Press Releases
Senate Passes Bipartisan “Kids to Parks Day” Resolution
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., Mazie K. Hirono, D-Hawaii, and Cory Booker, D-N.J., applauded the passage of their bipartisan resolution, which encourages children to get outdoors by designating May 19 National Kids to Parks Day. First celebrated by the National Park Trust in 2011, the eighth annual Kids to Parks Day marks the beginning of a summer-long series of events at state parks countrywide that … Continue Reading
April 12, 2018
Senators Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Legalize Hemp
WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senators Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced today the bipartisan, Hemp Farming Act of 2018, which would legalize and clearly define hemp as an agricultural commodity and remove it from the list of controlled substances. The legislation will also give states the opportunity to become the primary regulators of hemp, allow hemp researchers to apply for competitive federal grants from … Continue Reading
April 12, 2018
Merkley, Wyden Announce Major Emergency Relief Grants for Oregon
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Oregon's U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley, who serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Ron Wyden, today announced more than $37 million in grant funding to reimburse Oregon for the extensive repairs to infrastructure that was damaged by severe winter weather and record-breaking wildfires. Nearly $11.3 million is related to last year's wildfires-from repairing pavement damage, to removing tree hazards, to addressing rockfalls. "Since the devastating wildfires last … Continue Reading
March 27, 2018
Wyden, Merkley Urge Trump Administration to Drop Proposal to Auction off Bonneville Power Administration Assets
Washington, D.C. - Oregon’s U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and a bipartisan group of their colleagues urged federal officials to oppose Trump’s Fiscal Year 2019 budget scheme that would auction off the transmission assets of the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) and other Power Marketing Administrations (PMAs). “There is a long, bipartisan tradition of opposing similar past proposals, including last year’s proposal that recommended selling off federal PMA transmission … Continue Reading
March 27, 2018
Wyden, Merkley Seek Federal Disaster Help for Coastal Fisheries
Washington, D.C. - Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today urged Trump administration officials to take action on their nine-month-old request seeking disaster aid for West Coast fisheries. The Oregon senators wrote Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross that the Trump administration has failed to answer their June 2017 letter following up on a May 2017 request by Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and California Gov. Jerry Brown for fishery disaster declarations to help coastal communities. At the urging of … Continue Reading
March 23, 2018
Wyden, Paul, Welch, Sensenbrenner Introduce Legislation to Increase Transparency of Intelligence Spending
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Reps. Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., today rolled out legislation that would require the president to disclose the topline annual budget request to Congress from each of the 16 federal agencies conducting intelligence activities. Currently, spending levels for these federal intelligence agencies and activities is classified and hidden from the public. The Intelligence Budget Transparency Act would … Continue Reading
March 23, 2018
Wyden Wins Passage of Expanded Low-Income Housing Tax Credit
Washington - U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden said today that the expanded low-income housing tax credit in the larger government spending bill that passed the Senate will provide much-needed affordable housing help for families in Oregon and nationwide. The 12.5 percent increase in the allocation of low-income housing tax credits for the states and income-test adjustments benefiting the lowest-income renters is expected to generate 35,000 new affordable housing units and 40,000 jobs all across America … Continue Reading
March 22, 2018
Wyden Statement on Voting for Must-Pass Spending Bill that Includes Long-term Wildfire Funding Fix, Lifeline Funding for Rural Communities
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., issued the following statement on voting for the must-pass government spending bill approved tonight by the Senate: "Congress tonight took significant steps toward addressing the infernos that are ravaging Oregon and the West,"Wyden said. "I have fought for years to end 'fire borrowing' and provide a long-term, bipartisan fix to the Forest Service's common-sense defying wildfire budget. I'm proud that my solution with Sen. Crapo will now become … Continue Reading
March 22, 2018
Wyden Warns Against Allowing Foreign Access to Americans’ Data In Must-Pass Spending Bill
Washington, D.C. - Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., issued the following statement on the inclusion of the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act in the omnibus spending bill. This provision allows foreign governments to directly order American companies to hand over data stored in the U.S., without American oversight. "Tucked away in the omnibus spending bill is a provision that allows Trump, and any future president, to share Americans' private emails and other information with countries … Continue Reading
March 22, 2018
Wyden, Merkley, Walden Secure Two Years of Lifeline Funding for Rural Oregon Counties
Washington, DC - U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden, and Jeff Merkley and Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., secured two years of critical funding for education, transportation and law enforcement services for residents in rural counties in Oregon and nationwide. Wyden, Merkley and Walden successfully included a two-year extension of the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program in legislation Congress must pass by Friday to fund the government. SRS payments are crucial to keeping schools and libraries open, maintaining … Continue Reading
