As leaders of her own party seek concessions from Republicans with a government shutdown looming, U.S. Rep. Janelle Bynum reiterated a sentiment in an interview with OPB Tuesday.

“Republicans have control of the House [of Representatives], the Senate, and the presidency,” said Bynum, an Oregon Democrat who was elected in November 2024. “So whatever happens, they own it.”

Congress is once again nearing a crossroads: A vote on a short-term federal spending package that — if it fails — could shut down the government.

Oregon’s five Democratic members of the House uniformly voted against the bill before House Republicans passed it along to the U.S. Senate, where it failed. The stalled package needs 60 votes to pass, and Republicans control 53 seats, so Democratic leaders are making demands from the majority party in exchange for their votes to keep the government running.

Government shutdowns, or the threat of them, have become increasingly common over the past few decades. They can rock the economy and social safety network at a time when many Oregonians are struggling with the rising cost of housing, food and medical care.

Asked if a shutdown is worth it for Democrats to exact concessions from the majority party, Bynum restated that Republicans hold the power: “Oregonians have told us as their representatives — and I have carried that message back to Washington — they said don’t cut my healthcare, and they said make sure you lower costs.”

“Republicans have that message,” said Bynum, who voted against the spending package when it was last proposed in March. “They have that. And they can pass anything that they want to. They can put the American people first, or they can put billionaires first.”

Among other things, Democrats want more than $1 trillion to extend Obamacare tax credits that were created in 2010 and are scheduled to expire at year’s end. Democrats also want to roll back cuts Republicans made to health programs like Medicaid through the passage of President Trump’s domestic policy bill, called the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

The president canceled a meeting with top Democrats on Tuesday to discuss the short-term spending package. He wrote on social media that he didn’t expect the discussions to be productive, in part because the opposing party was making “unserious and ridiculous demands,” as reported by the New York Times.

A mother of four from Happy Valley, Bynum recently completed a series of town halls across Oregon’s 5th Congressional District, which includes a wide swath of both urban and rural Oregon, from Lake Oswego to Albany to Bend. Throughout the tour of the swing district, she said, constituents voiced concerns about rising costs and cuts to the federal food stamp program SNAP.

“The American people know that they’re being left behind with these policies,” said Bynum, a former state legislator who worked as an engineer and owned four McDonald’s restaurants. “We also know that it’s OK to be disruptive, right? That is how we move things forward. But it’s not OK to be destructive. And that is what the administration is putting forth now, and people are not happy about it.”

Since Bynum’s election last year, the Democratic Party nationwide has contended with mounting pressure for what critics see as a slow response to a barrage of new policies from President Trump and his Republican allies.

The administration has moved swiftly to shrink federal spending and workforce and, in many ways, reshape the government’s role in American life. That has come largely with the backing of Congressional Republicans who argue that such changes are long overdue.

A spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz, Oregon’s sole Republican member of Congress, did not return a phone call and email seeking comment.

“I think I’ve learned that setting expectations in this 119th Congress is very dangerous,” Bynum said, adding: “I cannot predict what will happen in our chamber, and I certainly can’t predict what will happen in the other chamber.”

Senators are scheduled to return to the Capitol on Sept. 29. The new budget year begins Oct. 1.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/09/23/federal-government-shutdown-republican-democrat-janelle-bynum/