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Senators, do your jobs By Ashland Tidings Editorial Board Jun 21, 2019 12:00 AM A A Oregon’s Republican senators have decided to thumb their noses at majority Democrats by walking out and fleeing the state. They will likely accomplish nothing beyond an empty gesture, and could wind up seeing bills they had managed to kill resurrected. The walkout came over House Bill 2020, which would charge polluting industries by the ton for the greenhouse gases they emit and devote the proceeds to adapting the state to the impacts of climate change and reducing its carbon footprint. Republicans say the bill will hurt the rural areas they represent, increasing gas prices and costing jobs because employers will leave. As long as the walkout lasts, the climate vote won’t happen. But the Legislature must finish the budget by June 30. Gov. Kate Brown has planned a special session for July 2, but everything would start over at that point, costing taxpayers by the day. Republicans walked out once before this session, returning after the Democrats agreed to pull a gun-control bill and a controversial measure to end non-medical exemptions to mandatory child vaccinations. In return, Republicans agreed they would not walk out again. They just broke that promise, and the vaccine and gun bills could come back. Republicans don’t have the votes to defeat the climate bill because they didn’t win enough seats. So they are refusing to do the job they were elected to do. Republican senators should come back, face the music and act like the responsible adults they are supposed to be. DT_editorial.jpg