WASHINGTON, June 1 -- Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Oregon, issued the following statement on May 31, 2023: * * * Congressman Cliff Bentz (OR-02) released the following statement regarding the future of Kinglsey Field in Klamath Falls, Oregon. "I am extremely pleased to say that I have just been informed by General David Allvin, Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, that Kingsley Field will have a next mission, and it will be training pilots to fly the F-35A Lightning II jet. For nearly s  more

WASHINGTON, June 1 -- Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Oregon, issued the following statement on May 31, 2023: * * * Congressman Cliff Bentz (OR-02) issued a statement on his vote in favor of the "Fiscal Responsibility Act." "This bill, H.R. 3746, the "Fiscal Responsibility Act," is the result of Speaker McCarthy forcing President Biden to the bargaining table, where our team was able to negotiate a truly meaningful deal, giving me - and the entire House of Representatives - the opportunity to vote for t  more

WASHINGTON, June 2 -- Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon, issued the following statement on May 31, 2023: * * * Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee and Budget Committee, released the following statement on his vote in favor of the bipartisan debt limit negotiation: "This is not the bill I would have written, but the choice isn't between this and something else. The choice is between passing this legislation or allowing extremist Republicans to crash  more

WASHINGTON, June 2 -- Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Oregon, issued the following news release on June 1, 2023: Today Representatives Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), Kelly Armstrong (R-ND), Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), and Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon (R-PR) introduced bipartisan legislation to address the public defense shortage. The Ensuring Quality Access to Legal (EQUAL) Defense Act, H.R. 3758, will increase access to quality counsel by providing public defense grants, establish workload limits, phase in pay p  more

WASHINGTON, June 2 -- Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, issued the following news release: Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., will convene a committee hearing on Thursday, June 8, 2023 titled "Consolidation and Corporate Ownership in Health Care: Trends and Impacts on Access, Quality, and Costs." The hearing will take place at 10:00 a.m. in Room 215 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. The witnesses at Thursday's hearing will be: * Zack Coope  more

WASHINGTON, June 1 -- Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Oregon, issued the following statement on May 31, 2023: * * * Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (OR-05) released the following statement after voting in favor of H.R. 3746, the Fiscal Responsibility Act - bipartisan legislation that lifts the debt ceiling until 2025 and saves taxpayers $2.1 trillion over the next six years, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). "The Fiscal Responsibility Act is a bipartisan solu  more

WASHINGTON, May 28 -- The Congressional Research Service issued the following report (No. R42951) on May 26, 2023, entitled "The Oregon and California Railroad Lands: In Brief" by natural resources policy specialist Katie Hoover. Here are excerpts: * * * Contents Management of the O&C Lands and Resources ... 3 Federal Payments to the O&C Counties ... 4 Early Debates over the Payment System ... 5 O&C Act of 1937 Revenue Distribution ... 6 CBWR Payments ... 6 Safety Net Payments ...   more

WASHINGTON, June 2 -- Rep. Val Hoyle, D-Oregon, issued the following statement on May 31, 2023 : * * * Representative Val Hoyle voted against House Republicans' debt limit scheme and shared the following statement: "Tonight, I voted against House Republicans' debt limit bill that screws over working people. We should be passing a clean bill to pay for what we've already bought, exactly as Republicans supported under Reagan and Trump. "Instead, we got a messy bill that guts environmental prot  more

WASHINGTON, June 1 -- Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, issued the following statement on May 31, 2023: * * * Oregon's U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley released the following statement regarding the legislation Congress is considering this week that would raise the debt limit through 2025 while slashing programs working Americans rely on and gutting environmental reviews for fossil fuel projects. "Since the text of this legislation was released, I have immersed myself in the details and listened carefull  more

WASHINGTON, June 3 -- Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, issued the following news release on June 2, 2023: Oregon's U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden announced today that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will be investing $10 million from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to help increase fire resiliency and protect native vegetation on public lands in Oregon. "Dynamic ecosystems have defined Oregon for ages, but with intensifying climate chaos, fires and other threats are putting Oregonians  more

WASHINGTON, June 3 -- Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, issued the following news release on June 2, 2023: Oregon's U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden announced today that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will be investing $10 million from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to help increase fire resiliency and protect native vegetation on public lands in Oregon. "Dynamic ecosystems have defined Oregon for ages, but with intensifying climate chaos, fires and other threats are putting Oregoni  more

WASHINGTON, June 2 -- Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Oregon, issued the following news release and letter on June 1, 2023: Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (OR-05), a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, is raising concerns with the U.S. Department of Transportation's (USDOT) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) regarding the Oregon Department of Transportation's (ODOT) proposal to implement tolling on I-205 and I-5 in the Portland area. In a letter to FHWA Administrator Sha  more

WASHINGTON, June 1 -- Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, issued the following news release: The bipartisan law, the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, was a crucial first step to address the egregious acts of genocide committed in Xinjiang by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Congress then passed the bipartisan Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act to ensure that goods tainted with slave labor would not be able to enter the United States. Unfortunately, Beijing has continued its genocide against Uyghurs   more

