BAKER CITY -- U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Pendleton) answered questions on health care and alternative energy policy to a lunchtime meeting of the Baker City Rotary Club while on a campaign swing through eastern Oregon Monday.

Smith told the crowd of 60 gathered about the work he did with Democratic Senators including Ron Wyden (D-Portland), Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on important legislation that needed support from both sides of the aisle.

"I am a co-sponsor of Ron Wyden's bill," he told the crowd, referring to Wyden's most recent proposal to comprehensively reform the healthcare system through a pooling system. "I believe his bill is one of the vehicles upon which health reform will occur in Congress."

Smith also touted work he did to expand the number of academic opportunities for prospective medical students and talked about new medical schools opening up in Utah. Smith also discussed plans for federal aid to help medical students pay tuition.

One worry on the mind of the older crowd was also getting both general practitioners as well as specialist doctors out to more rural communities. Smith, a member of the Senate Aging Committee, said he understood their pleas.

"When the baby boom population begins to retire in 2010, the shortage of providers and practitioners will be overwhelming," Smith said. "We will need more doctors, but we have to fund it right."

Energy policy

Smith touted his work on renewable energy, telling the Rotary that he had been a leader in the Senate on pushing through legislation that opened up opportunities for wind, solar and biomass energy production.

"Wheat and wind equals money for Oregon farmers," Smith told the group. "Anything we can do to get us off carbon is good, and no one has done more than me in the Senate to get that done."
Smith also clarified his position on offshore drilling, saying that it wasn't something for Oregon, but if other states wanted to pursue it he thought they should have the opportunity to do so.

"I don't think in our lifetime Oregon will want to do it," Smith said. "And I don't think the federal government should mandate it. I think a state that wants to do it should be allowed to do it."

The role of Congress

Smith also spoke to the Rotary on parts of the history of the capitol. Under Rotary rules, a candidate cannot give a campaign speech when meeting with the Rotary, and Smith, a member of the Pendleton Rotary, did not go into detail on his re-election race against Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley (D-Portland).

He told stories of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, and how even during that divisive area, Congress was not as divided as it seemed now. But he also spoke optimistically about the parties moving past their difference.

"We all love to hammer on Congress, but Congress is a reflection of the American people," Smith told the crowd. "And Congress, as imperfect as it is, does work."