With lawmakers in Salem having wrapped up their work, we take a look at a couple of legislative developments that perhaps you have not heard about, but which could make a big difference in the economic well-being of many Oregonians.

We begin the show by discussing legislation that better protects Oregonians from unfair debt collection practices. Chris Coughlin, Policy Director at Oregon Consumer Justice, talks about the just-enacted Family Financial Protection Act.

In the latter half of the show, Candice Vickers, Executive Director of Family Forward Oregon, discusses an effort to get the legislature to put sufficient resources into a vital state child care program, Employment Related Day Care.

We’re talking taxes today on Policy for the People, specifically from the vantage point of the Oregonians with the fewest resources, those who are struggling the most to make ends meet. 

In our first segment, we hear about a brand new tax credit in Oregon designed to shore up the lowest-income families with young children in our state. Tyler Mac Innis of the Oregon Center for Public Policy explains who qualifies for the Oregon Kids’ Credit and why the creation of this new tax credit is a very good thing.

But despite the positive development that the Oregon Kids’ Credit represents, Oregon’s tax system as a whole is one that continues to weigh more heavily on the lowest income families than anyone else. Miles Trinidad of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy discusses the recently released report Who Pays? 

Once again, the possibility of a federal government shutdown is upon us. This renewed threat ultimately arises out of competing visions of the role of government and the kind of nation we want to have, our guest on this episode explains. Sharon Parrott is President of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Sharon discusses those competing visions, as well as the prospects for enacting legislation that can improve the lives of people throughout our country.

Hunger in Oregon is rising rapidly, a reflection of the economic insecurity afflicting so many families.

In this episode of Policy for the People, we speak with Susannah Morgan, President of the Oregon Food Bank. As Susannah explains, the level of hunger right now is the worst that she has seen in her 28 years of working in food banks in several states.

But as she points out, neither hunger nor poverty are inevitable. They are the result of public policy choices, and we can make better policy choices. 

Perhaps the biggest danger from rising economic inequality is what it’s doing to our bodies, to our health. Economic inequality is killing us. Literally.

In this episode of Policy for the People, we hear from Dr. Stephen Bezruchka, author of the book Inequality Kills Us All.  A former emergency room physician, Stephen is currently an Associate Teaching Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington’s School of Public Health.

We also get a quick update on the latest figures on inequality. OCPP Policy Analyst Tyler Mac Innis discussing the key takeaways from a new report on income inequality in Oregon.

The share of children in the U.S. living in poverty has soared, according to new data recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau. 

In today’s episode, we talk with Tyler Mac Innis, a policy analyst with the Oregon Center for Public Policy, about what’s behind the surge in child poverty. We also discuss how the federal government measures poverty in a way that significantly understates the number of families having trouble making ends meet.

In the second half of the show, we explore a different, more accurate measure of economic insecurity developed by the United Way. We talk with Jim Cooper, President and CEO of United Way of the Pacific Northwest, about the Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed (ALICE) Index, and what this measure economic insecurity tells us about the current reality facing Oregon families.

This special episode examines what is looking increasingly likely: a federal government shutdown. Unless Congress can pass a continuing budget resolution by September 30, the shutdown will begin on Sunday, October 1.

What would a federal government shutdown mean for people in Oregon and across the nation? Who would be most affected? And what are the deeper policy and ideological differences driving the nation toward a federal government shutdown?

To examine these issues, the Oregon Center for Public Policy’s Executive Director, Alejandro Queral, spoke with someone with decades of experience navigating the halls of Congress: Ellen Nissenbaum, Senior Vice President for Government Affairs at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

All of the strike activity we’re seeing right now is a hopeful sign for those who want to see an economy that works for everyone. In this episode, we speak with Margaret Poydock and Jennifer Sherer of the Economic Policy Institute, co-authors of the recent report What to know about this summer’s strike activity. We discuss what’s driving the recent wave of strikes, the challenges workers encounter when seeking to strike, and the policy changes that would strengthen workers’ ability to act collectively. 

Money is power. And the extreme concentration of wealth that we're seeing means that more and more political power is in the hands of billionaires, who use that power to further increase their wealth, according to today’s guest, Bob Lord. Bob is the Senior Advisor on Tax Policy for Patriotic Millionaires, as well as an associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies.

In this episode of Policy for the People, we talk with Bob Lord about why taxing the rich is essential in order to shrink inequality and save our democracy. 

On July 1, workers in one region of Oregon achieved what once seemed an inspired goal. The minimum wage in the Portland metro area — not in the rest of the state — crossed the $15 an hour level. But this milestone arrived more than a decade after workers across the country began demanding a $15 an hour minimum wage.

In this episode, we examine how much actual progress Oregon’s minimum wage workers made since the legislature established a new minimum wage law seven years ago.

We finish with a brief discussion on a big win for Oregon’s most vulnerable children: the legislature’s decision to establish the Oregon Kids' Credit, a new state child tax credit.