Press Releases

Merkley Denounces Unjust Sentencing of Hong Kong Democracy Advocate Jimmy Lai

Washington, D.C. – Today, Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley—a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and past Chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC)—issued this statement following the sentencing of Jimmy Lai, an entrepreneur and democracy advocate in Hong Kong who has been imprisoned since 2020 under

Merkley, Wyden Lead the Charge to Limit DHS’ Use of Facial Recognition Technology Amid Trump’s Rapidly Growing Surveillance State

Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden today announced they introduced the ICE Out of Our Faces Act. The bicameral legislation would rein in the use of facial recognition technology (FRT) by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), banning agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs

Democratic Senators Push for Proposal, Including Merkley Bills, to Establish National Response to COVID-19 and Invest in Frontline Health Care Workers

Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, together with a working group of Senate Democrats, today is pushing Senate and House leadership to include the Force to Fight COVID-19 joint proposal in the upcoming COVID-19 relief package. The proposal includes a variety of health and social service workforce bills, including two bills

Merkley, Wyden Announce Over $750,000 Water Infrastructure Grant for City of Echo

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden today announced that the City of Echo, Oregon will receive $769,875 in federal grant funding to upgrade and improve the efficiency of the city’s wastewater treatment plant. The funding is being allocated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA)

Merkley, Sanders Introduce Legislation to Put Strict Limits on Corporate Use of Facial Recognition

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley today continued his leadership at the intersection of privacy rights, racial justice, and emerging technologies by introducing the National Biometric Information Privacy Act of 2020, groundbreaking legislation that would prohibit private companies from collecting biometric data—including eye scans, voiceprints, faceprints, and fingerprints—without

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