From border walls to bridge projects: Rep. Cliff Bentz defends Trump’s agenda in rural communities

PORTLAND, Ore. (KGW) — Oregon's only Republican congressman, Cliff Bentz said he gives President Trump an "A" grade — defending the administration's controversial policies on tariffs and immigration that directly impact his sprawling eastern and southern Oregon district, which includes some of the state's most important agricultural and forest lands.

In an interview on KGW's Straight Talk, Bentz, who represents Oregon's 2nd district, said the president is "doing exactly what he said he would do when he ran for the job," but noted that some of his constituents remain divided on the administration's performance. 

"If you talk to Republicans, they'll tell you that he's doing good things on the border," Bentz said. "The border is no longer an issue" — adding that, for the first time in 12 years, he's no longer in the minority party, and there's been a bit of role reversal. 

"When you're in the minority, you spend a lot of time yelling and complaining and calling out everything you possibly can call out that's, in your opinion, bad about the majority," he said. "That's what Democrats are doing and they're certainly doing it in my district just like you see on national news."

DOGE cuts

Over the past few months, the "Department of Government Efficiency," led by tech-billionaire Elon Musk, has worked to shrink the federal government, a move that the Republican congressman supports, but said can be done "more precisely" and "better." 

Bentz said the U.S. has a spending problem on its hands that taxing the wealthy, a common recourse among Democrats, won't fix. "There is no doubt that our government in some fashion needs to shrink, and I say that because we've been spending about $2 trillion a year more than we have coming in," he said. 

He said that over time the department will get better at making cuts, pointing to the Bonneville Power Administration's situation, where dozens of workers were asked to return to work after being initially fired. Bentz said they were "inappropriately cut."

"When they do make mistakes — and DOGE has made mistakes — then they need, as I've told my constituents, to let me know," Bentz said. "Then we will reach out to the White House and to the office of DOGE and say, 'Hey, this was a mistake, fix it.'" 

Immigration enforcement

The Trump administration has been ramping up efforts in a crackdown on people who are living in the U.S. without legal status; enacting obscure 18th-century war powers, targeting student visas, restricting asylum access and deporting people via flights without due process. 

Bentz said he strongly supports the administration's policies, praising efforts to secure the southern boarder. "The fact that he secured the border, though, is something that's worthy of reflection for just a moment because if you're interested in incremental immigration reform, a first step had to be a secure border," he said. 

When asked about a lawsuit filed by Oregon churches seeking to protect places of worship, schools, and medical facilities from immigration enforcement, the congressman took a hard line. "If you're here illegally, then you've kind of given up the right to not be concerned about being deported," he said.

Bentz stopped short of suggesting that someone here illegally is not entitled to due process, but offered a rather murky answer in saying that a "slightly different" process could used, but was not able to speak further on it because while he's a lawyer, he's not an immigration lawyer, he said. 

Local economy tariff impacts

A cornerstone of President Trump's second term has been new and expanded tariffs, with the administration imposing significant duties on imported goods from China, the European Union, Canada, and Mexico, without the approval of Congress.

Recently, Bentz opposed a bipartisan bill introduced by Oregon Senator Ron Wyden to give tariff control back to Congress. "Years ago the Congress recognized that tariffs were something that would be extraordinarily difficult for Congress to agree upon and so they delegated that power or we delegated that power to the executive branch," he said.

That's not the whole story, however. Congress has empowered the president to negotiate mutual trade deals with other nations and to regulate imports "in a time of war or national emergency," according to the Library of Congress. Trump has set tariffs ostensibly under the latter policy, citing the nation's trade deficit as the emergency.

Despite economists warning that the tariffs could raise costs for Americans and hurt businesses, Bentz described them as necessary tools to "get some of the jobs back that we lost over the past 30 years in our manufacturing sector" and "protect our supply chains."

But, Oregon cattle ranchers told KGW recently that the back-and-forth on tariffs is causing uncertainty, making it difficult to plan for prices that may suddenly change. This is especially true for farm equipment and certain farm consumables that are imported and would take years for U.S. companies to manufacture locally.  

Bentz acknowledged these concerns, indicating discussions are underway to provide support. "I don't anticipate, there's already discussions going on ... in regard to how to make sure farmers understand that they're not being abandoned and that we're trying to figure out some way of making sure they don't bear the brunt of the retaliatory response by some of these other countries," Bentz said. 

Regional projects

As Oregon's sole Republican voice in Congress, Bentz said he's tried to leverage his relationship with the White House in hopes of advancing several key projects, including the multi-billion-dollar Interstate Bridge Replacement project.

"I've explained to the administration that I thought that was one of the most important things that could happen," Bentz said. "That bridge is super important to our port and that port is super important to the farmers and ranchers and other folks up and down the Columbia River throughout the entire Northwest."

The congressman has also advocated for transportation infrastructure in southern Oregon, telling the administration "in Medford there's a need for an interchange at the south end of that town." He's also been pushing for more military investments, with adding more F-35s to Kingsley Field in Klamath Falls. 

"That's a huge, huge, huge important thing not only for national defense but for the for the community of Klamath Falls," he said. 

Despite the partisan divide in Washington D.C., Bentz is working with Wyden on a bill to protect millions of acres in Malheur County, sometimes referred to as the Owyhee Canyonlands. According to Bentz, the senator "stopped President Biden from making it into a monument" in favor of collaborative legislation they've "agreed upon" that will be introduced soon.