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
Merkley Slams Republican Efforts to Roll Back Consumer Protection and Wall Street Reform
WASHINGTON – Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley, along with Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Al Franken (D-MN), slammed Senate Republicans’ budget push to roll back consumer protections and Wall Street reform at a press conference held in the Capitol today. The Senate Budget that is being debated on the floor this
Merkley, Franken Introduce Legislation To Promote Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)
Washington, DC – Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley and Senator Al Franken (D-MN) today introduced legislation designed to increase student access to courses in STEM education subjects and provide additional resources to recruit, train, and support teachers of these subjects. “Whether we’re inventing new life-saving medications, or creating new technologies for connecting
Merkley, Wyden Join 20 Other Senators in Call for Crude-by-Rail Safety Investments
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oregon Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden today joined with 20 other Senators calling on the Senate Appropriations Committee to support robust investment for a Safe Transportation of Energy Products program to address increasing safety concerns related to the transportation of Bakken crude and other energy products. The
ICYMI — Consumer Protection News: Credit-Reporting Agencies to Improve Medical Debt Policies
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In Case You Missed It: This month brought big news for consumers, with credit-reporting agencies agreeing to major changes in how they treat medical debt. The three big credit-reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, will now have to wait 180 days before adding medical debt to a
Merkley: Senate Republican Budget Doesn’t Work for Working Americans
WASHINGTON – Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley released the following statement on the Senate Republican Budget, which was marked up in the Senate Budget Committee today: “The question I brought to this debate was, will this be a budget that works for working Americans? Or will it be a budget for
Merkley Urges CFPB to Issue Tough Payday Rules, Protect Consumers from Predatory Loans
WASHINGTON – Today, Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley – the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection – strongly urged the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to crack down on destructive predatory lending by issuing new, tough rules that would protect consumers from damaging and