Fact check: Kotek blames $15B loss on Trump?

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon
OregonWatchdog.com

Oregon Governor Tina Kotek made headlines this week by blaming President Trump (Big Beautiful Bill, Executive Orders, etc..) for causing Oregon to lose $15 billion dollars for the State Budget over the next few years.

This is where we need to lay out the facts and context so the public gets the complete story. Although it will take some time to dig through the just released state numbers, in the interest of time responding immediately to Governor Kotek’s press release, we will provide some big picture answers.

• The Feds are cracking down on medicaid cheats and people abusing the system. The new Medicaid rules target able-bodied adults (without children, without disability, under 64) by requiring them to get a job, or job training, or schooling, or community service.  Nearly half-of these able-bodied men on Medicaid would not be on Medicaid if it were not for the relaxing of eligibility rules over the Obama and Biden administration.  For those on Medicaid who aren’t reporting any employment, their most frequent activity (not including sleeping) is engaging with television and video games. On average, these able-bodied adult men dedicate about 4.2 hours each day to watching videos or playing games, which totals around 125 hours over a typical 30-day month.   These able-bodied males need to be contributing to society instead of becoming 30-year-old wards of the state.

• The Feds are cracking down on people abusing Food Stamps. Just like Medicaid reform, the same requirements are being placed on able-bodied adults by requiring them to get a job, training, or community service.  In the 1990s welfare work requirements helped move millions from government dependency and into rewarding, productive work.    This means Oregon government will spend millions less of tax dollars on welfare dependency and in return they will be adding millions in new tax revenue from the jobs they move into.   Oregon has been working hard to push people into food stamps — making it a food stamp leader in America.

•The Feds are trying to crack down on unnecessary Medicaid spending.

• The Feds are cracking down on using Medicaid dollars for illegal migrants.  This practice is already illegal, but it is being abused or ignored.  New rules aim to enforce existing laws and policies of not using tax dollars to illegal migrants.  California Governor, Gavin Newsom, recently proposed scaling back health programs for illegal migrants and said it would save his state billions.  By shutting off the free government programs for illegal migrants you help stop the attraction of new migrants who flock to the opportunity. As a result, each state will save millions from new people being signed up.

• The Feds are closing down the loophole scheme that many states use to trigger more federal medicaid funding for their state.   The new rules will step down amount of health provider taxes a state can levy from 6% of net patient revenue to 3.5%.  Liberal states, like Oregon, were over-taxing health care providers as a way of getting more federal dollars (for which some of it was re-routed back to help the over-taxed providers in other areas which made everything such a ruse).  It is unfair and inexcusable for states to cheat the system and create unequal health care funding between states.

• Trump cancelled the outrageous Rose Quarter tunnel program.  The good idea to expand road access to one of Oregon’s most busiest choke points at the Blazer arena, was made much worse when Oregon expanded it to include building a roof over Interstate-5 in order to build homes, shops and a park on top of it.  Costs tripled to nearly a billion dollars.  Oregon wanted the Federal government to make it all happen.   Portland won’t allow people to build homes and shops on vacant properties (Urban Growth Boundary), but they will let you build on homes and shops on top of an Interstate highway and use your tax dollars to subsidize it.  That’s not how it works.

• How does Kotek plan to help fix the nation’s $36 trillion dollar debt?  If Governor Kotek opposes stopping the practice of giving tax dollars to non-citizens and able-bodied adults as a way of saving tax dollars, then exactly how does she plan to help America reduce the $36 trillion dollar Federal deficit?

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