Press Releases
Wyden Statement on Bernhardt Confirmation
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., released the following statement today on the Senate confirmation of David Bernhardt for Secretary of the Department of the Interior: "Ryan Zinke left office in disgrace amid a self-generated ethical hurricane. Rather than taking an opportunity to restore public trust and integrity to the office of the Secretary, the Senate just confirmed an Interior Secretary who could quite possibly face immediate investigations of his own. The ethical storm clouds are already … Continue Reading
April 11, 2019
Wyden, DeFazio Ask FERC to Extend Public Comment Period for Jordan Cove
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden and U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio today urged federal regulators to provide additional time for public comment on a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for the proposed Jordan Cove LNG Project. In the Oregon lawmakers' letter to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman Neil Chatterjee, they asked that the agency extend by 30 days its 90-day public comment period now scheduled to end July 5. "Given the considerable size of this project, the … Continue Reading
April 10, 2019
Wyden, Booker, Clarke Introduce Bill Requiring Companies To Target Bias In Corporate Algorithms
Washington, D.C. - Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Rep. Yvette D. Clarke, D-N.Y., today introduced the Algorithmic Accountability Act, which requires companies to study and fix flawed computer algorithms that result in inaccurate, unfair, biased or discriminatory decisions impacting Americans. "Computers are increasingly involved in the most important decisions affecting Americans' lives -whether or not someone can buy a home, get a job or even go to jail. But instead of … Continue Reading
April 10, 2019
Wyden Statement on the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Whistleblower Protection Act
Mr. President, thirty years ago today, the Whistleblower Protection Act was signed into law. To call it a triumph doesn't do justice to the sheer number of years and people it took on both sides of the aisle to overcome numerous obstacles and enact federal protections for federal government employees who step forward and do what we all should do: expose wrongdoings in order to hold government officials and agencies accountable. Congressional efforts to protect whistleblowers date back to at … Continue Reading
April 10, 2019
Wyden Statement on Net Neutrality
Washington, D.C. -U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden issued the following statement after today's House vote on net neutrality: "Change doesn't start in Washington, D.C., and trickle down. It starts from the grassroots. Today the House of Representatives listened to people in Oregon and across the country, and voted to make an open internet the law of the land once again. "This bill would enshrine in law the principle that small businesses and libraries and rural hospitals are on equal footing with the … Continue Reading
April 10, 2019
Wyden Urges Prompt Adoption of New National Three-Digit Mental Health and Suicide Number
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden today urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to act as soon as possible to establish a new three-digit phone hotline for mental health crisis and suicide prevention. Citing alarming suicide statistics from Oregon that have been reported recently as part of the statewide "Breaking the Silence" reporting project, Wyden said time is of the essence. "For the past three decades, Oregon's suicide rates have been higher than the national average," … Continue Reading
April 10, 2019
Congressman Blumenauer, Senators Wyden and Merkley Announce Federal Funding for Division Bus Rapid Transit Project
Washington, D.C. - Congressman Earl Blumenauer (OR-03) and Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) announced more than $87 million in funding for the Division Street Transit Project. The project will provide high-capacity bus service for faster, more reliable trips between Downtown Portland, Southeast and East Portland and Gresham. "This important project improves mobility for the region while making critical safety and multimodal investments along Division Street" said Congressman … Continue Reading
April 08, 2019
Wyden Calls for Investigation into Bernhardt and Law Firm Over Apparent Unreported Lobbying
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today requested that the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia thoroughly investigate potential civil and criminal violations of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (LDA) by Department of the Interior Secretary nominee David Bernhardt, as well as his former lobbying firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck (Brownstein). Wyden's request follows public reports that indicate Bernhardt may have engaged in lobbying activities, including multiple … Continue Reading
April 08, 2019
Wyden Calls for Trump Administration to Stop Detaining and Shackling Pregnant Women
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden. D-Ore., today joined 15 of his Senate colleagues to call for the reinstatement of an Obama-era policy ordering most pregnant women to be released from immigration detention. The Trump administration had secretly ended the policy last year before announcing its new policy in March. In a letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the senators called for the reinstatement of presumptive release for pregnant … Continue Reading
April 08, 2019
Wyden, Merkley Support Investigation of Juul
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today joined with nine Senate colleagues to launch an investigation into JUUL Labs, Inc., the vaping industry titan. In their letter to JUUL CEO Kevin Burns, the senators asked about the company's partnership with Big Tobacco giant Altria, and questioned JUUL's marketing tactics to hook children on nicotine with kid-appealing flavors. "While JUUL has promised to address youth vaping through its modest voluntary efforts, by accepting … Continue Reading
