Press Releases

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, Blumenauer Introduce Columbia River Restoration Act to Clean Up Columbia Basin

WASHINGTON – Today, Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Representative Earl Blumenauer (OR-03) introduced the Columbia River Restoration Act (CRRA). The CRRA would authorize $50 million over five years for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish a voluntary, competitive Columbia Basin grants program for projects that assist in eliminating or reducing

Bipartisan Merkley Bill Included in Veterans Compromise

WASHINGTON – As the Chairs of the Senate and House Veterans’ Affairs Committees today unveiled compromise legislation to reform the Department of Veterans’ Affairs and improve veterans’ benefits, they  announced that the legislation will include a bipartisan provision authored by Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley to expand tuition benefits for spouses

Merkley Introduces New Legislation to Protect Families’ and Children’s Health

WASHINGTON – Today, Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley introduced a bill that would fast-track the phase-out of the most harmful chemicals identified by scientists – chemicals that don’t break down in the environment and that build up in the food chain so that even small amounts can be dangerous. Known as persistent,

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