OPB’s First Look: How GOP tax bill impacts Oregon’s safety net

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Good morning, Northwest.

A year ago, Congressional Republicans passed what they and the president called “The Big Beautiful Bill,” with big spending cuts coupled with tax refunds.

They say the bill is a step forward in reining in federal spending. Critics say it disproportionately hit the poor the hardest, targeting low-income healthcare and food assistance.

OPB’s Amelia Templeton and Bryce Dole report on the bill’s impact on Oregon in today’s newsletter.

In other news, Oregon yesterday joined several states in two lawsuits, one to block Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery and the other to stop Trump administration cuts to mental health funding for schools.

Here’s your First Look at Tuesday’s news.

— John Hill

Top story

A year later, the GOP tax bill is reshaping Oregon’s safety net

Congressional Republicans passed their tax and spending cut bill, widely known as “The One Big Beautiful Bill,” a year ago.

The bill — President Donald Trump’s signature legislation in his second term — is shrinking the nation’s social safety net while implementing tax refunds that Republicans hope will bring relief to Americans’ pocketbooks. The bill, called H.R.1, could affect Oregon more than many states.

That’s because it specifically targets two funding mechanisms that state legislators in Oregon have used to maximize federal funding to support expanding the state’s Medicaid program and doubling the number of Oregonians with free, government-funded healthcare.

Republicans and right-leaning think tanks argue that those funding strategies made it too easy for states to qualify for federal dollars, taking away their incentive to be good fiscal stewards as Medicaid’s costs ballooned.

But critics say the legislation’s policies redistribute resources away from the nation’s poorest families and toward the highest earners, even as people pay more for groceries, healthcare, gas and utilities. (Bryce Dole and Amelia Templeton)

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3 things to know

1. A 25-year-old patient who died at the Oregon State Hospital in Salem last year was subjected to years of indifferent, substandard care and long stretches of solitary confinement that were tantamount to torture, according to a new lawsuit filed by the man’s sister. (Dirk VanderHart)
2. A jury is in place for a trial eight years in the making over gender discrimination at Nike headquarters near Beaverton. During the week-long trial, a jury of seven men and one woman is expected to weigh whether Nike paid a former employee less and limited her promotional opportunities because of her gender. (Kyra Buckley)
3. As a deadline to commit public dollars to Moda Center renovations rapidly approaches, it appears that Portland city councilors will be asked to approve spending $120 million on arena renovations next month without knowing where that money will come from in the city budget. (Alex Zielinski)

Northwest headlines

• No structures lost, but evacuation orders remain for Olive Butte Fire (Joni Auden Land)

• North Powder gets fined after failing to monitor wastewater (Monica Carrilla-Casas)

• Oregon, 11 other states sue to block Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros (Conrad Wilson, OPB and Associated Press Staff)

• A year and $80K later, a probe of Washington fish and wildlife commissioners continues (Jerry Cornfield, Washington State Standard)

• Oregon, 14 other states sue Trump administration to block school mental health funding cuts (Anna Clair Vollers, Stateline)

Listen in on OPB’s daily conversation

“Think Out Loud” airs at noon and 8 p.m. weekdays on OPB Radio, opb.org and the OPB News app. Today’s planned topics (subject to change):

Today’s planned topics:

Topics subject to change.

• Oregon’s school funding formula hurts kids in poverty the most, according to Oregonian reporting

• iLoveMakonnen headlines his first Portland Pride weekend concert

One more look

A Southern Oregon collaboration is trying to bring back a disappearing landscape — one oak tree at a time

Many of the wide-open oak savannahs that once stretched across the Pacific Northwest have faded away over the years as dense stands of fir trees have crowded the landscape.

That’s something groups in Southern Oregon and Northern California have been trying to change in recent years.

One of those groups, the Klamath Siskiyou Oak Network, has been collaborating with others to conserve oak habitat since 2011. So far, the group has restored about 6,000 acres.

That work has meant cutting down many fir trees. While that may sound heavy-handed to some folks, Belinda Brown of the Pit River Tribe and Lomakatsi Restoration Project says the aim is simple: to restore the oak woodlands.

“What we’re seeing right now isn’t healthy,” Brown said. (Roman Battaglia)

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