Gov. Tina Kotek and Attorney General Dan Rayfield on Tuesday denounced a move by President Donald Trump that appeared to abruptly shut off much federal funding to Oregon, a tactic critics cast as a presidential power grab to get his way on issues ranging from immigration to transgender rights to environmental protections.
The move, the top Democratic leaders said, puts at risk large numbers of Oregonians who depend on programs such as Medicaid and Head Start, for which Trump ordered funding frozen Tuesday.
Rayfield announced he had joined with 22 other Democratic attorneys general to file a federal lawsuit in Rhode Island Tuesday seeking to permanently stop the freeze on funding.
In response to a separate lawsuit filed by a coalition of nonprofits and businesses represented by the left-leaning group Democracy Forward, a federal judge on Tuesday afternoon blocked Trump’s order from taking effect until at least Monday.
“It’s a dereliction of the federal government’s duty,” Kotek said of Trump’s order at a news conference Tuesday. “…These are Oregonians’ federal tax dollars at work. They send money to Washington, D.C., that should come back to them for the services that serve them.”
Rayfield said cutting off the funds amounts to nothing but a political ploy.
“The messages that are coming from the Trump administration are just plain confusing and they’re inconsistent,” Rayfield said. “And it’s another example of the Trump administration and its attempts to sow division and chaos for a political end.”
Both Kotek and Rayfield said the move was an immense overreach of powers and that it is Congress, not the president, that has the authority to allocate federal dollars.
“Right now the president is playing fast and loose …with his powers, to play politics to advance his political agenda,” Rayfield said.
Rayfield said the state is “ready and prepared” to fight.
“When you exceed your powers, it is part of our responsibility on behalf of all Oregonians to hold the president accountable,” Rayfield said.
Kotek said she hasn’t yet been able to get a handle on the breadth of funding streams that have been frozen. But she said Medicaid funds, which reimburse the state for medical care provided by the Oregon Health Plan, and money for Head Start, which provides educational services for low-income children, stopped flowing to Oregon Tuesday. She urged Oregonians who benefit from these programs to continue to see their health care providers or send their children to Head Start.
“My biggest concern at this point is making sure that this gets fixed,” Kotek said. “In the last 24 hours, Washington, D.C., has created a lot of chaos and uncertainty.”
— Aimee Green is covering the Oregon Legislature this session. Reach her at 503-294-5119, [email protected] or @o_aimee.
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