This morning on our (live at 9 AM Pacific time) radio program, I'll be talking about the latest events in the Middle East as President Trump concludes his meeting in Egypt before returning to Washington, DC.
I also want to take a look at why "Blue" Democrat run cities and states have such difficulties culturally and fiscally.
Portland is not "doing just fine," as they reported to President Trump, when they declined federal help. Neither is the state of Oregon.
Portland and the state of Oregon are an outstanding example of failing so-called "progressive" leadership.
The state will spend more on migrant health care, including illegal aliens, than on state police. The state is desperately underfunded and plans to raise taxes again.
Be informed, not misled.
Via the Daily Caller:
Oregon will spend more in its current budget period on free healthcare for immigrants, regardless of legal status, than on state police by $500 million or more, according to state officials and budget documents.
The state’s health agency, the Oregon Health Authority, said in an email to the Daily Caller News Foundation that the state expects to allocate $1.2 billion to the program — originally named “Cover All People” and now called the “Healthier Oregon Program” (HOP). Oregon lays out budgets in two-year “bienniums.”
The federal government will supply 25% of the funding to provide health benefits to illegal aliens in Oregon, the OHA told The Daily Caller.
The data emblematizes some of the Democratic stronghold’s policy priorities — facilitating illegal immigrants’ access to health care and reducing criminal crackdowns. These very policies have touched off a government shutdown in Washington, D.C., and protests in Portland.
Illegal aliens are draining our resources. Is this what the Bible calls "compassion?"
Or is it virtue signaling on the part of the Left? And building a political power base to further their own ambitions?
Medicaid — the joint federal-state program that traditionally provided health services to children, pregnant mothers, and disabled adults — formally bars illegal immigrants from receiving benefits.
However, some blue states have innovated creative accounting methods to extract federal dollars without the federal restrictions, according to the Paragon Health Institute, a non-partisan policy research group. Blue states will issue taxes on Medicaid insurers and providers, obtain a bundle of federal matching dollars for those funds, then return the taxed money to those institutions, the think tank points out.
Spending on health services for illegal aliens in Oregon has climbed by at least 1100% since the program’s introduction roughly four years ago.
Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday refuted a Democratic C-SPAN caller who accused him of lying about illegal immigrants receiving Medicaid.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated in June that around 1.4 million individuals who would be removed from the program under the reconciliation bill that President Donald Trump signed in July “would be people who do not meet citizenship and immigration status requirements for Medicaid enrollment but who would be covered under current law in programs funded by the states.” On “Washington Journal,” Johnson cited the CBO estimate, along with the Democrats’ proposed government funding bill, to bolster his claim.
The Daily Caller explains:
Lawmakers first introduced the program in 2021 with a $100 million cap. State Medicaid programs benefited from increased federal matching dollars for the COVID-19 pandemic at that time. The proposal grew out of a racial justice council convened by then-Gov. Kate Brown in 2020 and enjoyed support from a coalition of managed care organizations, hospital groups, pro-abortion groups, medical professional societies, unions, and advocacy groups.
In the intervening years, the national illegal immigration population surged under President Joe Biden, the public health emergency ended, and Oregon expanded eligibility to all age groups, causing the cost to balloon.
In October 2024, OHA faced a $260 million budget shortfall, according to the Lund Report, an Oregon-focused health news outlet. About 93,000 people had enrolled in the state’s Medicaid expansion for immigrants regardless of legal status, nearly double the state’s projection of 55,000 enrollees, the report said.
Democrats in DC have named as a prerequisite for reopening the government include dismantling barriers preventing Medicaid dollars from flowing to illegal aliens.
Democrats’ counterproposal to the “clean” continuing resolution (CR) preferred by Republicans to end the government shutdown would unwind several reforms that President Donald Trump signed into law via the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB) in July.
These provisions included ending the disbursement of higher federal Medicaid match dollars for the emergency care of illegal aliens compared to traditional Medicaid recipients like children — states received a 90% rate for illegal aliens compared to 50% for American citizens — and closing accounting loopholes that allow federal funds to be shunted to state priorities like coverage for illegal immigrants.
The big lie.
Attorneys for the state of Oregon and the city of Portland have argued in court against the deployment of the National Guard, stating that violent crime in Portland has decreased significantly.
But on Wednesday, the Portland City Council heard testimony from several small business owners who argued in support of an initiative to revive Portland storefronts amid break-ins, fires, graffiti, shoplifting, public drug use, and visible mental health crises.
“I’ve replaced a total of nine windows, three locks from attempted break-ins, I’ve been spit on, I’ve been punched twice, once resulting in a black eye. I had a man masturbating in my window. I’ve had a gun pulled on me twice — once was last week. I’ve had a knife pulled on me,” said Steve Cook, owner of Portland business Vinyl Resting Place. “When I’m found dead in my shop, I’m gonna be like ‘I told you so.'”
Takeaway
Leftist so-called "Progressives" are miserably failing in Oregon and elsewhere where they are in power.
They are also failing in regard to God's Word.
Capitol Ministries is a ministry to our elected officials in Washington, DC, and state capitols. The ministry has produced some of the finest teaching on what the Bible says about cultural issues that is available.
I recommend visiting their website to check it out.
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Bold. Be Prayerful.