Before reviewing our congressional delegation’s doings this last week, note that Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley and U.S. Representative Val Hoyle, who represents both Benton and Lane counties, will be hosting a local town hall this weekend.
It’s set for 3 pm, Saturday, Feb. 1, Philomath High School – Auditorium, 2054 Applegate Street, Philomath.
If you miss that one, Merkley will also appear without Hoyle a little later in the day, at 5:30 pm, Saturday, Feb. 1, Linn Benton Community College – Russell Tripp Performance Center in Takena Hall, 6500 Pacific Boulevard SW, Albany.
Here’s what Merkley and U.S. Senator Ron Wyden have been doing in DC over the last week.
Wyden’s week…
Reintroduced child care bill: On Thursday, Wyden, with five colleagues in the Senate, reintroduced legislation to help working families access affordable housing and child care. U.S. Representative Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., introduced companion legislation in the House.
The Build Housing with Care Act would invest $500 million to construct child care centers co-located in affordable housing developments and cover the costs of retrofitting to help family child care providers operate in housing developments. The bill prioritizes projects that are located in child care deserts or rural communities, as well as projects that include qualified Head Start providers and providers primarily serving low-income children.
“Working families across Oregon are struggling to put food on the table and pay their rent on time. When you add the cost of child care to the equation, families are forced to shoulder an impossible choice,” Wyden said. “Increasing supply of both housing and child care will help lower costs so that caregivers and parents can more easily afford basic necessities and keep their families healthy and safe.”
“Too many families in Oregon and across the country struggle to find affordable housing and affordable child care,” Bonamici said. “Co-locating child care centers with affordable housing is a proven strategy that increases benefits for children, families, and the economy. I’m pleased to partner with Senator Wyden on this common sense effort that will create more opportunities and a better future for American families.”
It is estimated that funding from the Build Housing with Care Act could build more than 120 new co-located child care centers, supporting the development of critical care supply in connection with affordable housing. A report from the Low Income Investment Fund, Including Family Child Care in Affordable Housing, highlights the many policy opportunities and benefits of co-location as “an opportunity to respond to severe housing and child care shortages simultaneously.”
The Senate legislation is cosponsored by Senators Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Alex Padilla, D-Calif., Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and Cory Booker, D-N.J.
“We all deserve the opportunity to provide for our families,” said Candice Vickers, Executive Director of Family Forward Oregon. “When child care is an afterthought in economic developments and investments, parents and caregivers — and those they care for — suffer. Our future suffers. Child care must be at the forefront of planning, and the Build Housing with Care Act does just that. Ensuring parents and caregivers have access to affordable child care in their neighborhoods allows families to not only survive but thrive.”
Wyden has been a longtime advocate for increasing affordable housing in Oregon and across the nation. In May 2023, Senator Wyden and his colleagues reintroduced a bipartisan bill to address the housing crisis by building two million affordable homes over the next decade. In July 2024, Wyden and Bonamici wrote a letter to the Biden administration to invest in affordable housing following the criminalization of homelessness in Grants Pass v. Johnson.
In March 2023, Wyden reintroduced legislation to solve the housing crisis by increasing supply, and expanding homeownership opportunities, especially for young people, by creating a new down payment tax credit for first-time homebuyers.
The Building Housing with Care Act bill text is here.
Gun trafficking amicus brief: On Tuesday, Wyden joined 46 lawmakers in an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court concerning a legal case that would hold gun manufacturers accountable for their role in the illegal trafficking of firearms to Mexico.
“As the American firearm industry continues to rake in more profit from selling firearms to Mexican drug cartels, people continue to suffer at the hands of gun violence every day in Oregon and in our country,” Wyden said. “Gun manufacturers must be held accountable for their reckless business practices that have torn apart our families, neighborhoods, and schools. I thank my colleagues for their effort to ensure that the American firearm industry stops putting a weapon of mass destruction in dangerous hands again, and supporting the voices of gun violence survivors.”
In the ongoing Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. et al., v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos, Mexico is suing U.S. gun manufacturers and a distributor for allegedly aiding and abetting illegal arms trafficking. The lawmakers argue that the gun industry should not be insulated from liability for its own unlawful conduct, as their constituents have been harmed by gun violence or the threat of it.
In addition to Wyden, the amicus brief was also led by several Democratic senators and congressional representatives.
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to hear oral arguments in this case on March 4, 2025. The text is here.
Bipartisan firefighter support bill: On Monday, Wyden joined the reintroduction of legislation that would expand access to federal support for the families of firefighters and other first responders who died or became permanently disabled from service-related cancers.
The Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act would also extend disability benefits in cases where these first responders become permanently and totally disabled due to cancer.
“In the wake of record wildfires last year in Oregon and California’s current wildfires, we have seen firefighters and first responders work tirelessly around the clock to save lives,” Wyden said. “They put their health, safety, and lives on the line without receiving an ounce of support that comes with the long-term risks of fighting fires. Let’s give these everyday heroes and their families the help they deserve so they don’t have to shoulder these challenges alone.”
