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WASHINGTON D.C., DC — Oregon and Washington lawmakers erupted in
fierce opposition Thursday after House Republicans passed President
Donald Trump's massive tax and spending package, with Pacific
Northwest Democrats condemning what they called a "trash bill" that
strips healthcare and food assistance from millions to benefit
billionaires.

The House passed the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" on a partisan
vote, overcoming unified Democratic opposition as Speaker Mike
Johnson pushed the 1,000-plus page legislation through by Memorial
Day, according to the Associated Press.

RELATED: Work requirements could transform Medicaid and food aid
under US budget bill

Oregon and Washington representatives denounced the bill in harsh
terms, with Rep. Janelle Bynum, D-Ore., calling it a "trash bill"
and Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., describing it as "the Great Betrayal
of American families."

"I want to start off by saying just how laughable it is to be
calling this bill 'beautiful' — and I'd like to replace that word
with TRASH," said Bynum during Rules Committee consideration. "It's
a trash bill, and here's why: It's a bill that threatens $300
billion in cuts to food assistance. It's a bill that puts
healthcare further and further out of reach for nearly 14 million
people."

The legislation makes permanent Trump's 2017 individual income and
estate tax cuts while enacting campaign promises, such as not to
tax tips, overtime and some auto loan interest, according to the
Associated Press. To offset costs, Republicans propose repealing
clean energy tax credits from Joe Biden's presidency, bringing the
tax portion to about $3.8 trillion.

Oregon impact
The bill would dramatically affect Oregon, where about 1.4 million
residents rely on Medicaid, including one in three children,
according to Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore.

Also, more than 775,000 Oregonians receive SNAP benefits, with 50%
being children.

In regard to SNAP, Rep. Maxine Dexter, who serves Oregon's third
congressional district, spoke about the potential cuts Friday.

"Let me be clear: Hunger is not inevitable. It's a heartless,
immoral policy decision, and yesterday, House Republicans chose to
literally rip food out of the mouths of our already struggling
families to give tax breaks to billionaires," she said at the
Oregon Food Bank.

“In Oregon's third district alone, 20,000 people are at risk of
losing some or all of their SNAP benefits statewide, over 114,000,"
she continued.

Andrea Williams, president of the Oregon Food Bank, said there was
a 31% increase of people needing food assistance last year, and
said she has already been hearing from partner agencies and
regional food banks that there's not enough food to meet community
needs right now.

And, she said, this reduction would make it even worse.

Earlier this year, Williams said they saw several truckloads of
food canceled by the administration, causing them to miss out on
deliveries of meat, dairy and produce.

“Earlier this spring, we received very last-minute, very informal
notification from the USDA that they were canceling 30 truck loads
immediately, which translates to 90 for the rest of the year," said
Williams.

She also said it would require the state to pay half a billion
dollars per year to keep SNAP operating if the bill were to become
law as is.

This all could also impact other programs, where SNAP serves as a
qualifier, according to David Wieland, who is a policy advocate a
part of the Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon.

“While House Republicans falsely claim that their bill won't cut
school meal programs, we know that isn't the case. Cuts to SNAP are
cuts to school meal programs. Hundreds of thousands of Oregon
students are directly certified for free school meals because their
families first qualified for SNAP,” Wieland said.

He also said staff participation is used to determine eligibility
for everything from summer food programs to WIC.

“This is the largest shift of wealth from the poor to the rich that
we’ve ever seen in this country; this is a failure of our
politicians, and we need to do better," said Dexter.

It's not just SNAP seeing major cuts.

"Make no mistake, if you rip health care away from millions of
Americans, people will die," Bonamici said on the House floor.
"Right now, this is the largest Medicaid cut in history."

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the proposals would
reduce healthcare coverage for at least 7.6 million people through
Medicaid changes alone.

In Oregon's 5th Congressional District, the bill jeopardizes
Medicaid access for over 187,000 residents, including 71,000
children, and threatens food assistance for 85,000 people,
according to Bynum's office.

