Senator-elect Merkley, welcome back to Firedoglake. I’m confident that I’m speaking for the whole Blue America community when I tell you that your victory is something we take very personally and put a great deal of faith in, knowing that there will be one more voice– among so few– speaking out to power of behalf of ordinary Americans. Congratulations and best of luck!

You told us that one of your priorities is getting universal healthcare passed. One of your colleagues, a very powerful corporate shill from Montana, has come up with a set of proposals that seems to be pushing the kinds of mandates sure to fail. Have you had a chance to look it over and give us some idea about how you’re going to get real universal healthcare passed?

It’s terrific to be back with you as a Senator-elect. It’s still a little unreal. Thank you to Blue America for all of the incredible help in taking on a two-term Republican incumbent. I entered the race believing it was so important to end the policies of Bush and Cheney and help put this nation back on track. And, now we have a lot of work to do!

Welcome Senator Merkley!

Welcome Senator-Elect Merkley! Wow that sounds great. Congratulations on your victory on behalf of the people of Oregon.

Congratulations Senator. Could you possibly put in a kind word for a Mr. Franken if you stop by the office?

Senator-Elect Merkley – I like the sound of that!
Welcome, sir.

Senator-Elect Merkley — boy it is a joy to write that. In any event, Senator-Elect Merkley, let us assume things stand still for the next two months, what would you want to be top of the agenda for January/February expedited action in the Senate/Congress?

Assuming that at least some of that is stimulus related, what are your thoughts about “green stimulus” and what would you like to see emphasized?

Senator, this is a heavy one, please feel free to side step it. We’re hearing that Sen. Reid and President-elect Obama are considering the prospect of allowing Sen. Joe Liberman to retain his gavel as chair over the Senate Committee overseeing Homeland Security.

It’s unclear to most at FDL what the Democrats are getting in return for this largesse? Is this what President Bush wants in order to help the Big 2.5 in Detroit?

Anyway, congratulations again.

Universal health care is essential. Everywhere I went on my hundred town tour for change, families shared stories of how the lack of quality health care was a major stress in their life. Just this morning I was on a radio program where a caller stated that the lack of health care was causing her to limit her son’s activities because she knew she couldn’t afford the bill if he got hurt. 2009 must be the year in which we obtain affordable, accessible health care for every single American.

There is a huge change in the conversation in the Senate. It has gone from debating whether universal health care makes sense to debating different versions of universal health care. This is huge progress. We cannot let special interests torpedo this coming opportunity to achieve universal health care.

Thank you. I’m happy to have the opportunity to represent Oregon in Washington DC.

Senator elect Merkley,
I can hardly contain myself I am so happy you won out over Gordon Smith!

Oregon has been needing someone who will work for the benefit of the people living there for a long time.
Congratulations from an Ex Oregonian who lives just across the Columbia river.

Now get to work!

CONGRATULATIONS!

and welcome back to the Lake. Hope you get a chance to rest up after the rigors of campaigning, so you can hit the ground running in the next Congress.

I was so impressed with how you made the Oregon House a powerful weapon on behalf of working families. I hope it won’t take too long before you can turn around 200 or so years of stodgy tradition and do the same for the U.S. Senate.

We are holding our breath that Franken wins the recount. It would be terrific to win in Minnesota as well as Alaska and Georgia. Anyone who can go to Georgia and help out, please do so.

There’s no time to waste!

Jeff!! er…. Senator Elect Merkley.

Kevin here. :-)

Could you possibly touch on how your experience as an intern with Senator Hatfield will affect or influence how you approach the task ahead?

Thanks!

What can you tell us about Max Baucus’ efforts on health care revealed today?

Mandates or single payer?

Oh, and congratulations. It’s great to have you in the senate.

Ending the war in Iraq, universal health care, and jobs are at the top of my agenda. In regard to jobs, I believe that ending the trade and tax policies that are shipping our jobs overseas is essential. In addition, we can create jobs both by investing in conventional infrastructure and in alternative energy.

