President Donald Trump and Congress were unable to reach a funding agreement by midnight on Tuesday, leading the federal government to shut down on Wednesday.

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., joined OPB’s “Think Out Loud” on Wednesday to talk about the situation.

“The Republicans have shut down the government because they want to lock in their devastation of health care for American families. And we’re saying, ‘hell no, this is not right,’” he said.

At issue are changes to Medicaid made as part of President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

The Republican-led law is expected to slash Medicaid programs nationwide, including more than $11 billion from the Oregon Health Plan through 2031, according to a preliminary estimate from Gov. Tina Kotek’s office.

Merkley said the proposed health care provisions will result in 15 million people losing health care coverage, and will increase the cost of health care for about 65% of Oregonians who purchase health care on the market.

He said this will result in a loss of revenue for hospitals and clinics, forcing them to cut back.

“In a rural area, if the clinic goes down or the hospital goes down, it’s not just the people on insurance who lose their health care, it’s everybody who lives in that town,” he said.

A rural Oregon town lost its maternity ward. As Trump’s Medicaid cuts loom, other hospitals may be next

Merkley spoke frankly about the “Big Beautiful Bill,” which he called the “big ugly betrayal.”

“What they passed is hurting their own constituents enormously, and they know it,” he said.

“It didn’t just cut health care to fund tax breaks for billionaires. It also cut child nutrition. It also cut medical research. It also proceeded to run up $30 trillion in additional debt over the next 30 years,” he said.

The parties are blaming each other for the gridlock. The president vowed to “do things that are irreversible, that are bad” to punish Democrats.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said of Democrats, “I certainly pray they come to their senses.”

Merkley blamed Republicans. “Republicans bear the responsibility for what’s happening now. They have attacked Americans’ health care,” he said.

“We need to recognize that Republicans hold the keys to the city. They control the House, they control the Senate. They control the Oval Office.”

“When you have that type of control and then you refuse to even hold conversations with the minority party under a situation where bipartisan support is required,” he said, “You’re deliberately shutting down, and you’re shutting down because we put forward two reasonable demands.”

In addition to the changes to health care, Democrats are demanding protections against the administration using “rescissions” to avoid spending money that has been directed by Congress.

“The second one is when we pass a spending bill, the president doesn’t unilaterally undo it with freezes or slow walking the funds until the fiscal year expires. So if it’s in the law, follow the law, Mr. President,” Merkley said.

Three Democrats bucked their party and voted to keep the government open, including Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who told his fellow Democrats to “win elections” if they want policy changes.

Merkley disagreed with Fetterman, saying, “I have a perception that in the Senate it takes bipartisan support to pass a spending bill, which means we all carry responsibility, even if we’re not in the majority, to fight for America’s families.”

Merkley urges Oregonians to show restraint during National Guard deployment

Merkley said the shutdown is also about what he called the authoritarian takeover of our country. “Our very democracy is under a threat we haven’t seen since the Civil War,” he said.

“We’ve seen it in the attack on the press, the attack on free speech, the attack on assembly, the attack on major institutions, be they law firms or universities, the militarization or weaponization of the Department of Justice going after political what Trump calls political enemies, but by that he means people who have disagreed with him,” he said.

Merkley also warned of Trump’s directive to send 200 National Guard members for Portland deployment, to clean up what the president described as a war-ravaged city in crisis, and called on the National Guard members to leave peaceful protesters be.

“I have confidence that the Oregon National Guard members, this is their own state, will understand that line,” he said.

“The violence is Trump’s ticket to expanding his authoritarian powers. So I’m sending the message, don’t take the bait, Portland,” he said. “Don’t help President Trump achieve his goal of violence and riots.”

Merkley says it’s time to take a stand

Roughly 750,000 federal workers are expected to be furloughed, some potentially fired by Trump’s Republican administration. Many offices will be shuttered, perhaps permanently.

There are nearly 30,000 federal workers in Oregon, and another 3,700 in Clark County, Washington. About a third of the federal workforce could stop working during the shutdown, and another third will keep working but not be paid. The final third will not be impacted.

The economic fallout is expected to have ramifications nationwide.

“Look how many programs that are authorized and funded by law have simply been shut down through funding freezes or impoundments. So we’ve had another 6 months of a massive assault on the normal operating of our government, and that’s without a shutdown,” Merkley said.

“At some point, you have to take a stand and you have to say what’s happening is unacceptable,” he said.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/10/01/jeff-merkley-government-shutdown-donald-trump-politics-oregon/