Update
from
Congressman
Peter
DeFazio
Here's
what I'm
working
on
both
in
Oregon
and
in
Washington:
Fighting
for
Critical
Programs
On
May
23,
President
Trump
submitted
his
Fiscal
Year
(FY)
2018
budget
to
Congress.
His
budget would
cut
or
eliminate
a
variety
of
critical
domestic
programs
to
make
way
for
tax
cuts for
millionaires
and
billionaires,
a
$54
billion
increase
in defense
spending that
purports
to
protect
national
security
by
showering
money
on
an
already-bloated
Pentagon,
and
a
stupid
"beautiful
wall"
along
the
Mexican
border.
Critical
programs
like
the
Medicaid,
the
Supplemental
Nutrition
Assistance
Program
(SNAP),
disability
benefits,
Meals-on-Wheels,
and
Seniors
Corpsa
program
that
I
brought
to
Lane
County
in
1977
that
donates
millions
of
hours
of
service
to
help
those
in
needwould
be
either
be
eliminated
or
significantly
cut.
Alarmingly, President
Trump
eliminates
payments
to
older
veterans
who
can’t
work
because
of
injuries
they
acquired
while
serving
our
nationlowering
the
earnings
of
our
most
vulnerable
veterans.
In
Oregon
alone:
- 32,689
workers
in
job
training
programs
would
lose
services.
- 10,765
Oregonian
children
would
lose
before-and-after-school
and
summer
school
programs.
- 22,016
low-income
students
who
received
need-based
aid
for
higher
education
would
lose
their
Supplemental
Educational
Opportunity
Grant.
President
Trump's
budget
promotes
wrong-headed
priorities,
and
I
am
unequivocally
opposed
to
a
massive defense
spending increase
that
would
devastate domestic
programs
that
contribute
to
the
daily
quality
of
life
for
millions
of
Americans. To
read
my
full
statement
on
President
Trump's
budget,
click
HERE.
U.S.
Withdrawing
from
the
Paris
Climate
Accord
Yesterday,
President
Trump
announced
that
he
is
withdrawing
the
U.S.
from
the
landmark
195-nation
Paris Climate
Accord
which
undertakes
ambitious
efforts
to
combat
climate
change
and
adapt
to
its
effects.
The
U.S.,
the
second
largest
carbon
dioxide
emitting
nation
and
the
biggest
per
capita,
now
stands
with
only
Nicaragua
and
Syria
as
the
only
nations
that
are
not
part
of
the
Accord.
The
move
comes
on
top
of
President
Trump's
March
28
executive
order
that
takes
aggressive
steps
to
roll
back
the
Obama
Administration’s
environmental
regulations.
The
executive
order
directs
the
EPA
to
start
the
process
of
withdrawing
and
rewriting
the
Obama
Clean
Power
Plan,
which
would
have
phased
out
hundreds
of
coal-fired
power
plants,
frozen
construction
of
new
plants,
and
replaced
them
with
alternative
energy
sources
such
as
wind
and
solar.
The
Clean
Power
Plan
was
essential
to
the
U.S. meeting
the
goal
of
cutting
emissions
by
26
percent
by
2025.
The
president’s
order
also
repeals
the
mandate
that
requires federal
officials
to consider
climate
change
impacts
when
making
decisions.
I
reject
the
argument
made
by
the
Trump
Administration
and
my
Republican
colleagues
that
the
U.S.
must
pull
out
of
the
Paris
Agreement
and
decimate
federal
programs
intended
to
protect
our
air,
water,
and
public
health
to
"grow
the
economy"
and
to
“balance
our
budget.”
That's
an
irresponsible
and
short-sighted
philosophy.
Even
companies
like
Exxon
Mobile
urged
the
president
not
to
withdraw.
The
science
is
clear
that
if
we
don't
act,
our
planet
will
be
in
serious
peril.
We
need
to
get
serious
about
climate
change
and
reduce
our
dependence
on
fossil
fuels.
