An AuCoin Report letter titled "Update: Social Security" published by the office of US Congressman Les AuCoin on August 18, 1982. In the letter, Congressman AuCoin advocated for protecting Social Security benefits from cuts by the Ronald Reagan Administration. Attached to the letter is a copy of a speech by Congressman AuCoin found in the Congressional Record titled "An All-Out Campaign to Cut Entitlements," delivered on the same day.
An AuCoin Report letter titled "Update: Salmon Seasons" published by the office of US Congressman Les AuCoin in August 1982. In the letter, Congressman AuCoin advocating for more fisheries research on salmon seasons in Oregon -- the limiting of commercial and recreational fishing for coho salmon when quotas allowed by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission and the Pacific Fisheries Management Council were exceeded -- and the Oregon Production Index (OPI). Attached to the letter is a copy a speech by Congressman AuCoin found in the Congressional Record titled "Gao Asked to Study Fisheries Quotas," delivered on August 13, 1982.
Extension of Remarks of US Congressman Les AuCoin containing letters regarding the Ronald Reagan Administration's proposal to sell off "surplus" Oregon public lands, published on September 14, 1982. The Extension of Remarks statement includes a copy of a letter which was sent to Congressman AuCoin by one of his constituents, Joe Reinhart of Portland, Oregon. Both Reinhart and Congressman AuCoin criticized the Reagan Administration's plan.
Extension of Remarks by US Congressman Les AuCoin containing an insert of Oregon Business magazine article "The Threat of Waterway User Charges" by Dan Poush. In his Extension of Remarks statement published on September 15, 1981, Congressman AuCoin stated: "I am seriously concerned that [the "user charges"] proposals now being considered will cripple shipping commerce and international trade on the West Coast and in my own state of Oregon."
An AuCoin Report letter titled "Update: Nuclear Power," published by the office of US Congressman Les AuCoin on August 1, 1982. In the letter, Congressman AuCoin criticized the Clinch River Breeder Reactor nuclear project and its $252 million budget proposed by the Ronald Reagan Administration. He also attached an excerpt from the Congressional Record containing his statement that he gave regarding the Clinch River Breeder Reactor nuclear project on July 29, 1982.
Address of US Congressman Les AuCoin delivered before the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) convention in Oregon in 1982. In his address, Congressman AuCoin discussed President Reagan vetoing an anti-recession housing bill, unemployment, and the 1982 midterm elections, stating "This, my friends, is a fight, a fight over who is going to run America. Is it going to be rich men who have never stood in unemployment lines and have no understanding of what it means to be a construction boiler maker, the ranks of whom today are 90 per cent unemployed? Is this country going to be run by rich men and ultraconservatives who have no conception of what Reaganomics are doing to devastate the communities and families across this state and across this country? Or instead, is this great country going to be run by you, and your neighbors, and by workers everywhere...?"
Testimony of US Congressman Les AuCoin before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Public Assistance and Unemployment Compensation advocating for HR7327 - A bill to increase the number of weeks for which Federal supplemental unemployment compensation is payable. In his testimony delivered on December 8, 1982, Congressman AuCoin described how 11 million Americans were out of work, with the unemployment being higher in Oregon than the national average (11.5% versus 10.8%, respectively). He described how 12,500 Oregonians were expected to lose their unemployment benefits unless further legislation, specifically HR7327, was passed.
Testimony of US Congressman Les AuCoin regarding legislation to resolve the issues of RARE (Roadless Area Review and Evalutions) II in Oregon, delivered before the House Interior Subcommittee on Public Lands and National Parks on December 6, 1982.
US Congressman Les AuCoin's remarks delivered at a luncheon hosted by the Izaak Walton League in Portland, Oregon on October 29, 1982. The League was an environmental conservation organization with a special focus on clean water. In his speech, Congressman AuCoin discussed the state of the timber based economy, his then recent experiences as a member of the Appropriations Committee in Congress, and an upcoming vote for the National Forest Service Budget.
A House floor statement by US Congressman Les AuCoin advocating in support of H.R. 4374, the Shipping Act of 1982. In his speech, Congressman AuCoin described how the bill would address issues pertaining to the high costs of transporting goods from the United States by ensuring competitive rates.
US Congressman Les AuCoin's remarks before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Monopolies and Commercial Law on September 9, 1982. In his speech, US Congressman AuCoin described the struggling Oregon economy, which suffered from high unemployment, a floundering timber industry, and the economic policies of the Ronald Reagan Administration. AuCoin expressed his opposition towards the Antitrust Equal Enforcement Act, which he deemed to be a bailout for -- and organized by -- timber companies.
US Congressman Les AuCoin's House floor remarks on September 16, 1982 advocating for H.R. 562, which would have provided urgent supplemental appropriation to help aid unemployed Americans, and Oregonians especially, in getting back to work. Critical of Ronald Reagan's economic policies, AuCoin asserted that the Reagan Administration had "cleaned the economy of jobs and businesses faster than any administration since Herbert Hoover's."
The House floor remarks of US Congressman Les AuCoin advocating for H.R. 6863, the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 1982, on August 18, 1982. In his speech, Congressman AuCoin expresses his support of the bill's inclusion of additional appropriations for federally supported education programs, and describes how the bill was criticized by the Reagan Administration for decreasing defense, military, and foreign aid spending.
