Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley announced on June 16 that the Senate Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill will include provisions to help small businesses in Oregon thrive. “Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and this bill will help get them the resources and services they need to
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Led by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), dozens of senators filibustered for hours Wednesday in an attempt to force the Senate to take action on gun violence. Murphy ended his nearly 14-hour filibuster shortly after 2 a.m. EDT Thursday. Democrats aided their colleague with their own speeches throughout the
Every morning at work, suicide prevention coordinator Evelyn Unkefer checks a nationwide hotline to see if any local veterans have called looking for help. If so, veterans are steered her way and into her casework. She expects those calls to rise this year, and that may actually be good news.
Union Pacific began running trains Sunday past the site of an oil train derailment in the Columbia River Gorge. Local officials in Mosier, the site of Friday’s oil train derailment, said they counted five trains moving through town Sunday night. The Washington Department of Ecology indicated Monday that crews found
Moving into general-election mode, Senate Democrats on Thursday will begin rolling out a policy agenda meant to answer, at least in part, Republican plans coming out of the House. “A Better Way,” the name of the Republican proposals announced bySpeaker Paul D. Ryan, will vie with “We the People,” the title
The Senate passed legislation Tuesday evening that will overhaul the way the federal government regulates every chemical sold on the market in the United States. The bipartisan accord represents the most sweeping environmental measure to pass Congress in a quarter-century. The bill, which drew support from the chemical industry, trial
A group of 10 Senate Democrats and one independent called for the Department of the Interior to block offshore drilling in the Arctic Ocean in its 2017-2022 drilling plan, in a letter to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell on Friday. The senators acknowledged they had already won a significant victory when the department
Pushed by a local veteran, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., says he has helped convince the Department of Veterans Affairs to create an easier phone system for veterans seeking suicide prevention help. Merkley visited the VA’s Southern Oregon Rehabilitation Center and Clinics in White City today to discuss the high rates
Federal regulation is complicated, time-consuming and takes years to pass. Here’s U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) summarizing on the Senate floor last week why we need new and better laws. Quoted: “Current law has been completely, 100 percent dysfunctional for decades, leading to the exposure of our children, our babies,
A team of legal experts, including Oregon Senator Jeff Merkely and several UO faculty members, took on a discussion about the actions–or lack thereof–of the United States Senate at a panel meeting on Tuesday, May 31. Senator Merkely, along with James Mohr, a member of the University of Oregon History department, and
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