Press Releases
Merkley, Wyden Announce Key Oregon Rural Priorities Funded in Spending Bill
Washington, D.C. - Oregon's Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden today announced key provisions in the Senate Agriculture Appropriations bill that will help Oregon's rural communities-from investments in rural housing; to research into the impacts of wildfire smoke on crops; to hemp, which is becoming a major cash crop for Oregon. The bill was voted out of the full Senate today. "Every year I visit every county in Oregon, and people everywhere want the same thing: a chance to earn a good … Continue Reading
October 31, 2019
Merkley, Wyden Announce Key Investments in Research, Public Safety
Washington, D.C. - Oregon's U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden today announced key provisions in the Senate Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Committee bill that will help rural communities across Oregon. "I'm in every county every year, and across rural and coastal Oregon I hear about ways we can create jobs and strengthen communities," said Merkley, who serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee. "This bill reflects a lot of those insights, from strengthening coastal … Continue Reading
October 31, 2019
Merkley, Wyden Announce Significant New Investments to Address Housing, Homelessness
Washington, D.C. - Oregon's U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden today announced that the Senate has passed the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill, which includes $2.173 billion to battle unaffordable rents and homelessness. The bill funds several federal departments, and includes Oregon priorities for transportation, housing, and other programs that local communities rely on to fund services, build parks, and more. "Infrastructure and housing are pressing … Continue Reading
October 29, 2019
Wyden, Merkley Urge Trump Administration to Prioritize Children’s Health and Keep Promise to Ban Flavored E-Cigarettes
Washington, D.C. - Oregon's Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today joined U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Senate Democrats to denounce the Trump administration's delay in addressing the growing epidemic of youth tobacco use. In a letter sent to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar, the senators urged that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finalize its promised compliance policy and clear the market of unauthorized, flavored e-cigarette products, including mint and … Continue Reading
October 29, 2019
Wyden Statement on USDA Announcement of Hemp Production Interim Rule
Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today released the following statement on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) interim rule on hemp production: "I've long said that if you can make and sell hemp products in America, you should be able to grow hemp in America. Congress passed my bipartisan Hemp Farming Act, and now federal regulations must be updated to reflect hemp's legal status. The USDA interim rule is an important first step to ending uncertainty for farmers, and I now look forward to … Continue Reading
October 24, 2019
Wyden, Merkley Introduce the Homeland Security Improvement Act
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today joined U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., and Senate Democrats to introduce legislation to address some of the nation's immigration challenges at the southwest border and improve Department of Homeland Security (DHS) engagement with border communities. The Homeland Security Improvement Act establishes an ombudsman for border and immigration enforcement-related concerns within DHS to better ensure accountability, transparency and … Continue Reading
October 24, 2019
Wyden and Warren to FTC: Investigate Amazon’s Negligence in Capital One Hack
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., today urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate and determine if Amazon's failure to secure the servers it rented to Capital One violated federal law. In July 2019, a hacker stole the personal information of 100 million Americans from Capital One using a popular cyberattack technique known as a "server side request forgery" (SSRF). Capital One rented the breached servers through Amazon's … Continue Reading
October 23, 2019
Wyden, Merkley, Blumenauer Honor Trail Blazers’ 50th Anniversary with Resolution
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer marked tonight's start of the Portland Trail Blazers' 50th NBA season with a concurrent Congressional resolution that honors both the team's history and fans' faithful support of the franchise. "From Bill Walton and Maurice Lucas leading the Trail Blazers to the NBA title in the team's first playoffs run to last season's playoff heroics by Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, the last 50 years of special … Continue Reading
October 23, 2019
Senators Wyden, Murray Denounce President Trump’s Cruel Policy Denying Visas Based on Health Care Coverage
Washington, D.C. - Yesterday, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Finance, and U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), sent a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Alex Azar denouncing the cruel and politically motivated Trump proclamation barring immigrants based on whether they can afford health care coverage. The Senators urged HHS to reverse the proclamation … Continue Reading
October 22, 2019
Wyden, Senate Dems Will Force Vote To Restore Homeowners’ Ability To Work Around GOP Tax Law’s Harmful SALT Caps
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today announced that he and fellow Senate Democrats will force a vote tomorrow on a resolution to undo Republican-made IRS rules blocking critical state workarounds to harmful state and local tax (SALT) deduction caps, restoring states' ability to work around the these caps and allowinghomeowners to again fully take advantage of their SALT deduction. Wyden and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senator Bob Menendez, D-N.J. … Continue Reading
