A plan to exclude mineral development on about 100,000 acres of federal land, to thwart a proposed nickel mine near the Kalmiopsis Wilderness, is nearing fruition. The U.S. Forest Service released its environmental assessment last week, and written comments will be accepted through May 27. The proposed mineral withdrawal would
U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley came to Portland Wednesday to stump for federal legislation that would cap prescription drug costs for seniors. “These prescription drug costs are clobbering older people in Oregon and across the country,” said Wyden, a Democrat and co-sponsor of the bill. “It’s a prescription of punishment, so many costs
As the burgeoning online lending industry braces for a wave of scrutiny from U.S. policy makers, leading financial-technology firms are scrambling in Washington to figure out who’s a friend and who’s a potential foe. Prominent small business lenders including On Deck Capital Inc., Kabbage Inc. and PayPal Holdings Inc. have
When Corinthian Colleges Inc. collapsed, leaving thousands of students in the lurch with student loan debt and credits that they didn’t know would be usable at other schools, they were generally unable to sue the failed for-profit educator because the students had unwittingly signed away their right to a jury
Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., introduced legislation Thursday they said would protect fish populations and habitats while allowing for continued water supplies for irrigation and other uses in the Pacific Northwest. The Fisheries Restoration and Irrigation Mitigation Act (FRIMA) would reauthorize a voluntary, cost-share program the U.S. Fish
The U.S. Senate passed an amendment on April 26 that would restore funding for wind energy research and development (R&D) in fiscal year 2017 to $96.4 million—the same amount funded this fiscal year. The amendment passed by a vote of 54–42 as part of Senate consideration of the Energy and
The Equality Act was introduced with gusto last summer — a cabaret of celebrity Democratic Congress members taking turns at a lectern extolling the bill to ban LGBT discrimination federally. But nine months later, the legislation languishes without a hearing. On Thursday morning, several of those same lawmakers will press
The Senate passed an amendment Tuesday that would keep funding for wind energy research and development at its current level and restore a cut that appropriators had put into their bill. The amendment, from Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), would provide $95.4 million for the Department of Energy’s wind program, up
The mantra from Democrats in both chambers this week is that Congress needs to act post haste on funding to combat the Zika virus. Senate Democrats said they won’t try to amend the Energy and Water Development bill now on the floor with a Zika supplemental but are upping the
WASHINGTON – Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, D-ore., announced Friday that included in the Senate Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations committee bill is an amendment offered by Merkley to prevent the federal government from interfering with the implementation of state laws on the cultivation of industrial hemp. A total of
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