By State Representative Rob Nosse
Lately when people ask me how I am doing, I often give them a grade, like a letter grade like you would get in school for an English class or a math test. I say I am feeling like a C- or even a D+. Many people say, “What, really? Come on,” and then I say, “You remember who I am and what I do for a living right?,” and they sort of go, “Oh yeah, right, of course.” Then I sometimes joke that it seems like grade inflation. That usually gets a laugh and lightens up the moment.
Why do I say this? Well let me list out some ways.
Donald Trump is our President, and he is acting so differently from any other president that I have lived under. So many of the things he says and does shock me.
Congress is controlled by the Republican Party and they have been unwilling to put much of a check on the things that he is doing or attempt to control his worst impulses as a legislative branch is supposed to do.
The Supreme Court also gives President Trump too much deference.
The federal government is partially shut down and many people that do the work of federal agencies, including our military, are not getting paid. When will it end and how will it end—as in will the Democrats lose and will people who get their health insurance on the ACA exchange see big increases in the cost of it?
Our region’s unemployment is ticking up and we are losing jobs. There is a recession looming because of it. This means that all levels of government in this region will have to make budget cuts in the middle of their fiscal year, including state government, which we will certainly be doing during the February Short Session. More to come on that one.
In light of HR1 “The one big, beautiful bill,” (I know I am not supposed to call it that), how will we figure out how to cover the cost of food stamps? It used to be fully funded by the federal government but now states will have to cover the cost.
Also, in light of HR1, how will we scope, scale, change the Medicaid benefit we offer to a third of all Oregonians? Just like with food stamps, the state is losing significant funding from the federal government that helped us pay for the benefit.
I am also worried about the cuts that Portland Public Schools must make to its budget, which will mean cutting staff. I know people will say the legislature should fund schools better, and they are right, but we don’t have the money to do that.
The cost of housing and rent in this region is still too high.
I hesitate to include this because by the time this comes out in November something might have happened. But will our federal courts side with our state or will they ultimately side with President Trump and allow him to call up the National Guard to “protect” the ICE building on the South Waterfront.
I am worried for families that are scared about ICE enforcement. The stories are awful. I cannot imagine what that would be like to have been in the US for years, to have family here and be arrested and deported. The nation needs immigrants. We need to rationalize our immigration system. What we are doing is cruel and is harming industries like health care, construction, food services and agriculture.
The tariffs—they need to be stopped. Our state is very trade dependent.
Downtown Portland is doing a lot better, but we don’t have a great answer for empty office buildings, the white-collar office work that can be done remotely and the preference for remote work in the light of people hating commuting.
Our state’s population is aging and not growing.
Climate change is real and happening and we are not really reversing it.
I am also worried about a US Supreme Court case out of Louisiana about the voting rights act that will potentially get rid of congressional districts that are drawn so that people of color might have a member of Congress or two. It could mean the midterms will keep a Republican-controlled US Congress.
I am also worried about another US Supreme Court case about “conversion therapy” out of Colorado, which will basically give a therapist “freedom of speech” and allow them to push a bunk therapy on adolescents, claiming a gay person can be made to be “straight.” I passed a law in my first term in 2015 banning that therapy by licensed practitioners.
I know I am fine. Things with my family are fine. I am economically secure and, except for the cold I have had for two weeks, my health and the health of people around me is fine. But I think most of us living in Portland, in Oregon and at least a little more than half of us in the Us do not think things are fine. They are not fine at all.
I want to say, think, believe we will get through this—that our democracy will endure, but I am worried. Can you see why I say I am a C- or a D+?
