Firings will hurt eastern Oregon
To the Editor:
It should be of interest to all of us living here in Eastern Oregon that Rep. Cliff Bentz was in a New York Times article about likely cuts to Medicaid. (Feb. 27)
The article discussed the House vote on the budget bill, which Rep. Bentz supported. That bill directs the Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicaid, to cut $880 billion over the next decade. This would be an 11% reduction in Medicaid spending, according to the article.
Republicans have not said what changes they would make to Medicaid. One option discussed would be a work requirement to enroll in the program. That seems noble, but we must consider the facts. Arkansas tried that in 2018 with disastrous results; it was rescinded in 2019.
Rep. Bentz’s district, our part of Oregon, has a Medicaid enrollment of 40% of the population, the fifth highest of all Republican districts in the country. Any action will have a big impact on this portion of his constituency. Six counties have 5% or greater unemployment, 20% higher than the state average. The poverty rate is over 14% for his district.
We live in an economically strained part of the state. Cuts to Medicaid, with no sound solution to the above statistics, will only hurt his district.
Massive firings of federal employees are also supported by Rep. Bentz. CNN reported recently that nearly 10% of Forest Service employees have been fired. One can probably extrapolate that is about the same for the Bureau of Land Management and various federal agricultural agencies.
Nearly 8,000 folks worked for federal agencies in our congressional district. These rampant firings could mean as many as 800 unemployed people, and no seasonal workers.
We should ask Rep. Bentz if there will be any support for the newly unemployed. Federal employees are not the only ones that are going to be affected. The largest industry in his district is Health Care & Social Assistance (DATAUSA, MIT). Social service programs are targets of Musk’s DOGE for significant cuts. More unemployed.
This will have spiraling impacts. Many businesses struggle to keep going as it is; with a rapid drop in employment in the district, these businesses will be forced to lay off employees. Some may fail.
An Oregon state senator recently noted that reducing waste in federal spending started with Obama. What she didn’t say is that agency and departmental audits found a significant amount of waste. The bipartisan congressional committee, beholden to large donors, made rules that didn’t allow them to make cuts of this waste. They also found fraud where large corporations were getting paid massive amounts for work not done, and undocumented spending within government agencies.
These committee findings should have been the starting point for the Trump team, rather than the wholesale dismantling of government services and firings.
I urge you to ask Rep. Bentz about this.
– Rick Meis
Halfway
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Bentz gaslighting
To the Editor:
An OPB interview (with Congressman Cliff Bentz, R-Oregon) featured a repeated question: Who is scaring folks?
Instead of blaming Democrats, attention should be on the misinformation spread by GOP members—especially regarding Medicaid and tax policy—misleading and harming Oregonians.
The claim that Medicaid primarily benefits those not working is false. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation:
• 64% of adults on Medicaid are employed.
• 28% are caregivers, students, or have disabilities.
• Only 8% are unemployed for other reasons.
Many Medicaid recipients work in industries like health care, retail, and food service, where employer-sponsored insurance is rare. The idea that Medicaid is a handout is simply wrong.
The argument that letting Trump’s 2017 tax cuts expire would be devastating ignores reality. Those cuts primarily benefited corporations and the wealthy. Individual tax cuts were always set to expire in 2025, and the proposed increase for most would be just 2%, with many still benefiting from deductions. The real issue isn’t middle-class Americans—it’s shielding the richest from paying their fair share.
Extending these tax cuts would add $3.5 trillion to the deficit while GOP lawmakers push Medicaid cuts that harm working Oregonians. How is that fiscally responsible? How does that serve constituents?
It’s time to stop misleading the public. Medicaid supports working families, and tax policy should prioritize fairness—not giveaways to the ultra-rich. Rep. Bentz should reconsider his stance and truly represent those who elected him.
– Mike Davidson
Stanfield
Send letters to Editor Les Zaitz at [email protected].
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