Dramatically changing our energy policy is essential. Our current policy has been great if you’re an oil company and terrible if you care about national security, our economy or tackling global warming. We should have a huge national investment in wind, wave, solar, and geothermal to end our dependence on foreign oil and dramatically reduce our production of greenhouse gases.

In addition to changing how we produce energy, we should also invest in changing how we consume energy. We need to transition to plug-in hybrids and electric cars and invest heavily in reducing the amount of energy our buildings consume.

Jeff (aka Senator Elect Merkley) –

As one of the many Washington county residents who were proud support you, let me first say that I’m thrilled that the early reports of your defeat were flat wrong.

I have a question I was planning to stop by your office in Beaverton later in the week to ask, but I’ll ask it here instead:

Will you please do everything you can to strip Joe Lieberman of his committee chairmanship? The man is a snake. After worming his way back to congress in 2006 he sat on his gavel for two long years; with all the need for oversight of the Bush administration he did nothing. Now, after actively campaigning against Obama he desperately wants to hold on to it. The obvious inference is that he fully intends on using it to backstab and harass the new administration as he did Clinton.

Please do whatever you can to stop him.

Your new constituent,

– MarkusQ

It was extremely painful for me to see Lieberman standing behind McCain at rally after rally. It was personal for me because I had cheered for Lieberman in L.A. when he was nominated as our Vice Presidential candidate. Obviously the Senate leadership is engaged in conversations with Lieberman about this, and we’ll have to see where it goes.

Congratulations, Senator-Elect Merkley. Your election was a bright spot on a dreary day for those of us fighting for marriage equality on the West Coast. Have you decided how to pursue your marriage equality values in the United States Senate? Will you be working to repeal DOMA and if so with whom?

Over at Open Left, blogger Matt Stoller has posted about Gordon Smith’s frozen food company irrigating cropland with partially treated sewage water:

On Sunday, the Oregonian ran a story about the increasing use of “biosolids” – using human solid waste to fertilize fields. But there’s one very important fact:

State regulations forbid using treated sewage on crops intended for human consumption. DeLano uses it to fertilize hay.

http://www.blueoregon.com/2008…..serva.html

Portland has lots of Vegans as I recall who after reading that news
I’m sure ran to vote for you.
There has been a lot of trouble with food quality under Bush, China in particular. Do you have any plans for the FDA. Enforcing the no water sewage rule for crops, promoting organic food with farm subsidies and phase out factory farms?

I like it:)

Senator elect,
The infrastructure is in serious need of repair and one thing on that list is Bridge repair.
Portland is the biggest Metropolitan area in Oregon and a great deal of money heads that way for projects , that tends to leave the rest of the state left wanting.
There are A LOT of bridges in Oregon.
Do you see a way to spread the wealth and help out the more rural areas?
As I recall, a great deal of those bridges are now over sixty years old.

How about testing for madcow its been years and I know people who still refuse to eat beef.

I had a great experience as an intern with Hatfield when I was 19. I was assigned responsibility for the tax reform act of 1976, which gave me a great education on tax policy and a great opportunity to converse with Senator Hatfield. I was struck by the good relations he built with Senators on both sides of the aisle and his problem solving mentality. There was no sign of the bitter partisan warfare that was introduced in the 1980’s and 1990’s.

I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be running for the Senate, let alone serving in Hatfield’s seat. I know that Hatfield’s qualities of leadership will guide my service to the U.S. Senate.

Sometimes I wonder if Bush is getting paid by the Pork and Chicken industry:)

Congratulations, Jeff! So good to have you in the Senate. What a wonderful victory.

Will you be taking part in the caucus vote next Tuesday?

I know that Hatfield’s qualities of leadership will guide my service to the U.S. Senate.

I am so glad to hear that. Hatfield was awesome!

