Oregon Senate

 

The Oregon Senate has been unable to work for six weeks now. Republican senators are not showing up on the floor to create a quorum and vote on legislation—any legislation, because they do not like two bills. This is the third time we have been in this situation; it is so bad that the state voted 68% in favor of not allowing legislators who do not attend the session for a specific number of days to run for office again. There’s a bit of loophole—some of the senators are in the first year of a four year term and others were not planning on running again anyways. So here we are.

                The cost of this stalemate is huge. Hours and hours of writing bills, vetting them, discussing them in committee—gone. Time spent in the community crafting language people can agree on—gone. Time we spent writing letters, lobbying for bills—gone. And then there are the financial costs—all of the salaries doing the work for no result, not even a vote-- gone. Keeping the state house open for no action wastes energy-- gone. The uncertainty created by this situation costs money; OSU will lose students: some will go elsewhere, some will not go to college at all if they cannot count on their tuition.  People will be laid off. People will lose their jobs. People will not be able to pay rent, put food on the table, gas in the car to take kids to school. The impact on the most to the most vulnerable in the state is huge. Without the money from the state, our local providers are not able to operate. The shelter may have to reduce beds and lay off employees; they have enough funding to stretch until early September, if they reduce operations now. The ripples keep going, even after the budget is passed (at least, we hope it will be passed).

                I am an elected official. It is my job to represent my ward. I go to council meetings, propose policy, and cross my fingers that four others, at least, will agree with me. Beforehand, I may run an idea by a fellow councilor or staff person for a reality check. I may ask my people to weigh in on a specific issue and look right at one councilor while they speak. Sometimes council agrees with me. Sometimes they don’t. As frustrating as it can be, that is democracy. We vote. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose, sometimes we are handed glorious surprises. The stakes are too high—people’s lives, our nation’s democracy—not to.

                Thank you to everyone who does show up to vote for change in our communities.