Director's Message

Feb. 16, 2007

To: All DHS employees

From: Bruce Goldberg, M.D., Director

"If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich."
~John F. Kennedy

Budgets are on my mind this week. We started our Ways and Means presentations Monday, President Bush released his proposed federal budget nine days ago, and of course it's tax return filing season.

The outlook is mixed, and that concerns me.

The Governor's budget establishes a promising foundation for the children of Oregon in a number of areas including proposing a method to make health care and health insurance accessible to every child. I have commented to you before in my letters how extremely important I believe it is to ensure we provide this fundamental level of support for all children. I'd like to see our leaders work tirelessly until everyone in Oregon gets the health care they need. Right now we have an opportunity to make that happen for all children and it's an excellent first step.

Two weeks ago the Governor's Healthy Kids Plan bill passed out of the House Health Care Committee and this week it was passed out of the House Revenue Committee. It now goes to the Ways and Means Committee. Along with discussions about children's health there was much discourse about a tobacco tax. Sadly we are losing too many Oregonians to tobacco-related illness, spending too many millions on smoking-related health care costs, and seeing too many children unable to get basic health care. I hold out hope that the health and safety of children and tobacco prevention will take precedence over the interests of tobacco purveyors.

Other important issues affecting DHS this legislative session include the need for adequate staff and funding to meet caseload requirements and federal mandates, the desire to restore Oregon Health Plan services to the many individuals who lost that support due to past budget cuts, the need to reauthorize the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, and the desire to continue effectively serving a growing Oregon population.

However, at the same time that Oregon's improving economy gives me hope that the state can gain ground in these areas, we now are facing potentially significant cuts at the federal level, as outlined in President Bush's proposed budget.

These cuts have the potential to cause great harm to Oregon's ability to provide needed social services to our citizens. For example, the proposed federal budget reduces by $6 million a year the social services block grants used by CAF's Child Welfare program and the Commission on Children and Families. The budget also eliminates funding for the Urban Indian Health Program, as well as all funding for newborn hearing screening, Preventive Health Services block grants, graduate medical education and other programs. In addition, some federal reimbursement levels are reduced from 75 percent to 50 percent.

Beyond these and other cuts to social services, the President's budget also proposes ending the federal payments rural counties receive in lieu of timber revenues. Stopping these payments raises the possibility that counties will be unable to fund their share of local programs and will turn over management of those programs to DHS at a time when our federal funding also is being reduced.

Human services historically have been delivered through a three-way federal-state-local partnership. A key partner in that effort -- the federal government -- is proposing to significantly reduce its financial role, and it is no exaggeration to say the results could undo much that Oregon's improving economy can accomplish.

We know that the participation of all three levels of government is necessary to serve our most vulnerable citizens. Every day at DHS we see the impact on people of going without adequate health care, addictions treatment, housing and food.

During the next few months I will be working with the Governor's Office and our federal delegation to remind our federal partners of the importance of maintaining their role in the federal-state-local partnership that delivers social services. We cannot afford to let this partnership collapse. It shames me that the wealthiest nation on earth still can't seem to be able to provide life's most basic necessities to all of our citizens. It shames me even more that we're on the brink of making things worse for the people who lack those necessities. We must find a way to avoid the harm this proposed federal budget will cause.

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