Press Releases
Currently showing results related to Economic Opportunity for All
Wyden, Oregon Labor, Ag and Business Leaders Hail Bipartisan Passage of New NAFTA
Washington, D.C. -Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., hailed the passage of the new NAFTA trade agreement today, by a bipartisan 89-10 vote. The updated agreement with Mexico and Canada includes strong new enforcement provisions by Wyden and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, along with modern digital trade rules to advance innovation and free speech, and new environmental protections. “The version of NAFTA the Trump administration released in 2018 was fundamentally flawed, … Continue Reading
January 07, 2020
Wyden, Grassley Hail Passage of Updated NAFTA
Washington, D.C. - Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) today released the following statements regarding the broad, bipartisan passage of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement Implementation Act, which was reported out of committee on a 25-3 basis and will update the North American Free Trade Agreement. “Thanks to hard work by my colleagues on the Finance Committee and in the House, this new NAFTA delivers long-overdue upgrades … Continue Reading
October 22, 2019
Wyden, Senate Dems Will Force Vote To Restore Homeowners’ Ability To Work Around GOP Tax Law’s Harmful SALT Caps
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today announced that he and fellow Senate Democrats will force a vote tomorrow on a resolution to undo Republican-made IRS rules blocking critical state workarounds to harmful state and local tax (SALT) deduction caps, restoring states' ability to work around the these caps and allowinghomeowners to again fully take advantage of their SALT deduction. Wyden and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senator Bob Menendez, D-N.J. … Continue Reading
October 01, 2019
Wyden, Merkley Announce Legislation to Help Students Seeking Higher Education
Washington, D.C. - Oregon's U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today announced new bipartisan legislation that would address an injustice for some students wanting to use the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) for higher education. The AOTC is the primary tax credit available to students seeking a higher education; however, students with a prior felony drug conviction are permanently ineligible from using the credit. This backwards requirement makes it more difficult to ensure … Continue Reading
August 01, 2019
Wyden, Merkley Reintroduce Bill to Protect Small Businesses From Burdensome Internet Sales Tax Collection Requirement
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley this week reintroduced legislation that would stop states with a sales tax from creating red tape for small businesses as a result of last year's Supreme Court ruling in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. "Small businesses in Oregon have been tied up in a sea of red tape since the Supreme Court's decision in Wayfair allowed other states to require them to collect sales tax on online purchases," said Wyden, ranking Democrat on the Senate … Continue Reading
June 21, 2019
Wyden Joins Colleagues in Introducing Legislation to Guarantee Dreamers Access to Home Loans
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., this week joined 11 of his colleagues in introducing a bill to guarantee Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients access to federally-backed home loans. The Homeownership for Dreamers Act clarifies DACA beneficiaries - also known as Dreamers - cannot be denied federally-backed mortgage loans solely because of their immigration status. "To deny individuals the opportunity to own a home based on their immigration status alone … Continue Reading
June 13, 2019
Wyden, Merkley Urge Feds to Reconsider New Housing Rules
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley this week urged federal officials to reconsider a newly proposed public housing rule that could worsen homelessness and force some families of mixed citizenship status to separate. The Oregon senators' letter to Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson comes in response to a rule proposed last month by the department that would prohibit families in which at least one member is undocumented from subsidized housing. … Continue Reading
June 07, 2019
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 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
April 16, 2019
Wyden, Merkley Urge Increased Funding for Affordable Housing
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley this week joined 39 of their colleagues in sending a bipartisan letter to the Senators who lead the housing subcommittee urging increased funding for the Section 4 Capacity Building program. The Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Section 4 Program works with local community development organizations to improve affordable housing, finance small businesses, and provide for other community needs. In their letter, the … Continue Reading
April 15, 2019
Wyden, Merkley Announce Affordable Housing Grants for Oregon Tribes
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today announced that Oregon tribes will receive more than $15 million in federal grants to support affordable housing. "Quality of life throughout our state requires housing that Oregonians can afford," Wyden said. "These fresh federal resources for Oregon's tribes will help them achieve that essential quality-of-life goal and help to honor America's historic obligations for people living and working in these communities." "The country … Continue Reading
April 15, 2019
