As shutdown continues, Oregon members of Congress point fingers over health care

The federal government shutdown is nearing its fourth week.

Members of Oregon’s congressional delegation describe a stalemate as hundreds of thousands of federal workers remain furloughed without pay, including many in Oregon, which is home to nearly 30,0000 federal workers.

Federal workers for agencies like the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Guard will go without pay until the impasse is resolved. That includes people who are still working because their service is deemed essential.

Few signs indicate Congress is approaching a deal as federal lawmakers jockey over changes to health insurance policy that could affect nearly 140,000 Oregonians. Meanwhile, everyone is pointing fingers.

“This is on them,” Rep. Suzanne Bonamici told OPB on Thursday. “The Democrats aren’t at fault. Republicans hold the power. So they need to come back to the table.”

Republicans like U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz — who represents much of rural Eastern and Southern Oregon — have said Democrats are making unreasonable demands at the expense of working people.

“We’ve done our part,” Bentz recently told the news outlet KATU. “We’ve voted to keep the government open over and over and over again on the Senate side, and one time on the House side. It’s time for the Democrats to step up.” (A spokesperson told OPB Bentz was not immediately available for an interview.)

Congress failed to pass a short-term plan to fund the federal government by the time the budget year began Oct. 1. The spending package needs 60 votes, so Republicans, who hold 53 seats in Congress, need some Democrats on board to pass it.

'THE BALL IS IN THEIR COURT'

The shutdown ensued as top Democrats sought concessions from the Republicans. Among other things, Democrats want to extend enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies set to expire at year’s end and roll back cuts Republicans made to Medicaid through the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill.

The expiring health subsidies, which were passed by Congress in 2021, have been reducing the costs paid by many people purchasing individual and small group health insurance plans through the marketplace.

Should those more generous subsidies expire, monthly health insurance premiums will more than double, on average, according to KFF, a nonprofit which researches and reports on U.S. health policy. Some middle income families will no longer qualify for any subsidy.

Most Oregonians get their health insurance from their employer or Medicaid, known locally as the Oregon Health Plan. They will not be directly impacted by the expiration of the subsidies.

But nearly 140,000 people, or 3% of the state’s population, are insured through the marketplace and could see their premiums more than double. Democrats say those increases could make health care unaffordable, forcing many people to drop their insurance altogether, adding to the number of unpaid bills at hospitals and clinics.

“The ball is in their court,” Sen. Ron Wyden said of the Republican party, “but I stand ready with my fellow Democrats for meaningful talks anywhere and anytime with Republicans that protect health care for millions of Americans facing soaring premiums.”

'WE DON'T NEED TO THROW MORE MONEY AT IT'

But Republicans see the issue differently — and have criticized Democrats for holding funding for the federal government hostage in order to negotiate for health care subsidies that many in the GOP consider a flawed stop-gap solution.

“Health care’s a $4 trillion issue, and we need to do our very, very best to make sure we’re spending that money wisely,” Bentz, Oregon’s lone Republican member of Congress, told KATU this week.

“I don’t think we are. And we need to do a better job supplying better health care, but we don’t need to throw more money at it. We need to figure out how to restructure it so that insurance companies are not taking more of it than they should and so that people are getting the care that they need.”

Prolonged shutdowns can rock the economy and disrupt funding for social safety net programs that many people rely on. That includes the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program, a family nutrition program, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps. Each month, one in six Oregonians receives SNAP benefits to help put food on their table.

Lately, federal agencies have used official websites to blame Democrats for the shutdown, including on screens at airport security checkpoints like the one in Eugene.

“The way to talk about it is to reopen the government so that the people of the United States are not being held hostage while the Democrats try to force an outcome that they lost when they lost the vote on the [Big Beautiful Bill],” Bentz told KATU.

A spending package that would continue to fund the federal government has passed through the U.S. House of Representatives but remains stalled in the Senate, where it has failed 10 times. Each Democratic member of Oregon’s congressional delegation has voted against it.

'OUR COMMUNITY DESERVES NOTHING LESS'

As the shutdown continues, President Donald Trump has moved to freeze or cancel billions of dollars worth of grants for projects in districts nationwide, many of which are led by Democrats, The New York Times reported. That includes hundreds of millions in grant funds for projects in Oregon.

“I’m hearing from Oregonians that they want me to fight for a funding bill that doesn’t just protect health care, but reins in Trump’s lawlessness,” said U.S. Rep. Maxine Dexter, a Democrat. “I’ve been in Washington, D.C., all week ready to sit down and get to work on a deal to reopen the government that does just that. Our community deserves nothing less.”

The president has also floated the idea of firing workers as leverage over Democrats, but a federal judge has temporarily blocked his efforts.

Sen. Jeff Merkley, a Democrat, says the president is trying “to traumatize federal workers to dismantle the federal government, make federal workers feel like villains, in fact feel so much like villains they don’t even want to come to work.”

“That was the vision that was laid out by the architect of this strategy, and we’re seeing it implemented,” Merkley said. “And it will continue to hurt Americans.”

Merkley said he is concerned that the shutdown will lead to transportation delays and child nutrition programs running out of funding.

In addition to changing their stance on health insurance policy, Merkley said Republicans can help end the shutdown by agreeing to a clause “that says the president will actually spend the money in the fashion that the law says he will spend it.”

“No more intentional slowdowns, freezes, impoundments, or just running out the clock on the fiscal year so the authorization to spend the money kind of evaporates overnight,” Merkley said.

However, he accused Republican leaders of failing to negotiate due to mounting pressure from the president, adding: “Trump is telling them that they cannot talk.”

The U.S. Senate will reconvene on Monday.