to never end, they are: We do expect it to end. We do expect the Legislature to pass a bill.

What’s in the bill is maintaining operations and maintenance work by the Oregon Department of Transportation and keeping people who do that work employed. There are new accountability measures to monitor how ODOT spends its money. There is the beginning of a road user charge for people who drive electric vehicles and hybrids. And there is more.

What’s not in the bill is also important. What is not in the bill is how Oregon will pay for projects that are above and beyond basic maintenance. There is nothing in the bill to do those sorts of things. It will be a subject for the 2026 Legislature.

In addition to the conclusion of the Special Session, this week is also the regularly scheduled “Legislative Days” when committees meet to receive updates on ongoing issues and information about concerns looming for the new regular session in January.

• You can see the schedule for Monday meetings here.
• You can see the schedule for Tuesday meetings here.
• You can see the schedule for Wednesday meetings here.

To learn more, click on the link for a particular committee. Then click on the date under “Meetings” on the right of the screen. You will then see the meeting agenda. You can also access “Meeting Materials” that provide any documents that have been submitted to the committee.

In Oregon, that means about a third of the federal workforce could stop working.

To avoid a shutdown, Congress must either pass a short-term funding resolution or approve 12 separate full-year funding bills. It’s widely acknowledged that there isn’t time to deal with full-year funding bills, so politicians will need to agree on a stopgap measure.

Anyone who is not a federal employee — or the family member of a federal employee — may not see a significant impact on daily life. Those who get Social Security, for example, should continue to receive those funds.

Many federal employees are likely to be told to report for work after a shutdown for safety and security reasons. So, airports and military installations are expected to remain open.

In the 2013 shutdown, national parks and monuments were completely locked down, resulting in many visitors being turned away. But during a shutdown in 2018, many parks remained open, although services such as trash removal were stopped temporarily.

But people could run into trouble if they’re applying for a passport and need it quickly, or if they’re trying to work out a problem with the Social Security Administration, the Veterans Administration or the IRS. Other programs could also face problems. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits are likely to continue for a limited period, but a prolonged shutdown could cause interruptions.

• About a third are not affected because they work for the U. S. Postal Service, the Bonneville Power Administration or other agencies with their own funding mechanisms.
• Another third will be told to stay on the job because they are essential for public safety. That list includes airport screeners, air traffic controllers, border protection workers, federal law enforcement, in-hospital medical care, the military, power grid maintenance staff and Veterans Administration caregivers. They’ll be expected to keep working, but won’t get paid until after funding starts flowing again.
• The last group — also about a third of the local federal workforce — won’t work during a shutdown. They include part-time workers for agencies such as the Forest Service. In previous shutdowns, Congress has paid furloughed workers afterward, but there is no guarantee.

The last shutdown, from December 2018 to January 2019, was a partial closure as Congress had already enacted five of 12 appropriations bills. That shutdown lasted 35 days and reduced U.S. economic growth by an estimated $3 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Read more here.

phone: 503-986-1410

address: 900 Court St NE, H-480, Salem, OR, 97301

website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/gomberg