Press Releases
Wyden, Crapo, Tester lead 31 senators in bipartisan fight to deliver critical payments to rural counties
Washington, DC --Senators Ron Wyden, Mike Crapo and Jon Tester led a bipartisan group of 31 Senators today demanding the reauthorization of critical payments to rural counties. In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) the senators pushed to reauthorize Secure Rural Schools (SRS), which compensates counties with federal land that have seen declining timber production by providing payments to support local schools, infrastructure, and … Continue Reading
April 29, 2016
After Push from Senators, Dept. of Ed. Publishes Names of Schools Seeking Religious Exemptions from Critical Civil Rights Law
Washington, D.C. - Following a push from U.S. Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., the Department of Education today published on its website the names and applications of schools seeking religious exemptions under Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 (Title IX). In January, the Department of Education agreed to publish the names and applications along with a search tool to allow students and parents to easily find which schools have requested religious exemptions. … Continue Reading
April 29, 2016
Wyden, Merkley Urge Education Secretary to Provide Full Debt Relief to Defrauded Student Borrowers
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, both D-Ore., today urged Secretary of Education Dr. John King to create strong protections and a streamlined path to debt relief for student loan borrowers in the Department's forthcoming "borrower defense" rule. The Oregon senators joined 41 colleagues on Senate and House letters reinforcing the need to ban mandatory arbitration-which limits students' legal rights-in school enrollment agreements, and to eliminate the federal … Continue Reading
April 28, 2016
Wyden Joins Murray, Booker to Introduce Legislation to End Harmful, Fraudulent Anti-LGBT “Conversion Therapy”
Washington, D.C. - Today, Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Patty Murray, D-Wash., Cory Booker, D-N.J., and 15 of their Democratic colleagues introduced the Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act, legislation to classify "conversion therapy" as a fraudulent practice that would be illegal under the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) authority. This harmful practice has been widely discredited by nearly all major American medical, psychiatric, psychological, counseling, educational, and social work … Continue Reading
April 28, 2016
Wyden: Congress Must Reject Sprawling Expansion of Government Surveillance
Washington, D.C.- U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. today called for Congress to reject new rules that will massively expand the government's hacking and surveillance powers, if the rules are allowed to go into effect later this year. These new surveillance and hacking rules are known formally as amendments to Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. "These amendments will have significant consequences for Americans' privacy and the scope of the government's powers to conduct remote … Continue Reading
April 28, 2016
Wyden, Merkley Introduce Legislation to Restore Oregon Salmon Runs, Northwest Fisheries
Washington, D.C. - Today, Oregon's U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley introduced legislation to protect fish populations and habitats while allowing for continued water supplies for irrigation and other uses in the Pacific Northwest. The Fisheries Restoration and Irrigation Mitigation Act (FRIMA) would reauthorize a voluntary, cost-share program the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service uses to pay for installing fish screens that protect salmon and other fish from entering irrigation channels … Continue Reading
April 28, 2016
Wyden Calls for National Vote-By-Mail to Fight Back Against New Barriers to Voting
Washington, D.C. -As a new tide of voter disenfranchisement rises across the country, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today announced a new campaign to expand an Oregon-style vote-by-mail program nationwide and tear down barriers to voting. "My home state of Oregon has led the nation in making voting more accessible. No one has to take time off work just to exercise his or her constitutional rights," Wyden said. "My proposition is the rest of our country should follow Oregon's lead and offer all … Continue Reading
April 26, 2016
Wyden Joins Bipartisan Push to Pass Bill to Combat Campus Sexual Assault
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., today were joined by Republican leaders in the U.S. Senate and survivors of sexual assault to urge the Senate to pass the Campus Accountability and Safety Act. This bipartisan legislation would ensure campus sexual assault cases are handled with professionalism and fairness to better protect and empower students, and would provide colleges and universities with incentives to solve the … Continue Reading
April 22, 2016
In the Wake of Corinthian Collapse, Wyden and Merkley Join Colleagues to Urge the U.S. Department of Education to Hold College Accreditors Accountable
WASHINGTON, D.C. - In the wake of the collapse of Corinthian Colleges, Oregon's Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today joined 22 of their colleagues in a new letter urging the U.S. Secretary of Education John King to ensure that college accreditors, the gatekeepers to the $150 billion in federal financial aid that flows to colleges and universities each year, are held accountable in ensuring that schools are providing their students with a quality education and not just saddling them with … Continue Reading
April 21, 2016
Wyden Leads Bipartisan Group of Senators in Introducing Kids to Parks Day Resolution
Washington, DC - U.S. Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and Mazie K. Hirono, D-Hawaii, today introduced a Senate measure to encourage active lifestyles for children across America by designating May 21 National Kids to Parks Day. The sixth annual Kids to Parks Day kicks off a summer-long series of events at local, state and national parks. Kids to Parks Day began in 2011 with the … Continue Reading
April 21, 2016
