Press Releases
Merkley, Wyden Join Colleagues in Calling on Trump Administration to Protect Consumers from Abusive Debt Collection Tactics
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Oregon's U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden have joined 24 colleagues in calling on Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Kathy Kraninger to reverse a proposed rule that would, for the first time, allow debt collection companies to send unlimited texts and e-mails to consumers. Just last year, often abusive and threatening debt collection tactics led to some 82,000 consumer complaints to the CFPB and nearly 458,000 to the Federal Trade Commission. "By … Continue Reading
June 06, 2019
Merkley, Wyden Introduce Legislation to Help Communities Protect Coastal Shorelines
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Oregon's U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden have joined colleagues to introduce the Living Shorelines Act, legislation that would create a new grant program for nature-based shoreline protection projects known as living shorelines. As sea-level rise and coastal storms continue to threaten thousands of coastal communities and economies, investing in living shorelines can help reduce risk from floods and storms and increase the resiliency of Oregon's coast. "Coastal … Continue Reading
June 06, 2019
Wyden Reintroduces Legislation to Bolster Renewable Energy Development, Protect Power Grid from Natural Disasters
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has reintroduced three pieces of legislation that would make renewable energy more reliable and affordable for consumers by providing federal funding to states to update the power grid and encouraging research and development of new technologies. All three bills also include a provision that protects the privacy of Americans' electric usage information from warrantless government surveillance. "Climate change is not some distant threat in the … Continue Reading
June 06, 2019
Merkley, Wyden, Bipartisan Senate Colleagues Team Up to Protect Civilian Conservation Corps from Closure
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Oregon's U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden are teaming up with a bipartisan group of Senate colleagues to protect the country's Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) centers from closure, introducing bipartisan legislation to prevent the removal of funds from these critical programs. CCC centers in Oregon provide job training to youth and young adults and provide critical wildfire prevention and response services. The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) employees 126 people at … Continue Reading
June 05, 2019
Wyden, Merkley, DeFazio Announce Improved Security for Eugene Airport
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio today announced that Eugene Airport has been approved for a fourth explosives detection system (EDS) machine. The three Oregon lawmakers had written the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in April in support of the airport's request for a fourth EDS machine, noting that eight straight years of passenger growth required the additional machine for airport security and efficiency. With the World Track … Continue Reading
June 04, 2019
Oregon Delegation Announces Millions of Dollars for Improvements at Oregon Airports
PORTLAND, OR - Oregon's U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, and U.S. Congressmen Earl Blumenauer, Peter DeFazio and Greg Walden, today announced more than $16.2 million in grant funding for taxiway improvements at airports in Oregon. "Oregon's airports connect our state to economic opportunity-not to mention wildfire fighting resources, health care, and more," Merkley said. "This significant investment in airport taxiways will improve both safety and access for Oregon's airports, and I … Continue Reading
June 04, 2019
Wyden Introduces New Bipartisan Legislation to Combat Affordable Housing Crisis
Washington, D.C. - As Oregon and the country face an affordable housing and homelessness crisis, Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today joined Senator Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and a bipartisan group of legislators to introduce a bill that would increase investment in affordable housing and provide more resources and stronger protections for at-risk groups. “Housing is a right, and the lack of affordable housing is at crisis levels in communities all over America,” Wyden said. “Working … Continue Reading
June 04, 2019
Oregon Judicial Selection Panel Resumes Taking Applications for 9th Circuit Vacancy
Washington, DC - U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and U.S. Rep. Greg Walden today announced that new applications are being accepted through June 21 for the Oregon vacancy on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Finalists chosen by the three Oregon lawmakers' bipartisan judicial selection committee will be forwarded to the White House for its consideration. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals vacancy arose when Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain went on senior status in 2017. Interested … Continue Reading
June 03, 2019
Wyden Calls for Investigations into Trump Administration Efforts to Undercount Minority Communities, Politicize 2020 Census
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., joined a group of 13 senators in calling for federal investigations after new evidence came to light last week, revealing deeply partisan and undemocratic motives behind the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. In a letter to the inspectors general of the departments of Justice and Commerce, the senators raised concerns that government officials concealed the role of a partisan political operative who pushed the Trump … Continue Reading
May 23, 2019
Wyden Statement on the Use of the Espionage Act in Indictment of Julian Assange, Potential Threats to First Amendment
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today issued the following statement in response to the use of the Espionage Act in indicting Julian Assange and its potential threats to the First Amendment: "This is not about Julian Assange. This is about the use of the Espionage Act to charge a recipient and publisher of classified information. I am extremely concerned about the precedent this may set and potential dangers to the work of journalists and the First Amendment." … Continue Reading
