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Welcome to Policy for the People, a show that explores the public policies that can lift up all Oregonians. This show is a collaboration between KMUZ radio (kmuz.org) and the Oregon Center for Public Policy (ocpp.org).
63 Episodes
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Rideshare drivers have had enough. Confronting low pay and tough working conditions, drivers for Uber and Lyft are organizing and fighting to change public policy. In this episode of Policy for the People, we speak with Nathaniel Hudson-Hartman and Joe Jackson, rideshare drivers and organizers with Drivers Union OR, about the realities of the industry and how drivers are fighting back.
Much of the progress Oregon has made in expanding health care access is at risk as a result of the federal budget reconciliation bill enacted by Congress. In this episode of Policy for the People, we discuss the past, present and future of Oregon’s system of health care, including the threats posed by the federal budget reconciliation bill. Our guest is Dr. Bruce Goldberg. Bruce is a professor at the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health and a nationally recognized health policy expert...
It's hard to overstate the danger that lies ahead for many families in Oregon and across the country, especially the families already struggling the most to stay afloat economically, as a result of the budget reconciliation law passed by Congress. This law will leave many Oregon families less healthy, hungrier and poorer.
The reconciliation bill passed by the U.S. House is truly monstrous, slashing health care and nutrition assistance to help pay for tax cuts that mainly would go to the rich. But there's more harm that would flow from the bill. One thing that hasn't gotten a lot of attention is the fact that the reconciliation bill threatens to shrink Oregon revenue collections, due to the way our state tax code connects to the federal tax code. As OCPP Deputy Director Daniel Hauser explains in this episode of...
Just ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a budget reconciliation bill – a massive tax and budget package. If this bill ultimately becomes law, it will – among other things – force deep cuts to safety net programs, especially Medicaid and nutrition assistance. One of the members of Congress who voted no on the bill was Representative Andrea Salinas, who represents Oregon’s 6th Congressional District. We spoke with Representative Salinas about what the bu...
Food banks across Oregon are seeing record numbers of people coming in through their doors. Ever since the pandemic, the rising cost of living has been making it harder for families to afford food. And now, at a time when there is a hunger crisis going on, actions by the Trump administration and Congress threaten to make matters worse – far worse. In this episode of Policy for the People, we examine the dire state of hunger in Oregon. Our guest is with Andrea Williams, President of the ...
In celebration of May Day, International Workers Day, we are issuing this special episode of Policy for the People examining the state of the labor movement. Our guest is Don McIntosh, editor of the Northwest Labor Press, who has been reporting about the labor movement for over two decades. Don discusses the present state of the labor movement, what the Trump Administration means for organized labor, and the policy changes that would remove the barriers that workers face when seeking to form ...
Right now, the Republican controlled Congress is speeding down a path that would raise costs for food and health care for millions of families by taking away Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. It would do so in order to help pay for massive tax cuts primarily benefiting the most well-off, including millionaires and billionaires. In this episode of Policy for the People, we speak with Oregon Senator Ron Wyden about what the budget blueprint currently being discuss...
The revival of an old idea is offering hope for improving pay and working conditions in entire industries all at once. That policy is often referred to as Workforce Standards Boards. In this episode of Policy for the People, Ira Cuello-Martinez of PCUN, Oregon’s Farmworker Union, discusses the tough working conditions that farmworkers in Oregon endure, and why the creation of a Workforce Standards Board for farmworkers – something currently under discussion in Salem – could be a real game cha...
For some Oregonians, the complexity and cost involved in tax filing is a barrier to doing their taxes. Oregonians who would be due a tax refund, who would get money back by filing a tax return, don't receive those dollars because they're unable to navigate the complicated process of preparing and filing a tax return. In this episode of Policy for the People, we discuss two initiatives that are making tax filing easy and free. The first is Direct File. This online tool created by the IRS is no...
