Senators want limits on the government’s use of facial recognition technology for airport screening
Associated Press A bipartisan group of senators is pushing for restrictions on the use of facial recognition technology by the Transportation Security Administration, saying they are concerned about travelers’ privacy and civil liberties. In a letter on Thursday, the group of 14 lawmakers called on Senate leaders to use the upcoming reauthorization of the Federal Aviation
Biden Faces Pressure to Lead on Combating Plastics Pollution
Bloomberg Government The Biden administration has come up short in advocating meaningful steps in international talks toward curbing harmful plastic pollution, a leading Senate Democrat says. The government, led by the State Department in talks with other countries to develop a legally binding agreement on plastic pollution before the end
Wyden, Merkley Announce $345,000 for Klamath Falls Recycled Water Supply
Gorge News Center Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley this week announced that Klamath Falls will receive $345,000 in federal funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act to help conserve groundwater and increase supply of recycled potable water. “Rural communities in Oregon depend on water for everything from
Healthcare concerns dominate Merkley town hall
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) visited Southwestern Oregon on Wednesday, May 27 as part of an effort to make yearly visits to every county in the state. Merkley spent that morning at Hope Mountain in Illinois Valley learning about biomass and forest-thinning projects recently begun in the area. He then met
Senate, Merkley critical of nicotine-rich tobacco product that tastes like candy
WASHINGTON — Twelve years after Joe Camel’s forced retirement for luring children into a life of smoking, Congress is confronting another slickly advertised threat that some lawmakers and public health officials say is even more worrisome — tobacco that dissolves in the mouth and tastes like candy. “The future of
Merkley talks health care, budget during Medford stop
Hopes for health-care reform ran high among a crowd that gathered Tuesday afternoon for a town-hall meeting with Sen. Jeff Merkley at the RCC/SOU Higher Education Center in downtown Medford. Organizers from Health Care for America Now! passed out stickers to the roughly 100 people who came to meet Oregon’s
CARD Reform
The U.S. Senate passed by 90-to-5 Tuesday the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act. It will help end to deceptive practices and hidden fees by credit card companies and protect families here in Oregon and around the U.S.. Our Sen. Jeff Merkley, a co-sponsor, urged the White House to
Merkley bill targets tobacco candy
WASHINGTON — Legislation the Senate is considering to regulate tobacco products under the Food and Drug Administration includes a measure that would mandate the study of a new product: tobacco candy. Made by the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., the lozenge-like Camel Orb is being test-marketed in Portland, Ore., Indianapolis
Merkley’s Bid to Rein in Credit Card Practices
When Jeff Merkley went down to Salem, as a junior member of the Oregon House minority, he found there was one subject he couldn’t touch even if he someday happened to become House speaker. “I tried to write a bill in Oregon,” he remembers, “and was told that states could