Dear Friend,

As 2025 comes to a close, I’d like to share my reflections from the past year. Since coming to Congress, I’ve been focused on lowering your costs, protecting your health care, and defending your freedoms. Above all, my priority has always been serving the people of our community. This year, with President Trump taking office, I’ve been more focused than ever on protecting our community from harmful policies that would raise costs, limit access to health care, or erode the rights we rely on.

Click here or anywhere on the image below to read my full end of year report. 

Despite false promises to lower costs on day one, President Trump and Congressional Republicans have driven up costs and hurt families across our community. What makes me sad is there could have been countless ways to compromise and deliver for the American people, but instead they took a slash and burn approach. The only option I had was to fight back and find ways to deliver for you.

Since the beginning of the year, President Trump has repeatedly imposed arbitrary tariffs — essentially taxes on consumer goods — creating economic whiplash and driving up prices on everything from groceries to manufacturing materials. Tariffs can help the U.S. workforce and our economy when applied strategically — but these chaotic, poorly targeted taxes are raising costs and hurting small businesses. I submitted documents to the Supreme Court for them to consider as they weigh cases challenging the President’s tariffs, and in the new year I’ll keep fighting to restore economic stability for families and local employers.

This past summer, President Trump and Republicans forced through a completely harmful piece of legislation for families, the “Big, Ugly Bill.” While so many Americans are already struggling to make ends meet, this bill only makes Americans sicker, hungrier, and poorer. It increases costs, strips away health care, takes food off the dinner table, and increases energy prices — all to give permanent tax breaks to large corporations and billionaires.

The bill slashes hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid, known in our state as the Oregon Health Plan, taking away health care from 200,000 Oregonians, including over 27,000 in our community. These cuts will shutter rural hospitals, nursing homes, and health clinics, leaving families with higher health care costs and rural patients with little to no access to care.

This package also threatens nutrition assistance for the 740,000 people in Oregon who count on SNAP to put food on the table. The cuts would make this the single largest rollback of food aid in American history. Not only will this hurt the children, seniors, and veterans who rely on SNAP directly, this bill also hurts the farmers who grow our food, the truckers who move it, the processors who package it, and the grocery stores that sell it. Farmers receive nearly a quarter of every dollar spent on food, but when SNAP participants lose their benefits, they cut their food purchases. Cutting SNAP benefits means less money going to our farmers and less food on families’ tables.

On top of these cuts, the bill is also a fiscal disaster. It explodes the deficit by over $4 trillion, further jeopardizing our bond rating and our children’s future. I was proud to vote NO and stand with hardworking Oregonians against this harmful legislation.

Earlier this year, President Trump ordered the National Guard to Portland without any clear legal justification. I was proud to join leaders from across Oregon, including Governor Kotek and Attorney General Rayfield, in their legal filings against the President’s clear abuse of power, and I joined the chorus of public outcry against Trump’s decision. 

The National Guard should not be used as a political tool for the White House or for ICE to enforce this Administration’s inhumane and harmful immigration policies. While existing law already restricts the President’s ability to deploy the National Guard for immigration and domestic law enforcement, this Administration has shown no respect for the rule of law. That’s why I introduced a bill, the National Guard Proper Use Act, that reinforces this legal precedent and would help reign-in an out-of-control President. Members of the National Guard are trained to protect our homeland and respond in times of crisis, not to target hardworking immigrants who contribute to our communities.

I’m pleased that the courts have so far ruled in favor of Oregonians and prevented Trump from deploying the National Guard, and I’ll keep standing up for our immigrant communities, the people of Oregon, responsible governance, and the proper use of our armed services.

And this fall, House Republicans triggered the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. As I mentioned before, Republicans made the largest cuts to health care in U.S. history with their "Big, Ugly Bill." Even after passing it, Republicans decided to keep attacking your health care, this time by going after the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced premium tax credits. These tax credits help millions of Americans, including 16,000 people in our community, afford their health care premiums. But these tax credits are set to expire at the end of the year, which means that unless Congress acts, millions of Americans will see their health care costs skyrocket.

House Democrats had a simple ask, which was for House Republicans to come to the table and negotiate a deal to extend these tax credits and keep the government open. But House Republicans refused to negotiate, forcing a shutdown that furloughed workers, delayed services, and disrupted vital programs. And what did I do? I showed up to work every single day. I made sure I was in our nation’s capital ready to reopen the government and protect families from skyrocketing health care costs.

While these stories dominated the news this year, I’ve also been introducing legislation, sending letters, and meeting with people across our district to advance policies that will make life better for our community. I’m excited to share some highlights from that work below.
Looking ahead, I’ll continue to fight for stable costs, access to health care, economic security, and a government that works for working people. It is an honor to serve you in Congress, and I look forward to hearing from you and continuing this work together in the year ahead.

Visit salinas.house.gov/2025EOY to read more. Please share your thoughts about the work that I am doing for you at salinas.house.gov/contact or by giving my office a call at (503) 385-0906. 

Be well,




Andrea Salinas
Member of Congress