Congressional race, U.S. Senate

 
October 14, 2014
 
The two major party candidates for U.S. Senate are incumbent Senator Jeff Merkley (D)  and Dr. Monica Wehby (R).
 
MONICA WEHBY is a pediatric neurosurgeon and very knowledgeable about health insurance issues.  This is her first political campaign, although she has considerable experience in leadership positions with national medical organizations.  She gives a full account of her background and career achievements in the About section of her website:  http://www.monicafororegon.com/about-monica/
 
She has reached out to OFIR to learn more about immigration issues and had several meetings with OFIR officers.  Her website at http://www.monicafororegon.com/home/ contains an Issues section without a statement on immigration.  During her Primary campaign, this statement was displayed on her website:
 
Dr. Monica Wehby believes that before we make any reforms to our immigration system that we must secure the border. Border security must be the immediate priority. Monica is also against amnesty for those who came here illegally. That simply isn’t fair to the people who came here through the proper channels. Dr. Monica Wehby also believes that we need to increase the amount of H1B visas for skilled workers. It doesn’t make any sense to train and educate these workers in the U.S. and then force them to take the skills they learned here to another country. Dr. Monica Wehby also believes we should work with Oregon’s agriculturists to develop a temporary guest worker program that works.
 
You can email her using the webform for email at: http://www.monicafororegon.com/contact-us/
Campaign telephone: (503) 954-2717.
 
JEFF MERKLEY, incumbent Senator, was first elected to Congress in Nov. 2008 and was sworn into office in January 2009.   His 6-year term is now ending, and he seeks reelection.
 
His immigration-reduction report card from NumbersUSA is F for the current Congress, 2013-2014, and D- over his whole term, 2009-2014.  Broken down by subjects of bills, his grades for 2009-2014 include:
 
           F- on reducing illegal jobs and presence, reducing unnecessary worker visas, reducing amnesty entitlements and illegal immigration rewards, reducing refugee and asylum fraud, reducing chain migration; F on reducing illegal immigration at the border.
 
A detailed record of the immigration bills on which the grades are based is available on the website of NumbersUSA, http://www.numbersusa.com.  Click Congress – Immigration Grade Cards – Oregon, then click on Sen. Merkley’s name.
 
In 2013, Sen. Merkley voted in favor of S.744, a so-called immigration reform bill, which would give immediate amnesty to unknown millions of illegal aliens while only promising to enforce border security at some indefinite time in the future, thus ensuring permanent future illegal immigration.  It would also bring a record surge in legal immigration, doubling the current legal immigration level which is already triple the traditional average.  It would give green cards to 33 million workers in the first decade.  There are many other dangerous features of this bill, which has already passed in the Senate, but not the House.  More information on the bill is at  http://www.fairus.org/legislation/amnesty/s-744-bill-resources.
 
Prior to being elected to the U.S. Senate, Merkley was Speaker of the Oregon House and had served as a Representative there since 1999.  In 2005, he voted against House Bill 2583 requiring evidence of citizenship for persons registering to vote for first time.  In 2007 Democrats controlled both houses of the Legislature, and as Speaker of the House, Merkley was an important part of the leadership team.  OFIR and our friends in the legislature made heroic efforts to advance several good bills addressing illegal immigration, and all were stymied by the Democratic Party leadership.  In the special session of February 2008, after Governor Kulongoski had issued an Executive Order calling for proof of legal presence to obtain a driver license, Merkley did vote in favor of SB 1080, the driver license bill which passed the Legislature and became law.
 
His campaign website is at: http://jeffmerkley.com; it contains a Contact link.
 
Considering his overall record in Congress and the Oregon Legislature, it’s clear that Jeff Merkley if reelected to the U.S. Senate, will likely continue to support 1) the interests of illegal aliens and their employers over the interests of citizens, and 2), virtually unlimited legal immigration.