Sen. Ron Wyden continued his tour through Eastern Oregon on Tuesday with a stop in the Grande Ronde Valley to hold a town hall at La Grande High School.

With around a hundred people in the audience, high school students and community members asked the senior Democratic senator from Oregon a host of questions covering a wide range of topics, from health care to sanctions for Saudi Arabia.

At the onset of the town hall, Wyden explained when he was first elected he promised to hold town halls in every county in Oregon every year he is in office. The La Grande gathering was his 909th town hall meeting since becoming senator in 1996 .

“There is no substitute, in my view, for people being able to look you in the eye and ask a question, make a statement, get a sense of where you are,” he said. “For me, this is what I believe I owe Oregonians. I made a promise to do it.”

This week, Wyden’s trip includes town halls in Gilliam, Umatilla, Union and Baker Counties.

On Tuesday, the students asked questions about National Security Agency surveillance, which Wyden questioned then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper about in 2013. Wyden asked Clapper if the NSA was collecting any data on hundreds of millions of Americans. Clapper replied no. Whistleblower Edward Snowden later revealed NSA surveillance programs were collecting data.

Wyden was also asked questions about women’s rights to have an abortion; upcoming Oregon ballot Measure 105, which would overturn the state’s sanctuary state law; health care; and gun control.

He told The Observer after the town hall he was impressed by the questions from the students.

“The students here did such a great job. They had really thought about the questions they wanted to ask, (and) they asked them in a really thoughtful kind of way,” Wyden said. “I think we canvassed a whole array of issues.”

Wyden — who is a member of the senate committees on the budget, energy and natural resources, and intelligence, and is also the ranking member of the joint committee on taxation and the committee on finance — reiterated his positions on immigration, abortion rights and gun control.

Wyden said he encouraged Oregonians to vote no on Measure 105, which would repeal Oregon’s sanctuary state status. He told a story of a Latina woman approaching him outside a store in Portland and telling him she was afraid to get a prescription filled for her sick son in a pharmacy because she was undocumented and worried the pharmacist would call ICE.

“I think that’s what that ballot measure is going to do,” Wyden said. “You will have people not coming forward, whether it’s health care and a prescription, or law enforcement and the like. I think it’s a tough call. People can have a difference of opinion, but I’m voting no.”

See more in Wednesday’s edition of The Observer.