{"id":19645,"date":"2024-05-20T13:13:31","date_gmt":"2024-05-20T17:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?p=19645"},"modified":"2024-06-05T13:14:26","modified_gmt":"2024-06-05T17:14:26","slug":"sen-jeff-merkley-talks-health-care-housing-border-security-during-baker-city-town-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/sen-jeff-merkley-talks-health-care-housing-border-security-during-baker-city-town-hall\/","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Jeff Merkley talks health care, housing, border security during Baker City town hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

Heraldo de la ciudad de Baker<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

About 40 people turned out for Sen. Jeff Merkley\u2019s town hall Saturday, May 18, at the Senior Center, and the Democrat senator talked about topics ranging from an ethics code for Supreme Court justices to health care to home ownership to the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the event, Merkley visited the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, which reopens May 24 after being closed for more than three years due to the pandemic and, later, a major renovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Merkley opened the event by praising the Baker Relief Nursery, which opened in Baker City in the spring of 2021 and addresses challenges facing families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re tackling this by services that include classrooms, home visits, diaper bank, food pantry, amenities, and really developed this model during the challenging years of COVID,\u201d Merkley said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The senator presented Baker Relief Nursery officials with an American flag that has flown over the U.S. Capitol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Merkley also invited Rachel Fargo, a 10-year-old student at South Baker Intermediate, to talk about the noise from train whistles passing near the school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t want students to be nearly deaf before they get to middle school,\u201d Fargo said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been trying for five years to get this quiet zone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She referred to the proposal for a quiet zone in which trains would not sound their whistles unless the engineer determined it was necessary. Pendleton and La Grande both have quiet zones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Baker City group is striving to raise money for the upgrades to five railroad crossings that would be required. The city is not planning to spend money on those improvements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ve made some progress, and now we need to get the engineering done and go forward,\u201d Merkley said.\u201cRailroads don\u2019t like quiet zones. It takes a lot of community organizing and cooperation, so I\u2019ll support you all any way I can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Merkley then fielded questions from the audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supreme Court ethics code<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been very concerned, when I hear about Supreme Court justices getting $30,000 to $40,000 vacations from people who have issues before the court, are you kidding me?\u201d Merkley said. \u201cThe Supreme Court should be the most sensitive to conflict of interest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broadband internet access<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In response to a question about the expiration of a federal program helping expand high-speed internet to rural areas, Merkley said he would look into the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the infrastructure bill we have a massive amount of resources to expand broadband,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cuidado de la salud<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Audience members asked about this issue, including federal support since Saint Alphonsus Medical Center-Baker City closed its intensive care unit and birthing center in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSenator Wyden and I both were working with community leaders to try to keep the delivery unit that St. Alphonsus was dismantling,\u201d Merkley said. \u201cIt\u2019s really unacceptable that if the hospital had said a year earlier \u2018we\u2019re wrestling with this, help this community work with us to find a solution,\u2019 we\u2019d still have delivery here in Baker.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Merkley said he supported a bill that requires the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to create an office of rural health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was a small victory to try to strengthen rural health care,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he\u2019a also promoting efforts to expend telehealth, with doctors seeing patients remotely, and boosting the payments to doctors from Medicaid, which he hopes will allow rural medical clinics to expand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Border security<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Merkley said proposed immigration bills have not gained bipartisan support. He hopes that after the presidential election this November, the government will focus on hiring more border agents and improving detection technology to reduce illegal entries, including by people trafficking drugs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Economy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Merkley said he\u2019s optimistic about the prospects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had so many predictions about recession, but so far we\u2019ve been adding about 200,000 jobs a month for the last three and a half years, which is an extraordinarily unusual record of expansion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the things that would be helpful would be doing a better job of helping families with day care, the biggest reservoir of individuals who would like to work but who are not working are folks who can\u2019t afford day care,\u201d Merkley