Wyden Outlines Major Medicare Reforms at Accountable Care Organization Summit

Today Senator Wyden outlined major Medicare reforms at the Accountable Care Ogranization (ACO) Summit. 

Through reform of the accountable care program, ACOs can improve the care of Americans with chronic disease while driving down costs. Reform will also be aimed not only at addressing Medicare’s major cost driver, chronic conditions, but also at improving health outcomes and the quality of care for patients.

Read Senator Wyden's speech below:

Wyden Keynote Speech at Accountable Care Organization Summit by Senator Ron Wyden

Memorial Day Week in Oregon

Continuing his pledge to hold a town hall in every Oregon county every year, Senator Wyden held town halls #669 and #670 in Wheeler and Gilliam Counties this past week. In Fossil, he visited the Oregon Paleo Land Institute’s field center where he met local kids who came to see the fossils on display. While in Condon for town hall #670, Senator Wyden met with local business owner, Mason Eubanks, and had the privilege of celebrating Morris Wilson’s 100^th birthday!

Over Memorial Day weekend, Senator Wyden participated in Memorial Day ceremonies honoring veterans and those who serve today at the Willamette National Cemetery’s Korean War Memorial in Portland and in Southern Oregon at the Oregon Fallen War Heroes Memorial in Central Point and Eagle Point National Cemetery.

Throughout the week Senator Wyden met with small businesses in Medford  that would be negatively affected by online sales tax, took questions from students at Talent Elementary School, learned more about healthy school lunch offerings, and read to first-graders at Springfield Public School “Gift of Literacy” event.

Senator Wyden also highlighted sustainability and energy efficiency- discussing energy policy with Oregon State University engineering students in Corvallis and touring the new federal building in Portland that showcases the benefits of “green” building. At the grand opening of Portland General Electric’s Smart Power Center in Salem, Senator Wyden saw first-hand the technologies that help to store energy and make up a smart and reliable power grid.

Returning to his alma mater, Senator Wyden spoke at the ceremony officially inducting University of Oregon’s new president,  Michael Gottfredson, and presented him with a pair of football receiver gloves to “help him catch — and catch successfully — all the tough balls thrown at him in the days ahead.”

Click through for more photos from the past week: 

Wyden & Warner Host Twitter Town Hall

Senators Wyden & Warner took to Twitter to answer questions about their bill- Student Right to Know Before You Go Act. It gives students the information they need to choose between colleges and programs.

Wyden Briefed on Upcoming Fire Season

Forests on both the east and west sides of The Cascades are drier than normal, which means that fire season is starting earlier than in past years and may last longer.  To address and fully understand these concerns, Senator Wyden met with fire officials in both Portland and Medford this past weekend.  At each briefing, Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service officials discussed  the seriousness of current drought conditions and fire preparedness with Senator Wyden.  

Additionally Senator Wyden held his annual town hall meetings in Klamath and Lake Counties this weekend.  In Lakeview, Senator Wyden honored Korean War Veterans Melvin Young, Jerry Wardwell and Lee Sanders who shared their stories of service.

More photos from Senator Wyden's fire briefings and town halls!

Transparency in Higher Education Discussion

At 9:30 am on May 9, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Mark Warner, D-Va., and U.S. Representatives Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and Robert Andrews, D-N.J., talked with a group of high school students, parents and guidance counselors about the challenges of choosing a college without accurate and comparative information about graduation rates and expected debt, earnings and employment.

The lawmakers also announced the Student Right to Know Before You Go Act of 2013, a bicameral, bipartisan bill that would ensure that a wide range of accurate, comparative and easy to understand data about colleges would be readily available online for prospective students and their families.

Watch the discussion and join the conversation on twitter using #HigherEd!

Earth Day in Oregon

While Earth Day may officially be today, it was Earth Day all weekend in Oregon.

To kick it off, Senator Wyden visited Jefferson High School’s carbon footprint fair. There he met with students from Jefferson High and Vernon Elementary and had the privilege of meeting Angeleesah Frierson- a Jefferson High student recently awarded with the prestigious Gates Millennium scholarship.

From Portland it was south, to continue honoring Earth Day in the city that has been emphasizing sustainability since before there was an Earth Day—Eugene! There Senator Wyden visited Arcimoto- a Eugene-based electric vehicle company- and drove off to EWEB’s Earth day celebration in an Arcimoto electric vehicle. He then headed over to Springfield for Sprout’s “Stalkholder Meeting” organized by the Neighborhood Economic Development Corporation (NEDCO) to support healthfulness through local and sustainable agriculture.

The Earth Day festivities wrapped up in Medford, where Senator Wyden partnered with members of the Rogue Valley Clean Cities Coalition to talk about the economic and environmental benefits of declining natural gas prices. The news conference was held at Rogue Valley Transit District, which has been using compressed natural gas in its buses for 20 years and 2 of Medford’s new garbage trucks are now powered by CNG!

