Press Releases
Wyden, Merkley Praise Passage of Their Siletz and Grand Ronde Land Bills
Washington, D.C. - Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today praised the passage of their two bills that would streamline the Bureau of Indian Affairs process for putting land into trust for the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians and the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. This week's House approval of the two bills written by Wyden and Merkley follows Senate approval on July 14 and sends the legislation to the desk of President Obama. "These bills mark a significant step forward for … Continue Reading
December 07, 2016
Wyden Statement on Defense Authorization Bill
Washington, D.C. - Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., issued the following statement on his vote against the National Defense Authorization Act. "This bloated defense bill is exactly what Americans hate about politics as usual. It increases defense spending by billions at the same time Republicans insist we can't afford to pay to repair our roads and bridges, support Oregon's timber counties or fix wildfire funding. It breaks last year's bipartisan budget deal. And once again, this bill does far too … Continue Reading
December 06, 2016
Wyden, Merkley Call on Government Accountability Office to Study Impacts of Genetically Modified Foods on Hunger, Pesticide Use
Washington, D.C. - Oregon's U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley in a letter today called on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study whether genetically modified foods are reducing hunger and the use of pesticides in the United States and worldwide. The senators asked the GAO to study the use of genetically modified (GMO) crops in the United States after a New York Times investigation raised questions about whether the use of GMO crops increased overall crop yields and … Continue Reading
December 05, 2016
HANFORD: Wyden, Murray, Cantwell Call on Top Energy Official to Immediately Implement New Worker Safety Recommendations
Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR), Patty Murray (D-WA), and Maria Cantwell (D-WA), urged the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to take immediate action to protect workers at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state by implementing new safety recommendations. The recommendations were released this week after a months-long review to address chemical vapor exposures at the Hanford tank farms by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and … Continue Reading
December 01, 2016
Wyden, Merkley Call on Justice Department to Continue Rigorous Investigations into All Reported Hate Crimes
Washington, D.C. - In a letter to the Department of Justice, Oregon's U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley called on the department to continue investigating all instances of reported hate crimes in the United States and to prosecute perpetrators of such crimes. Wyden and Merkley specifically noted that reports of hate crimes against Muslims, Jews, African-Americans and LBGTQ individuals have risen nationwide over the last year, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The … Continue Reading
November 30, 2016
Wyden Leads 7 Senate Intelligence Committee Members Calling on the President to Declassify Information re: Russia and the U.S. Election
Washington, D.C. - Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., led 7 members of the Senate Intelligence Committee today, in asking President Obama to declassify information relating to the Russian government and the U.S. election. Intelligence Committee members Sens. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., Mark Warner, D-Va., Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., Angus King, I-Maine, Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, and ex-officio member Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., joined the letter. "We believe there is additional information concerning the Russian … Continue Reading
November 30, 2016
Bipartisan Senators Question Rush to Expand DOJ Hacking Authority Without Congressional Oversight
Washington, D.C.-Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Chris Coons, D-Del., and Steve Daines, R-Mont., today made a last-ditch effort to delay broad new government hacking authority that is now set to go into effect tomorrow. Wyden, Coons and Daines asked the Senate to pass or vote on three separate measures to block or delay a set of new rules that would broadly expand government hacking authority without any Congressional input or hearing. The bipartisan group of senators has repeatedly asked for … Continue Reading
November 29, 2016
Wyden-Backed Bill to Detail Economic Benefits of Outdoor Recreation Economy to Become Law
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., applauded the Senate's passage this week of bipartisan legislation that he pushed to study the economic benefits of outdoor recreation. The Outdoor Recreation's Economic Contributions (REC) Act would inform policymakers and business leaders on the number of jobs created and the amount of consumer spending driven by the U.S. outdoor recreation economy. Last year, Wyden and Senator Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., sent a letter urging the … Continue Reading
November 22, 2016
Wyden, Coons: DOJ Dodges Senate Questions About Government Hacking
Washington, D.C. - Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. and Chris Coons, D-Del., are deeply disappointed with the Justice Department's failure to substantively answer many of the questions by 23 U.S. lawmakers about a new expanded mass hacking authority that is set to go into effect next month if Congress does not act. "The American people deserve answers to these very basic questions about how our government intends to hack thousands or millions of personal devices with a single warrant," Wyden said. … Continue Reading
November 19, 2016
Wyden Statement on Announcement of General Michael Flynn for National Security Adviser and Nomination of Rep. Mike Pompeo to lead CIA
Washington, D.C. - Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, issued the following statement regarding national security officials announced today by President-elect Trump's transition team. "The designation of Michael Flynn to be National Security Adviser is deeply alarming. His statements about Muslims are profoundly un-American as well as damaging to the fight against terrorism and national security. He has indicated an openness to torture and the … Continue Reading