Oregon’s workforce is getting older, as more and more Oregonians continue to work into their later years of life. But many older workers run up against age discrimination. Age discrimination in the workplace is prevalent in Oregon and nationally, according to research by AARP. In this episode of Policy for the People, we explore the issue of age discrimination in the workplace. Our guest is Andrea Meyer, Director of Government Relations at AARP Oregon. We discuss how pervasive the probl...
For families struggling to pay the bills, for parents juggling multiple jobs to try to keep things afloat, small amounts of cash can make the difference between making it or not, between having some breathing space or being suffocated by the daily grind. Simply giving cash to families in need is very effective at improving economic and mental well-being. That’s a key takeaway from the many experiments with cash programs – guaranteed income – that have been playing out all across the country (...
“The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) is facing an unprecedented crisis that threatens worker protections and civil rights enforcement in the state,” according to the Bureau itself. In this episode of Policy for the People, we speak with Oregon Labor Commissioner Christina Stephenson about the funding crisis that BOLI faces, and what that means for the economic well-being of working Oregonians. We also speak with Jake Barnes of the Workplace Justice Lab at Rutgers University...
How Oregon sets the salary of state legislators and other elected officials could soon change. If enacted by voters, Measure 116 on the November ballot would take away from the Oregon legislature the responsibility for deciding how much lawmakers, the Governor, and other state elected officials get paid, and give that task to an independent salary commission. In this episode of Policy for the People, we speak with two supporters of Measure 116. Isabela Villarreal is Policy and Com...
Echoing statements from both presidential candidates, one Oregon State Senator recently put forward the idea of exempting tips from Oregon income taxes. But is exempting tips from taxes a good idea? In this episode of Policy for the People, we explore the idea of no taxes on tips. Daniel Hauser, Deputy Director of the Oregon Center for Public Policy, explains that exempting tips from taxes would do little to improve the economic security of struggling workers, while making our tax sys...
Measure 118 will be one of the most closely watched measures on the November ballot. Known as “The Oregon Rebate,” the measure would make it so that each year, every resident of Oregon gets a rebate from the state. To pay for these rebates, the measure would institute one of the biggest changes to Oregon’s tax system in decades. In this episode of Policy for the People, we take a deep dive into Measure 118. Daniel Hauser, OCPP's Deputy Director, discusses what Measure 118 gets right, an...
Last month saw yet another record in terms of the fortunes held by the nation's superrich. In July 2024, the roughly 800 billionaires in the U.S. were collectively worth about $6 trillion, the highest amount ever. In light of this, it seemed like a good time to replay a prior episode of Policy for the People examining the need to tax extreme wealth. In August of last year, Bob Lord of Patriotic Millionaires joined us to discuss why taxing the rich is essential in order to shrink inequality an...
Next year, 2025, is setting up to be a pivotal year when it comes to how our nation raises the money needed to pay for public services — things like health, housing, the nation’s safety net, and more. The reason for this dates back to 2017. That year, Congress enacted the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, better known as the Trump tax cuts. This tax package contained massive changes to our tax system that mostly amounted to huge tax cuts for the rich and corporations. For procedural reasons, as well as ...
Recently, the IRS announced that its Direct File program is expanding. This is a big deal. Filing a tax return is complicated. It’s costly. This is a bad situation for everyone, especially families struggling to get by on low wages. The complexity and cost of filing taxes deters many low-income workers from claiming the tax credits for which they are eligible, undermining some of the nation’s core anti-poverty strategies. But with Direct File, a new system is beginning to take shape, one that...
The month of May began with the celebration of International Workers’ Day. May Day, as it’s often called, dates back to the late 19th Century, when labor movements that counted on heavy participation by immigrant workers agitated for better working conditions. Today in the U.S., May Day celebrates both the labor movement and the immigrant community. In that spirit, this episode of Policy for the People focuses on both the labor movement and immigrants. Anthony Capote of the Immigration Resea...
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