WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees funding for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), teamed up with Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), to press USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue to increase the agency’s efforts to speed
WASHINGTON, DC – Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley today pressed Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Jovita Carranza to provide urgent assistance to help America’s farmers and agricultural producers navigate the economic abyss caused by the coronavirus. Despite the fact that Congress increased funds for the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, along with a bipartisan group of 30 of their Senate colleagues, have sent a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue to urge the administration to provide urgent relief to America’s farmers during the coronavirus crisis. Agricultural businesses are critical
WASHINGTON, DC — Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley today announced the expansion of a pilot program that will allow Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients in Oregon to use their benefits to purchase food online from Amazon and Walmart. The program is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley and Representatives Jimmy Panetta (D-CA-20), Salud Carbajal (D-CA-24), Rodney Davis (R-IL-12), and Rob Woodall (R-GA-7) today led the introduction of the Monarch Action, Recovery, and Conservation of Habitat (MONARCH) Act. This bipartisan, bicameral legislation would provide urgent protections for the struggling western monarch
WASHINGTON, DC — Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley today announced that he has joined U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Representatives Deb Haaland (D-NM) and Chellie Pingree (D-ME) in introducing a groundbreaking Farmers Bill of Rights resolution—which affirms the rights of family farmers, ranchers, and traditional agricultural communities in Oregon and
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., as authors of the legislation that legalized hemp production nationwide, today requested that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) make several changes as it develops its final rule for the U.S. Domestic Hemp Production Program. Wyden and Merkley,
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley joined Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Tom Carper (D-DE), and Mike Rounds (R-SD) today to introduce new, bipartisan legislation to help states create pollinator-friendly habitats along roads and highways. This legislation would help address the steep decline of pollinator populations, which poses a serious
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley joined Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) today to announce that Phyllis K. Fong, the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), has opened an investigation into potential suppression and alteration of scientific reports, documents, and communications by political
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley today announced key provisions in the U.S. Department of Interior Appropriations bill that provide critical investments in earthquake preparedness, water infrastructure, and wildfire suppression and recovery activities that are of particular importance to Oregon as wildfires become increasingly frequent and extreme. “From
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