Interview with Sen Merkley: Taxes, Iraq & more

T.A. Barnhart

I interviewed Oregon's new junior Senator, Jeff Merkley, by phone from his new office in Washington, DC. I had 15 minutes, not nearly enough for all the questions I wanted to ask, but we covered some good ground. I've chatted with Jeff a couple of times in the past, and, like most of the best politicians, these informal talks are the most satisfying. I got the same feeling from this interview: that he was frank, open and as forth-coming as can be expected from a person who had been a U.S. Senator for about 72 hours.

Of all the things he said to me, the most heartening — and the sincerety and dedication to stick to his word were crystal clear — was regarding the deployment of Oregon's National Guard to Iraq later this year: "We have got to end this debacle." Unequivocal words. I encourage all Oregonians who oppose the deployment to contact Sen Merkley's office and offer their support over the coming months.

(Note: The transcript is 99% verbatim; I edited out both of our "ums" and run-on sentences, etc. And I figured no one was really interested in whether or not we should be using speaker phone.)

Swearing-in & Cheney

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Congratulations. I watched the feed [of his swearing-in on Monday] off KGW [raw video feed]; your impressions about taking the oath in that historic chamber, including the fact that the oath was administered by a man many of us feel has violated his own oath of office.
 
Sen Merkley

You know, Todd, when Wyden filled ... me in on how the swearing-in went, I tell you that was a very difficult pill to swallow. And so after a couple of weeks I decided I just had to, on that day, see that there was a presiding President of the Senate and not think too far beyond that, block out the rest. ... For all the reasons you're alluding to.

I tell you, being there in the chamber, I had a chance, just after I was sworn in to talk with Sen Kennedy about the work he's going to be doing on the Health Committee, and that seemed to make it real for me. In addition to walking down the aisle, taking the oath, signing my name, writing my name in the book; but then to be able to converse with a Senate Chair, a person who was here when I was an intern here 33 years ago and who I greatly admired then. There were two folks that summer who gave exceptional speeches to the interns. One was Hubert Humphrey; the second was Sen Kennedy. I am still crossing my fingers that I will be able to serve on the Health Committee. We'll have to keep an eye on that and hopefully within a week, we'll know.

Taxation

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My first question is: This is an issue few Oregonians are aware of, but to me I think it's key to part of why we do so badly for such a long time economically, and that's that in Oregon, we pay out hundreds of millions more in federal taxes than we receive back in services. Every year we have all of this money leave the state. Is there a way for this imbalance can be redressed?

Sen Merkley

I tell you that's something I'm going to monitor very closely because I'm very concerned about Oregon not getting its fair share. The stimulus package that is coming up: I was trying to get details yesterday on, for example, investment road infrastructure, how that would be distributed among the states. So we're working on that. My hope is that we can make sure each each state gets fair treatment under that. Of course I'm advocating for a good amount of stimulus to go to green energy and hoping that Oregon can do very well under that given all the work we're doing currently for green energy. I'm including in that the range of non-carbon renewable energy as well as the possibility of celluosic ethanol. And then hopefully there'll be a fair amount of money for rebuilding ... making more energy-efficient both residential buildings and commercial buildings as part of that package. I think it's so important that we both create jobs and strengthen our economy in the future and reducing, and in my mind, hopefully over a decade, eliminating our dependence on foreign oil is certainly is critical to having a strong economic foundation in the future.

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It is going to be a bit of a battle because there are 49 other states that are going to be doing the same. And a few of them with just a bit more power than Oregon.

Sen Merkley

That's right, and that's why hopefully the formula will be driven by parameters that fairly treat the smaller states.

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Good luck on that.

Sen Merkley

(laughs)

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We know how that can go.

Similiar question. Ron Wyden has had his Fair Flat Tax out there for some time; it's received a lot of ... basically everyone who has paid any attention to it has given it thumbs-up. Do you think that in this coming year, you and he will be able to work together to push that further down the road?

Sen Merkley

Yes, I've been aware of his plan for a long time. Because he serves on Finance, he's really in a good position to advocate for it. It does a couple of things. It greatly simplifies for most Americans their taxes. It also proceeds to pull together and balance out capital gains and earned income, and therefore treat working Americans in a much fairer way. So it's a strong provision.

Ken Salazar & Environmental Issues

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Different subject. For me, of all the appointments that President-elect Obama has made — and I'm not one of those people sitting there going "Oh my god, oh my god, what's he doing?" — I actually happen to trust him a lot to be smarter than most people are giving him credit for — but I'm really troubled by the appointment of Ken Salazar as Interior Secretary. But you now are on the Environmental & Public Works Committee, so my hope this will allow you to serve as a balance to what appears to be that he's somewhat extraction-friendly. What are your thoughts along those lines?

Sen Merkley

First, I should mention I'm not formally appointed to that committee yet. Sen Boxer said publically twice now that she intends to, and fully expects, Tom Udall of New Mexico and myself to be the two folks appointed to her committee. So it's a pretty good bet, but it's not 100% . We're still waiting for the official action.

Just a little bit behind the scenes: What's going on there is that the Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is negotiating with Majority Leader Reid over the number of seats on each committee, and McConnell is trying to keep just a one-seat Democratic majority, while on most committees should be two-seat Democratic majority. They haven't worked that out yet. So we're not sure of the exact number of slots, and apparently there is not a mathematical-formula process that nails this down. There are differing precedents for different committees, etc. And also the Republicans are not yet acknowledging in any form that the Minnesota seat is coming to the Democrats. So that's also complicating the discussions as well.

