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 Supports Efforts to Assist Homeless Veterans

Washington, DC – Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley signed on Tuesday as a co-sponsor of three bills to provide shelter and assistance to homeless veterans.  The bills will authorize funding to expand housing and health services for low-income veterans. “Our veterans put their lives on the line for our nation.  It

Honoring America’s Veterans

Washington, DC – Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley released the following statement in honor of veterans of the United States armed forces: “Since World War I, when a temporary cessation of hostilities between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the

Merkley Statement on the National Unemployment Rate

Washington, DC – Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley released the following statement today on the announcement by the Department of Labor that the national unemployment rate jumped to 10.2 percent, the highest rate since 1983: “The unemployment rate isn’t just a statistic we use to measure the state of the economy. 

Merkley Joins Victims of Employment Discrimination to Support Legislation Providing Protection for LGBT Employees

Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley joined several victims of employment discrimination today in support of bipartisan legislation to provide basic protections against workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.  The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), introduced by Senator Merkley and Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), would

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