Press Releases

Merkley Statement on 25th Anniversary of September 11 Terrorist Attacks

Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley released the following statement in remembrance of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001: “I will never forget that day 25 years ago: the clear blue morning sky, the billowing black smoke, the clouds of white ash, and everywhere, the confusion and fear. Our

Merkley Statement on Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley – the lead Democrat on the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee which oversees federal funding for the Smithsonian Institution – released the following statement after the Institution announced Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III would be retiring after a five-decade career as a museum

Merkley, Mannion Champion Legislation to Make Mental Health Care Accessible for Every Student in America 

Washington, D.C. – During Mental Health Awareness Month, Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley and Congressman John Mannion (NY-22) announced the reintroduction of the Elementary and Secondary School Counseling Act, legislation that would significantly boost the availability of mental health providers in America’s public schools. Mental illness affects nearly 20 percent of American youth. This bicameral legislation would put additional mental health providers in elementary and

Forty-One Senators Push to Keep Harmful Environmental Riders Out of Appropriations Bills

Senators warn that inclusion of poison pills harming the environment would undermine Senate’s ability to pass bipartisan spending bills Washington, D.C. – Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works; Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior,

Merkley, Salinas, Pacific Northwest Democrats to Secretary Rollins: Act Quickly to Hire Agricultural Research Staff Across the Region

Washington, D.C. – Today, Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley and U.S. Representative Andrea Salinas (OR-06) led a group of their Pacific Northwest colleagues in pressing U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins over her commitment to promptly fill critical staff positions that remain vacant at USDA’s Agricultural Research Service

Merkley, Senators: EPA Must Address Microplastic Pollution to Protect Human Health

Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley today led his Senate colleagues—including Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Ron Wyden (D-OR)—in urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to use its existing authorities to address the

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