You
can
be
sure
that
that
I
will
continue
to
fight
for
a
strong
federal
mandate
to
reduce
greenhouse
gas
(GHG)
emissions and remain
committed
to
protecting
our
nation's
most
important
environmental
and
public
health
laws
and
agencies.
Ongoing
Investigation
into
Russian
Interference
Every
week
there
appears
to
be new,
disturbing
developments surrounding
President
Trump,
his
administration, and the
investigation
of
Russian
interference
in
last
year's
presidential
election.
On
May
9,
President
Trump
fired
FBI
Director
James
Comey.
A
week
later,
reports
surfaced
that
President
Trump
asked
Comey
to
end
his
investigation
into
former
National
Security
Adviser
Michael
Flynn.
More
recently,
senior
White
House
adviser
and
President
Trump's
son-in-law,
Jared
Kushner,
has
come
under
FBI
scrutiny
for
his
involvement.
Reports
surfaced
that
Kushner
spoke
with
Russia
Ambassador
Sergey
Kislyak
about
setting
up
a
back-channel
between
then
President-elect
Trump's
transition
team
and
the
Kremlin.
The
back-channel
would
have
used
Russian
diplomatic
facilities
in
an
effort
to
shield
discussions
from
monitoring.
The
recent
revelations
only
strengthen
my
belief
that
the
only
way
the
truth about
the
Trump
campaign’s
ties
to
Russia
will
be
uncovered is to
conduct
a thorough,
independent, and
unbiased
investigation
into
the
matter.
That's
why
in
January,
I
cosponsored
H.R.
356,
the
Protecting
Our
Democracy
Act,
to
create
an
independent
commission
devoted
to
this
investigation.
Thus
far,
the
Republican
majority
has
not
taken
any
action
despite
almost
200
cosponsors
in
support
of
this
legislation.
I
was
pleased
to
see
that
former
FBI
Director
Comey
has
agreed
to
testify
before
the
Senate
Intelligence
Committee
on
June
8.
We
will
finally
have
the
chance
to
hear
what
Comey
has
to
say
regarding
his
conversation
with
President
Trump
as
well
as
the
investigation
into
Russian
interference
in
the
election.
It
is
also
important
that
former
FBI
Director
Robert
Mueller,
who has
been appointed as
special
counsel
to
oversee
the
ongoing
investigation,
complete
the
ongoing
investigation
free
from
influence
from
President
Trump
or
his
administration.
If
he
is
unable
to
do
so,
Congress
must
pass
legislation
to
allow
an
independent
commission
to
do
so.
Supporting
Local
Organic
Foods
Businesses
On
Thursday,
I
hosted
a
roundtable
with
a
diverse
group
of
organic
foods
businesses
including
wholesalers,
food
processors,
organic
seed
farmers,
distributors,
certifiers,
retailers
and
academics at
So
Delicious
Dairy
Free
in
Springfield.
Oregon
ranks
9th
in
the
nation
for
organic
businesses,
with
851
organic
companies in
the
state.
The
organic
sector
is
growing
at
an
unprecedented
pace,
and
it
was
enlightening
to
hear
from
these
businesses
about
their
tremendous
growth
over
the
last
few
years
and
how
the
sector
provides
jobs
to
Oregonians
and
healthy
food
to
consumers.
We
discussed
important
federal
programs
that
help
conventional
farmers
transition
to
organic
farming,
support
research
on
organic
crops,
and
maintain
the
strict
organic
standards
on
which
American
consumers
rely. We
also
discussed
the
threat
to
the
future
of
the
National
Organics
Program
and
critical
research
on
the
transition
to
organics
for
conventional
farmers, opposed
by
the
Trump
budget,
and
began
to
formulate
a
strategy
for
the
upcoming
farm
bill,
which
will
be
critical
to
the
future
of
the
program.
Know
someone
who
should
get
these
updates?
Please
feel
free
to
forward
this
email
to
them
and
encourage
them
to
sign
up
HERE.
As
always,
please
don't
hesitate
to
contact
me either
by
email
or
by
calling
my
Oregon
office toll-free
at
1-800-944-9603.
Sincerely,
Peter
DeFazio
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