Press Releases

Merkley Investigates Chemical Industry Insiders Taking Over Critical EPA Chemical Safety Office

Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley—the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) subcommittee overseeing environmental justice, chemical safety, and waste management—today sent an oversight letter following reports of former chemical industry lobbyists filling key positions at the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Chemical

Merkley: Senate Refuses to Stop Unauthorized War with Iran

Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley—a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee—released the following statement after the Senate voted to block U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA)’s War Powers Resolutionaimed at stopping the unauthorized U.S.-Israel war in Iran: “The Trump Administration has repeatedly misled the American people about its plans for war against

Merkley Introduces Bill to Prevent Warrantless Surveillance of Americans

Washington, DC- Today, Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley introduced the Protect America’s Privacy Act, which would reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to ensure that intelligence agencies are not using a warrantless wiretapping program to collect and store emails and phone calls of American citizens.   Under amendments to FISA

Merkley Statement on Cybersecurity Bill

Washington, DC – Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley issued the following statement today after the Cybersecurity bill failed a cloture vote. “We need to be prepared to take on the mounting threat of cyber attacks on our critical infrastructure, such as electricity grids and our transportation system. Our national security leaders

Merkley, Mikulski, Harkin Bill Would Stop Colleges from Peddling Worthless Degrees Legislation would cut off financial aid for unaccredited programs

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley and Senators Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) introduced the Protecting Students from Worthless Degrees Act to make it more difficult for colleges to take students’ and taxpayers’ dollars for unaccredited and unlicensed degree programs that leave graduates unable to work

Merkley Unveils Bold Plan to Jump-Start Housing Markets

WASHINGTON, DC – Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley today offered a new plan to tackle one of the most persistent challenges to the sputtering economy: the massive number of Americans who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are now worth.  In a white paper containing the proposal, called “The 4%

Merkley, Udall, Durbin Introduce Legislation to Curb Online Payday Lending

WASHINGTON – Today, Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley, Senator Tom Udall (D-NM), and Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced the Stopping Abuse and Fraud in Electronic (SAFE) Lending Act. The SAFE Lending Act would crack down on the worst practices of the online payday lending industry and give states more power to

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