But it was very exciting to go and, I've sat in on two hearings now ... I've been to two hearings now for Environmental & Public Works Committee. The first was Thomas Friedman speaking about.... His previous book was "The World is Flat" and his most recent book is "Hot, Flat and Crowded," which is much more of an environmental book and the need to address global warming. That was a very engaging first hearing. That was on Wednesday. Yesterday the hearing was on the residue from the burning of coal — I think it's called fly ash — anyway the ash from the residue. It's full of toxic metals. There was this terrible disaster in Tennesee where a dike burst and 300 acres were covered with this toxic sludge. It's almost an unregulated area. Diving into both the global warming side and the environmental side, I really wanted to be on that committee, and I'm really pleased to be on it.

I'm prepared to advocate with Sen Salazar, soon to be Interior Scty Salazar, on conservation of Western forests and endangered species and habitats, and the need to protect them for future generations. I think he's going to be hearing a lot from those of us who are going to expect the ability to protect our natural heritage for future generations. I'm looking forward to sitting down with him and finding out where he really stands and help influence where he stands.

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Well, good luck on that. After eight years of Mark Rey, our forests need something.

Oregon National Guard

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The #1 issue for me is the Oregon National Guard. As you know, in a few months, 3,500 Oregonians are going to begin preparations for a 10-month deployment to Iraq, and that includes my older son, Alex. I just began ... working with the Campaign to Keep Oregon's Guard in Oregon. Through Chip Shields, it looks like we're going to have a memorial coming to the Legislature requesting our Congressional delegation and the President to keep the Guard home with the idea that the 2002 Authorization has been fulfilled and the grounds for federalizing the National Guard no longer exist. I'm not overly hopeful myself about it. What do you see the possibility of speeding up the return of our troops and, even perhaps more importantly, not getting bogged down in Afghanistan, which is probably unwinnable through military force?

Sen Merkley

First of all, please give my greetings to Alex. My nephew just came back from his second tour. Is this Alex's first time going over?

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He's not been over before, no, so this will be his first.

Sen Merkley

I'm hoping I can go over and visit the Oregon delegation. They're being called to some of the hardest duty they can be called to, in terms of a lot of convoy work. My belief is that Obama is committed to getting our sons and daughters home, and I'm committed to pressuring him as heavily as I can to stay by that. We have got to end this debacle. We're simply the wrong folks to be patrolling the streets and manning checkpoints because we don't speak the language, we don't understand the culture and that we have a window of opportunity here where hopefully nations that share the language will be willing to assist the new President who weren't willing to assist Bush. We can ... get out of a role we're not suited for.

Not to mention that our National Guard shouldn't be utilized in this way to begin with. This is not their designed role. So I'm really supporting the campaign to get them home. I left a message on [Rep] Chip's [Shields] phone; I haven't heard back from him*. I'm glad you asked the question because I need to call and get the details about his resolution. I'll be sitting down and pondering with Sen Wyden how we can best apply pressure.

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I've had the chance to talk to Sen Wyden a couple of times. It's been very gratifying over the past few years to see him move from where, I know in 2002 he was kind of wavering on which way to vote, to where he is now. In the face of all this, to have you and him together gives me some measure of encouragement.

Sen Merkley

Didn't he vote against the deployment?

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He did.

Sen Merkley

Yea, I think everyone wrestled with it a little, but I'm so glad he came down where he did.

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Absolutely. It makes such a big difference.

Sen Merkley

It sure does; it sure does.

Life as a Senator

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If I can steal one more question; I know I'm a little over my time. You've just barely begun your life as a Senator ... not only moving to DC but the way your schedule is now — this probably started back in the campaign — is so constricted and every moment of your life is proscribed for you. How are you coping with this loss of personal freedom?

Sen Merkley

(laughs) You know, it's interesting. For me, the frenzy of my current schedule began 5-1/2 years ago when I undertook the role of Democratic Leader. You might or might not have been aware that when I ran for Democratic Leader, it was a four-way race, and a three-way tie essentially through a couple rounds of voting. When I finally won that, when you think about it that way — a three-way tie — I had a third of the Caucus behind me.

I worked day and night to rebuild the organization on the recruiting side, on the fundraising side, on the leadership team, etc. And it ultimately paid off, but it was just absolutely ... it was incredibly intense. Followed by two cycles of elections, followed by serving as Speaker for six months, followed the by the 18 months of this campaign and now diving into my role here. So it really, it hasn't let up for 6 years now. And in some ways it's prepared me well for trying to cope with intensity of the work, and it's also has made me feel like I want a one-week vacation break. (laughs) Hopefully this summer, during the August recess, the kids and Mary and I will get a little bit of a chance, at least a week to turn off the cell phone.

* Sen Merkley's staff spoke with Rep Shields later that day, and I have heard from Dan Handelman at Peace & Justice Works that the memorial will now be a resolution, which carries more weight behind it. Please contact PJW to find out how you can advocate with your state Representive and Senator to get the resolution through the Legislature and get the Governor's signature.

By T.A. Barnhart Jan. 11, 2009