Rep. Andrea Salinas, D-Ore., said Republicans "actively avoided
accountability and even convened a meeting in the dead of night to
force through their shameful legislation."

KGW also spoke with Salinas Friday, where she elaborated on the
impacts this could make on Oregonians.

“Somewhere between 150 and 200,000 Oregonians could be without
health care. And to Suzanne's point, that means people could die,
right? They won't have access to preventative care," she said,
referencing to Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, who represents Oregon's 1st
Congressional District, who also shared her thoughts with KGW about
the bill.

“The reason that they're trying to justify these cuts is that they
can continue tax breaks, tax breaks that primarily help very
wealthy people and wealthy corporations," said Bonamici.

The lone 'yes' vote in Oregon for the bill came from Rep. Cliff
Bentz R-Ore, who serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee, which
was tasked with reducing $880 billion in spending cuts over the
next 10 years. In a "Straight Talk" interview in late-February,
Bentz called Medicaid a good program that needs to be protected. At
the time, he said he wasn't sure what the committee would end up
doing.

KGW contacted Rep. Bentz’s office for comment but did not receive a
response by the time of publication.

Salinas also referenced the impacts this will likely make on rural
clinics and communities, and encouraged people to reach out to
their representatives, and even Republican lawmakers who voted for
the bill, as she said illness has no boundaries.

"Healthcare knows no boundaries; illness knows no boundaries.
People in red districts get sick in the same way. In fact, we know
that in Cliff Bentz's district, he has the highest percentage of
Medicaid patients: His patients are going to lose out on this, and
they will be without health care," she said.

They both agreed the state will not be able to pick up the cost
with the tight budget it's already facing.

“The devastating cuts you're proposing to Medicaid will cost lives.
Millions of people will be without health care, and that's not good
for people. It's not good for the economy. We need to fight this
with everything we have," said Bonamici.

Work requirements and cuts
The package reduces food aid spending by about $267 billion over 10
years, requiring states to shoulder 5% of benefit costs beginning
in fiscal year 2028, according to the Associated Press.

Republicans expanded work requirements for food assistance, raising
the age limit from 54 to 64 for able-bodied adults without
dependents. Parents would lose exemptions when children turn 7
years old, rather than 18.

For Medicaid, the bill creates "community engagement requirements"
of at least 80 hours monthly of work, education or service for able-
bodied adults without dependents, starting Jan. 1, 2029.

Washington response
Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., called the legislation
"costly and irresponsible," saying it threatens healthcare for
roughly 21,000 people across Southwest Washington.

"This wasteful legislation will explode our deficit by $3.8
trillion to advance profound tax cuts for the top 0.1% of earners,"
Gluesenkamp Perez said. "It drives up costs for everyday Americans
on energy, healthcare premiums, and out-of-pocket costs."

Senate opposition
Oregon's senators vowed to fight the bill in the upper chamber.

"House Republicans have just passed Trump's so called 'big,
beautiful bill.' There is nothing beautiful about it," said
Merkley, ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee. "Millions
of families will lose health care to fund tax breaks for
billionaires. Millions of children will go hungry to fund tax
breaks for billionaires."

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., ranking member of the Senate Finance
Committee, called it "a full-scale assault on Americans' health and
safety."

"House Republicans are launching a full-scale assault on Americans'
health and safety in the most rushed and reckless manner
imaginable," Wyden said. "This bill means kids will go hungry,
seniors will face greater abuse and neglect in nursing homes,
people with disabilities will lose care at home."

Other provisions
The bill eliminates a $200 tax on gun silencers that has existed
since 1934, prohibits Medicaid funds from going to Planned
Parenthood, and creates "MAGA" savings accounts with $1,000 federal contributions for children born between 2024 and 2028.

It provides $46.5 billion for border wall construction and
deportation operations, $150 billion for defense spending including
Trump's "Golden Dome" missile defense system, and allows increased
drilling and mining on public lands.

The legislation faces an uncertain future in the closely divided
Senate, where Democrats have vowed to use "every tool at our
disposal" to fight it, according to Wyden.

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