Press Releases

Merkley Condemns More Pocket Rescissions by Trump Administration

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the below statement after President Donald Trump and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Russ Vought issued more illegal pocket rescissions, this time clawing back nearly $1 billion in

Sens. Markey, Merkley and Reps. Jayapal, Tlaib, Pressley Reintroduce Legislation to Halt Government Use of Facial Recognition and Other Biometric Technology

Bill Text (PDF) Washington (September 25, 2026) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), member of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Representatives Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), and Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), announced the reintroduction of the Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Moratorium Act, legislation to prohibit the government from using

Senators Merkley and Wyden Introduce Crooked River Collaborative Water Security Act

WASHINGTON, DC— Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden today introduced the Crooked River Collaborative Water Security Act, which would provide a framework for water stability for all parties who use the Crooked River. This legislation is based on an agreement that the Senators facilitated among a broad coalition of stakeholders

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%

en_USEnglish