South Eugene has questions for Jeff Merkley

Presenter: Sen. Jeff Merkley came to South Eugene Sunday to listen to the people. Here are some excerpts from speakers at the high school Feb. 2:

Speaker at Sen. Merkley event: So many students I know both on and off the robotics team wish to go to college or a trade school, but are very concerned about how much it will cost. What measures are being taken at the federal level to ensure future generations have access to higher education, regardless of income and social status, despite the attempted budget cuts to research, grant, and loan funding?

[00:00:26] Speaker at Sen. Merkley event: Bullet trains. I’m interested in bullet trains and expansion on infrastructure to catch up to our peers in East Asia and Western Europe.

[00:00:36] Speaker at Sen. Merkley event: Thank you, everybody, for coming. I’m seeing a lot of white hair today. I’m wondering, how are we going to get the younger generation involved? I’m just feeling like we’re not going to be here to protect them.

[00:00:49] Speaker at Sen. Merkley event: What is being done on a state level to protect people of color, immigrants, our trans and queer communities and all other Oregonians from federal overreach in these next four years?

[00:01:08] Speaker at Sen. Merkley event: I am very, very concerned about Elon Musk. He has now acquired the keys to the kingdom. This is the largest data breach in the history of our nation. He has access to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security. He has closed out the offices for career civil servants at the OMB. We don’t even have a director of the OMB yet, like you were saying, and yet all of the stuff is taking place. He’s an unelected official. And he is terrorizing our citizens and he’s doing everything illegally, as is the president.

[00:01:49] So I know that you can say these things are illegal and the courts take time. I want to know: Do you really believe that you have Republican colleagues that will see the danger that we’re in and stand up against Donald Trump and his autocracy?

[00:02:10] I mean, we have HHS, Robert Kennedy. This is going to create so much disease in our country. I’m a retired nurse. I promote health, not do what he’s doing. Like, do you really think you have good faith actors on the Republican side, or are they all just as corrupt and horrible as the president?

[00:02:34] Speaker at Sen. Merkley event: I’m a retired physician. I’m extremely concerned about the Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. nomination and I hear rumors that might go through. What in particular now (since this is coming up) can we do about this? I mean, can somebody send us a list of where we could, I mean, because we’d have to do our own research otherwise. Thank you.

[00:02:57] Speaker at Sen. Merkley event: I’m a mom, a person of color, obviously. And I’m an immigrant myself, and I’m worried. I’m worried for our community. And I’m worried not only for myself. I have a lot of privilege, I’m documented. But a lot of people who are not documented or who have mixed-status families, they are terrified right now. And the worst part is we have seen people who we voted for, people who were supposed to carry democratic values and then turned and are not doing that.

[00:03:25] Presenter: Two Oregon Democrats in the House, Val Hoyle and Janelle Bynum, voted to pass the Laken Riley Act.

[00:03:31] Speaker at Sen. Merkley event: …The Laken Riley Act, an anti-immigrant bill that promotes that racial profiling, that promotes lacking of due process. And we see that trend happening, and we see the baseline moving farther and farther from democratic values.

[00:03:47] So my question to you is if you can please give us your word that you will not follow this path and you instead you will commit to standing strong for immigrant rights against the extremist Republican agenda.

[00:04:02] And it’s a double question. And also: How will you ensure to remain accountable to these values to those like me who elected you, hoping that you will carry those values? And how can we keep on going? And someone asked earlier about younger people feeling a little disconnected. And I see why: Because we lose sight, we lose that sense of purpose, we lose the sense of we’re going through the right path and we vote and we get engaged and we go to all of the things and then here we go feeling like our vote and our trust went the other way.

So once again Senator, thank you for your time. How will you ensure that you will remain accountable for the values of those like me who elected you? Thank you.

[00:04:48] Speaker at Sen. Merkley event: I have been studying the 1930s and the rise of fascism for many decades. And I actually just went back to my 45th Harvard Law School reunion. My classmate, John Roberts, did not show up. And there was a lot of discussion about the end, literally the end of the rule of law. I said, Look, I’ve been studying this. We know what’s happening. He’s opening the first concentration camp in Guantanamo for 30,000 people. I don’t see any solution. I certainly can’t see even the good Republicans in the Senate, well, it doesn’t matter. To my view, it is literally over. We are leaving the country.

[00:05:44] Speaker at Sen. Merkley event: I know part of the plan of the Trump organization is to create hopelessness so that we just throw up our hands and let that happen. And I’ve been on so many marches that don’t seem to make much of a difference. I basically feel good for the time being, But what can we do to resist, like, a great question there of Musk and his cronies taking over the Treasury Department?

[00:06:09] I feel like yes, we need to be patient. I know the law takes time, but this is happening now. I mean, my mother-in-law depends on her Social Security check. Many people do. So what can we do? We’re here because we’re going to fight. But give us a plan, give us a plan. (Cheers, applause)

[00:06:25] Presenter: Sen. Jeff Merkley:

[00:06:35] Sen. Jeff Merkley: There are mass organizing opportunities. People have different tastes and different viewpoints. Whatever you do, whatever your viewpoint is, do not curl up in a fetal position on the sofa. I did it for three days after the election, and I said three days, that’s it. Okay, back to the battle.

[00:06:54] Presenter: Speakers at Sen. Jeff Merkley’s town hall Feb. 2 at South Eugene High School.