Press Releases

Interior Cuts in Trump Administration’s “Skinny” Budget to Leave Lasting Scars on Public Lands, Tribal Nations, and Human Health

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Interior-Environment Subcommittee on the Senate Appropriations Committee, released the below statement following the release of President Trump’s ‘skinny’ budget for Fiscal Year 2026. “This budget is exactly what we expected from this administration: abandoning critical programs, slashing essential government services,

Merkley Announces Central Oregon Town Halls 

Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley announced today he will hold three town halls for Oregonians in Jefferson, Crook, and Deschutes counties on Saturday, May 10.  Merkley will be joined by U.S. Representative Janelle Bynum for the Deschutes County town hall in Sisters.  The three rescheduled events in Central

Sens. Wicker, Merkley Introduce Bipartisan Nurse Corps Tax Parity Act

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Co-Chairs of the Senate Nursing Caucus, introduced the Nurse Corps Tax Parity Act. This legislation would ensure that nurses in the federal Nurse Corps do not need to pay income tax on their student loan repayments and scholarships. “Nurses are essential to

Wyden, Merkley Introduce Bill to Protect the Pacific Coast from Offshore Drilling

Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley joined their fellow West Coast senators in introducing the West Coast Ocean Protection Act this week to permanently ban offshore drilling on the outer continental shelf of Oregon, Washington and California. The legislation, first introduced in 2010, would amend the Outer

Wyden, Merkley Push for Oregon Counties to Receive Federal Timber Payments

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today urged federal officials to make much-needed federal timber sales payments as quickly as possible to Oregon counties in need of funding for schools, roads and law enforcement. In letters (attached) to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack,

Merkley Applauds Offshore Oil and Gas Drilling Ban in Atlantic and Arctic

Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley, the lead sponsor of both the Keep It in the Ground Act and the Stop Arctic Ocean Drilling Act, released the following statement after President Obama announced a permanent ban on offshore drilling in citizen-owned waters of the Arctic and Atlantic, including 3.8 million acres in

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