DeFazio: 'People might not agree with me, but they know where I stand'
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SPRINGFIELD, Ore. - Peter DeFazio has been in the House of Representatives since 1987, the longest of Oregon's 5 representatives in Cognress.
Just like in the presidential campaign, the top issue for Congress is jobs.
"We're losing the trade wars," DeFazio said. "We're losing to china and other countries. I've never voted for a free trade agreement. I want to bring and keep those manufacturing jobs home."
DeFazio said that if re-elected, he wants action on what he believes is his best jobs bill of the past two years: a bi-partisan plan to open up more federal timberlands for logging.
"It's not without controversy; there are environmental groups who say we should never, ever harvest another tree on federal lands," DeFazio said. "I don't agree with them."
On the topic of Cal trains through Eugene en route to Coos Bay, DeFazio said that because of the World Trade Prganization agreement "you can't stop it, so what I'm trying to do is deal with the real concerns of the people of Eugene and other places that are potentially on the route of the trains, to deal with the coal dust."
Then there's the so-called fiscal cliff: deep federal budget cuts and tax hikes to hit us by the end of the year.
"I've been a balanced-budget Democrat since 1990," DeFazio said. "We need a balanced budget amendment to the constitution."
KVAL News asked DeFazio about his Republican opponent, Art Robinson.
"He is a right wing extremist," DeFazio said. "He's campaigned for 15 years to abolish all public education."
The latest federal elections report shows Robinson beating DeFazio in third quarter fundraising, but the Democrat has more cash on hand.
The congressman thinks his chances of re-election are good come Nov. 6.
"People might not agree with me, but they know where I stand and I don't try to hide where I stand."
Peter DeFazio is a breath of fresh air in a political world of money trading hands for favors which ignore the needs of the people that elect them into office. I personally sent him a very strong message about the coal trains coming through Coos Bay and Eugene. I received a 3 page letter explaining how he opposed the WTO but had no way of stopping this from happening. He went on to explain what he is doing to basically soften the blow of this mandate from the WTO, what he was going to work on with the people that opposed it along with him. How many elected officials do that? Do you think Robinson would do that? How about Ro-Money and his child Ryan? There is a very large division going on with this years election that strikes from Washington all the way to Oregon. This movement has been a silent killer of jobs and local economy of every city and town in this nation. There is a class warfare going on and has been for sometime. Austerity is real and the movement has cross the oceans to our nation. Europe is in turmoil and the majority of people are taking the hit while the wealthy sit back and say "let them eat cake". I will support Peter DeFazio in this election we need real people in our elected positions that have We The People as their priority, not a warm body to represent citizens united which is what Art Robinson is...he is corporate owned make no mistake he will do the dirty work of those that simply do not care about anything other than making a buck.