Congratulations!

You wrote that:

Universal health care is essential. Everywhere I went on my hundred town tour for change, families shared stories of how the lack of quality health care was a major stress in their life. Just this morning I was on a radio program where a caller stated that the lack of health care was causing her to limit her son’s activities because she knew she couldn’t afford the bill if he got hurt. 2009 must be the year in which we obtain affordable, accessible health care for every single American.

Oregon made some big strides in covering low income people with the Oregon Health Plan. I see some parallels in S-Chip… but both fail to achieve universal coverage. I think most of us here would like to see some form of single payer. To do that it seems like we should be able to make the case with the help of the manufacturing sector, somewhat at the expense of the insurance industry. How do we get there though? When will GM, etc step up and push for taxpayers to take on healthcare for UAW retirees as well as the have-nots? Any thoughts?

Government resources are low (i.e., gigantic deficits) so go slow, or problems are opportunities so go big?

I will support a single payer plan if we can get it to the floor of the Senate. But, I believe that we must succeed in passing universal coverage this year and that we cannot let the powerful special interests prevent it from passing.

Senator – elect Merkley,

Welcome and Congratulations !

My questions is:
What will you actively do to stop torture as the law, policy and practice of the United States ?

With gratitude and respect,
For Dan,
Heather

I believe in full equality under the Constitution. I’ll be working with advocates to find the best path forward.

Congratulations, Senator Elect Merkley.

I second Heather’s question. What is our best path forward for removing torture from the policy of our country?

I voted for you.

The FDA does seem to have been asleep for the last 8 years. This reminds me of the story about the Republican politician who says, “Government doesn’t work. Elect me and I will show you!”

I believe that the Obama Administration will recruit leaders who actually believe in regulation to protect consumers.

The recent stories about melamine being used extensively throughout China as a food additive sent shivers down my spine. It’s one more reason that we should encourage consumption of food grown under responsible circumstances.

This is a time to think and act boldly. The enormity of our challenges requires substantial changes in direction. I cannot accept the argument that the lack of resources means that we must move slowly. Indeed, the current catastrophe emphasizes the need for prompt action on everything from eliminating predatory practices in mortgages, to regulating Wall Street, to creating living wage jobs through pro-active investments in infrastructure and alternative energy.

Excellent.

Congratulations Senator Elect
What committees are you hoping to be on?

I was thrilled to hear on the news yesterday that Obama’s team is already at work preparing a plan to shut down Guantanamo. And, America must never again have any association with secret prisons or torture. President Washington rejected the use of torture during the Revolutionary War. President Lincoln rejected the use of torture during the Civil War. And, we must reject torture as completely inconsistent with the values on which our nation was founded.

Have you had any contact from the President-Elect or his team yet?

How’d you know that was the answer I was looking for? Besides all the reasons you list, add reversing what W did as another one.

What are your ideas for wages? The only healthy way to keep the economy going is through rising real wages but that hasn’t happened (except for a brief period during Clinton) since the 1960s. If “markets” are left to their own, labor has to be so scarce that companies are forced to bid workers away from each other, an unemployment rate at or below about 4%, to result in rising real wages. That condition is unlikely to prevail in the foreseeable future.

While it is very unlikely for a Freshman to be appointed to Appropriations, I want to lay the ground work for that possibility. An Oregon Senator has not served on Appropriations since Hatfield retired, and it is important for our state to have a voice in how money is spent.

I’m very interested in serving on the Environment Committee, the Banking Committee, and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

Yay! Please use your time in the Senate to roll back trickle down economics. Now is the time!

Thanks again Blue America for having me back. Thanks for endorsing my candidacy and supporting me throughout the election. I look forward to continuing the conversation with you all as a soon to be Senator.

Thank you so much for that. Bush’s policies have done so much to create new enemies. Your suggestions will go a long way toward the US regaining much of its lost respect.

Thanks again for spending the time with us, Jeff.
Now go do some good.

