US Rep. Maxine Dexter on the inauguration, working with GOP lawmakers

Democratic Rep. Maxine Dexter has begun her first term on Capitol Hill, representing Oregon’s 3rd Congressional District. Earl Blumenauer, who represented the region for nearly 30 years, has now joined the faculty at Portland State University. In the first two weeks of her term, Dexter has already voted on bills about immigration and transgender student athletes, and she has been assigned to serve on the House Natural Resources and Veterans Affairs Committees. Dexter joins us from Washington D.C. to talk about how she’ll work toward her health care and environmental priorities, one day after President Donald Trump was inaugurated to his second term.

Note: The following transcript was transcribed digitally and validated for accuracy, readability and formatting by an OPB volunteer.

Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. Democrat Maxine Dexter has begun her first term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Her District, Oregon’s 3rd, includes most of Portland east of the Willamette River, all the way through Hood River County. She took over from Earl Blumenauer, who served in Congress for nearly 30 years. Dexter, who is a pulmonary and critical care physician, was previously elected to two terms in the Oregon House of Representatives. She was at the U.S. Capitol yesterday for Donald Trump’s second inauguration, and she joins us now. Welcome back to Think Out Loud.

Maxine Dexter: Thank you so much for having me, Dave.

Miller: You said in a statement and a video that you put out yesterday that you’d be attending the inauguration to prepare for what is to come, adding, “We can’t fight what we don’t understand.” What was going through your mind during the inauguration itself?

Dexter: As I shared, I attended the inauguration because I wanted the president to know that I was there and that I’ll stand boldly against any effort to harm the place I call home. And what was going through my mind was I wanted to be in the room to see the response to the words he was saying. We knew, to a large degree, what he was going to say. But really being in the room helped me see people I really respect and I’m building relationships with, standing up and applauding for things that are antithetical to everything Oregonians believe.

So what was going through my mind is that this is going to be a rough four years. And we’ve got to get our wits about us and fight back. We can’t play whack-a-mole against all these absurd ideas he has. We’ve got to get organized, offer our voters an alternative and make sure that we’re fighting back – not just resisting, but building a better future for our families in Oregon.

Miller: I’m curious to dig more deeply into this, what you mean when you say “fight.” I mean, where do you see the best chance to do that? And what do you mean when you say fight?

Dexter: The first thing is to understand what Oregonians want us to fight. I think there are some real challenges for me personally. But what I need to understand is what my voters and the community wants us to really focus on. And that means, first, making sure our infrastructure in our office is robust and ready for getting feedback from the community, making sure they have access to resources like knowing their rights and how they can keep themselves as armed as they can be, if they feel threatened. Then making sure that we use every opportunity, whether it’s legislative, appropriations or making sure that we amend bad policies in a bipartisan way.

They’ve got a razor thin majority. And make no mistake, there is no MAGA mandate. This is a Republican trifecta, and the House of Representatives, mostly, are people who want to do a good job representing their districts. So they are going to be willing, able and even obligated, because of the narrow majority, to work with us. And that’s where I’m going to lean in.

Miller: After the inauguration came a flurry of executive orders. Among them, the new president revoked almost 80 actions by the former president, President Biden. He pulled the U.S. out of the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Accord. On immigration, he declared a national emergency at the southern border and ended the use of a border app that had allowed migrants to legally enter the U.S. I’ve seen reports of something like 200,000-plus people using that app recently. He also started the process to try to end so-called birthright citizenship.

On immigration in particular, what effect do you think these early orders will have?

Dexter: The first thing is that cruelty is the point, making people fearful and feel very vulnerable right now. Also, a lot of that app was scheduling appointments for people to legally come into this country and apply for asylum. So he’s not just dealing with illegal immigration. He is making our border impenetrable as much as he can. For people who are in Oregon’s 3rd, making sure that we have every opportunity to elevate our sanctuary status and stand by that status. I know that our leaders at the state level are really dedicated to that.

So our office [will be] making sure that people have the resources that they need, as much as we can offer. But really, it’s the state that is going to be on the front lines of this. And I know my colleagues here in Congress are trying to communicate this. But it is gonna be on the ground, our grassroots organizations who are gonna build capacity and trust, so people know where to turn if they, themselves, are feeling threatened.

Miller: The president also issued pardons or commutations to every defendant charged or convicted in connection to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, including people convicted of assaulting police officers with bats or with other weapons. You weren’t at the Capitol four years ago, right?

Dexter: No, I was there. I was just gonna talk about that … not at the U.S. Capitol. I was in the Oregon State Capitol.

Miller: But this is your workplace now. What does it mean to you to have all these people, more than 1,500 people, pardoned?

