{"id":1852020,"date":"2023-02-18T08:50:33","date_gmt":"2023-02-18T13:50:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1852020"},"modified":"2023-02-18T08:54:40","modified_gmt":"2023-02-18T13:54:40","slug":"idaho-house-passes-bill-to-explore-absorbing-counties-from-eastern-oregon-into-greater-idaho","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/idaho-house-passes-bill-to-explore-absorbing-counties-from-eastern-oregon-into-greater-idaho\/","title":{"rendered":"Idaho House Passes Bill to Explore Absorbing Counties From Eastern Oregon Into &#8220;Greater Idaho&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fidaho-house-passes-bill-to-explore-absorbing-counties-from-eastern-oregon-into-greater-idaho%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1852020&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47-->\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/oregon-yt-tn-v1.001-1200x675-1.png\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\"   style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-idaho\">Idaho<\/a> House votes in favor of bill to merge nearly a dozen conservatively-leaning counties in eastern <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-oregon\">Oregon<\/a> Idaho is adjacent<\/p>\n<p>On Feb. 15, the Idaho chamber voted 41-28, with one abstention, supporting HJM1\u2014the &#8220;Greater Idaho&#8221; bill.<\/p>\n<p>Now, the bill is sent to the state Senate for a final vote.<\/p>\n<p>Greater Idaho, a movement claiming to be a part of the Idaho-Oregon Alliance, wants to join 15 conservative counties in eastern Oregon and Idaho. They claim it would reduce political tensions and gridlock in Oregon and provide other benefits.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Political Tensions would disappear<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>These include eliminating the need for the state of Oregon to subvention its east and south.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Almost everybody will agree that we are very divided and that it causes tension. People recognize there is a problem. We&#8217;re offering a solution that makes sense,&#8221; Matt McCaw, spokesperson for the Greater Idaho Movement of Oregon.<\/p>\n<p>He claimed that political tension would disappear &#8220;if you get people matched up to the government they want.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Out of 36 Oregon counties, 11 have voted for the merger.<\/p>\n<p>With a large majority vote, the measure was approved by both Wheeler and Morrow counties in November 8.<\/p>\n<p>McCaw stated that studies and polls show that many Oregonians are in favor of shifting the state boundary to Idaho and changing the state&#8217;s governance.<\/p>\n<p>However, legislation is the most important. &#8220;We have not had as much interest moving this bill forward in Oregon as we have in Idaho,&#8221; McCaw spoke to The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re hopeful the legislative leaders in Oregon will hear what the people are asking and saying, and move these forward.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>McCaw stated that there are &#8220;many good reasons&#8221; for the merger, and many economic as well as political benefits to reap.<\/p>\n<p>Though Oregon would lose about 400,000 residents\u2014about 9 percent\u2014it would help resolve the longstanding political divide between the eastern and western parts of the state, proponents said.<\/p>\n<p>Nearly half of the state votes Republican and conservative.<\/p>\n<h2>A Conservative Proposal<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;Everybody understands the problem. Everybody is ready to look at this as a solution,&#8221; McCaw added.<\/p>\n<p>McCaw claimed that the bill was &#8220;moving fast&#8221; Idaho is home to the bill, and its sponsors hope that the Senate will start hearings within the next month.<\/p>\n<p>If the bill is passed by both state legislatures, then the next step would have to be to gather delegations to negotiate the merger and other details through an interstate compact.<\/p>\n<p>McCaw indicated that the U.S. Congress would ultimately approve of the border realignment. However, McCaw suggested that it would be easier to do so. &#8220;formality.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re moving fast in Idaho. We&#8217;re excited about that,&#8221; He said.<\/p>\n<p>A poll found that 68 percent support exploring this idea in the northwestern Oregon.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Eastern Oregon deserves a chance to present this proposal to Oregon state leaders,&#8221; According to a Greater Idaho press release.<\/p>\n<p>The Claremont Institute also found that the merger would end tax subsidies to eastern and southern Oregon by more wealthy western Oregonians.<\/p>\n<p>Idaho&#8217;s lower taxes and regulations would make it a better place to live with an infusion of $170million annually in tax revenues.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Therefore, if eastern Oregonians brought their share of their state government&#8217;s assets and debts into Idaho, they would hardly change Idaho&#8217;s per-person net assets,&#8221; According to Greater Idaho<\/p>\n<p>McCaw stated that all bill supporters want is a fair hearing in Oregon. He called it a &#8216;fair hearing&#8217;. &#8220;win-win&#8221; For both states.<\/p>\n<p>The Epoch Times reached out several Oregon House Members, but they did not respond by the deadline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Idaho House votes in favor of bill to merge nearly a dozen conservatively-leaning counties in eastern Oregon Idaho is adjacent On Feb. 15, the Idaho chamber voted 41-28, with one abstention, supporting HJM1\u2014the &#8220;Greater Idaho&#8221; bill. Now, the bill is sent to the state Senate for a final vote. Greater Idaho, a movement claiming &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1852023,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[19009,3776,14188,5847,11934,3653,6318,6642,5448],"class_list":["post-1852020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report","tag-absorbing","tag-counties","tag-eastern","tag-explore","tag-greater","tag-house","tag-idaho","tag-oregon","tag-passes"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1852020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1852020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1852020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1852023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1852020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1852020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1852020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}