May 23, 2019
Wyden, Crapo, Merkley, Risch Reintroduce Legislation to Provide Long-term Stability for Secure Rural Schools Program
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Jim Risch, R-Idaho, today reintroduced legislation to provide much-needed financial certainty for rural counties to ensure they have the long-term funding needed for schools, road maintenance, law enforcement and other essential services. The bipartisan Forest Management for Rural Stability Act, which the senators first introduced in December 2018, makes the Secure Rural Schools program-which … Continue Reading
May 23, 2019
Merkley, Wyden Announce Relief for Oregon in Bipartisan Disaster Package
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Oregon's U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden today announced that the $19.1 billion bipartisan disaster package passed by the Senate includes relief for Oregon agriculture affected by severe wildfires and storms, as well as a provision to require the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation to make crop insurance available to hemp farmers, and $720 million to address fire borrowing. "One of the reasons I wanted to be on the Senate Appropriations Committee was to make sure … Continue Reading
May 23, 2019
Wyden, Merkley, Walden Urge Feds to Keep Letting Local Firefighters Battle Blazes on Federal Lands
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and U.S. Rep. Greg Walden urged federal officials today to restore a proven practice that lets the federal government keep using local fire departments as partners to fight wildfires. The three Oregon lawmakers wrote Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and Interior Secretary David Bernhardt about their agencies' recent suspension of a practice dating back to 1955 that authorizes local fire departments in Oregon to participate and support … Continue Reading
May 22, 2019
Wyden, Merkley Press Union Pacific on Layoffs
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today demanded Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) answer questions about its proposed layoffs of nearly 200 people in Hermiston and the damage those job cuts would do to worker safety, transportation and the regional economy. "These UPRR decisions to reduce jobs at Hinkle Yard, and close the Hinkle Supply Warehouse and Mechanical Locomotive Shop in Hermiston, Oregon will devastate this rural community by hamstringing the economic … Continue Reading
May 22, 2019
Wyden, Merkley Honor Keanon Lowe in Senate
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley this week honored Keanon Lowe with Congressional Record statements praising the Parkrose High School coach and security guard for his heroism last week during a gun scare at the northeast Portland school. The senators noted that Lowe, a former University of Oregon football player, likely saved lives of students, teachers and administrators when he spotted an armed student in a classroom, tackled the student, wrestled away the gun, and … Continue Reading
May 22, 2019
Wyden, Merkley Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Promote Cleaner Transportation Fuel, Healthier Forests
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today introduced bipartisan legislation to allow the use of biomass from certain federal lands needing ecological restoration in the making of renewable fuels to promote healthier forests, more carbon sequestration, cleaner transportation fuels and strong protections for old growth forests. Current law does not allow the use of federal biomass in the making of renewable fuels as defined by the Renewable Fuel Standard. Wyden and … Continue Reading
May 22, 2019
Wyden, Paul Bill Requires Warrants to Search Americans’ Digital Devices at the Border
Washington, D.C. - Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., today introduced the Protecting Data at the Border Act to stop the government from forcing Americans to face indiscriminate and suspicionless searches of their phones, laptops and other digital devices just to cross the border. Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., are lead co-sponsors and Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., is introducing the House companion bill. The bipartisan bill prevents law enforcement … Continue Reading
May 21, 2019
Wyden Says No to Republican Control of Women’s Bodies
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor against the recent passage of some of the nation's strictest abortion bans in U.S. history: Mr. President, right now in state capitals across the country, Republican lawmakers are passing extreme bills that throw 45 years of settled law on reproductive rights out the window. This is an open, coordinated attack on Roe and a woman's right to choose the healthcare she needs. These … Continue Reading
May 21, 2019
Wyden Introduces Bill to Protect Campaigns, State Parties From Foreign Hackers
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today introduced a bill to defend campaigns and state parties against foreign hackers. The Federal Campaign Cybersecurity Assistance Act is the third bill Wyden has introduced this year to guard American democracy against cyberattacks, following legislation to protect election infrastructure and Senate cybersecurity. This bill would allow national party committees to provide cybersecurity assistance to state parties, individuals running for … Continue Reading
May 20, 2019
Merkley, Wyden, Bipartisan Senators to Trump Administration: Selling Off BPA Assets Would Increase Rates for Consumers
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Oregon's U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden have joined their bipartisan colleagues in opposing a provision in President Trump's Fiscal Year 2020 budget that would auction off the transmission assets of the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) and other Power Marketing Administrations (PMAs) through the Department of Energy. In a letter to Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Mick Mulvaney, the senators wrote: "We write to oppose the proposal in the … Continue Reading