Dexter: What it means, at the high level, is that political violence is being encouraged by our commander in chief. There’s no other explanation for that. These are people who have sat at a trial and have been convicted, many of them. It’s meant to be threatening. It’s meant to make us scared. This is absolutely a challenge that I and many of my colleagues knew we might walk into … so staying firm.

We put ourselves in the public eye. We know that there are always threats. Not being afraid, knowing that our community has our back. We’ve already seen the Proud Boys starting to raise their voices and show force, and it has been less than 24 hours. There are going to be a lot of challenges ahead. And the only way that we can get through this is standing together and being firm.

Miller: Do you feel safe in the Capitol?

Dexter: Yeah, I do.

Miller: Separate from what we’ve been talking about, separate from resisting the president or his policies, what are your own goals for the next two years? What do you most hope to accomplish?

Dexter: We spent a lot of time talking to voters. Certainly, as a state rep, I had an opportunity to hear from a lot of Oregonians. So really, I’m going to be fighting to meaningfully combat the climate crisis, enshrine health care as a human right. Strengthening our democracy is something I think we all can agree needs to be worked on right now. And then foundationally, where we really missed the mark as Democrats was convincing Oregonians – and actually we did better in Oregon than most of the country – [and] Americans that we can and will build an economy that works for everyone.

People are struggling to survive. They’re not thriving. And I see that in my patients as a physician, prior to coming to office. I see it for my kids who don’t anticipate being able to buy a home or even being able to buy a car, and they’re both in college. Our families need support, and Oregonians want to be heard and have representation that fights for them. So what I’m going to be doing is listening and making sure that I continue to center their priorities, but it’s going to be in that framework of climate, healthcare, democracy and an economy.

Miller: You are a freshman in the minority party in the House, facing just one part of the Republican trifecta, which you mentioned earlier. How do you plan to build power?

Dexter: I’m so glad you asked that. We received our committee assignments. I am on Natural Resources. I’ll be able to dig into climate policy and implications on public health. And again, they have a razor thin margin. So we need to be working across the aisle. I know … I’ve heard from Oregonians [that] they are skeptical that I can work with Congress to get bipartisanship. But that is absolutely necessary when you only have two, three, four votes in the majority. So we will build power and build momentum by building relationships, the same way that I build power with my voters and build community.

There’s a lot of people that I’ve met here (in D.C.) who are representing their states to the best that they can, and they want to do good. They want to make progress. So [I’ll be] finding those people, really leaning into those relationships and then moving things forward.

The other way is offering amendments to bad bills and trying to close loopholes that maybe are unintended, or making it better. Most people, again, want the best possible policy. And we may not be able to overcome the ugly, big picture, but we can make it easier on Oregonians.

Miller: Are there specific areas where you see the most likely space for bipartisan action?

Dexter: Yeah, I was just talking to another congressman today on the VA Committee, which is my other committee that I have been appointed to. And the Veterans Affairs Committee is known for offering opportunities to build bipartisan bills. It is universally accepted that our veterans deserve our support and our protection. And this is a very bipartisan issue, even when we’re talking about women’s health access or addiction issues, or even psychedelic mushrooms for PTSD. There are opportunities to build bipartisan policy that will help veterans. And frankly, that helps us innovate healthcare policy and move it on to a greater community of people. So it’s more of a place where I can innovate and create incremental change, get proof of concept, and then hopefully scale it nationwide.

Miller: Then going back to the other committee you mentioned – the House’s Natural Resources Committee – what are your priorities there?

Dexter: Air quality shouldn’t be a surprise. I’m a pulmonary doctor. I take care of people with lung diseases and have for over 20 years. Occupational lung diseases, our veterans, our workers, our firefighters are exposed to things in the environment that harm them. I’m sure you know this, but just so your listeners all understand, the lungs are the only organ, aside from the skin, that’s directly exposed to the environment. You can’t control what gets into your lungs. So they are some of the most sensitive parts of our body. So being a lung doctor and being able to fight for that is really important here. Natural Resources has jurisdiction over some of the administrative bodies that control and regulate air quality, amongst other things. So that’s one.

Our federal lands, we’ve got the Columbia Gorge Scenic Area and the Mount Hood National Forest. That’s going to be an area that I’m gonna really be trying to protect. And then, trying to fight a lot of these executive orders that Donald Trump is going to put forth.

Miller: Maxine Dexter, thanks very much.

Dexter: Thank you. I appreciate your time.

Miller: Maxine Dexter is a Democrat who represents Oregon’s 3rd Congressional District. She previously served for two-plus terms in the Oregon House of Representatives. She is a pulmonary and critical care physician.

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