Oregon wilderness areas on hold

Oregon wilderness areas on hold

Republicans, angry over health care, stall hearing for two proposed areas

By Keith Chu / The Bulletin

Last modified: March 24. 2010 4:46AM PST

WASHINGTON — A Senate bill to create 16,000 acres of Central Oregon wilderness became an unlikely — although temporary — casualty of health care reform on Tuesday.

A hearing on the bill that would create the Cathedral Rock and Horse Heaven wilderness areas was postponed after one or more Republicans objected to all hearings in the Senate, according to a spokesman for the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

The objection is part of the GOP's retaliation against Democrats for what Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky called “outrageous” legislative maneuvers used to pass the health care bill in a statement earlier this month.

Energy and Natural Resources Committee spokesman Bill Wicker said the objection canceled all U.S. Senate hearings Tuesday.

“The Republicans are in a foul mood over this health care stuff, and they're going to object to everything,” Wicker said.

The wilderness bill

The wilderness bill calls for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to swap several fragmented parcels with two private landowners and the Young Life Christian ministry, which operates the Washington Family Ranch in northeast Jefferson and southern Wasco counties. (The Young Life camp is located on the site of the former Big Muddy Ranch, which was operated by the Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh from 1981 to 1985 as Rancho Rajneesh.)

The BLM would trade about 14,124 acres of federal land for 10,182 acres of private land. The land values would have to be appraised as equal for the swap to go forward.

Oregon Natural Desert Association Executive Director Brent Fenty said it's disappointing a bill with nearly no opposition was held up by partisan squabbling.

“You have a bill that represents a common-sense solution and diverse partners coming together to get something done,” Fenty said. “A criticism of politics right now is that it's so partisan. To have this be a casualty of the harsh debate over health care is really unfortunate.”

Republican strategy

Forrest Reinhardt, a consultant for Young Life, took a red-eye flight to Washington to testify at the hearing. He held out hope the hearing would be rescheduled for today. He laughed when asked about his issue running afoul of the health care reform debate.

Compared with the larger politics involved, “this is like the flea on the tick on the tail of the dog,” Reinhardt said.

Reinhardt said his testimony would have focused on his efforts with the Oregon Natural Desert Association and Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden's office to build support for the proposal. The bill has been endorsed by the Redmond chapter of the Oregon Hunters Association, along with nearly every local environmental and recreation group.

“On our end, we're pretty much done,” Reinhardt said.

It was unclear which lawmaker issued the objection Tuesday. McConnell's office didn't respond to a request for comment.

Wyden, the bill's sponsor, said the canceled hearings were a symptom of partisanship run amok.

“I think what's happened today is the far right and the far left continue to get more visibility, more attention, and it feeds on itself,” Wyden said. “The only path out of this, the only path that brings the country together and breaks this damaging, corrosive polarization, is senators saying, look, we just gotta find ways to put the country first.”

Wyden pointed to his efforts at bipartisan legislation, from his health care reform proposal, which attracted several Republican co-sponsors, to his current tax reform bill, co-sponsored with Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H.

Wyden's co-sponsor on the Healthy Americans Act, Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, has since distanced himself from the bill under heavy pressure from conservatives. Wyden said that happens when “windows of opportunity” for bipartisanship are missed.

“You bet people tend to go off into their positions that the party system promotes when you can't get a bipartisan effort out there with a head of steam,” Wyden said. “But I continue to believe that you should put every effort into it, particularly when there are these windows of opportunity, and there surely was one in the spring of 2009.”

Norman Ornstein, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, said lawmakers have objected to hearings in the past to make a point, but only rarely. Ornstein said Republicans may find themselves labeled as the “party of no” if they stick to an obstructionist strategy.

“I think it's a stupid strategy, to tell you the truth,” Ornstein said. “If what (voters) see is a bunch of obstructionist tactics offering point of order after point of order, amendment after amendment, I just don't think it looks very good.”

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