March 22, 2018
Bipartisan Efforts Secure Fire Funding Provisions
WASHINGTON - Federal agencies struggling to combat record-breaking wildfires using current budgeting guidelines will receive relief thanks to a provision in a government funding bill introduced last evening. Securing this legislative proposal is the result of bipartisan, bicameral efforts undertaken by Senators Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), and Idaho Congressmen Mike Simpson (R-Idaho-2) and Kurt Schrader (D-OR-5) in response to … Continue Reading
March 21, 2018
Wyden Renews Call for Paper Ballots and Mandatory Audits, after DHS Secretary Says Paperless Voting Machines Pose “A National Security Concern”
Washington, D.C. -Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called for all states to adopt paper ballots and post-election audits, following a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on election security today. “Americans don't expect states, much less county officials, to fight America's wars,” Wyden said. “The Russians have attacked our election infrastructure and leaving our defenses to states and local entities, in my view, is not an adequate response. Our country needs baseline, mandatory, federal … Continue Reading
March 21, 2018
Wyden Renews Call for Paper Ballots and Mandatory Audits, After DHS Secretary Says Paperless Voting Machines Pose “A National Security Concern”
Washington, D.C. -Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called for all states to adopt paper ballots and post-election audits, following a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on election security today. "Americans don't expect states, much less county officials, to fight America's wars," Wyden said. "The Russians have attacked our election infrastructure and leaving our defenses to states and local entities, in my view, is not an adequate response. Our country needs baseline, mandatory, federal election … Continue Reading
March 20, 2018
Wyden Presses Energy Secretary over Possible Hanford Cleanup Cover-up, Trump Administration Proposal to Privatize Bonneville Power
Washington, D.C. - Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today pressed Energy Secretary Rick Perry over new reports that an Energy Department project manager was transferred after raising concerns about the safety and viability of the steel used to build a plant meant to treat radioactive nuclear waste at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington State. The employee, Bill Hamel, had been the federal project director overseeing construction at the Waste Treatment Plant at Hanford until last week, when … Continue Reading
March 20, 2018
Wyden Introduces School Safety Bill
Washington - U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden today co-sponsored the Safe Schools Improvement Act, a bill that works to ensure that no child is afraid to go to school for fear of unchecked bullying and harassment. "Students and their parents should know their schools as safe and welcoming places to learn, with assurances there is a zero tolerance policy on bullying," Wyden said. "This legislation would ensure school districts across the country take every possible step to protect children from … Continue Reading
March 19, 2018
Wyden Questions Facebook on Misuse of Users’ Private Information
Washington, D.C. - Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., asked Facebook to detail the extent of misuse of its users' private information, in a letter to CEO Mark Zuckerberg sent today. His letter follows reporting by the New York Times and Facebook's own admission that about 50 million users' data was downloaded and subsequently used by Cambridge Analytica, a political advertising firm, without the affirmative knowledge or consent of those users. "The troubling reporting on the ease with which Cambridge … Continue Reading
March 15, 2018
Wyden, Paul Ask DOJ to Clarify Protection of Email Communications under Fourth Amendment
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., this week asked the Department of Justice to clarify whether they believe that an individual's emails are protected from warrantless government searches under the Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment protects Americans against warrantless search and seizure by the government. The Department of Justice has long taken the position that these protections do not extend to electronic communications stored in the cloud, … Continue Reading
March 15, 2018
Wyden, Colleagues Call on Key Senate Committee to Take Action on Legislation to Fund Gun Violence Research at CDC
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and 25 other senators today called on leaders of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee to immediately act on legislation to fund gun violence prevention research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Wyden and his colleagues introduced legislation last year (S. 834) to provide $60 million for the CDC to conduct or support research on firearms safety and gun violence prevention. In today's letter, the … Continue Reading
March 15, 2018
Wyden, Merkley, Tester, Shaheen, Hassan Introduce Legislation to Push Back Against Nationwide Internet Sales Tax
Washington, DC - U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) are taking a stand against a nationwide online sales tax. The senators representing states without a sales tax introduced a resolution opposing a bill that would require businesses selling products or services over the internet to collect sales tax, even if the seller is located in a state without a sales tax. "Passage of the Marketplace Fairness … Continue Reading
March 14, 2018
Wyden Votes Against Anti-Consumer Senate Banking Bill
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today voted against legislation that would cut protections for consumers Congress put in place after the 2008 financial crisis. The Senate banking bill weakens regulatory protections enacted after the 2008 financial crisis by substantially relaxing consumer protections and reducing the number of banks subject to heightened regulatory scrutiny. "After the Equifax security breach and Wells Fargo customer abuses, it's clear there's more work to be … Continue Reading