We’d love to have you back any time. Do the right thing on Friday with Lieberman. He’s a cancer on the soul of the caucus.

Thank you, Sir, for replying to my question.

I don’t mean to put you on the spot, but I am looking more for actual actions on your part. As a Senator, would you introduce/support legislation to remove the Bush Administration definition of torture from all law, policy and practice? Would you introduce/support legislation creating an independent, thorough and open accounting of all those held by the United States since January 21, 2008? Would you support President Obama signing the World Court Treaty?

Sorry, this is a very important issue to me, the cause of my life.

With gratitude and respect,
Heather

Thanks Jeff.

‘Twould appear, Senator (forgive my ‘presumption’) Merkley that you have grasp the ‘nettle’, firmly, and understand the needs of the nation and the times full well.

Congratulations on your victory and more, much more, power to you.

Jeff, we all shall be watching you boldly ‘progress’with considerable interest and no little anticipation.

Thank you, for having the courage to run for public office, the stamina to prevail and the conscience and integrity so necessary in those who would ‘represent’ the rest of us.

Let’s also work on election reform … shall we?

DW

Senator-Elect Merkley!

Congrats and we’re all thrilled with your impressive campaign. It was nice to see you win in spite of employing Matt Canter.
(kidding…I’ve worked him in the past…great guy).

Many Liberals get a little anxious and frustrated when we see candidates we campaigned hard for vote for some truly horrendous legislation. Donna Edwards and the FISA vote as just one example, or some of Obama’s votes as other examples. I assume this’ll will happen with you at some point. Personally, I understand why this happens from time to time, but what can you say to those who aren’t so forgiving or patient? How do you pick which battles to fight, and when to simply “go along to get along?”

Thank you Jeff! Please do come back, you’re a favorite here.

And THANK YOU Howie. Your Herculean efforts are essential.

Please remember that mandated purchase of health “insurance” is not equivalent to universal health care — and will cause more problems than it solves, since the insurance companies will then have no reason to offer actual coverage (because people will have to buy their paper, no matter what).

TBogg across the hall!
Joe The Scorpion

Thanks to Firedoglake and Howie Klein for setting this liveblog up. Can I tell you all how good it feels to refer to Merkley as Senator-elect? It feels great! There is no doubt in my mind that he’ll be a fantastic Senator who will always put working families first.

-sarahlane, netroots director for Merkley

Mr. Merkley, congratulations. It’s no small thing to defeat a sitting incumbent; considering the Congressional recidivism rate. Being a resident of Portland, OR I’ll be very glad to see a voice other than Gordon Smith’s in Congress. His enthusiastic abdication of Congressional duties to the Executive was extremely disturbing for a man who supposedly represented a constituency with a long history of progressive ideas, self-determination, and a pioneering spirit.

As you move forward and work with others like Ron Wyden, Maria Cantwell, Russ Feingold, and Bernie Sanders toward a more progressive vision for America I sincerely hope that you make it a primacy among your tenure in the U.S. Senate to fight to restore the responsibilities, liabilities, and authorities back to the Senate and away from the Executive. To, in essence, restore our Republic in policy, protection, and procedure.

Indeedy so.

Howie, you have my unbounded appreciation for your heroic efforts to better (almost beyond measure) the ‘quality’ of those who would presume to ‘lead’, by encouraging those who are most-capable, most able, most thoughtful, and, hopefully, most un-corruptible.

Thank you, Howie!!!

Great synopsis. In case you haven’t seen this:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyo…..271/659780

I’ve heard some arguments that the “universal” stage is a stepping stone to single-payer since it helps get the public used to the idea. There’s some evidence from voting last Tues in MA and WI (maybe others?) that shows this might be happening. Still pretty skeptical myself, but it won’t hurt either way for us to rise up in support of single-payer across the country.

Lisa Derrick up over at the Campaign Silo!
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