Patty Snow for Congress

Platform Priorities

If our country has any chance of regaining its position as a role-model for freedom and defending human rights, we must immediately stop the dismantling of the foundation our country was built on. My priorities are inspired by the Preamble to the United States Constitution.

Priority

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Form a More Perfect Union

  • This administration and its MAGA supporters want to rule our country with fear. To do this, they make up “facts”, try to turn us against each other and attempt to control us by taking away our rights and erasing portions of our country’s history. Immediately after taking office, Trump began:

    • Reversing of women’s rights 

    • Erasing minority contributions from books and websites

    • Waging war against transgender individuals

    • Weakening LGBTQ+ rights

    • Using hate speech and legal action against anyone who spoke against him in order to intimidate them into submission

    These actions are intended to turn us against one another and make us feel disempowered. But the people of this country are stronger and smarter than Trump and we will not allow him to tear us apart. 

    In Congress, I will work to bring back DEI programs and protections, restore a woman’s right to control her own body and reinstate online and written history of our country’s minority accomplishments. 

    This is OUR country and we will not be torn apart by a subset of society bent on controlling us.

Establish Justice

  • The current administration has, on multiple occasions, demonstrated that they believe they do not have to abide by our country’s laws. One of the most blatant violations is their disregard for the Fifth Amendment. The Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause states that no “person” shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. 


    Similarly, the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause extends this protection to actions by states, ensuring fair treatment under the law for all individuals within their jurisdiction. This means that government actions affecting any person must follow established legal procedures and be applied fairly.


    The Fourteenth Amendment also includes the Equal Protection Clause, which mandates that no state shall deny any “person” within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. This clause prevents states from enacting discriminatory laws or policies that treat individuals unequally without a legitimate governmental reason. The Supreme Court affirmed this principle in Wong Wing v. United States (1896), establishing that non-citizens, even those present without legal authorization, are entitled to Fifth and Sixth Amendment protections in criminal proceedings.


    I wholeheartedly believe that we must have strong borders to protect our country. However, I do NOT agree that the administration has the right to have masked, often unidentified, ICE agents grab people off the street without a warrant and have them sent out of the country without due process of law. We have already seen numerous cases of immigrants who are following the guidelines GIVEN TO THEM BY OUR GOVERNMENT in order to gain citizenship, and are appearing for their mandated reviews, only to be grabbed from inside courthouses and detained or deported.


    If we want to solve the illegal immigrant crisis, then we should focus on HELPING qualified immigrants who want to better their lives or escape violence in their home country to become citizens. Our country chose to include the words of Jewish American poet, Emma Lazarus, on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty:


    “Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
    With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
    Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
    The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
    Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
    I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”


    I will fight to make those words true again by doing everything in my power to ensure that ALL people are treated fairly under the laws of our country and, when immigrants seek out the freedoms and possibilities our country offers, they will find assistance in improving their lives and not masked assaults.

Insure Domestic Tranquility

  • President Trump has made it clear that his idea of maintaining “peace” and order is by launching our military against US citizens. Must protests be peaceful? Yes. Must law enforcement be allowed to carry out their duties to protect citizens? Yes. Does this mean that our rights can be ignored? NO. 


    If we want to maintain peace and order within our country, the government must listen to the concerns of the people rather than threaten to silence them with force. One of our greatest leaders, President Abraham Lincoln, addressed a similar time of division in our country with these words:


    “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

    Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

    But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate – we can not consecrate – we can not hallow – this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”


    I will stand with the members of my district, the people of Oregon and the citizens of the United States to remind our leaders that our government is here to serve the people, and not the other way around.

Provide for the Common Defence

  • We have arguably the greatest military force in the world and therefore should be considered to have the greatest strength. However, within a few short months of taking office, President Trump managed to alienate our allies, buddy up with dictators and threaten to use force if necessary to annex Canada and Greenland – whether they want it or not! In essence, he has destroyed relationships that have supported the United States, pandered to the wishes of authoritarian regimes and created a fear that America will try to take over countries much like his buddy, Putin.


    Since taking office, Trump has haphazardly burdened world partners with excessive tariffs raising the costs on our own citizens. He has withdrawn the United States from the World Health Organization and declared that the US was withdrawing from the United Nations Human Rights Council. (The latter technically wasn’t allowed since, as of January 1, 2025, the US was no longer a member of the council and therefore could not withdraw.) But the administration’s desire to abandon our ally organizations doesn’t stop there. A bill has been introduced by Republicans in the Senate to have the President withdraw the United States from NATO and there is even a push to quit the United Nations. Proponents of these actions claim sovereignty, but they completely ignore the importance of international cooperation in addressing global challenges.


    By abandoning the countries who share our long-held beliefs in freedom and human rights and crippling trade due to unrealistic tariffs, we have sewn the seed of doubt in the world that America still believes in the values of personal freedom, and we have made it clear that we don’t respect our world partners. 


    The United States is not an island. Our economy and our security rely on the support of our world partners. Great leaders in business and government work with others, not against them. 


    In Congress, I will join with other Representatives and Senators who understand the importance of maintaining our global partnerships and demand that Congress regain its authority to impose tariffs as outlined in the Constitution. I will also fight for the United States to remain as a valued member in NATO and the United Nations. 

Promote the General Welfare

  • Healthcare: According to the Congressional Budget Office, the recently passed Reconciliation Bill will reduce federal healthcare spending by approximately $1.15 trillion over the next decade but also will increase the number of uninsured individuals by 11.8 million by 2034 because of changes to both Medicaid and Marketplace programs. In our district alone, 39% of our residents are on Medicaid – that is roughly 278,000 people - and a staggering 70% of the children rely on OHP for their healthcare.

    Despite his claim that he would protect our district’s rural hospitals by defending the Provider Tax paid by hospitals and medical offices providing care to Medicaid patients, Cliff Bentz voted IN FAVOR of cutting the tax. According to the CEO of the Hospital Association of Oregon, the Provider Tax covers more than 25% of the costs of OHP. If our hospitals, particularly those in rural areas, lose this money, it will have catastrophic effects on not only the hospitals but also on the communities they serve.

    Food Programs: In addition to cutting healthcare funding, the administration has cut $1 billion in local food programs across the country. According to the Oregon Department of Agriculture, our state will lose $5 million that was earmarked for our school meal programs and $1 million for child day care centers and Head Start Programs. 

    According to the 2023 Census Report, Oregon’s 2nd District has a poverty level of 15.2%. That is 25% higher than the national poverty rate. The report showed that 20% of our district’s children and 11% of our seniors live below the poverty line.

    My top priorities in Congress will be to protect our rural hospitals, ensure that our children and the underprivileged are fed and that the sick and elderly can afford healthcare.

Secure the Blessings of Liberty

  • In order to protect the freedoms and rights of current and future generations, we must ensure that those rights and freedoms are protected in every state. Although States must be allowed to create laws to protect their citizens and maintain their land, they should NOT be allowed to take away rights from people in the political minority of their state. Fundamental rights should be guaranteed to all American citizens regardless of where they live. These rights include but are not limited to:

    • A woman’s right to have control over her body

    • The separation of church and state in our government offices and schools

    • LGBTQ+ individuals right to marry

    • The right for transgender individuals to serve in the military and government offices

    I will stand up for the rights of all people, and my focus – and votes -  will always be guided by the best interests of the citizens of my district.

Below is a blast from the past, and the way most of us learned the Preamble!
Sometimes the lessons we learn as children truly are the most important.