Salmon runs are up this year, apparently because of changes in ocean temperatures. The morning protest was the first Gorton encountered in a whistle-stop tour of the state. But he said he wasn't surprised to see either the salmon coalition or tribal activists. Along with his stance on dams, Gorton has angered tribes on issues covering tribal sovereignty and funding for Indian programs. On other issues, Gorton repeated a promise to force drug companies to lower their prices by passing a law that requires them to charge U.S. distributors no more than they charge foreign distributors.
Many American drugs are cheaper in Canada, Mexico or other countries.
His plan is an amendment of a 1935 law that keeps drug prices equal in different states. Pharmaceutical companies say the plan amounts to price controls. He also said he'd continue to push for a law that would remove sanctions that prevent the sale of U.S. food and medicine to some foreign countries. The proposal has support from farmers who want more foreign markets open to their crops, and humanitarian groups who say that sanctions hurt civilians, not foreign regimes or their troops. Gorton is seeking his fourth term in the Senate.