JOSEPH — About 150 residents Saturday, April 12, packed the Joseph Community Events Center for U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley’s town hall meeting.

It was one of the 36 the Democrat is in the process of holding in each county in the state. He said turnout has been particularly robust, so far, having met with about 3,500 Oregonians during his tour.

Wallowa County Commissioner John Hillock, who hosted the meeting, drew tickets for those who wished to ask Merkley questions, after cautioning the crowd to be courteous to those who may have differing opinions. That turned out to be unnecessary.

In an interview prior to the town hall, Merkley answered questions from the Chieftain. He responded to a question about what alternative ideas the now-minority Democrats have to Republican plans for cutting waste, fraud and abuse; tariffs and other plans.

“Republicans’ basic strategy is families lose and billionaires win,” the senator said. “They’re proposing $2 billion in cuts to health care and education and a $2 trillion increase in tax breaks for the richest Americans. At the same time, they’re also proposing a $7 trillion increase in what would be the national debt over a 10-year period. So you’ve got cut programs for families, tax breaks for the richest Americans and run up the national debt for the next generation.”

Merkley said he wants to support families while not giving breaks to the rich.

“My alternative to that is strengthen the programs for the families, have billionaires pay their fair share of taxes and don’t add this massive amount to the national debt,” he said. “That’s the alternative I have.”

He also spoke about President Donald Trump’s plans for tariffs on international trading partners. In the past, Democrat leaders have proposed tariffs much like what Trump is proposing, though not in the same way.

“Tariffs can be very useful … but there’s more ‘shock and awe’ than total investment,” Merkley said. “A couple days (after announcing the tariffs) he said he’d put a suspension on may tariffs for 90 days. …They can be useful it’s just that he’s doing it in a fashion that undermines the stock market and the bond market.”

Trump is in negotiation with many nations to reset tariffs.

China remains the big tariff target with an all-out trade war having begun. As of Monday, April 14, the U.S. was imposing a 145% duty on most imports from China, while China is imposing 125% on imports from the U.S. The president is hoping to work out a deal with the political and trade adversary.

Merkley said one thing he’s hearing during his town hall tour is farmers’ concerns about how the tariffs will affect their markets.

“They’re worried that they’ll lose their market; they’ll lose their customers and if it’s reversed after a year or two, it’s hard to get those customers back,” he said.

The senator said during Trump’s first term, he agreed with the president in his pullout from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact in January 2017.

But it was health care where Merkley had the biggest complaints against the GOP. That morning, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, said the House planned to eliminate millions in waste, fraud and abuse from Medicaid. But Merkley said the GOP plan would cut $880 million from Medicaid.

“That would be devastating to our state, particularly to the rural parts of our state, which have 40% of our citizens relying on it,” he said. “It would have a huge impact on our veterans, a huge impact on our children, a huge impact on our schools. … I’m not saying that number can’t be lowered, but that’s almost a trillion dollars.”

He emphasized health care funding is a bipartisan issue.

“Medicaid is not blue state/red state,” Merkley said. “The percent in red states is higher who are on Medicaid. … I think we’ll succeed in defending the core of benefits.”

He said Medicaid fraud is only 1%.

“When you’re at 1%, you’ve squeezed it down pretty small,” he said.

Merkley also addressed issues being worked on close to home.

He said he supports state Sen. Todd Nash’s Senate Bill 777 that improves compensation to livestock owners who lose animals to wolves. But Merklet said he is against Nash’s desire to delist wolves as protected species statewide. A report from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife on April 11 mentioned the number of wolves in the state had increased and they are moving more to Western Oregon. Wolves are not federally protected in Eastern Oregon.

“While I support his bill for fair compensation and measures for nonlethal deterrents, I’m opposed to (delisting statewide.),” Merkley said. “I’m OK with them expanding to the west side.”

On a more personal note, the senator presented a medal to Wallowa County Reserve Sheriff’’s Deputy Jeff Baty for past military service and a flag that had flown over the U.S. Capitol to Chantay Jett, executive director of the Wallowa Valley Center for Wellness; Nic Powers, CEO of Winding Waters; and Dan Grigg, CEO of Wallowa Memorial Hospital.