In addition to celebrating sustainability, Senator Wyden had a fantastic Q&A with the innovators at Thetus Corporation, spoke at the Oregon PTA’s 100^th Leadership Conference, and participated in the ribbon-cutting ceremony with Representative Peter DeFazio for the new University of Oregon Student Veteran Center.

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Equal Pay for Equal Work- It’s a No-Brainer

Equal pay for equal work is simply a no-brainer. That’s why the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was signed into law on January 29, 2009, ensuring that those facing pay-related discrimination can report unfair treatment at any time. In continuing the fight for pay equity, Senator Wyden is a proud cosponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would help address the income disparity between men and women in America.

Senator Wyden knows that there is more work to do. He continues to work to ensure that all workers, regardless of gender, receive fair pay for their hard work. In Oregon women still earn 16.1% less than their male counterparts- and that just isn’t right. Every single American deserves to be able to walk into work every day without the fear of discrimination.

Every day should be #EqualPayDay because equal pay for equal work is what’s fair and right. #talkpay wyden.senate.gov/news/blog/post…

— Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) April 9, 2013

More Business, Less Bureaucracy

Today, what’s made in Oregon isn’t likely to stay in Oregon-- or even in America. Small businesses and their online commerce are growing – especially in Oregon -- and customs law needs to reflect the increasingly global marketplace.

That’s why Senator Wyden (D- Ore.) and Senator Thune (R- S.D.), introduced the Low Value Shipment Regulatory Modernization Act of 2013, which raises the threshold at which shipments coming into the U.S. are exempt from tariffs from $200 to $800.

Raising the threshold makes it easier for small businesses who depend on the global marketplace to operate more efficiently and avoid some of the high costs associated with shipping internationally. Businesses can more efficiently move goods across borders and receive returns from international customers faster and at lower cost.  As the government’s administrative costs for shipments $800 or less are significantly reduced, taxpayers win too.

Bottom line: the Low Value Shipment Regulatory Modernization Act allows small businesses to focus on growing their business and for international e-commerce to be quick commerce.

Further Reading:

[BILL TEXT] Low Value Shipment Regulatory Modernization Act of 2013

[REPORT] Enabling Traders to Enter and Grow on the Global Stage

Fox Business: Push to Riase Tax-Exempt Thresholf for Shipped Goods

National Journal:Low Trade Barriers Sought for Small Online Sellers

My & @senjohnthune’s bill raises customs threshold encouraging ecommerce sales & saving taxpayer dollars. 1.usa.gov/YmWLiH

— Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) March 18, 2013

From Hero to Hired

Today is Veterans Jobs Day on the Hill and as a member of the Congressional Veterans Job Caucus, Senator Wyden knows how important it is that our veterans have the resources they need to transition to civilian work.

The Senator toured the Department of Defense’s Hero2Hired mobile job site which helps to better connect veterans, including unemployed National Guard and Reserve troops, with potential employers. The mobile demonstration site Senator Wyden visited helps to promote Hero2Hired’s electronic job and career web platform. This website contains everything from job listings with military-friendly employers to resources for resume building and translating military skills to civilian job qualifications.

For more information on the Hero2Hired program and job resources for veterans, please see: www.h2h.jobs.

Seeing the @h2hjobs mobile site up close & personal. It uses the latest tech. to provide job resources to veterans. twitter.com/RonWyden/statu…

— Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) February 27, 2013

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Wyden Tours Hanford, Holds Town Halls

Hanford represents an unacceptable threat to the Pacific Northwest and it’s time to move the cleanup of the radioactive waste at the site up on the list of priorities for the Senate and for the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. That was the message that came through loud and clear after Senator Wyden visited Hanford on February 19 for a day-long tour of the groundwater treatment plant, the waste tanks and the unfinished waste treatment plant. The threat comes from the combination of leaking tanks and a waste treatment plant that is behind schedule, over budget and with no completion date in sight.

The trip, plus the announcement that six tanks of hazardous nuclear waste are now believed to be leaking, promoted Senator Wyden to ask the Government Accountability Office to investigate maintenance and monitoring procedures at Hanford.

Hanford wasn’t the only thing on Senator Wyden’s trip. There were also town hall meetings in Lincoln, Tillamook, Sherman, Morrow and Umatilla counties along with a speech to the Medford Rotary on the need to increase the federal timber harvest in Southwestern Oregon, a visit to CDS Publications in Medford, a chance to talk with World War II and Korean War veterans at the Air and Space Museum in Eugene and watched the Oregon men’s basketball team win over Stanford.

Senator Wyden also stopped by Portland’s own Puppet Labs and Keen Footwear. At Puppet Labs he talked tech policy, rode their “flyer,” and met employees and their company dog! Then on to visit Keen Footwear to check out their new products and hold a Q&A with employees.

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