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Opening Remarks from U.S. Senator Ron Wyden May 27, 2003 -- Leadership Summit Update Meeting In the 1930’s, Oregon, like the rest of the country,
struggled to emerge from years of economic adversity.
But against far greater odds than what we face today, President
Roosevelt and this state’s leaders found the will to build vital state
infrastructure that lifted Oregon’s hopes for the future and laid the
groundwork for its economic growth. Their
combined vision . . . in the midst of a depression . . . produced five
bridges, Highway 101, and an amazing
variety of critical buildings and public works projects that endure to this
day. Dick has laid out a
sobering, accurate description of the present economic picture for Oregon.
But I want to remind you of Oregon’s past as a possible prologue for
Oregon’s resurgence. Like the bridges, roads, and public works projects of the
1930s, now more than ever we must find the courage and the will to fund the
technology, education and transportation that will form the basis of a
prosperous future for the citizens of our state. It may seem counter-intuitive in difficult times, but bold,
can-do thinking is our best hope for creating family-wage jobs and preserving
Oregon’s quality of life. We began our effort
last December by coming together around a 12-part vision for Oregon’s future
– the Oregon Business Plan. 1,300
strong, we set aside our politics and geography for the greater good of Oregon
and forged a framework for unprecedented state-federal cooperation.
I told you at that
time that we would get together in the Spring to chart and evaluate our
progress, and choose our next steps to implement the Oregon Business Plan. Today, let’s see
how far we have come on our various tasks, create a “to do” list of what
we must accomplish in the months ahead, and resolve at the end of the day to
return as a group next Fall to continue the work of the Oregon Business Plan. I want to start today by congratulating Dick Reiten and the
other members of the Oregon Business Plan Steering Committee for the
tremendous work they’re doing to get this economy moving again.
If you haven’t looked at it yet, I commend to all of you
the scorecard issued by the Council detailing the progress . . . and
roadblocks . . . in all twelve areas addressed by the Business Plan. You may recall that last December, Senator Smith, Governor
Kulongoski and I developed a 7-point Federal-State agreement to coincide with
several of the initiatives outlined in The Business Plan.
Let me take a moment to review what we’re doing at the federal level
in response to several of the “action items” which came out of the
Leadership Summit and the 7-point agreement. The action item with perhaps the most direct federal hook
involves investment in transportation. The
Oregon congressional delegation has been working closely with ODOT since last
December to discuss strategy for the upcoming transportation bill called
TEA-21. My staff and I have been
working closely with the chairperson of the Oregon Transportation Commission
-- and Oregon Business Council board member -- Randy Pape’, and I want you
to know that I support the list of road projects endorsed in the Oregon
Business Plan in our prior summit last December. When I was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996, Oregon was
one of the biggest donor states in the nation, getting back only 91 cents in
federal transportation funding for every dollar it contributed through taxes
and fees. Gordon and I had great
success with the last transportation bill, increasing Oregon’s formula by
$111 million per year, and today Oregon gets back 98 cents for every dollar we
put in. Please know that Gordon
and I are going to fight this round to achieve a 100% fair deal for Oregon. While the transportation bill should provide a significant
lift for Oregon, like Salem, we will have a difficult time putting together
the financing for the transportation package the nation really requires.
For that reason, Senator Jim Talent recently joined me in introducing a
bipartisan proposal called “Build America Bonds.”
This proposal will provide $50 billion in new transportation
infrastructure funding. It’s a
one-time federal bonding program designed to empower states and local
governments to complete significant projects across all modes of
transportation including roads, rail, transit, aviation, and water.
These funds would be additional to dollars made available
through the transportation bill, and will allow cash-strapped states, like
Oregon, to create millions of jobs, generate significant economic growth, and
improve their transportation infrastructure.
It appears now that the President plans to come back to
Congress for more tax cuts, and I plan to make transportation bonds -- and a
more significant package of direct aid to the states -- my priorities for that
bill. One of the points outlined in the Federal-State 7-point
agreement called for the formation of a task force to help Oregon schools
identify and pursue federal financing opportunities.
That group met in April and meets again tomorrow to continue their
work. I instructed my appointee
to that task force to scour the bushes for un-utilized and under-utilized
sources of federal dollars, and tomorrow she will propose that Oregon focus
its efforts on increasing Oregon’s share of education dollars in three
areas: Math and Science Partnership Grants, Reading First State Grants, and
Transition to Teaching Grants. Another of the Business Plan initiatives calls for expanding
Oregon’s capacity for innovation, and the work on the federal end is
beginning to take shape. I chose
Scott Gibson to chair a task force created under the 7-point agreement to
evaluate Federal research appropriation and grant requests for their potential
for job creation. That task force
recommended priority funding for two efforts:
the Multi-Scale Materials and Devices Signature Research effort
involving the University of Oregon and Oregon State University; and, the
multi-discipline research development planned for the North Macadam project in
Portland. The appropriations
season is just getting underway in Washington, but I want you to know today
that those two projects are at the very top of my priority list. On a related note, you may recall that in my opening remarks
at the December summit, I talked about the science and burgeoning business of
nanotechnology. I have led efforts at the federal level to dramatically
increase the federal funding level for nanotech research and development, and
to ensure a foothold for Oregon before the nanotech revolution takes place.
A group of venture capitalists, business leaders, university heads, and
researchers have been meeting with me and my staff to get Oregon united behind
a collaborative agenda to bring this exciting industry to Oregon. We’re working at the ground floor of this technology to
make sure that states with significant unemployment – like Oregon -- are
able to take advantage of this new funding. Another element of the Oregon Business Plan calls for
achieving more economic and environmental benefits from our forest resources.
Clearly, the time has come for a new dialogue on forest policy, both at
the state and federal level. Just last week the House passed a forest restoration bill
sponsored by Congressman McInnis and my colleague, Greg Walden.
Their legislation is welcome in that it will re-start this needed
debate, but there is quite a bit of controversy surrounding the bill and it
faces an uncertain future in the Senate. Last Congress I attempted to find common ground on forest
health with folks on the other side of the aisle, and the welts on my back are
still visible to this day. Welts
or no, let me pledge to you here today that, as I did in the last Congress, I
will once again attempt to forge common ground on forest health in the U.S.
Senate. I want to wrap up by noting that I believe the Oregon
Business Plan effort is off to a good start, in large part, because of the
improved tone in Salem. I want to
commend Salem’s leaders for changing the bitter tone which poisoned the
political environment and helped set the stage for gridlock and inaction.
In particular, Governor Kulongoski, Speaker Minnis, and Senators
Courtney and Hannon have stepped up in this regard, and we should all thank
them for their leadership. Let’s have a great afternoon of work sessions, and I’ll
see you back here in a few hours. Thank you. Back to Highlights from the May 27 Leadership Summit Update
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