said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He says there\u2019s a bill in the works to support day care expansion, noting that 35 of Oregon\u2019s 36 counties count as day care \u201cdeserts,\u201d with more demand than supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forest Plan revision<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Merkley responded to questions regarding the U.S. Forest Service\u2019s ongoing work to adopt new long-term management plans for the three national forests in the Blue Mountains \u2014 Wallowa-Whitman, Umatilla and Malheur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the concerns some residents have expressed is a preliminary document that shows areas that could potentially be candidates for wilderness designation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Merkley noted that only Congress can declare wilderness areas \u2014 the Forest Service can\u2019t do so through the forest plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know it\u2019s going to be a long dialogue,\u201d Merkley said. \u201cI\u2019ve discovered that any plan related to our national forest is a lightning rod, but there are seven different steps in the process that the public can weigh in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alojamiento<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Merkley discussed a variety of issues related to the housing crisis, including ideas such as a universal basic income, as well as legislation to curb predatory home loans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Housing was discussed at some length, broaching new strategies like universal income as well as legislation to curb an increasingly predatory home market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHome ownership has been the biggest wealth builder for middle class America, and what\u2019s going on right now is that the hedge funds, where millionaires and billionaires put their money and they exercise massive influence in our economy, they discovered that buying up single family housing was a hugely profitable investment,\u201d Merkley said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a problem here too, turning them into AirBnB investments, it\u2019s a real issue. I\u2019m proposing that hedge funds have to get out of the housing business. Owning single family homes should be homes for families, not a profit center for wall street hedge funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m hoping we get a grassroots momentum to help build the education and the momentum, because right now I\u2019m a voice in the wilderness,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

War in Gaza<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In response to a question about the conflict, and the potential for the military draft to return, Merkley said that is highly unlikely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the war in the Middle East, Merkley said \u201cthere\u2019s deep, passionate attitudes about the Middle East that can result in antisemitism, that can result in Islamophobia, and we can at least all agree here in Oregon there\u2019s no space for bigoted attacks on other members of our community. If our community members are attacked we should stand with them, arm in arm, and defend them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI do disagree strongly profoundly with Netanyahu\u2019s campaign on Gaza, it\u2019s American bombs, 500-pound and 2,000-pound bombs being dropped on highly dense civilian areas, producing now 34,000 or so dead, a third of which are women and children,\u201d Merkley said.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Baker City Herald About 40 people turned out for Sen. Jeff Merkley\u2019s town hall Saturday, May 18, at the Senior Center, and the Democrat senator talked about topics ranging from an ethics code for Supreme Court justices to health care to home ownership to the war in Gaza. After the event, Merkley visited the National […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSen. Jeff Merkley talks health care, housing, border security during Baker City town hall - Merkley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/sen-jeff-merkley-talks-health-care-housing-border-security-during-baker-city-town-hall\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_MX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sen. Jeff Merkley talks health care, housing, border security during Baker City town hall - Merkley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Baker City Herald About 40 people turned out for Sen. Jeff Merkley\u2019s town hall Saturday, May 18, at the Senior Center, and the Democrat senator talked about topics ranging from an ethics code for Supreme Court justices to health care to home ownership to the war in Gaza. After the event, Merkley visited the National […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/sen-jeff-merkley-talks-health-care-housing-border-security-during-baker-city-town-hall\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Merkley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-05-20T17:13:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-06-05T17:14:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lauren Denham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lauren Denham\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/sen-jeff-merkley-talks-health-care-housing-border-security-during-baker-city-town-hall\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/sen-jeff-merkley-talks-health-care-housing-border-security-during-baker-city-town-hall\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lauren Denham\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/de92de2a17fa790d379e7caad8e6ae01\"},\"headline\":\"Sen. Jeff Merkley talks health care, housing, border security during Baker City town hall\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-20T17:13:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-06-05T17:14:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/sen-jeff-merkley-talks-health-care-housing-border-security-during-baker-city-town-hall\/\"},\"wordCount\":1181,\"articleSection\":[\"In the