Protect Medicaid
Oregon Action believes all people deserve affordable, quality health care. Medicaid and the Oregon Health Plan are essential to provide health care to those who could not afford it otherwise.

Shamefully, the Congressional leadership has been using the budget reconcilation process to push cuts in Medicaid funding that they could not win in a regular vote process. To add to their dishonor, they have separated the cuts in Medicaid and many other essential and important programs from another bill that provides an even larger amount of money in tax cuts, almost all of which benefit only the wealthiest Americans.

They then pretend they are fighting the deficit by cutting programs that help the poor while actually expanding the deficit by giving away more in tax cuts than they take in services. Not only are they acting against the best interests of the people; their cynical manipulation of the budget process reveals profound disdain and contempt for the public.

What are they cutting?
These are some of the programs that were cut in order to give tax breaks to people making more than $200,000 per year — the most regressive tax cuts ever passed in our history.

• Medicaid
• Child Care Assistance
• TANF - Aid to Needy Familities
• College Loans
• Home Heating Assistance
• AIDS & HIV funding, including Ryan White Act
• SSI - Disablity Social Security
• Child Support Enforcement
• Adult Literacy
• Food Safety Inspection
• Foster Care

Who gets the tax cut?

• 97% of the tax cuts goes to those with incomes over $200,000.
• Those with incomes under $75,000 get nothing.
• Those with income between $75 - 100,000 get one dollar.
• Those with incomes between $100 - 200,000 get $25.
• Those with income between $200 - 500,000 get $558.
• Those with incomes between $500k - 1,000,000 get $4141.
• Those with income over $1 million get an average of $19,234.

This injustice cannot stand.
Oregon's Senators Smith and Wyden have voted against the service cuts. Senator Smith voted for the tax cuts — following the script that contrives a false separation of this two inter-connected bills. The House of Representatives must vote after the holidays. Calls to your legislators will are urgently needed.

These votes are values votes.

Oregon Action believes that these two bills provide a stark and convincing test of our elected leaders' values. Is there a clearer act of immorality than cutting health care, education, child care, heating assistance and so on while simultaneously giving more to those who have more than enough? This is robbing the poor to give to the wealthy. The moral weight of Congress is being tested.

No leader can convincingly speak of moral values and vote for the tax cuts or the service cuts. Let your elected representatives know you consider this a test of their values and that you will be watching — and voting .

Could you be an OA leader?
Any Oregon Action member can become a leader by attending OA meetings and trainings and by volunteering on our campaigns. Oregon Action is committed to leadership development and training, because that is how we become stronger and more effective. Please join us.

Contact us for more info

Updated February 25, 2007