U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley visited the University of Oregon campus today (Tuesday). He spoke to constitutional law students about the Senate’s refusal to hold hearings on the President’s Supreme Court nominee. Since the Civil War only once has there been a vacancy on the Supreme Court for more than a
Senate Democrats have moved to save the president’s Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces executive order from a Republican attempt to impede it through the defense authorization process. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and 10 co-sponsors introduced an amendment May 26 that would remove language related to the executive order from the fiscal year
Democratic senators have introduced a bill to prevent students from being taxed on forgiven loans in cases where they were victims of fraud. The introduction of the Student Tax Relief Act comes after the Department of Education started forgiving the loans of former students of Corinthian Colleges Inc., a for-profit
Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Mark Warner (D-VA) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) welcomed the news Tuesday that the Veterans Health Administration is moving to voluntarily implement one of the key proposals from their bipartisan Veterans Health Care Staffing Improvement Act. The lawmakers said the step should help to ensure
Central Oregon farmers should not be allowed to become an endangered species. If the Endangered Species Act is going to require big or small changes in how irrigation districts take water from the Deschutes Basin, Congress needs to provide the money to protect the farmers from being threatened. It’s encouraging
The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) and some growers of genetically modified crops like soybeans and sugar beets are calling on the Senate to again to take up a bill that would make GMO labeling voluntary and prevent states from passing their own labeling laws. These groups are concerned that food manufacturers would be
Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland continues to meet with Senators, even though Republican leaders won’t allow confirmation hearings to proceed. Garland is the Chief Judge of the D.C. Circuit Court. He graduated from Harvard Law and has worked in private practice and for the U.S. Department of Justice. Garland met
Karen Jim Whitford’s mother watched from a hillside as an entire village — and their family home — got wiped out by water. It was 1957. Whitford was 5 years old when the federal government closed the gates of The Dalles Dam, flooding 9,000 years of life at Celilo Village
Sens. Jeff Merkley issued a trio of news releases Thursday about developments on several issues, from seeking more funding for airport TSA agents to helping with spotted frog habitat in Central Oregon and various programs to help veterans, including with medical marijuana. With the summer’s busy travel season rapidly approaching and lines growing
A U.S. Senate bill could help pay for Central Oregon water-related projects that aim to conserve water and improve habitat for the Oregon spotted frog. The Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously voted the Senate agriculture appropriations bill out of committee Thursday with a bipartisan 30-0 vote, sending the measure to the
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