WASHINGTON, May 30 -- Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, issued the following column on May 29, 2023: * * * Solutions To Reduce Prescription Costs For Idahoans Some of the most life-saving medications remain out of reach for far too many working families and seniors. We must empower consumers, plans, providers and pharmacies to make informed, cost-effective and clinically appropriate decisions. As Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member, I joined Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) last month in rele  more

WASHINGTON, June 3 -- Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, issued the following statement on June 2, 2023, on the Fiscal Responsibility Act: * * * "I supported this bill because nothing is more important than protecting Social Security, Medicare, and the health of our economy from Republican threats to default. "Republicans manufactured this hostage-taking crisis from the beginning, but the president negotiated an agreement that looks virtually nothing like the   more

WASHINGTON, May 31 -- Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, issued the following statement on May 30, 2023: * * * Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called on President Biden to revoke key trade benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) from Uganda in response to an extreme new law that would punish LGBTQI+ individuals with jail or even the death penalty: "The United States must not extend trade benefits to countries that violate  more

WASHINGTON, May 29 -- Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, issued the following statement at a hearing on May 16, 2023, entitled "House Republican Supplemental IRS Funding Cuts: Analyzing the Impact on Federal Law Enforcement and the Federal Deficit." IRS is the Internal Revenue Service. * * * In recent months this committee has held three hearings, two with Commissioner Werfel and one with Secretary Yellen, in which Republicans have attacked the Inflation Reduct  more

WASHINGTON, May 29 -- Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, issued the following statement at a hearing on May 18, 2023, entitled "Tax Incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act: Jobs and Investment in Energy Communities": * * * The Finance Committee meets this morning for our first hearing on America's energy transformation since the Inflation Reduction Act became law. Two years ago, almost to the day, this committee voted on the Clean Energy for America Act. In   more

WASHINGTON, May 30 -- Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, issued the following statement at a hearing on April 19, 2023, entitled "The President's Fiscal Year 2024 IRS Budget and the IRS's 2023 Filing Season." IRS is the Internal Revenue Service. * * * This morning the Finance Committee welcomes Commissioner Werfel back to the Senate to discuss the IRS budget and this filing season, which came to a close yesterday. Let me start off by thanking the staff at the   more

WASHINGTON, May 30 -- Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, issued the following statement at a hearing on April 19, 2023, entitled "Pharmacy Benefit Managers and the Prescription Drug Supply Chain: Impact on Patients and Taxpayers": * * * The Finance Committee meets this morning to continue our long-standing efforts to lower the cost of health care for taxpayers and patients. Today the committee focuses on pharmacy benefit managers - in particular the new strateg  more

WASHINGTON, June 2 -- Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, issued the following news release on June 1, 2023: U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today announced that a new version of the National Broadband Map fixed significant inaccuracies that could have cost Oregon hundreds of millions in federal funding to expand access to broadband. The new map added 48,000 unserved locations in Oregon, among the top ten states in the nation with corrected locations. The map will be used to determine how much funding f  more

WASHINGTON, June 3 -- Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, issued the following news release and letter on June 2, 2023: U.S. Senator Ron Wyden today with colleagues praised the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for implementing changes to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act to bring transparency to small business lending, combat unlawful discrimination, and provide increased access to fair capital. "The final rule issued by the CFPB is a significant step forward in promoting fair lending practice  more

WASHINGTON, June 3 -- Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, issued the following news release on June 2, 2023: U.S. Senator Ron Wyden said today he and Senate colleagues have introduced legislation that would improve multilingual large language models, automated decision-making systems, and content moderation practices to better protect non-English speaking communities online. "Big tech companies are failing millions of people by allowing scams, fraud and other slime to spread in Spanish, Vietnamese and C  more

WASHINGTON, May 31 -- Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, issued the following news release on May 30, 2023, and letter: U.S. Senator Ron Wyden said today that he and Senate colleagues from both parties have sent a letter urging the Secretary of Defense to conduct a thorough investigation after repeated instances of defense contractors overcharging the Department of Defense to secure excess profits of 40 to 50 percent, costing the U.S. taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. "These companies have abu  more

WASHINGTON, June 2 -- Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, issued the following news release and letter on June 1, 2023: U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today urged federal officials to address understaffing and low pay at the federal correctional institution in Sheridan, Oregon. "In our discussions with prison staff and union representatives, they repeatedly raised concerns about low morale, high rates of attrition, and difficulties recruiting and retaining staff. We each discussed these issues  more

WASHINGTON, June 3 -- Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, issued the following news release on June 2, 2023: U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley said today they and Senate colleagues have reintroduced legislation that seeks healing for stolen Native children and their communities. "The Indian Boarding School was a shameful human rights violation perpetrated by the federal government," Wyden said. "Attempts to terminate Native cultures, assimilation practices, and other horrendous actions by the fed  more

WASHINGTON, June 2 -- Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, issued the following news release: U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today sent to the White House the names of six finalists to fill an upcoming federal judicial vacancy in Oregon created by the announcement from U.S. District Court Judge Marco Hernandez that he will take senior status in August 2024. In alphabetical order, the six finalists sent by Wyden and Merkley to the White House for its consideration are as follows: * Amy Baggio,   more