Oregon Delegation Applauds TSA’s Return to Klamath Airport
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Oregon's Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden and Congressmen Greg Walden and Peter DeFazio today applauded news that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will restore screening services at the Crater Lake-Klamath Regional Airport in Klamath Falls, clearing the path for commercial service to return to the airport. The Crater Lake-Klamath Regional Airport has been working to restore commercial service since carrier SkyWest left the airport in June 2014. Last fall, … Continue Reading
April 21, 2016
Wyden, Merkley Introduce Bill to Name Clinic in The Dalles For Local War Hero Loren Kaufman
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley introduced legislation that would designate the veterans community-based outpatient clinic in The Dalles the Loren R. Kaufman Memorial Veterans' Clinic. The Oregon senators said their bill introduced this week would provide long-overdue recognition to a local Army soldier who served bravely in both World War II and the Korean War. "There is no better way to remember Loren Kaufman's service and sacrifice than honoring him at a clinic that … Continue Reading
April 21, 2016
Wyden Strongly Supports Paris Climate Change Agreement
Washington, DC - Sen. Ron Wyden today strongly backed the Obama Administration's decision to sign the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change's Paris Agreement on April 22, which coincides with Earth Day in the United States. Wyden said he proudly signed on to the April 21 letter sent to President Obama by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and nearly 150 lawmakers because it fits perfectly with his approach of "putting points on the board every day" to combat climate change. "This … Continue Reading
April 20, 2016
Senate Passes Two Wyden Renewable Energy Bills
Washington, D.C. - Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., announced the Senate today passed two bills he wrote to increase domestic production of low-carbon renewable energy from underground hotspots and the power in ocean waves, tides and currents. Wyden's Marine and Hydrokinetic Renewable Energy Act would boost domestic production of renewable energy from ocean waves, tides and currents and facilitate private investment in potential projects. His Geothermal Energy Opportunities Act would encourage … Continue Reading
April 19, 2016
Wyden Demands U.S. Energy Department Response to Discovery of Hanford Tank Leak
Washington, DC -- Sen. Ron Wyden today demanded the U.S. Energy Department establish an independent panel to monitor and report on an already damaged high-level waste tank and to re-assess the risks associated with the remaining double shell-tanks at the Hanford Reservation. Wyden's letter to Energy Department Secretary Ernest Moniz follows in the wake of reports that Hanford workers on Sunday detected an unexpectedly large amount of waste in an outer tank while retrieving high-level waste … Continue Reading
April 19, 2016
Senate Passes FAA Bill that Includes Merkley-Wyden ‘TSA Fairness Act’ to Restore Commercial Service at Klamath Falls Airport
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Oregon's Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden announced that the U.S. Senate today passed legislation renewing and updating the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)'s authorities, which includes a bipartisan provision pushed by Merkley and Wyden, the Treating Small Airports with Fairness (TSA Fairness) Act. The TSA Fairness Act would restore Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screening at, among other smaller airports, the Crater Late-Klamath airport. This … Continue Reading
April 19, 2016
Wyden Legislation to Help Oregon UAS Sites in Pendleton, Tillamook and Warm Springs Passes Senate
WASHINGTON, D.C. - A provision cosponsored by Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden to extend the life of the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) test site program through 2022 was approved today by the Senate. The inclusion in a larger FAA bill of Wyden's legislation extending congressional authorization for the test sites from 2017 until 2022 will provide much-needed certainty to Oregon's test sites in Pendleton, Tillamook and Warm Springs as well as three test sites outside Oregon. "This Oregon industry … Continue Reading
April 14, 2016
Wyden, Merkley, Democratic Senators Join in Call for Bipartisan Action on Supreme Court Nomination
Washington, D.C. - Oregon's U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today joined their Democratic Senate colleagues in calling on Senate Republicans to sign a letter requesting a hearing to consider Merrick Garland's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. Every Democrat in the Senate has agreed to sign a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Charles Grassley pushing for transparency and action in the Supreme Court nomination process. Senate … Continue Reading
April 13, 2016
Wyden Statement on Burr-Feinstein Anti-Encryption Bill
Washington, D.C. -Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., issued the following statement in response to a new anti-encryption bill released today. "The encryption debate is about having more security or having less security. This legislation would effectively outlaw Americans from protecting themselves. It would ban the strongest types of encryption and undermine the foundation of cybersecurity for millions of Americans. This flawed bill would leave Americans more vulnerable to stalkers, identity thieves, … Continue Reading
April 12, 2016
Wyden Statement on BLM Plan for O&C Counties
Washington, D.C. -The Bureau of Land Management's latest plan for managing forests in Oregon's O&C Counties makes clear that only congressional action can deliver real certainty on jobs, the environment and timber harvest, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said today. "While I appreciate the BLM's latest attempt to update forest management in Western Oregon, the reality is only legislation can provide the certainty necessary to sustainably increase the timber harvest and protect clean water," Wyden … Continue Reading
