Photo: Ford, Brad
The Trump Administration has tried to withhold over $4.5 billion from the State of Oregon. A bill in the Legislature would allow the state to do the same thing.
Democratic Oregon State Representative Willy Chotzen says the Recourse bill would temporarily stop Oregon payments to the federal government. "The pause direct payments from Oregon to the federal government and instead put it into a separate account. And that account cannot exceed the amount that's been withheld from Oregon and if the money is paid to Oregon then the funds will be released to the federal government."
Republican Representative Kevin Mannix says what the federal government is doing is wrong, but Oregon should follow the same path. "The federal government is spinning out of control, but we are feeding into that process by assuming that our courts are not going to be able to have the authority to force the federal government to do its job."
The bill passed with no Republican support and moved to the Senate where it was assigned to the Judiciary Committee.