I started this month at Outside In—a Federally Qualified Health Care provider—to speak out against Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s illegal and unconstitutional funding freeze. At the end of this month, I voted against the House GOP’s regressive budget proposal that would gut Medicaid, SNAP, and other essential programs to pay for tax cuts that primarily benefit the wealthy.

Trump, Musk, and Congressional Republicans have made their priorities clear. They say they are tackling waste, fraud, and abuse, but the massive purge of government employees is creating havoc, fear, and risk to programs that provide health care for low-income and working families, food assistance, education funding for students with disabilities, and more. I’m always looking for smarter, better ways to do things, but these cuts are neither smart nor better.

If they were serious about tackling waste they wouldn’t be giving tax breaks to the wealthy or continuing to contract with Elon Musk’s companies while he is involved in making decisions for the government.

These reckless actions are hurting Americans across the country—rural, urban, and suburban. It’s why many of my colleagues across the aisle are starting to hear from their constituents with concerns about Trump and Musk. I’ve been hearing from many Oregonians as well—my office received more than 6,000 calls and messages in a single week!

Please continue to stay engaged. Keep calling and emailing; we track and value your input!  Send us stories about how the Administration's actions are affecting you and your communities. Importantly, encourage people you know across the state and country to do the same. We only need three Republicans to put country over party to block bad legislation and stand up to Trump and Musk's chaos. There's a lot of misinformation out there; speak up and help spread truth.

Answering Your Questions

They are trying to overwhelm us with executive orders and reckless actions, but we can't let them. We still have separate and equal branches of government and a system of checks and balances. Courts are already pausing or stopping many illegal and unconstitutional executive orders. Scores of cases are pending, and advocates are filing additional cases almost daily.

Rallying at the Department of Education

I joined several Members of Congress at the Department of Education to stand up for public education. Outrageously, they barred us from entering the building. Elon Musk and Donald Trump want to dismantle this essential agency behind closed doors. This isn’t an attack on a building in Washington, D.C.; it is an attack on every public school in America.

We won’t let this stop our work to demand answers about how and why Trump and Musk are trying to defund and privatize public education. I’ll continue speaking out for students, educators, and public education.

Protecting Public Schools

The overwhelming majority of students in Oregon and across the country attend public schools. Local schools enrich communities, open doors to new opportunities, spark creativity, and prepare students to contribute to the economy and democracy. Our work in Congress should be to strengthen local public schools, not berate, defund, or privatize them.

I would not be where I am today without public schools, and neither would millions of Americans. I'm standing up against the attempts to defund and privatize public education by introducing a pro-public education resolution. I’m grateful for the support of 81 of my colleagues and several pro-public school organizations, including the AFT, NEA, PTA, and others.

ICYMI

• I’m leading a package of bills to address the affordable housing shortage and homelessness
• I joined Americans to protest Trump and Musk’s attempts to eliminate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and undermine the Department of Labor
• I spoke out against the devastating cuts to NOAA
• I’m leading a bill with my colleagues to prevent ICE raids near sensitive locations, including schools and places of worship
• I joined Senators Wyden and Merkley and OHSU leadership to stand against Trump and Musk’s efforts to gut research funding from the National Institutes of Health