Tag: Appropriations

Ranking Member Merkley: Interior-Environment Funding Bill Boosts Wildfire Resiliency, Water Infrastructure, and Climate Investments in Oregon and Across the Nation

January 15, 2026

Washington, D.C. – Today, Senate Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Jeff Merkley (D-OR) released the following statement after the Senate passed the Interior-Environment Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Appropriations bill in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 82-15: “Oregonians turned out in record numbers during my town halls last year and delivered

Merkley Statement on House & Senate Negotiated Interior-Environment FY 2026 Appropriations Bill

January 6, 2026

Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, the Ranking Member of the Senate Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, released the following statement after the House and Senate negotiated text of the Interior-Environment FY 2026 Appropriations bill was released: “This bill is far superior to a Continuing Resolution for funding the core programs

Merkley, Baldwin, Booker, 41 Senators: No New Anti-LGBTQ+, Anti-Abortion Provisions in Must-Pass Government Funding Bills

December 18, 2025

“Partisan, discriminatory, and harmful policy riders have no place in must-pass legislation such as appropriations bills” Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, Wisconsin’s U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin, and New Jersey’s U.S. Senator Cory Booker led a group of over 40 Senators to urge Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan

Ranking Member Merkley: Trump Administration Weaponizing U.S. Park Police to Further Its Authoritarianism

December 8, 2025

Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley—the top Democrat overseeing funding for the National Park Service— today led U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) to sound the alarm over President Trump’s proposed plans to turn the U.S. Park Police into a federal

Merkley, Klobuchar, Heinrich, Colleagues: Trump Staffing Cuts at Forest Service Threatening Wildfire Prevention Efforts Across the U.S.

December 2, 2025

Washington, D.C. – Today, Senate Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Martin Heinrich (D-NM) led 9 Senators to demand urgent answers from U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz regarding

Merkley, Wyden, Western Senators Call for Emergency Funding for Wildfire Recovery on Federal Lands

November 24, 2025

Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden joined fellow Western Senators to urge Congress to pass additional funding to support wildfire recovery on federal lands. In a letter to Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) and Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-WA), the Senators pressed for additional resources to

Merkley: Immediate Action Needed to Reopen Federal Government & Provide One-Year Extension of Health Care Tax Credits

November 7, 2025

Washington, D.C. – Today, Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley issued the following statement on a path forward to immediately reopen the government and guard Americans from devastating increases in health care costs: “Now is the time to break the impasse and immediately reopen the government. In the last few days,

Ranking Members Merkley, Heinrich, Klobuchar, Murray Demand Answers from Forest Service Chief on How Taxpayer Dollars are Being Used to Fund Workforce Reduction Programs

September 11, 2025

Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, was joined by Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Martin Heinrich, Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Amy

Merkley on Rescissions: “The President is not a king!”

August 13, 2025

Senator Merkley took to the floor to speak about his amendment to prevent President Trump and Office of Management and Budget Director Vought from using rescissions to supersede Congress’s power of the purse. Republicans blocked Senator Merkley’s amendment.

Merkley, Wyden Announce Senate Passage of Critical Community-Initiated Projects

August 4, 2025

Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden today announced essential investments for Oregon families and rural and underserved communities passed the Senate, including five community-initiated projects for communities across the state championed by the Senators. These investments were included in the first package of Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) funding bills that cleared the chamber