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Nearly 93,000 families across the Pacific Northwest are getting their final expanded child tax credit payment of this year Wednesday. Over the past six months, families have received up to $300 for every child they claimed on their 2020 tax returns. The Biden administration believes the advanced credit payments lifted millions of American kids out of poverty this year. Oregon Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici met with child advocates Wednesday morning to see how the payments are helping local families.

It's no secret that Oregon is in desperate need of bolstered childcare. Every single county in the Beaver State was deemed a childcare desert for infants and toddlers in a 2012 Oregon State University report, long before COVID-19 put the issue on the forefront. Childcare providers and advocates say the problem has only worsened in recent years. U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici reiterated this point during her quarterly Oregon Child Care Advisory Board meeting on Monday, Dec. 13.

Oregon's Congressional delegation recently sent a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Office of Management and Budget urging funding for the state's port infrastructure as the Army Corps implements the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA). The letter was signed by U.S. Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) and House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-OR), and U.S. Reps. Cliff Bentz (R-OR), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), and Kurt Schrader (D-OR).

Heidi Rahn is a lifelong wildlife advocate and director of the Oregon Zoo.

The Recovering America's Wildlife Act would help us create good jobs for today while protecting our state's wildlife heritage for tomorrow. This session, we hope the entire Oregon Congressional delegation from both sides of the aisle will join Representatives DeFazio, Blumenauer and Bonamici in championing this groundbreaking bill and helping it become the law of the land.