An Extension of Remarks statement by US Congressman Les AuCoin condemning Reaganomics and its impact on Oregonians, on the occasion of what Congressman AuCoin calls the first anniversary of Reaganomics on August 4, 1982.
A copy of a congressional record statement titled "Swan Song for Clinch River," in reference to costly failure of the nuclear Clinch River Breeder Reactor Project in Tennessee, delivered by US Congressman Les AuCoin. A copy of the statement was sent to Congresman AuCoin, who seemingly wrote notes in the margins additionally criticizing the project, stating "It's too bad for America, too, that Mr. Howard Baker's pet project wasn't solar or renewable energy; why is it that political back-scratching never seems to benefit the causes that will do the nation the most good?" A draft letter by AuCoin to the Reagan Administration is attached to the end of the statement copy, calling the Clinch River Breeder Reactor Project "expensive, dangerous, and unnecessary."
A statement for special order regarding the refusenik situation in the Soviet Union, delivered on the US House floor by US Congressman Les AuCoin on July 20, 1982. In his speech, Congressman AuCoin advocated for the thousands of "refuseniks," or Soviet Jews of the late twentieth century who were denied visas to emigrate by the Soviet government. He specifically mentions the story of Ida Nudel, a refusenik who had been trying to leave the Soviet Union for 11 years and had "been subjected to government harassment, social ostracism, KGB arrest, and finally, imprisonment in Siberia under the harshest conditions."
A speech delivered by US Congressman Les AuCoin at a labor convention in Coos Bay, Oregon on June 29, 1982. In his speech, Congressman AuCoin advocated for the "tax-paying, middle-American person" who he argued was ignored by the Ronald Reagan Administration, further criticizing Reaganomics and how Raegan had then recently vetoed an anti-recession housing bill.
A brief speech delivered by US Congressman Les AuCoin introducing colleagues at a hearing on the question of a nuclear weapons freeze in Portland, Oregon in the early 1980s. In his speech, Congressman AuCoin specifically mentions by name Congressman Jim Weaver, though states that "each one of the members of the Congress who are participating in this hearing has fought against the arms race throughout his career in the House of Representatives and each of us has been committed from the beginning, to the question of a Nuclear Weapons Freeze.
An Extension of Remarks insert by US Congressman Henry A. Waxman sharing a 1981 speech delivered by US Congressman Les AuCoin at the Oregon Committee for Israel Bonds. Referencing George Orwell's 1984 in his speech, Congressman AuCoin criticized the Reagan Administration's proposal to sell offensive arms to Saudi Arabia (the US–Saudi Arabia AWACS Sale), a country in which the US had a history of oil pricing disputes with, instead describing Israel as the true "dependable friend in the Middle East." Congressman Waxman states in the introduction of the extension of remarks: "Mr. Speaker, as the gentleman for Oregon points out, Israel is an island of stability surrounded by precarious and capricious enemies. Let us, for a moment, appreciate the benefits of our friendship with Israel as we consider Mr. AuCoin's remarks."
A speech by US Congressman Les AuCoin delivered at the Oregon Human Development Corporation, a farmworker-serving non-profit organization, on May 15, 1982. In his speech, Congressman AuCoin discussed the Hispanic community in Washington County; the increase in Hispanics in business management, colleges, and government service; his past visit to the Virginia Garcia Center; and the federal budget, arms control, the B-1 bomber, and describing how "The $4.2 billion going into bomb shelters could be better spent on the Virginia Garcia Centers and in the farm workers housing and in all the housing for all Americans then in that category."
A speech by US Congressman Les AuCoin advocating for arms control and building a peace admist national discussions of nuclear weaponry and building up arsenals in the defense budget. Delivered in the early years of the Reagan administration, Congressman AuCoin referenced the 1969 book "War by Timetables" by J. P. Taylor and states that "This member of congress has not voted for a single defense appropriations bill since he was elected to office eight years ago-- not a single one. And there's a very simple reason for that -- because it's not longer a defense budget anymore, it is a military provocation budget."
A Wall Street Journal newspaper article titled "Can Congress Staunch Red-Ink Flow?" by US Congressman Les AuCoin published on March 18, 1982. In his article, Congressman AuCoin discussed the $91.5 billion deficit proposed by President Reagan and criticized a previous editorial published on March 8 of that year titled "Deficit Hypocrisy."
The remarks of US Congressman Les AuCoin announcing his candidacy for a fifth term in Congress at a press conference at the Hilton Hotel in Portland, Oregon on March 8, 1982.
The remarks of US Congressman Les AuCoin at the Small Business Hearings in Oregon sometime in the early years of the Ronald Reagan administration. In his remarks, Congressman AuCoin discussed the notable economic debates of the era and their impacts on both the national level and the local level. Criticizing what is now known as Reaganomics, AuCoin questioned and stated "Is it fair or workable to have an economic policy which exempts oil companies from windfall profits taxes and allows the largest corporations to sell their paper tax losses -- while offering no relief to small business from history's largest peacetime tax increase, the 1977 payroll tax hike? Is it fair or workable to have an economic strategy that abandons the 1984 goal of a balanced budget, produces projected deficits of $300 billion in three years and, with that, the continuation of high interest rates? I believe it clearly is not workable -- the collapse of the housing timber, automobile, and thrift industries is clear evidence."
