Much of Bentz’s presentation, and many of the questions from the audience, dealt with President Donald Trump’s executive orders and the actions of the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency. A prominent topic Wednesday was the administration’s decision over the past week to fire thousands of federal workers, including 50 or more in Northeastern Oregon. Many of those worked for the U.S. Forest Service, which manages 5.5 million acres of public land in the region.

Bentz represents Oregon’s Second Congressional District, which includes all of Eastern Oregon and most of the state east of the Cascades. Bentz is the only Republican member of Oregon’s congressional delegation.

Trump received about 73% of the votes in Baker County in the November 2024 election.

Several audience members made it clear, though, from their statements and from their reactions to both questions and Bentz’s answers, that they don’t support the administration.

“I think all of you would agree that the last 30 days have been different from the past two years,” Bentz said during introductory remarks.

Bentz showed a slide showing the partisan breakdown of the House of Representatives, with 218 Republicans, 215 Democrats and two independents.

With such a slim GOP majority, it’s imperative that Republican members attend as many sessions as possible to support the party’s platform, said Bentz, a former Oregon state lawmaker from Ontario.

Bentz discussed his priorities, including reducing federal spending, funding border security, extending the 2017 tax cuts which would otherwise expire at the end of 2025, and increasing oil and gas production.

Bentz said income taxes will increase if the 2017 tax cuts aren’t extended.

Bentz said the Energy and Commerce Committee is trying to reduce spending in its areas of jurisdiction by $880 billion over the next 10 years. He said that will be a challenge.

Bentz talked about his views on federal spending. He showed a slide stating that 30 cents of each dollar the government spends is borrowed, and that taxpayers pay $1.126 trillion in interest each year on the debt.

Bentz discussed the more than 65 executive orders President Donald Trump has signed during his month in office.

He also talked about the recent firings of federal employees, including residents of Northeastern Oregon.

“My heart goes out to those people,” Bentz said, a statement that provoked derisive laughter from some in the audience.

He showed a slide stating that in the Second Congressional District there are about 7,877 federal employees, about 2.65% of the district’s total workforce.

“We have to stop spending as much money, and President Trump is doing his best to take action in that regard,” Bentz said.

Bentz said it’s “hard” to spend less. “If somebody doesn’t stand up and say what I’m saying right now, we’re all going to be the worse for it.”

He said it’s not fun or easy to stand before an audience and talk about reducing spending.

Questions

Audience members who wanted to speak were given a ticket when entering the auditorium, and tickets were chosen at random.

Is Congress overseeing the current downsizing of the federal government?

There is a “serious question” about how far the president’s constitutional authority goes in reducing the federal workforce, and whether the Trump administration has exceeded that authority, Bentz said. He said the issue will ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court.

Bentz said Congress has oversight, through its various committees, over this issue. He described that oversight as “modest.”

He said reducing federal spending in some, but not all, cases will involve reducing the number of employees.

How much power does Elon Musk have?

Musk’s main source of power is his friendship with Trump, Bentz said.

Forest Service employment — at what point would you be concerned that the agency has shrunk too much?

Bentz said it has been “extraordinarily sad” to watch the Forest Service thwarted by what he called “serial litigators.”

Spending more money to hire agency employees to fight these lawsuits is “not the proper place to put the money,” Bentz said.

Rather, he called for changing laws to ensure that the Forest Service can focus on improving public forests.

DOGE accessing private records

Terry Strommer of Oxbow, a disabled veteran, asked Bentz if he believes Musk and his team have the authority to access private records of citizens, such as Medicaid and Medicare.

“Do you think he’s doing it right,” Strommer asked Bentz. “I don’t see him answering to anybody.”

Bentz said the “approach Elon Musk is using” has been approved by a court. (DOGE is facing at least 11 pending lawsuits over data access and privacy.)

Bentz called Musk a “world-renowned expert in computer analysis.”

Bentz said the government needs to root out clear cases of money being misspent, “because we need the money.”

With regard to DOGE accessing private data, Bentz said, “I don’t want my data looked at unless it’s done appropriately.”

Concerns about firing federal workers; who’s going to work to improve forest health?

Bentz said, “boy is it hard to shrink government.” He said most federal employees are working hard.

Bentz said that if Musk or DOGE has exceeded their authority, the courts will hold them accountable.

“I would say to you, how would you shrink government?” he said.

Bentz asked whether people want higher income tax rates for the wealthy.

Several audience members answered in the affirmative.

Ratliff called on Congress to “take responsibility for the unsustainable budgets” rather than trying to deal with the situation by targeting federal employees.

She said Congress “has plenty of power” to address the situation and needn’t wait for judges to “bail you out.”