Oregon GOP Senators Defiant After Governor Threatens Arrests

Oregon Senate minority leader Herman Baertschiger said his caucus remains defiant in its efforts to stall proposed cap-and-trade legislation. "My caucus and I continue to stand firm and remain out of the state," he said, criticizing media reports that claimed Republican senators, who fled the capitol to avoid voting on the bill, have been coordinating with militia groups. "The peaceful rallies on the steps this weekend were done by Oregonians who will be directly impacted by the gas and emissions tax or House Bill 2020. Democrats were reactionary to rumors and lacked the courage to face these Oregonians by closing the Capitol building on Saturday when it was scheduled to be open," Baertschiger said in a Sunday evening statement.

Liberal journalists latched on to a jocular tweet from the state Republican Party's official Twitter account as evidence of support from right-wing militia groups. The featured photo was of a rally earlier in the week featuring truck drivers and loggers protesting the legislation. Baertschiger brushed away claims his caucus was coordinating or collaborating with the militia-style groups known to exist in rural parts of the state. "I don't see any of my members doing that," he told the Washington Free Beacon in an interview. Baertschiger said he met and talked with protestors last week when they came to the capitol and heard from many who support his efforts to stop the cap-and-trade bill. "Those are people that have jobs. They are people that took off a day of work to travel to Salem to tell us [their concerns]" with the proposed legislation, he said.

A report from the state's Legislative Revenue Office said the legislation would reconfigure "much of the energy sector and the state economy," and because the proposed cap-and-trade implementation would take place over three decades, the success of the program has "many uncertainties." "It will dramatically affect how we do business in Oregon," the senator told the Free Beacon. He specifically cited the negative effects the legislation would have on the state's rural communities, where the timber and agricultural industries remain prevalent.

When Republicans voiced concerns to Democrats about the bill's economic consequences, Baertschiger said Gov. Kate Brown and Democratic state legislators scoffed. "We can re-educate them. They can get new green jobs," was the response from his Democratic colleagues to concerns workers may lose their jobs, according to Baertschiger. "You're not going to take a logger or a rancher and say well you no longer can do your occupation anymore and give them a green new job," Baertschiger said. "That's not going to fly." Baertschiger said he was not proud his caucus had to resort to fleeing the capitol to stop the bill, but he and the 11 other senators viewed it as the "nuclear option" after the governor and their Democratic colleagues proved unwilling to reform the legislation.

Because of its far-reaching economic effects on the state, Republicans have called for the bill to be voted on as a statewide referendum. In Oregon, statewide ballot measures must achieve supermajority support to go into effect, and Baertschiger predicted it would fail in a statewide vote after the uproar.

Last week Gov. Brown ordered the state police to round up Republican senators who had fled the state capitol ahead of a proposed Thursday vote on the legislation. Baertschiger said the governor has also threatened to pull funding from the fled senators' districts. "It saddens me to see where we are today," he reflected. The state's legislative session is scheduled to conclude at the end of the week. If Republicans don't return to the capitol before then, any outstanding legislation working its way through the chamber would become void, meaning legislators would have to call a special session this summer to deal with it.

https://freebeacon.com/politics/oregon-gop-senators-defiant-after-governor-threatens-arrests/

https://twitter.com/Oregon_GOP/status/1142619631095439360

Loggers and truck drivers rally in Salem to protest cap-and-trade bill

https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/loggers-and-truck-drivers-rally-in-salem-to-protest-cap-and-trade-bill/283-a8fc79e2-35d0-4cdc-9639-bb51f9f63836

REVENUE IMPACT OF PROPOSED LEGISLATION

https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2019R1/Downloads/MeasureAnalysisDocument/51596

>>6831544

It absolutely is. Unfortunately they are in the majority at this point. Seems republican's couldn't not make a difference even with all of the voting no. At this point the optics of them fleeing are not good, but the intention is to not let the state's economy fall to shit. So in a sense you could say they are doing the job they were charged to do, eliminate the quorum, not making it easy for the Dems to get their way on this fraudulent piece of legislation.

Dems & Media Jump On Trump For Claiming Obama Separated Families; Even Jeh Johnson Agrees It Happened!

Pointing the finger at Trump instead of at Congress, that has repeatedly failed to fix this illegal immigration problem is why we are here in the first place.

The media and Democrats scoffed at Pres. Trump fighting back against Meet The Press host, Chuck Todd, when the president noted that a lot of the actions happening with the illegals happened under the Obama administration and he was responsible for stopping much of it. Trump: “This has been happening long before I got there. You know, under President Obama you had separation. I was the one that ended it. Now I said one thing, when I ended it I said, ‘Here’s what’s going to happen. More families are going to come up.’ And that’s what’s happened.”

Obama’s administration did separate migrant children indeed from their families. His administration just did this WITHOUT a policy. I know I have heard that type of account from individuals other than Pres. Trump, and on Sunday, I found it. An article by Naomi Lim from the Washington Examiner reminds us that Jeh Johnson, the former Secretary of Homeland Security under the Obama administration, admitted that they also had a controversial program to hold illegal families.

Former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson on Thursday reflected on the Obama administration’s efforts to expand the federal government’s capacity to hold families in detention over their immigration status, admitting that it was “controversial.” “In 2014, to deal with the spike then with the families, we did a number of things, including, by the way, working with the government of Mexico and obtaining their cooperation in securing their southern border,” Johnson said during an interview on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports.” “We also expanded family detention which was, I freely admit, controversial. We got a lot of heat for it,” Johnson continued, saying he made “a big deal” about it to prove the administration wasn’t simply catching and releasing illegal immigrants while they awaited hearing. [Washington Examiner] https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/jeh-johnson-admits-obamas-expansion-of-family-detention-facilities-was-controversial

As I said before, Obama may not have had an official “policy” to separate families, but they did. Otherwise, they would have been housing adults and juveniles together, which is wrong, when they don’t have documentation to prove that they are the kid’s parents. Pointing the finger at Trump instead of at Congress, that has repeatedly failed to fix this illegal immigration problem is why we are here in the first place.

When he was running for his first term, Barack Obama promised comprehensive immigration reform in his first year. That lie went out the window as soon as he was elected. Obama detained children. Obama allowed children to stay with human traffickers claiming to be “caregivers.” Progressives wanted open borders so that they can stay in power. Many states are allowing illegals to vote in “local” elections which include the Governor’s office and tax increases in California. Pundits claim that the majority of illegals all came on visas and then overstayed. This is a lie! The government didn’t check, and they have no idea how many people who came on visas are still here. The numbers of people coming across the border are based on captures and not on those who evaded capture.

It is not 11 million illegals but more like 30 million. Stop blaming Pres. Trump and start blaming Congress!

https://www.waynedupree.com/dems-even-jeh-johnson-agrees-it-happened/

>>6831684

>>6831969

Indeed, you are correct. We need moar proofs of this..it's important to document, imho.