In The News
he Congressional Progressive Caucus is also pushing to strip the Homeland Security spending bill from the massive $1.4 trillion minibus, with some members loath to fund the agencies charged with implementing the president’s immigration agenda and carrying out paramilitary action in Oregon and Washington state.
Oregon Representatives Earl Blumenauer and Suzanne Bonamici have joined with several other state representatives in announcing a plan to block federal law enforcement from intervening in protests across the United States.
The plan is in response to the Trump administration's continued occupation of Portland to protect federal facilities, according to a spokesperson for Blumenauer.
U.S. Reps. Suzanne Bonamici and Earl Blumenauer, joined by two other members of Congress, filed three amendments to the 2021 appropriations bills for Homeland Security, the Department of Defense and Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, in an effort to defund the agencies' ability to use the protection of federal property to justify their presence in Oregon.
The political fight over Portland is heating up once again as Oregon congressional leaders on Thursday announced the launching of new investigations into the use of federal police downtown.
Oregon state representatives and senators wrote an open letter Thursday to Attorney General William Barr an Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf demanding they pull federal officers out of Portland.
"We are writing to request that you immediately remove federal personnel from the streets of Portland unless authorized by the city's elected officials," the letter states.
On Wednesday, Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley of Oregon, along with Reps. Earl Blumenauer and Suzanne Bonamici of Oregon, requested that the DOJ and DHS OIGs investigate what they called “the unrequested presence and violent actions of recently deployed federal forces in Portland.”
The move comes after a group of Democratic Oregon lawmakers, including Sen. Jeff Merkley, Sen. Ron Wyden, Rep. Suzanne Bonamici and Rep. Earl Blumenauer, sent a joint letter asking the Justice Department to review the federal intervention.
Federal inspectors general agree to open investigation into use of force against Portland protesters
Sen. Ron Wyden and Reps.
Oregon’s congressional delegation on Wednesday formally requested an investigation into the response by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Justice Department to the riots in Portland -- after DHS pledged not to back down.
The state's Democratic congressional lawmakers -- Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden and Reps. Earl Blumenauer and Suzanne Bonamici -- last week asked both DHS and Justice Dept.