Currently, firefighters are only eligible for support under the Public Safety Officer Benefits (PSOB) program for physical injuries sustained in the line-of-duty, or for deaths from duty-related heart attacks, strokes, mental health conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, and 9/11 related illnesses.
The PSOB program provides benefits to the survivors of fire fighters; law enforcement officers; and other first responders killed as the result of injuries sustained in the line of duty. The program also provides disability benefits where first responders become permanently or totally disabled. The Public Safety Officers’ Educational Assistance (PSOEA) program, a component of the PSOB program, provides higher-education assistance to the children and spouses of public safety officers killed or permanently disabled in the line of duty. The Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance administers the PSOB and PSOEA programs.
The bill has bipartisan support. In addition to Wyden, the legislation is led by U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., and cosponsored by Senators Jim Banks, R-Ind., John Barrasso, R-Wyo., Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Chris Coons, D-Del., John Cornyn, R-Texas, Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Dick Durbin, D-Ill., John Fetterman, D-Pa., Deb Fischer, R-Neb., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Mazie Hirono, D-Hawai’i, John Hoeven, R-N.D., Jim Justice, R-W. Va., Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., Alex Padilla, D-Calif., Mike Rounds, R-S.D., Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., Tina Smith, D-Minn., Mark Warner, D-Va., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.
The legislation is endorsed by the International Association of Fire Fighters, as well as the Association of State Criminal Investigative Agencies; Congressional Fire Services Institute; Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association; Fraternal Order of Police; International Association of Fire Chiefs; Major County Sheriffs of America; Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Association; National Association of Police Organizations; National Fallen Firefighters Foundation; National Fire Protection Association; National Narcotics Officers’ Associations’ Coalition; National Volunteer Fire Council; and Sergeants Benevolent Association of the New York Police Department.
Merkley’s week…
China isn’t fluffy pandas: On Wednesday, Democrat Merkley teamed up with Alaska’s Republican U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan to lead bipartisan legislation aimed at elevating and affirming the human rights of Southern Mongolians in the People’s Republic of China, or PRC. The Southern Mongolian Human Rights Policy Act would make it U.S. policy to advocate for preserving the culture and language of the ethnic Mongolians inside China whose rights are being undermined by the Chinese government.
“As Beijing continues to repress the rights and cultures of ethnic minorities, America must be unwavering in its support of those fighting for their fundamental freedoms,” Merkley said. “The Southern Mongolian Human Rights Policy Act sends an unequivocal message: the United States will not stand for the Chinese government’s efforts to erase Mongolian language, culture, and identity. Our bill makes clear that maintaining the status quo for human rights—in Southern Mongolia and across China—is unacceptable.”
“The Chinese Communist Party not only has nefarious designs on America’s global interests and our critical industries, it has also worked to undermine internationally recognized human rights across the globe, including in Southern Mongolia,” Sullivan said. “The plight of the Southern Mongolian people, who were promised autonomy, is similar to the plight of other ethnic and religious minorities in China who are forced into “reeducation” camps, denied religious rights and the right to speak in their own language, forcibly removed from their homes, and forced to engage in slave labor. In Congress, we have appropriately focused on the mistreatment of other ethnic groups in China, including the Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Christians. I’m pleased to join Senator Merkley in turning the Senate’s attention to the appalling treatment of the people of Southern Mongolia. They have been overlooked for too long.”
Merkley has a record of working to shine a light on human rights struggles in the PRC, which oppresses Uyghurs, Hong Kongers, Tibetans, dissidents, and others in addition to Southern Mongolians. As a past Chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Merkley led a hearing titled, ‘Growing Constraints on Language and Ethnic Identity in Today’s China’ which featured the stories of Southern Mongolians facing PRC oppression. He is the author of two bipartisan pieces of legislation aimed at protecting the human rights of ethnic minorities in China that were signed into law: the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act and Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Dispute Act.
The full text of the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Policy Act can be found by clicking here.
On Trump’s proposed appointees: On Thursday, Merkley – a Ranking Member of the Senate Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee and a senior member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee – released the following statement on the nominations of Lee Zeldin for Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Doug Burgum for Secretary of the Department of Interior, and Chris Wright for Secretary of the Department of Energy:
“Climate chaos is the existential threat of our time, and President Trump’s handpicked Fossil Fuel Cabinet is making sure humanity fails that challenge.
“Lee Zeldin—who left Congress and immediately became a paid influencer for corporate polluters—has shown very little of the necessary experience required to run the EPA, an agency crucial in the fight to protect human health, make sure our air and water is clean, and combat climate chaos. Zeldin failed to adequately answer basic questions about plastic pollution and parroted Big Oil talking points about how we could solve this crisis.
