Walden discusses Iraq war
By Larry Meyer - Argus Observer
Sunday, April 15, 2007 1:08 AM PDT
ONTARIO - U.S. Congressman Greg Walden, R-Oregon, touched on the war in Iraq, the Secure Rural Schools Act and energy during his visit to Malheur County Thursday.
Walden was in the middle of a nine-county trip through Eastern and central Oregon, mainly to discuss renewable energy projects.
While in Ontario, he made a stop at the Argus Observer and a luncheon at the Twilight Cafe in Nyssa, sponsored by the Malheur County Farm Bureau.
Funding to support the troops fighting in Iraq and the reauthorization of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act are both tied up in appropriations legislation locked in a holding pattern in Congress.
Lawmakers are waiting on a United States House of Representatives and U.S. Senate conference committee to work out the differences in separate versions of the legislation from each body.
Both versions contain a deadline to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq and reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools Act — also known as county payments.
Those payments provide funding to counties and schools that had in the past shared in proceeds from federal timber sales.
The legislation is under a veto threat because of the deadline to pull troops out of Iraq.
“He (President George W. Bush) made it very clear he plans to veto (any bill that includes a deadline),” Walden said.
Walden said the Democratic majority pushing for the troop withdrawal deadline has reached a political crossroads.
“They have a choice,” he said. Democratic lawmakers could decide to simply cut off the funds for the Iraq war, Walden said, but even that would fall short.
“They don’t have the votes,” he said.
The push for the troop withdrawal deadline is not good policy, Walden said.
Walden was the only member of the Oregon congressional delegation to vote against the troop withdrawal deadline.
He said he has faced anti-war protesters for his stand on the issue.
He has not received any criticism from any county official, he said, even though his “no” vote on Iraq was also on the county payments.
Most understood why he voted they way he did, he said.
“(People) want us out (of Iraq), but on the right terms,” he said.
Despite the veto issue, the Second Congressional District representative said he is confident the county payments will be reauthorized. Walden told his Nyssa audience that Malheur County faces more competition for Payments in Lieu of Taxes funding, which are related to the amount of federal land within a county’s border, but are affected by the amount of other federal payments a county receives.
If the county payments are not reauthorized, he estimated Malheur County could lose about 20 percent of its PILT payments.
Walden said he is not happy with the way the Army National Guard is being utilized.
“The Guard is overused and underfunded,” he said. “The Guard has not been treated as a full partner. There has been a certain bias against the Guard in parts of the Pentagon.”
Lawmakers need to boost the total troop strength of the military, he said.
“They miscalculated how many troops we needed in Iraq,” Walden said about the Bush administration.
He said he is still not sure if the current troop surge is working, but he said there appears to be some positive signs.
“The Iraqis are stepping up,” he said. “They are backing up our troops.”
Walden also discussed the change in the political scene in Washington, D.C., after the midterm elections.
“It’s very different, Walden said about being in the minority party in Congress. “Where it really hurts us is in the rural issues.”
One of those issues is the Endangered Species Act.
Instead of getting less restrictive rules, he said, “look for tighter restrictions — tougher regulations on what we do in the forests.”
Where before he could stop legislation when the Republicans were in the majority, Walden said he cannot do that now.
He said the Democrats have been pushing their agenda through, not allowing any amendments to their bills and no open rules or debates.
Having been appointed to a special subcommittee on energy and global warming, Walden said he was using his time to look into biofuels to see what is working and what is not.
He acknowledged that ethanol is helping producers of some commodities, and hurting other sectors.
“If we can create more value for the farmer, that’s good,” he said.
But, Walden also recounted that a livestock producer told him that it was costing him $100,000 more to finish off his cattle before sending them to market because of the increase in corn prices.
