It’s been a hard-fought Oregon Budget Madness tournament, with legislators making heartbreaking, often down-to-the-wire decisions that have sidelined important programs and left us with a classic matchup in the finals: Oregon’s Dead Last Corporate Taxes vs. Fully Funding the Quality Education Model. There’s no heavyweight quite like Oregon’s Dead Last Corporate Taxes, whose arsenal includes… Read more »
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It’s the Final Four of Oregon Budget Madness, and the remaining critical services are leaving it all on the House and Senate floor. In the Elite Eight, Cover all Kids with Health Insurance narrowly defeated Expanding Mental Health Care Access in a down-to-the wire fight between two worthy opponents. As predicted, cuts to Employment-Related Daycare… Read more »
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There were few upsets in the opening round of Oregon Budget Madness. Dead-last corporate taxes, the top-seed, routed Oregon universities, an underdog with plenty of fight but not enough muscle. Job training for seniors, a worthy cause, lost out to the overwhelming need facing K-12 schools. Seniors took an early exit. Across the board, choices… Read more »
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This week, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released its forecast of how the GOP’s health care plan will impact American families — and the results are bleak. Almost 25 million people will lose their health care coverage, and 7 million will lose employer-sponsored coverage. Even for those lucky enough to keep their insurance, there’s still… Read more »
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Figuring out how to fund schools and critical services in Oregon is no game. But because corporations pay the lowest taxes in the country, every budget cycle Oregon legislators are forced to pick winners and losers. Keep art and PE in the schools or reduce funding for mental health services? Fund career technical education or… Read more »
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For a decade, Ellen Dammel acted as an unpaid homecare worker for her husband, John Peterson. That change last year when her degenerative bone disease advanced to the point that she needed her own care. Thankfully, the Oregon Homecare Program has allowed Ellen and John to access the care they need — but now, major… Read more »
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Katrina Neville should have graduated from Southern Oregon University and started her career as a social worker by now. But the high cost of college tuition has delayed her dream. “The cost of tuition has kept me in college longer than I should be. If it wasn’t for the terms I’ve had to take off… Read more »
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Last week, more than 400 Oregonians flooded the capitol to ask legislators to choose Oregon families over corporate profits. Teachers, homecare workers, parents, and advocates met with their elected officials to share stories of how our budget crisis has affected their students, patients, and families. They made clear that cutting services while Oregon remains 50th… Read more »
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Last weekend, hundreds of Oregonians came together at budget town halls in Madras and Hermiston to share their outrage that families are facing major cuts to schools and critical services while Oregon continues to rank dead last in the country in corporate taxes. Educators, seniors, healthcare workers, students, and disability advocates sent a clear message:… Read more »
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Over the weekend, hundreds of Oregonians gathered at standing room only town halls in Salem and Portland to tell legislators that cuts to schools and services are unacceptable while Oregon remains dead last in corporate taxes. Nurses, parents, teachers, homecare workers, students, and advocates alike asked electeds to put Oregon families before corporate profits. Because… Read more »
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