October 18, 2019
Bipartisan Members Condemn Activision Blizzard and Apple Actions to Enforce Chinese Government Censorship
Washington, D.C. - A bipartisan coalition of Senate and House members today condemned Activision Blizzard and Apple's recent actions to suppress criticism of the Chinese government in hopes of gaining higher profits. Apple recently removed the HKMap mapping app, which was widely used by peaceful Hong Kong protestors, from the App Store, at the request of the Chinese government, and has censored at least 2,200 apps in China according to the nonprofit group GreatFire. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., … Continue Reading
October 17, 2019
Senate Passes Wyden Bill to Provide Answers About Saudi Fugitives
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today passed a bill requiring the FBI to declassify any and all information regarding Saudi Arabia's possible role helping its citizens escape the U.S. while awaiting trial or sentencing for a criminal offense, following an impassioned speech on the Senate floor. "The American people deserve answers. These are not academic matters, and this is not about a series of victimless crimes," Wyden said. "This is about manslaughter, rape and more. … Continue Reading
October 17, 2019
Wyden Introduces Comprehensive Bill to Secure Americans’ Personal Information and Hold Corporations Accountable
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today introduced sweeping new privacy legislation, the Mind Your Own Business Act, to create the strongest-ever protections for Americans' private data and to hold accountable the corporate executives responsible for abusing our information. Wyden's bill contains the most comprehensive protections for Americans' private data ever introduced, and goes further than Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It would give American … Continue Reading
October 09, 2019
Wyden, Merkley Urge Administration to Put the Interests of Seniors Above Insurance Companies
Washington, D.C. - Oregon's Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley announced today that they are urging the Trump administration to delay implementation of a Medicare enrollment website overhaul to address key problems with the new Medicare Plan Finder tool that would make it harder for seniors to compare insurance and prescription drug plans. The letter was sent in anticipation of a high volume of inquiries from beneficiaries during an already chaotic time. Medicare Open Enrollment begins on … Continue Reading
October 09, 2019
Wyden and Moran to Introduce Bipartisan Declassification Reform Legislation
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Jerry Moran, R-Kan., today announced plans to address the expensive, unnecessary backlog to declassify documents that no longer need to be protected by government secrecy. Wyden, a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Moran, a senior Appropriations Committee member, are planning to introduce legislation to reform the declassification process in coming weeks. "Federal agencies are drowning in classified records, and … Continue Reading
October 08, 2019
Wyden Statement on New Revelations About Spying on Americans
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, issued the following statement in response to a newly declassified opinion by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The opinion revealed multiple abuses of the FBI's backdoor searches for Americans and showed that the FBI does have the ability to count the number times it searches for Americans within its Section 702 foreign surveillance database, despite claims to the contrary. … Continue Reading
October 07, 2019
Wyden Files U.S. Supreme Court Amicus Brief in Support of Federal Civil Rights Law
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., last week joined U.S. Sen. Kamala D. Harris, D-Calif., and colleagues in filing an amicus brief in a United States Supreme Court case that will determine access to courts for victims of racial discrimination. The Supreme Court will hear arguments in Comcast Corporation v. National Association of African American-Owned Media and Entertainment Studios Networks, Inc. on November 13, 2019. The statute in question-42 U.S.C. Section?1981-was … Continue Reading
October 02, 2019
Senators Call for Financial Certainty for Rural Counties
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Jim Risch, R-Idaho, Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Mike Crapo, R-Idaho and 27 of their Senate colleagues today requested that any end-of-year legislation include at least a two-year reauthorization of the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) and the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act (SRS) programs. In a letter to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the senators wrote, " Congress has an obligation to … Continue Reading
October 02, 2019
Wyden Announces Statewide Effort for Wild and Scenic Rivers
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden today announced he is taking nominations from Oregonians through Jan. 20, 2020 for rivers in the state that deserve addition to the national Wild and Scenic Rivers list. "Whether you are a whitewater rafter, an angler or simply an Oregonian who believes strongly in protecting the river or stream that provides safe drinking water to your community, I want to hear from you," Wyden wrote in an open letter to Oregonians seeking river nominations for new … Continue Reading
October 01, 2019
Wyden, Merkley Announce Legislation to Help Students Seeking Higher Education
Washington, D.C. - Oregon's U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today announced new bipartisan legislation that would address an injustice for some students wanting to use the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) for higher education. The AOTC is the primary tax credit available to students seeking a higher education; however, students with a prior felony drug conviction are permanently ineligible from using the credit. This backwards requirement makes it more difficult to ensure … Continue Reading
