PORTLAND, Ore. — U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden was a guest on this week's episode on Straight Talk to discuss the challenges facing Oregon, including his work on federal legislation to respond to wildfires and combat the spread of fentanyl.
Wyden also discussed how he expects the federal CHIPS Act to boost Oregon's semiconductor industry, his efforts to bring a WNBA team to Portland and the future of the Trail Blazers without franchise superstar Damian Lillard.
Wyden has spent time recently holding town halls throughout Oregon, and he said wildfires were front and center in places like Coos Bay and Curry County. He talked about the passage of a recent federal law that will make more money available for wildfire prevention, as well as his efforts to get the Biden administration to implement raises for firefighters.
"That raise that I led the fight for expires at the end of the fiscal year, which is essentially the end of September," he added. "So I want to get that renewed."
Wyden was able to get anti-fentanyl language inserted into the annual federal defense budget bill, which he called "a start to mobilizing the resources that we need to fight fentanyl," calling it a public health and law enforcement scourge.
A lot of the fentanyl in Oregon comes in through the Interstate 5 and Interstate 84 corridors, Wyden added, and said he's been working to provide more resources to intercept that kind of traffic.
Wyden also discussed the future of Oregon's semiconductor manufacturing industry, particularly now that the federal government has passed the CHIPS Act aimed at boosting domestic microchip production. Oregon's semiconductor industry has already been seeing big gains this year, he said, and said Oregon is well-positioned to keep expanding in that field.
"From the time you get up in the morning to the time you go to bed, you depend on those chips," Wyden said.
Wyden was scheduled to visit eastern Oregon later in the week, and he talked about efforts to expand access to broadband internet service in rural parts of the state, as well as legislation aimed at helping rural farmers and the fight to keep a birthing center open in Baker City.
When the discussion turned to sports, Wyden discussed his criticism of the plan for the PGA Tour to merge with rival LIV Golf, which is backed by the Saudi Arabia public investment fund. Wyden has introduced bills that would end the tax-exempt status of both organizations, and he said the Saudi government is engaging in "sportswashing."
"I don't think (the merger) is a done deal at all," he added. "You've seen a lot of people who were considered very pro-business and sympathetic to these kinds of things express reservations."
In the basketball world, Wyden has been one of the voices at the forefront of a campaign to bring a WNBA team to Portland, including holding an event with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert at The Sports Bra, the Northeast Portland bar that focuses on women's sports. He said he thinks Portland has made "a lot of progress" toward that goal and that a decision will be made "sooner rather than later."
"I think Cathy Engelbert — and I'll let her speak for herself, I always enjoy talking with her — I think she was amazed at the incredible grassroots mobilization that we had for that program," Wyden said. "You had the Ducks and the Beavers, the Thorns, Blazers — everybody was there. And I think that women's sports has become an economic juggernaut for this state."
Lastly, Wyden talked about the news that Damian Lillard has asked to be traded away from the Portland Trail Blazers. He said he thought it was probably a difficult decision for Lillard and a difficult situation for the team, but said Lillard's "position in the hearts of Blazers fans" isn't going to change.
"I consider Damian Lillard an amazing person on and off the court, and we've been lucky to have him," he said.
He also talked about the ongoing saga of the franchise's ownership and Nike co-founder Phil Knight's repeated — and so far, unsuccessful — offers to buy the team. Wyden said his top priority has been to avoid a scenario where the team gets purchased and then moved out of Oregon, like what happened to the former Seattle SuperSonics.
"I've been very vigilant in terms of watching the process for dealing with Paul Allen's estate, staying in touch with the league," he said. "I just want Oregonians to know that as long as I'm the state's senior senator, we are not going to see a fiasco like what happened in Seattle."
Straight Talk airs Friday at 7pm, Saturday and Sunday at 6:30pm. Straight Talk is also available as a podcast.