Greg Walden

Party leadership

Walden was chosen by Speaker John Boehner to be chairman of the House Majority Transition Committee. He served as chairman of the House Republican Leadership through most of 2010.^[7]

Following the 2012 Elections, Walden became chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee. In July 2014, he announced he would seek a second term as chairman of the committee, arguing he would help provide continuity in a changing leadership team after the defeat of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.^[8] He served a second term, the traditional limit for holders of that office, ending in 2016.

Committee assignments

• Committee on Energy and Commerce
  • Subcommittee on Communications and Technology (Chairman)
  • Subcommittee on Energy and Power

From 2010 to 2011, Walden gave up his seat on the Committee on Energy and Commerce, at Republican leadership request so that Parker Griffith, who had recently switched parties, could take his spot on that committee.^[9]

Walden founded the Small Brewers Caucus (see Alcohol in Oregon) and the Digital Television Caucus; as of 2007, he was a member of 39 congressional caucuses.^[10]

Oregon Congressmen Earl Blumenauer (left) and Walden, hiking on Mount Hood during a 2005 fact-finding trip.^[11]

Walden is also a member of the centrist Republican Main Street Partnership,^[12] the Congressional Cement Caucus and the Congressional Western Caucus.^[13]

Legislation sponsored

The following is an incomplete list of legislation that Walden introduced into the House of Representatives.

• Central Oregon Jobs and Water Security Act (H.R. 2640; 113th Congress) – a land-use and water bill related to the Crooked River in Oregon and the Bowman Dam.^[14] H.R. 2640 would modify features of the Crooked River Project located in central Oregon, near the city of Prineville, and prioritize how water from the project would be allocated for different uses.^[15]
• Federal Communications Commission Process Reform Act of 2013 (H.R. 3675; 113th Congress) – a bill that would make a number of changes to procedures that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) follows in its rulemaking processes.^[16] The FCC would have to act in a more transparent way as a result of this bill, forced to accept public input about regulations.^[17] Walden indicated that the bill was written in response, among other things, to a proposed FCC study on the decisions made by newspaper editorial boards.^[17] Walden argued that "Americans deserve greater... transparency and accountability from their government," particularly because "an item as controversial as this study made it all the way through the FCC without so much as a commission vote."^[17] The study was deemed "dangerous" by him, because it threatened the free speech and freedom of the press rights of the newspapers.^[17]
• Hermiston Reversionary Interest Release Act (H.R. 3366; 113th Congress) – a bill that would release the interest of the United States in some land currently being used for Oregon State University's Hermiston Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Hermiston, Oregon.^[18] This would enable the Hermiston Agricultural Research and Extension Center to relocate without the land it is currently on being returned to the federal government.^[19] The Bureau of Land Management opposed the bill and it died in the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. The bill was signed into law by President Barack Obama in December 2014.
• STELA Reauthorization Act of 2014 (H.R. 4572; 113th Congress) – a bill related to the regulation of satellite broadcasting in the United States.^[20]

Intervention in Malheur Wildlife Refuge issues

Walden, whose district office incorporates the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, said, although one militant was killed and another wounded in the armed occupation of the refuge, "We can all be grateful that today has ended peacefully, and that this situation is finally over. Now, life in Harney County can begin to return to normal and the community can begin the long process of healing." Walden complained about allegedly poor federal forest and land management policies during the occupation, and said he would like to see changes to those policies: "We need to foster a more cooperative spirit between the federal agencies and the people who call areas like Harney County home."^[21] On June 27, 2018, on the floor of the House of Representatives, Walden pleaded for a pardon for Dwight and Steven Hammond, who repeatedly committed arsons and threatened federal refuge workers, over an 18-year period, saying that the original trial's federal Judge Michael Robert Hogan said that the mandatory sentence would, "...shock the conscious (sic)." On July 10, Trump pardoned both men, commuting their sentences to time served.^[22] Stephen had been scheduled to be released on June 29, 2019 and Dwight on February 13, 2020.^[23]

Business interests

On January 31, 2007, Walden sold Columbia Gorge Broadcasting, which runs five stations in the eastern Columbia River Gorge, to Bicoastal Columbia River LLC in order to avoid any conflict of interest that might arise with his congressional duties.^[25]