Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

The PCC delegation has arrived in Washington

Photos and story by Dana Haynes

OK, the PCC delegation is here in Washington, D.C.

With us is President Preston Pulliams; board members Denise Frisbee, Harold Williams and Jaime Lim; Rock Creek President David Rule; Lorna O’Guinn, aide to the board of directions; and me.

We’re here to speak to our congressional representatives. Other Oregon community colleges have sent delegates as well.

This morning, we heard from Scott Lilly, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. He discussed the economic stimulus plan now working its way through Congress. His message: Spending money to create more jobs does more for the immediate economy than fixing the Alternative Minimum Tax, which the Senate version of the stimulus plan does. Lilly said you pay somebody to re-fit a boiler or fix a road, and that person will spend money on food, on luxuries, on his or her home, etc. Fix the AMT, and people will save more money, not spend more money. He’s in favor of tax reform; he just knows it’s not an economic stimulant.

We also heard from Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education. He used to serve West Virginia as a congressman and governor. A lot of his focus is on middle and high schools, and how fixing those systems will let community colleges focus on something other than remedial classes.

We have a lunch and some breakout sessions. Starting tomorrow, we’ll pack up our troops and take the Metro to the Hill, to make our case to Oregon’s representatives and senators. I’ll fill on you on how that goes tomorrow.

dana