Sen. Jeff Merkley talks Gaza, mail delays, voting issues

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- Senator Jeff Merkley has been representing Oregon in the US Senate since 2009. The Democrat for Myrtle Creek is on the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee, among others.

On this week's Eye on Northwest Politics, Sen. Merkley gave an update on the goings-on in Washington D.C. that affect us here in Oregon.

For one, there have been an escalation of tensions in the Middle East especially between Israel and Lebanon the war in Gaza continues. As a result, Merkley says diplomacy is the number one priority, especially since Iran may attack oil facilities among American allies like Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

"It is something that everyone should be paying attention to," he noted. "The role that America has played has really been to say we must prevent this broader war from happening. But despite best efforts in that direction, it continues to spread. I think the next step is going to depend very much on how Israel responds to Iran.

Recently, Sen. Merkley called out Postmaster General Louis DeJoy for the Delivering for America Plan, referring to is as the "Delaying Mail for America Plan."

"My concerns are that first class mail has really been delayed. He's taken apart the processing facilities in Springfield, Eugene and in Medford and the result is mail is much more slow getting from place to place," he said. "Imagine that you're down in southern Oregon and a mail to your neighbor, you have to have it trucked up to Portland to be sorted and then trucked back. So those delays are unacceptable."

Oregon has employed a vote-by-mail system for more than 20 years now. To those concerned about election integrity as the system spreads to more states in the country, Merkley thinks their worries are misplaced, since it stops election day "shenanigans."

"What I'm talking about is it's commonplace to say, 'There are groups I don't want to vote, so I will proceed to move the precinct voting location to confuse people. We will understaff it so there are long lines.' That sort of systemic system to block the ballot box for millions of Americans, absolutely unacceptable. And the solution is early voting and vote by mail," he said.

Regarding the situation where the Oregon DMV reportedly registered more than 1,200 non-citizens, Merkley acknowledged it was a "bureaucratic snafu," which needs fixing. However, he pointed out a noteworthy fact.

"What's interesting about that is all those folks who are not citizens who were mailed ballots, only one out of 200 actually voted," he noted. "It shows that non-citizens voting is not a systemic problem. What is a problem is election day efforts to block people from being able to cast their ballot."

Oregon has also just finished the biggest dam removal project in U.S. history with the demolition of the last four dams on the Klamath River, opening up hundreds of miles of tributaries. Now it's a matter of restoring the habitat and the ecosystem. Merkley said the role of the federal government in this process - now that the dams have been removed - is a multi-million dollar grant to help with some of the restoration.

"There's more to be done for sure in terms of the quality of the lake water and Klamath Lake and restoring the two breeds of sucker that live there. That's an endangered species challenge," he noted. "But opening up these miles of natural stream flow is a huge victory."

Merkley joined Washington State Representative Adam Smith to introduce the Hedge Fund Control of Americans Home Act. He believes the need for this legislation stems from less middle class Americans being able to buy a home to begin with, in huge part due to hedge funds.

"If you hear about somebody trying to buy a home and they're outbid by an all cash offer, that's probably a hedge fund. That's probably a private equity. And we are in a situation where these houses should be homes for families, not a profit center for Wall Street," he said. "So we need to kick the hedge funds out of this business. They have no business being there."

Watch the full interview in the video above.