INTERVIEW: Rep. Val Hoyle on Budgets, Epstein Democracy, Israel and BDS

Did you know your tax dollars are paying off the student loans of new ICE agent recruits, but not rural doctors. We did not. But according to Oregon’s 4th Congressional District Rep. Val Hoyle, that’s happening, and it’s only one case in point. The question at the time was the federal budget. The case she was making, without saying so explicitly, is that a budget is a moral document.

Hoyle, in our Tuesday, August 5 interview, did this frequently. It’s like she was serving snacks made of stuff you hadn’t heard of, or in combinations that may not have occurred to you, but the flavors worked together. Hoyle made this command of the facts look easy, even as the topics were at times difficult.

The national headlines were up first; nationwide congressional redistricting, the aforementioned budget and its manifold unfolding of ramifications, and the Epstein files. On this last count, we’ll admit a certain newsie’s burnout. Hoyle’s answers refocused our minds.

The Epstein matter, at center, is about sexual violence, and Hoyle’s comments are both necessary and unflinching. If you’re about to watch this interview, you should know that.

Moving closer to home, with our delegation of U.S. Senators split on continued arms sales to Israel, Hoyle discusses her position. Given the Corvallis City Council is considering an Israeli divestment, or BDS resolution, we ask Hoyle about that as well.

Hoyle also discuss the USDA proposal to move a regional U.S. Forest Service office out of Oregon, and all the way to Colorado, even though the office works on wildfire prevention among other things.

The interview runs for about 26 minutes.

 

 

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