Wyden: “Americans have a right to know how Donald Trump benefits from Donald Trump’s tax laws”
Portland, Ore. - U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today spoke at a rally in Portland, Ore. and called for Donald Trump's tax returns to be released: It is wonderful to be here with Senator Fagan and Commissioner Hoyle. I'm going to start with one request: Will you be as loud now as Rip City was for the Blazers yesterday? We want to make sure Donald Trump gets our message loud and clear on Tax Filing Day. Wherever he is - Mar-a-Lago, got his Twitter feed going, maybe one of his ritzy golf … Continue Reading
March 29, 2019
Wyden, Merkley Demand Equal Pay for U.S. Women’s Soccer Team
Washington, D.C. - Oregon's U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley this week joined 33 other senators to call on U.S. Soccer to establish equal pay for its athletes. Despite their successes on the field, players on the U.S. Women's National Team are still paid considerably less than their male counterparts. In 2016, the Senate unanimously passed a resolution calling for U.S. Soccer to immediately eliminate gender pay inequity and treat all athletes with the same respect and dignity. Despite … Continue Reading
March 28, 2019
Wyden, Blumenauer, Walden Reintroduce KOMBUCHA Act
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden and U.S. Reps. Earl Blumenauer and Greg Walden today reintroduced legislation that would update antiquated federal alcohol taxes and regulations on kombucha companies in Oregon and nationwide. "Kombucha's growth in Oregon generates jobs and small business growth throughout our state while creating fans everywhere of this tasty beverage," Wyden said. "Modernizing outdated taxes and regulations on kombucha is a must so this industry can continue to build … Continue Reading
March 11, 2019
Wyden: Trump’s ‘MAGAnomics’ Budget Promises to Leave Seniors and American Families Behind
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today released the following statement on the Trump administration's budget proposal to Congress: "Trump's 'MAGAnomics' budget means deep cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and other essential resources for seniors and American families-all to free up money for his wall, windfalls for defense contractors, and tax cuts for huge corporations and billionaires. "Not only that, the Trump administration is again pushing its misguided scheme to drive up the … Continue Reading
February 07, 2019
Merkley, Wyden Announce Millions of Dollars for Oregon in Fight Against Homelessness
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Oregon's U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden today announced nearly $3 million in Continuum of Care grants across the state, providing resources to help house and provide supportive services to individuals and families experiencing homelessness. "As communities in Oregon face their biggest housing affordability crises in decades, with rents dramatically outpacing incomes, we must do everything we can to make sure families have the supportive services they need," … Continue Reading
January 30, 2019
Merkley, Wyden Join Colleagues in Introducing Bill to Close Gender Wage Gap
Washington, D.C. - Oregon's U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden today joined their colleagues in introducing the Paycheck Fairness Act, legislation that would strengthen the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and guarantee that women can challenge pay discrimination and hold employers accountable. "Equal pay isn't just an issue of fairness, it's also about economic security for working families," Merkley said. "It's simply outrageous that a giant pay gap still exists. We need to get serious about our … Continue Reading
January 28, 2019
Wyden, Blumenauer Urge Regulators to Help Oregon Craft Beverage Industry in Shutdown Aftermath
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden and U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer today pressed federal regulators to turn their attention immediately to processing applications from Oregon's craft brewers, vintners, cider makers, and distillers. In their letter to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), the Oregon lawmakers noted that the 35-day partial government shutdown halted TTB's processing of vital applications, generating a backlog of applications for these job-creating … Continue Reading
January 24, 2019
Wyden, Crapo Lead Bipartisan Bill to Make Rail Investment Tax Credit Permanent
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) today introduced the Building Rail Access for Customers and the Economy (BRACE) Act, which would make permanent a critical tax credit used to repair and upgrade short line and regional railroads in Oregon and nationwide. "Short line and regional railroads provide an essential economic link for small manufacturers and communities in Oregon and across the nation," said Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance … Continue Reading
January 17, 2019
Wyden, Merkley Join Colleagues to Introduce Legislation to Raise the Minimum Wage
Washington, D.C. - Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley this week joined House and Senate colleagues to introduce legislation to gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 in 2024. The Raise Wage Act of 2019 would also index future minimum wage increases to median wage growth and ensure all workers are paid at least the full federal minimum wage by phasing out the subminimum wages for tipped workers, youth workers, and workers with disabilities. "There are hardworking Americans who just simply … Continue Reading