Press Releases

Ranking Member Merkley: Interior-Environment Funding Bill Boosts Wildfire Resiliency, Water Infrastructure, and Climate Investments in Oregon and Across the Nation

Washington, D.C. – Today, Senate Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Jeff Merkley (D-OR) released the following statement after the Senate passed the Interior-Environment Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Appropriations bill in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 82-15: “Oregonians turned out in record numbers during my town halls last year and delivered

Merkley, Sullivan, Curtis, Kaine Push for Bipartisan Crackdown on Chinese Government-Controlled Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices in U.S.

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR)—a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and past Chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC)—teamed up with current CECC Chair Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Senator John Curtis (R-UT), and Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) to introduce bipartisan legislation that

Merkley Introduces Legislation Requiring Congressional Oversight and Transparency for Funding Transfers

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley today introduced the Transparency in Federal Spending Act, legislation that would require full transparency and congressional oversight of funding transfers within federal agencies. Merkley’s legislation follows the revelations this fall that the Trump Administration diverted nearly half a billion dollars in funding from

Oregon Members Announce AVA Designation for Van Duzer Corridor

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Kurt Schrader (OR-05), along with Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, and Reps. Earl Blumenauer (OR-03) and Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01), announced the designation of Oregon’s Van Duzer Corridor as an American Viticultural Area (AVA) this month. “Receiving the AVA designation is huge for our Oregon wineries

Wyden, Merkley & Colleagues File Amicus Brief

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley have filed an amicus brief supporting a lawsuit filed by six asylum seekers in the D.C. District Court challenging the legality of Donald Trump’s Presidential Proclamation and rule effectively barring all asylum claims outside of ports of entry. The Oregon

Merkley to Return to Texas, Lead Delegation Investigating Trump Administration’s Ongoing Mistreatment of Migrant Children

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Six months after his Father’s Day trip exposing the child imprisonment and family separation crisis on the Texas border, Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley will lead a congressional oversight trip investigating the Trump Administration’s treatment of children who have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border fleeing persecution and danger abroad. Merkley

Merkley Announces Launch of a New Rural Broadband Program

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley today announced that after securing a $600 million investment in rural broadband in the 2018 spending bill, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is launching a pilot program that will provide loans and grants to build broadband infrastructure across America—improving rural communities’

RISCH, MERKLEY JOIN SPONSORSHIP OF Wyden, Crapo secure Rural Schools LEGISLATION

Washington, D.C. – Senate leaders from Oregon and Idaho are joining together in a long-term reform of the Secure Rural Schools Program.  The legislation, introduced today by U.S. Senators Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, and Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and co-sponsored by U.S Senators Jim Risch, R-Idaho, and Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, provides certainty

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