The good news for Salem progressives is that Rep. Kurt Schrader won't be representing this area any more, which now is in the 6th congressional district, since Schrader often acts more like a Republican than a Democrat.
The (possible) bad news for central Oregon progressives is that Schrader has decided to run in the 5th congressional district -- his current district -- which after redistricting includes Bend.
Moderate is the charitable way to describe Schrader.
A more accurate way is to call him an obstructionist, since he delights in standing in the way of President Biden's priorities, most recently delaying a vote against the Build Back Better bill when he and four other House Democrats demanded to first see a Congressional Budget Office analysis of the bill.
Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed Democratic lawmakers who held up passage of the Build Back Better Act by demanding to see analysis on how it would impact the budget deficit.
...The vote on the Build Back Better Act was postponed to later this month after five moderate Democrats demanded to see analysis from the CBO on the bill's long-term impacts on the budget deficit. They ultimately to agreed to back the Build Back Better Act by the week of November 15 if the CBO's estimate is consistent with the cost projected by the White House.
If the fiscal estimates on the bill raise issues, "we remain committed to working to resolve any discrepancies to pass Build Back Better legislation," Reps. Ed Case, Josh Gottheimer, Stephanie Murphy, Kathleen Rice and Kurt Schrader said in a statement.
But their stance prompted criticism from Sanders, who questioned why the lawmakers were not similarly concerned by CBO analysis showing the infrastructure bill would increase the federal deficit.
"Interesting. Conservative Dems want to make sure that Build Back Better is fully paid for at exactly the same time that they voted for an infrastructure bill that, according to the CBO, increases the federal deficit by $256 billion," Sanders tweeted on Saturday. "Not very consistent!"
In September Schrader also was one of three Democrats who opposed allowing the government to negotiate prescription drug prices.
It'll be interesting to see how Schrader does in the May 2022 Democratic primary for the 5th congressional district, since Jamie McLeod-Skinner has filed to run against him, and she's an avowed progressive.
Although Schrader lives in Canby, which sits squarely within the new fifth district, federal law does not require members of the House to reside in the district they represent.
That opens the door for Schrader to choose which seat he wants to seek.
It also opens the door for former congressional candidate and Terrebonne resident Jamie McLeod-Skinner, who announced Thursday in a virtual event that she plans to seek the 2022 Democratic nomination in the fifth district.
The home McLeod-Skinner shares with her wife Cass sits just six miles north of the boundary separating Deschutes and Jefferson counties, the line lawmakers used to separate Oregon’s redrawn fifth and second congressional districts.
Her candidacy could once again provide a more liberal challenge to Schrader’s five-term incumbency should he decide to remain in the fifth.
Schrader has long faced criticism from some within his own party for being too moderate. That criticism has grown in recent months as Schrader and a small group of centrist Democrats has hampered efforts by Congressional leaders and the Biden Administration to pass a massive, $1.75 trillion reconciliation and infrastructure package focusing spending on social programs.
Schrader has repeatedly said that it’s the price tag he takes issue with, stating that he can’t support the spending plan even at half the cost of the $3.5 trillion package that Democratic leadership pushed for earlier this year.
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