Senator Wyden hosts town hall in Corvallis

CORVALLIS, Ore.- One Oregon lawmaker is hearing from his constituents about what they want to see done during his term in Washington D.C.

The town hall meetings are all part of Senator Ron Wyden's commitment to hold at least one town hall each year in each Oregon's 36 counties.

He's already held 11 town halls so far throughout Oregon in 2023. A number of people showed up to this event, including some elected officials. Benton County Chairman Pat Malone introduced the Senator.

Wyden said he takes these events very seriously, as he believes public service is all about being accountable. His partner, Senator Jeff Merkley, also hosted a series of town halls this weekend. 

At the beginning of this town hall before the meeting really got into the swing of things the Senator addressed the issue of the Chinese Spy Balloon. It's important to note Senator Wyden sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee. 

"There shouldn't be any division over what over what the response of citizens ought to be. And letting a Chinese balloon force our country to divulge what we knew, what America can do, and what China can do is nothing short of amateur hour," Wyden said. 

People wanted to know where their Senator stood on several key issues such as Taxes, Healthcare, and Roe v Wade. The Senator spoke about future bills to tax more from billionaires; he criticized the current tax system. Senator Wyden also spoke much about the need to codify Roe v. Wade. At the town hall he said he believes it's a matter that pertains to both healthcare and privacy.  

After the meeting the Senator said he took several things away from the town hall. He described the issues facing Oregonians and Americans today as 'kitchen-table' issues. 

"What's going to be done about housing, what's going to be done about students having an opportunity to get high skill high wage jobs in the future, what's gonna be done about healthcare costs, it's almost as if, the second word was bill, might be education bill, might be housing bill, might be healthcare bill, there's a lot of kitchen table issues today," Wyden said. 

With more than 1000 town halls under his belt Senator Wyden is already thinking about the next one. He spoke about how he couldn't do his job properly without these meetings.