April 03, 2019
Wyden Calls for Delay in Consideration of Interior Secretary Nominee
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today called for a delay in the nomination of David Bernhardt as Secretary of the Department of the Interior to allow the Interior Department watchdog to investigate mounting and unanswered conflict-of-interest ethics questions about the nominee. Wyden's call in a Senate floor speech follows news reports that the Interior Department Inspector General is reviewing allegations that Bernhardt violated his ethics pledge by engaging in activity that … Continue Reading
April 03, 2019
Wyden, Merkley Urge Feds to Support Three Eastern Oregon Forests
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today urged the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) to take steps that ensure three national forests in Eastern Oregon each can support timber harvest, recreation, ranching, wildlife habitat and protection. The senators' letter to USFS seeking separate planning processes for the Umatilla, Wallowa-Whitman and Malheur National Forests comes in response to the agency's recent decision to withdraw a comprehensive Blue Mountain Forest Plan covering … Continue Reading
April 03, 2019
Wyden Floor Statement on McConnell’s Nuclear Option Push
M. President, the Republican Leader is reportedly on the verge of "going nuclear" to speed through the confirmation of more right-wing nominees. He says Democrats are guilty of extreme, unprecedented obstruction. And so he claims his hand has been forced, and that's why he needs to force this change to Senate rules. Here in the real world, however, the facts tell a different story. So today I want to lay out a few key points as to why this is the wrong way to go. When you look at the … Continue Reading
April 03, 2019
Wyden, Grassley Probe Reports of Abuse at Group Homes in Oregon & Iowa
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, are requesting information from two companies affiliated with The MENTOR Network (Mentor) after recent news reports in Oregon and Iowa revealed multiple instances of abuse and neglect, and in one case, an apparent death. Mentor contracts with the two states to provide care for adults and children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. "When vulnerable Americans … Continue Reading
April 02, 2019
Wyden Cheers Congressional Passage of Bill to Improve Oregonians’ Health Care
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today welcomed the passage of bipartisan legislation to improve the Medicaid program, including Wyden-backed provisions that fund community-based behavioral health programs and restrict the pharmaceutical industry's exploitive tactics of taxpayer dollars. The Medicaid Services Investment and Accountability Act of 2019, which passed the Senate today after passing through the House earlier this year, includes a number of key provisions that … Continue Reading
April 02, 2019
Wyden, McConnell Urge Federal Financial Regulators to Prevent Discrimination of Legal Hemp Industry
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., today sent letters to several federal banking and financial regulatory institutions reiterating hemp's legality and requesting timely guidance and clarification to help ease concerns from lawful hemp farmers and producers about the lack of access to financial services. Senators Wyden and McConnell wrote the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Office of the Comptroller of the … Continue Reading
April 02, 2019
Wyden Presses Energy Secretary on Trump Administration Proposal to Privatize Bonneville Power, Cut Budget for Hanford Cleanup
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today pressed Energy Secretary Rick Perry on the Trump administration's proposal to privatize the Bonneville Power Administration during a Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources hearing on the administration's budget request. "Privatizing Bonneville would just amount to garden variety robbery for families in the Northwest, particularly the ones walking on an economic tightrope and balancing the food bill against the fuel bill, and the … Continue Reading
April 02, 2019
Senate Passes Wyden-Fischer Resolution Recognizing WWII Codebreaker Elizebeth Friedman
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., last night celebrated the Senate passage of a bipartisan resolution recognizing the contributions of Elizebeth Friedman, a cryptanalyst who helped break German codes during World War II. "Elizebeth Friedman's contributions, like those of many women in STEM and other fields, have been far too long overlooked," Wyden said. "She leaves a rich legacy in tenacity, creativity and excellence in the field of cryptology, … Continue Reading
March 29, 2019
Merkley, Wyden Demand Trump Reverse Proposed Cuts to Wildfire Prevention, Firefighting Budget
WASHINGTON, D.C. - With preparations for wildfire season already underway, Oregon's U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden today joined five Western Senate colleagues in calling on the Trump administration to reverse proposed funding cuts to critical wildfire prevention and forest restoration projects throughout the country. The administration's recently released FY 2020 budget proposal cuts funding from nearly every U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Department of the Interior (DOI) … Continue Reading
March 29, 2019
Wyden, Merkley Demand Equal Pay for U.S. Women’s Soccer Team
Washington, D.C. - Oregon's U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley this week joined 33 other senators to call on U.S. Soccer to establish equal pay for its athletes. Despite their successes on the field, players on the U.S. Women's National Team are still paid considerably less than their male counterparts. In 2016, the Senate unanimously passed a resolution calling for U.S. Soccer to immediately eliminate gender pay inequity and treat all athletes with the same respect and dignity. Despite … Continue Reading
