(The Center Square) – Six months after Washington state Gov. Bob Ferguson took office with a moderate-sounding tone that encouraged many Republicans, state Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, says Ferguson has instead proven to be in “lockstep” with majority party Democrats in the Legislature.
“He put forward a very bipartisan, no-nonsense … I just want good government image during the session,” the Senate Minority Leader said in a Monday interview with The Center Square. “Since session closed, he has gone back to a very partisan political agenda in his statements, especially on the ‘big beautiful bill.’ I think he put out three statements in one day.”
Braun was referring to several July 3 statements from Ferguson and social media posts blasting President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act that the president signed into law the next day.
“It’s just flat out untrue,” the senator said in response to Ferguson’s statements on Trump’s sweeping budget reconciliation law.
“I’ve seen a lot in 20 years of politics,” Ferguson said on Instagram. “This Big Betrayal of a bill is about as bad as it gets.”
In one statement, Ferguson warned about the impacts of the bill’s changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
“Each of the 1 million Washingtonians who receive assistance from SNAP will see their benefits reduced under the reconciliation bill that passed out of Congress today. In addition, more than 130,000 Washingtonians could lose their benefits altogether,” Ferguson wrote.
“The governor noted people might lose their access to SNAP benefits if they don’t meet new work-related requirements. I don’t see a problem with holding able-bodied, working-age people accountable when they’re receiving taxpayer-funded assistance,” noted Braun in a Saturday commentary in The Chronicle. “That’s why I proposed a similar approach this year in Senate Bill 5311, which our Democratic colleagues ignored.”
Braun said work requirements for SNAP benefits were put in place during the Clinton administration.
“They’ve just eroded over time, so this is simply putting those back in place. This is not a high bar. This is 20 hours a week, 80 hours a month,” the senator explained. “It can be work, it can be training, it can be volunteering. I think they were pretty careful to make sure we’re pushing people in the right direction, to get them back engaged.”
Another July 3 statement from Ferguson indicated devastating cuts to Medicaid “that will fundamentally alter Washington’s health care system and result in hundreds of thousands of Washingtonians losing their health care.”
Braun told The Center Square that the changes to Medicaid are reasonable and will ultimately protect the system for those who truly need it.
“Most of this is just accountability,” he said. “They estimate around 200,000 people who are able-bodied, no disabilities, no dependents, will somehow not make the decision to work 20 hours a week, and will just lose health care because they don’t make that decision. I don’t think so. I think a lot of them will decide to go to work. This is a program designed to help the extremely poor, the disabled children, and by misusing it and wasting money allocated to Medicaid, we’re putting the whole program at risk for the folks who really need it.”
Braun said the barrage of statements and social media posts from Ferguson amount to fearmongering, and he suggests Ferguson and the majority of Democrats should focus on out-of-control spending in Washington state and spend less time blaming the federal government.
“He signed all $13 billion of new taxes and a budget that is enormously harmful long term to Washingtonians,” Braun said, noting he and other GOP leaders met with Ferguson several times during the legislative session, urging him to consider Republican budget proposals that did not include any tax increases. “I have not talked to him since then.”
Ferguson’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
