Can you hear us now?
Oregonians are making their voices heard. Because what we are seeing from the Trump Administration is unacceptable.
This post orginially appeared on Medium. You can read it here.
I’ve held more than 780 town halls in Oregon—at least one in every county, every single year. I have never seen anything like this.
Last weekend, more than 1,500 people packed bleachers and sat on the floor at my town hall at Linn-Benton Community College in Albany. Turnout in Newport and Tillamook was off the charts.
Over 1,500 Oregonians attended Senator Ron Wyden’s Linn County Town Hall on February 4, 2017.
From the former Marine in Albany, who questioned why Steve Bannon will sit in on National Security Council meetings, to the woman in Newport who worried about how Trump will handle climate change, and the teacher in Tillamook who asked how we can defeat Betsy DeVos’s nomination as education secretary, everyone who spoke was both passionate and eloquent.
And it’s not just showing up at town halls. Oregonians have deluged my phone lines and inbox to share their concerns about the new administration.
In just a few weeks I received more than 14,000 emails from Oregonians expressing their concerns about Betsy DeVos’s stunning lack of qualifications to be Secretary of Education. That is the quantity of mail I would normally receive over 4 months on all subjects.
In addition, thousands of other Oregonians called and emailed to share their concerns about unqualified nominees like Jeff Sessions, or Tom Price, or Steven Mnuchin, or Scott Pruitt … and the list goes on.
Oregonians are worried about losing their health care if the Affordable Care Act is repealed, without a replacement in sight. They’re worried about the privatization of Medicare that’s been an obsession of the nominee for Health and Human Services Secretary, Rep. Tom Price. They’re worried about Republican Medicaid cuts that will leave seniors unable to pay for nursing homes.
The message coming from Oregonians is clear: They are deeply worried and angry about the unqualified nominees and dangerous policies of the Trump Administration.
It’s inspiring, it’s motivating, and it gives me confidence that public engagement is the cornerstone of the resistance. That the American people will hold power and elected officials accountable. That they will not settle for cabinet nominees who put their interests above the public’s.
I appreciate the patience of all the Oregonians who have had trouble getting through on the phone lines?—?know that my staff and I are doing our level best to hear from all of you. And please keep urging your friends and family in other states to make their voices heard just as loudly and clearly as all of you in have in Oregon.
So here’s my message to you: Speaking out and pushing back works. Keep it up.
