Congressman Cliff Bentz Responds to Governor Tina Kotek’s Partisan Take on the “One Big Beautiful Bill”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Cliff Bentz issued the following statement in response to Governor Tina Kotek’s recent comments regarding the impact of the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) on SNAP and Medicaid: 
 
“Governor Kotek recently discussed the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB). Her comments are misleading and leave out key facts about what this legislation does for Oregon. While the Governor portrays the OBBB as a wholesale attack on children, families, and working people, the reality is far different. 
 
Democrats in Oregon have ignored the majority of the provisions in the bill and instead focused on the bill’s healthcare and nutrition assistance reforms. Here is the truth: this bill protects Medicaid for those it was meant to serve: seniors, individuals with disabilities, and low-income families. The bill DOES NOT touch Medicare. Instead, it slows unchecked spending and begins the process of fixing billion-dollar loopholes in Medicaid that states have exploited for years. And like the Medicaid provisions, the reforms to SNAP (Food Stamps) are not aimed at cutting coverage but instead focus on state and individual accountability. 

For example, Oregon is currently the only state in the nation that provides most adult Medicaid recipients with more than two years of continuous eligibility. As a result, even when people get jobs with access to employer-sponsored insurance or earn far in excess of 130% if the Federal Poverty Level, many stay on Medicaid. Studies have found that Oregon leads the nation in the percentage of people retaining Medicaid coverage. Why pay for insurance if you can get the federal government and state to pay for your coverage? The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently reported that more than 2.8 million Americans are potentially enrolled in both Medicaid and ACA exchange plans at the same time, costing taxpayers billions in duplicate coverage. This needs to change.
 
Starting in 2027, the OBBB will require that states conduct eligibility redeterminations twice annually for ACA expansion enrollees (able-bodied adults), replacing the patchwork of state schedules with a clear six-month standard. State programs will be able to automate verifications using federal data, such as Social Security numbers and death records, eliminating repetitive paperwork and catching cases of fraud. The bill invests $250 million in system upgrades to support these changes. Taken together, these reforms reduce administrative layers, speed benefit processing, and give states the resources they need for efficient, accountable implementation. 
 
The bill takes long-overdue steps to restore integrity to the SNAP (Food Stamp) program. In 2024, Oregon once again had one of the worst SNAP error rates in the nation, with an error rate of 14.06%. Oregon’s performance was so bad that the state was fined millions of dollars by the federal government, but just a fraction of the actual amount the state had lost. SNAP error rates are a misuse of taxpayer funds because they pay out benefits incorrectly, wasting money that should go only to eligible recipients. The only way to get a state’s attention is to levy a penalty when the state fails to do its job. Under this bill, states with error rates above 5% will be required to contribute up to 20% of the cost of the SNAP state benefit unless corrective action is taken. States that stay below a 5% error rate will not be penalized. 
 
The Governor failed to mention literally dozens of provisions in the bill beneficial to Oregonians, including: $10 billion in tax cuts for our farmers and ranchers, disaster relief funding, stronger crop insurance, and higher wheat reference prices. She failed to mention the extensions of the 2017 Trump tax cuts, which prevented a 22% tax hike on millions of families, and new deductions for tips, overtime pay, Social Security benefits, and U.S.-made vehicles. She failed to mention that increasing timber harvest on federal lands as provided in the bill will create jobs and reduces wildfire risk. She failed to mention the 12.5 billion invested in improving our air traffic control systems. She failed to mention the increase in the child tax credit or the childcare tax benefits to employers. She failed to mention the added funding for the military, the funding for completion of the border wall, the funding for the addition of thousands more border patrol agents guarding the border against fentanyl and other drugs. She failed to mention opportunity zones, deductibility of investments in manufacturing, and increased support for energy development.
 
Overall, the Governor’s remarks failed to account for economic growth, higher wages, and reduced waste that these reforms will bring. 
 
The Governor’s failures to mention any of these things, even though they mean so much to Oregonians, may be due to the fact that not one Democrat Congressman/woman from Oregon, including our Senators and all five of Oregon’s Democrat congresswomen, voted for this bill. 
 
Silence on these important matters is one thing- but pushing out misleading and fear generating statements regarding the Bill is quite another. I do hope that the voters in Oregon will take the time to look at summaries of the OBBB and draw their own conclusions as to its value to them and to our nation.”