November 17, 2016
Drumbeat Against Bannon Grows as Senators Call for His Dismissal
WASHINGTON - Today, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) joined a group of Senators led by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) in signing a letter to President-Elect Donald Trump urging him to repudiate his hate-filled campaign attacks, and to show the country that he is serious about uniting Americans by immediately firing newly-appointed Chief Strategist Steve Bannon. In addition to Senators Wyden and Merkley, the letter was signed by U.S. Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sherrod Brown … Continue Reading
November 17, 2016
Wyden Statement on Director Clapper’s Resignation
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., issued the following statement on the announcement of Director of National Intelligence James Clapper's resignation: "During Director Clapper's tenure, senior intelligence officials engaged in a deception spree regarding mass surveillance. Top officials, officials who reported to Director Clapper, repeatedly misled the American people and even lied to them. In 2012 you saw the Director of the NSA make statements like 'we don't hold data … Continue Reading
November 17, 2016
Wyden Denounces Delaying Rural Broadband Funding
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Following the announcement by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to remove agenda items from its November 17 Open Meeting, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today raised serious concerns about Republican efforts to delay critical programs that preserve and extend mobile broadband and voice services in rural America. Congressional Republicans recently wrote to the FCC, requesting the Commission halt activity on new rulemakings after November 8, 2016. "I regularly hear … Continue Reading
November 03, 2016
Wyden: FBI Leadership Failures Underscore Need for Independent Oversight, Limits on Government Surveillance
Washington, D.C. - Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., issued the following statement, in response to ongoing, unchecked leaks at the FBI, and a pattern of poor judgement by FBI Director James Comey: "The continued leadership failures at the FBI are another reminder we can't let intelligence agencies say 'trust us' and then give them a blank check to probe into Americans' lives," Wyden said. "While I've argued for years that Congress must create ironclad protections for Americans' security and … Continue Reading
November 03, 2016
Wyden, Warren, Menendez Question Wells Fargo CEO about Accuracy of Reports with Financial Regulator
Washington, D.C. - In a letter today to Wells Fargo's new CEO, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Bob Menendez, D-N.J. raised questions about the accuracy of Wells Fargo's filings with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and claims of retaliation against whistleblowers relating to the termination of employees for creating more than two million unauthorized checking and credit card accounts. As a major securities industry regulator, FINRA is … Continue Reading
November 01, 2016
Wyden Raises Net Neutrality Concerns With Potential AT&T-Time Warner Merger
Washington, D.C. - Following the announcement of a pending merger between AT&T and Time Warner Inc, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in a letter today to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler, raised serious concerns of the future use of data caps and zero-rating by this potential mega-company. "Data cap plans that zero-rate data at the discretion of the ISP violate the principle of net neutrality by creating an internet where one bit is favored over another bit absent … Continue Reading
October 27, 2016
Bipartisan Coalition Presses DOJ About Government Hacking
Washington, D.C. -A bipartisan coalition of Senate and House lawmakers today asked Attorney General Loretta Lynch to provide Congress with more information about a proposed expansion of government hacking and surveillance powers. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Judiciary Committee member Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Ranking Member Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., with House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Rep. John Conyers, Jr., D-Mich., and senior Judiciary Committee member Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, led a … Continue Reading
October 27, 2016
Lawmakers Push Feds to Clarify Conflicting Rules on Growing and Selling Hemp
Washington, D.C. - After new guidance created widespread confusion about when and where farmers can grow, research and sell industrial hemp in the United States, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Representatives Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., Jared Polis, D-Colo., Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and 14 other members of Congress today pushed three federal agencies to clarify parts of the guidance that conflict with current laws. In August, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), along … Continue Reading
October 25, 2016
Wyden, Merkley: Our Government Should Have No Part In Funding Discrimination
Washington, D.C. - As negotiations between House and Senate versions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) reach their final stage, Oregon's U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and a group of other United States Senators today raised concerns regarding a dangerous provision included in the House-passed NDAA that would roll back critical workplace protections and enable taxpayer-funded discrimination. In a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, … Continue Reading
October 21, 2016
Bipartisan Group of Pacific Northwest Senators Pushes for Pioneering U.S. Wave Energy Test Facility
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Patty Murray, D-Wash., Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, today urged the Department of Energy (DOE) to support the construction of the United States' first open-ocean, power grid-connected wave energy test facility at a site off the Oregon coast. The senators wrote in support of a partnership made up of Oregon State University, the University of Washington and the University of … Continue Reading
