Press Releases
Senate Passes Economic Recovery Package
Washington, D.C. - Helping move the country towards more solid financial footing, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) today cast his vote in favor of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The compromise package was the result of a conference committee between House and Senate negotiators and passed the Senate by a vote of 60 to 38. The package includes at least $1.78 billion in funding for Oregon to create and save thousands of good-paying jobs, upgrade the state's roads and … Continue Reading
February 12, 2009
Wyden Won't Quit Effort to Recover Wall Street Bonuses for Taxpayers
Washington, D.C. - Thanking his cosponsors Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark) for their leadership in fighting for the recovery of employee bonuses to financial institutions that took "federal bailout" funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said that he would find an opportunity to reintroduce the Wyden-Snowe-Lincoln amendment which was stripped from the final language of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act … Continue Reading
February 11, 2009
Wyden, Merkley Petition for Education Stimulus Funds
Washington, D.C. - Citing the crippling effect budget shortfalls will have on education in Oregon and around the country, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) asked Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) today to restore reduced education funding in the economic recovery package. The House version of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act contains more than $60 billion more in state education assistance than the Senate version which passed yesterday. Wyden and Merkley … Continue Reading
February 10, 2009
Wyden Fights for Oregon in Economic Recovery Package
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February 06, 2009
Oregon Delegation Asks Ag Secretary for Disaster Declaration for Oregon Nurseries
Washington, DC- Listening to the concerns of Oregon's nursery industry, which is currently facing steep production losses in the wake of this winter's extreme weather, Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, along with U.S. Representatives Earl Blumenauer, Kurt Schrader, Peter DeFazio, David Wu, and Greg Walden, today asked Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to grant Oregon Governor Kulongoski's request for a disaster declaration. Governors request such declarations after examining damage … Continue Reading
February 06, 2009
Wyden Returns to Wheeler County to Hold 500th Town Hall on Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Portland, OR - U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, keeping to a promise he made to Oregonians in 1996, will hold his 500th town hall meeting in the Wheeler County community of Fossil on Tuesday, February 17, 2009. Fossil was the site of Wyden's first town hall meeting as a United States senator on the same date in 1996. Since then, he has held a town hall meetings in every Oregon county every year. The Fossil town hall will be preceded by a town hall meeting earlier that day in Condon in Gilliam County … Continue Reading
February 06, 2009
Bipartisan Senate Coalition Introduces First Comprehensive Health Reform Bill of 2009
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Bob Bennett (R-Utah) led a bipartisan coalition of 13 Senators today in offering the Healthy Americans Act (S.391), the first piece of legislation in Senate history to assemble such broad-based, bipartisan support for guaranteeing that every American has quality, affordable health care. The Healthy Americans Act introduced today improves on the version first offered in the 110th Congress with the inclusion of several innovative additions … Continue Reading
February 06, 2009
Wyden to hold Town Hall Meetings in Wasco, Hood River Counties; Visit Wind Turbine Training Facility
Portland, OR - U.S. Senator Ron Wyden will host two town hall meetings in Wasco and Hood River counties on February 18, 2009 and visit the wind turbine training facility at Columbia Gorge Community College in The Dalles. Residents of The Dalles and Hood River counties are invited to attend the town hall meetings to ask questions and voice their concerns. During his 1996 U.S. Senate campaign, Wyden promised to hold town hall meetings in every Oregon county each year. The events in The Dalles … Continue Reading
February 06, 2009
Wyden to hold Town Hall Meetings in Polk, Yamhill Counties on February 15
Portland, OR - U.S. Senator Ron Wyden will host town hall meetings on February 15, 2009 in Independence and McMinnville. Residents of Polk and Yamhill counties are invited to attend the open forums to ask questions and voice their concerns. During his 1996 U.S. Senate campaign, Wyden promised to hold town hall meetings in every Oregon county each year. The events in Independence and McMinnville mark the start of the 14th year of these meetings, which now total more than 500. Polk County Town … Continue Reading
February 05, 2009
Wyden Statement on Loan to Port of Coos Bay
Washington, DC - Senator Ron Wyden issued the following statement following today's decision by the Oregon Economic and Community Development Commission to loan the International Port of Coos Bay money to purchase the Coos Bay rail line: "At a time when the Congress is working on legislation to jumpstart the U.S. economy, the State of Oregon's decision to help the Port of Coos Bay reinstate rail service to Southwest Oregon to save jobs and create new ones is welcome news," Senator Ron Wyden … Continue Reading
February 04, 2009
Wyden-Snowe Amendment Will Recover Taxpayer Dollars Paid-Out as Wall Street Bonuses