News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"es-MX\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/sen-jeff-merkley-talks-health-care-housing-border-security-during-baker-city-town-hall\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/sen-jeff-merkley-talks-health-care-housing-border-security-during-baker-city-town-hall\/\",\"name\":\"Sen. Jeff Merkley talks health care, housing, border security during Baker City town hall - Merkley\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-20T17:13:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-06-05T17:14:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/de92de2a17fa790d379e7caad8e6ae01\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/sen-jeff-merkley-talks-health-care-housing-border-security-during-baker-city-town-hall\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"es-MX\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/sen-jeff-merkley-talks-health-care-housing-border-security-during-baker-city-town-hall\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/sen-jeff-merkley-talks-health-care-housing-border-security-during-baker-city-town-hall\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sen. Jeff Merkley talks health care, housing, border security during Baker City town hall\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/\",\"name\":\"Merkley\",\"description\":\"Merkley\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"es-MX\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/de92de2a17fa790d379e7caad8e6ae01\",\"name\":\"Lauren Denham\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"es-MX\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/25a4ee8e86f2359e4cde5aff12e7978900940e3e153b479f354e5fb6cb5c8013?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/25a4ee8e86f2359e4cde5aff12e7978900940e3e153b479f354e5fb6cb5c8013?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/25a4ee8e86f2359e4cde5aff12e7978900940e3e153b479f354e5fb6cb5c8013?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lauren Denham\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/author\/lauren-denham\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sen. Jeff Merkley talks health care, housing, border security during Baker City town hall - Merkley","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/sen-jeff-merkley-talks-health-care-housing-border-security-during-baker-city-town-hall\/","og_locale":"es_MX","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sen. Jeff Merkley talks health care, housing, border security during Baker City town hall - Merkley","og_description":"Baker City Herald About 40 people turned out for Sen. Jeff Merkley\u2019s town hall Saturday, May 18, at the Senior Center, and the Democrat senator talked about topics ranging from an ethics code for Supreme Court justices to health care to home ownership to the war in Gaza. After the event, Merkley visited the National […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/sen-jeff-merkley-talks-health-care-housing-border-security-during-baker-city-town-hall\/","og_site_name":"Merkley","article_published_time":"2024-05-20T17:13:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-06-05T17:14:26+00:00","author":"Lauren Denham","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lauren Denham","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/sen-jeff-merkley-talks-health-care-housing-border-security-during-baker-city-town-hall\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/sen-jeff-merkley-talks-health-care-housing-border-security-during-baker-city-town-hall\/"},"author":{"name":"Lauren Denham","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/de92de2a17fa790d379e7caad8e6ae01"},"headline":"Sen. Jeff Merkley talks health care, housing, border security during Baker City town hall","datePublished":"2024-05-20T17:13:31+00:00","dateModified":"2024-06-05T17:14:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/sen-jeff-merkley-talks-health-care-housing-border-security-during-baker-city-town-hall\/"},"wordCount":1181,"articleSection":["In the News"],"inLanguage":"es-MX"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/sen-jeff-merkley-talks-health-care-housing-border-security-during-baker-city-town-hall\/","url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/sen-jeff-merkley-talks-health-care-housing-border-security-during-baker-city-town-hall\/","name":"Sen. Jeff Merkley talks health care, housing, border security during Baker City town hall - Merkley","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-05-20T17:13:31+00:00","dateModified":"2024-06-05T17:14:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/de92de2a17fa790d379e7caad8e6ae01"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/sen-jeff-merkley-talks-health-care-housing-border-security-during-baker-city-town-hall\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"es-MX","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/sen-jeff-merkley-talks-health-care-housing-border-security-during-baker-city-town-hall\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/sen-jeff-merkley-talks-health-care-housing-border-security-during-baker-city-town-hall\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sen. Jeff Merkley talks health care, housing, border security during Baker City town hall"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/","name":"merkley","description":"merkley","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"es-MX"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/#\/schema\/person\/de92de2a17fa790d379e7caad8e6ae01","name":"Lauren Denham","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"es-MX","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/25a4ee8e86f2359e4cde5aff12e7978900940e3e153b479f354e5fb6cb5c8013?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/25a4ee8e86f2359e4cde5aff12e7978900940e3e153b479f354e5fb6cb5c8013?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/25a4ee8e86f2359e4cde5aff12e7978900940e3e153b479f354e5fb6cb5c8013?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lauren Denham"},"url":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/author\/lauren-denham\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19645"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19646,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19645\/revisions\/19646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}