Sen. Starr, Rep. Elmer issue budget reply

By NW Spotlight,

Here is an excerpt from the Sunday Oregonian Guest Opinion from Oregon State Senator and Senate Republican Leader Bruce Starr and Oregon State Representative and House Republican Leader Lucetta Elmer.

“That is why the recent op-ed by the Co-Chairs of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means, blaming Oregon’s billion-dollar budget problem on federal action, misses the larger truth… Oregon’s affordability crisis and budget instability didn’t magically appear overnight due to federal policies passed in Washington, D.C. They started here at home. Oregon’s budget challenges were caused by years of unsustainable policymaking, questionable spending and an unwillingness to pump the brakes when the warning signs were clear.

Here are the simple facts.

First, Oregon has been losing private-sector jobs at a rate we haven’t seen in more than a decade. Our state’s unemployment rate climbed to 5% in August—the highest since the pandemic, and a recent Oregonian/OregonLive article revealed our income growth has fallen more than three times behind the national average over the past two years. Major employers have downsized or moved operations out of state because Oregon has become too expensive and unpredictable a place to do business. When the private economy struggles, state revenue eventually follows. That is not a federal problem—it is an Oregon problem.

Second, Oregon’s budget grew far faster than our population or economy. Agencies expanded programs without ensuring strong oversight, leading to costly mistakes—like one of the nation’s highest overpayment error rates for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Plan – more than double the error rate required to retain full federal funding. That isn’t the result of federal cuts. It is the result of state mismanagement.

Third, Oregon has over-relied on federal dollars to backfill weaknesses in our own system for far too long. Today, one in three Oregonians and more than half of Oregon’s children are on Medicaid. Ensuring vulnerable families receive health care matters deeply – but long-term dependence on high levels of federal funding is not a sustainable fiscal structure. What we’re experiencing is a correction—not a surprise.  … There is no greater proof of this than the 150,000 signatures collected in a little over a week to send the newly passed $4.3 billion transportation tax to a vote of the people, after Gov. Tina Kotek and legislative Democrats ignored Oregonians’ opposition at every turn. “

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