Washington, D.C. - Financial institutions that used "federal bailout" funds to pay employees bonuses in excess of $100,000 will be required to compensate taxpayers under a provision that will be introduced today by U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine). The provision - which the Senators will offer as an amendment to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 - will require financial institutions that received funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) … Continue Reading
February 03, 2009
Wyden, Merkley Announce February 23rd Deadline for Appropriations Applications
Washington, DC - Teaming up to usher in a new era of transparency and accountability for federal appropriations spending in Oregon, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley announced today that their offices will employ a new appropriations process that will allow every Oregonian the opportunity to evaluate all appropriations requests from within the state. All Oregonians seeking appropriations will be required to use a standardized form. Information from the forms that are submittedwill be … Continue Reading
February 02, 2009
Wyden and Merkley Ask HUD SecretaryTo Help Preserve Affordable Housing
Washington, D.C. - In a letter to the new U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) asked that he help Americans at this time of economic hardship by preserving affordable housing across the country through an innovative use of "Residual Receipts." Residual Receipts accounts consist of the accumulated net earnings that are not distributed to project owners. With hundreds of thousands of affordable housing … Continue Reading
January 22, 2009
Wyden, Crapo and Walden Introduce Legislation to Improve Patient Access to Hospitals in Rural, Under-Served Areas of Oregon and Nationally
Washington, D.C. - Eliminating bureaucratic barriers that made it harder for rural residents and veterans to receive health care, Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Representative Greg Walden (R-Ore.) introduced legislation today that would improve access to nearly 1,300 hospitals in rural, under-served areas of the nation. Twenty-five of the hospitals are in Oregon. The Critical Access Hospital Flexibility Act of 2009 would give small, rural hospitals greater flexibility in … Continue Reading
January 16, 2009
Wyden to hold Town Hall Meetings in Crook, Jefferson Counties
Portland, OR - U.S. Senator Ron Wyden will host two town hall meetings on January 25, 2009. Residents of Jefferson and Crook counties are invited to attend the open forums to ask questions and voice their concerns. In keeping with a promise he made in 1996, Wyden holds town halls in every Oregon county every year. The Madras and Prineville events help kick off the 14th year of these meetings, which now total more than 490. Jefferson County Town Hall Meeting Date: … Continue Reading
January 16, 2009
Wyden Asks Obama for Forest Restoration Funding
Washington, DC- Seeking to put rural job growth and forest restoration on the President-elect's agenda, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), chairman of the Public Lands and Forests Subcommittee of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, brought a bipartisan group of senators together to cosign a letter he sent this week to President-elect Obama asking him to include funding for forests restoration and hazardous fuels reduction projectsin his economic stimulus plan. Wyden was joined bySenators … Continue Reading
January 15, 2009
Senate Passes Public Lands Bill
Washington, D.C. - Seven public lands bills authored by U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) passed the Senate today by a vote of 73-21 as part of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (S.22). "The Lewis and Clark Mount Hood Wilderness Act of 2007," "The Copper Salmon Wilderness Act," "The Oregon Badlands Wilderness Act of 2008," "The Cascade Siskiyou National Monument Voluntary and Equitable Grazing Conflict Resolution Act," "The Spring Basin … Continue Reading
January 15, 2009
Wyden Statement on the Resolution of Disapproval
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) issued the following statement after his vote in favor of the Joint Resolution Relating to the Disapproval of Obligations Under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008"Last October, I voted against the $700 billion Wall Street bailout because Congress failed to write any meaningful taxpayer protections, didn't have a plausible plan that was likely to re-open our capital markets, and abdicated its responsibility to reform the Wall … Continue Reading
January 15, 2009
Bipartisan Group of Senators Re-Introduce Legislation to Create Jobs through Infrastructure Investments
Washington DC - Encouraging much-needed job creation and investment in transportation construction and repair, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Roger Wicker, (R-Miss.) re-introduced today the bipartisan "Build America Bonds" Act (S. 238). The funding from this one-time federal bonding program has the potential to create 2.5 million new jobs and shore up that nation's aging roads, rail lines and bridges by funding … Continue Reading
January 13, 2009
Wyden to hold First Town Hall of 2009 in Klamath County
Portland, OR - U.S. Senator Ron Wyden will hold his first town hall meeting of 2009 in Klamath Falls on Saturday, January 24th. Residents of Klamath County are invited to attend the open forum to ask questions and voice their concerns. Wyden holds town halls in every Oregon county every year. The Klamath Falls town hall kicks off the 14th year of these meetings.Klamath County Town Hall MeetingDate: January 24, 2009Time: 10:30 a.m. PDTLocation: Oregon Institute of … Continue Reading