“Doug Burgum was in the room when Trump hosted Big Oil executives at Mar-a-Lago and asked them to invest $1 billion in his presidential campaign. Burgum has failed to outline a strong vision for how he would effectively manage and protect our nation’s treasures—our public lands and national parks—as head of the Department of Interior. Instead, he has cozied up to Big Oil and advocated for increasing fossil fuel leasing and fracking on public lands, which would accelerate climate chaos.
“Rounding out the Fossil Fuel Cabinet is Chris Wright, a fracking executive who funds anti-climate disinformation propaganda. Nominating someone like Wright, who has made millions from oil and gas, to run the agency responsible for balancing the nation’s energy needs is a clear conflict of interest. We cannot afford to have Big Oil capture the Department of Energy to further the industry’s profits. The planet weeps.
“President Trump expects his Fossil Fuel Cabinet to roll back crucial protections for public health and our environment so that corporate polluters can make more money. These polluter profits will come right out of working families’ pockets—folks will pay more at the pump, more for insurance, and more health care costs due to rampant pollution. At Trump’s bidding, his Fossil Fuel Cabinet even has plans to hollow out our federal agencies by going after the researchers, ecologists, scientists, chemists, and other specialists who work tirelessly to protect communities across America.
“I’ll keep fighting to get Big Oil and their ill-gotten bucks out of our government.”
Wyden and Merkley, together
Dollars for Oregon roads: Last Friday, Merkley and Wyden announced that the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is sending a total of $15,064,295 to reimburse the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT)for their vital repairs to roads and other critical infrastructure that were deeply damaged during several years of severe weather events.
“Oregonians in every corner of the state have faced dangerous storms in recent years, which have taken a heavy toll on the infrastructure they need to move safely,” Merkley said. “ODOT went to work to repair and rebuild the roads and other important infrastructure that powers our communities, and these investments will help cover the cost of their essential efforts. I will keep working to ensure Oregon has the tools needed to recover and become more resilient in the face of future storms while we take on the climate chaos that is intensifying these disasters.”
“Big storms leave big bills for small communities, and these federal resources will help Oregon to foot the bill for repairs ODOT provided for local roads and other key community infrastructure damaged by severe weather,” Wyden said. “I’m glad our state has secured these funds, and I’ll keep battling both for similar resources when natural disasters strike as well as for smart and science-based approaches that reduce the risks from the climate crisis.”
“When these storms caused widespread damage to Oregon’s transportation system, our crews stretched themselves to their limits to keep Oregonians safe,” said ODOT Director Kris Strickler. “I want to thank Senators Merkley and Wyden, and the rest of Oregon’s federal delegation, for helping fund ODOT’s response and for helping Oregon recover from these tough storms.”
The four new awards for Oregon were granted by the former Biden Administration through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s FHWA Emergency Relief Program, which helps agencies repair communities hurt by natural disasters and catastrophic events. These investments further build off the nearly $43 million Merkley and Wyden announced in September 2024 for Oregon’s state and local agencies to repair damaged roads, bridges, and other critical infrastructure damaged by severe weather in recent years.
Details of the new federal funding awards to further reimburse ODOT’s natural disaster recovery work are as follows:
- $9,428,695 for work that repaired damages sustained during severe winter weather in December 2022. The significant rains during this time caused flooding and landslides across the state. One of these landslides threatened to block I-84, and a large portion of a hillside came down and wiped-out Highway 101.
- $5,031,448 for ODOT’s infrastructure repairs following the January 2024 ice storm. This significant winter storm covered much of Oregon in ice, causing trees and power lines to come down across roads and damage signs. The same storm dropped several inches of rain in Southern Oregon, causing flooding and landslides.
- $325,510 for repairs following a series of severe thunderstorms that caused major flooding in Eastern Oregon in June 2023. This flooding occurred in Harney and Malheur counties, causing landslides that closed Highway 20 completely for five days and required significant efforts to clean up and repair the damage.
- $278,642 for repairs following a series of storms in early December 2023. The atmospheric rivers brought heavy rain and flooding, causing washouts of several roads and culverts, particularly impacting communities west of the Cascades.
Paris withdrawal: On Monday, Wyden and Merkley announced they had joined 20 U.S. Senate colleagues to reintroduce the We Are Still In resolution in response to Donald Trump’s withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement through a day-one executive order.
“With increasingly severe weather consistently threatening Oregon and the wildfires now ravaging southern California, it’s clear the climate is in crisis and it’s no time to retreat on clean energy policies,” Wyden said. “With the passage in 2022 of the largest climate and clean energy investment in history, the United States has led on international climate policy to create an economically and environmentally viable future for our children. The We Are Still In resolution would keep our country on track of refusing to sacrifice good-paying, forward thinking jobs and the future our children deserve by appeasing a few big oil billionaires.”
“Climate chaos is a global problem, and it requires global solutions,” Senator Merkley said. “Our communities are ravaged by wildfires and smoke, hurricanes and extreme flooding – all exacerbated by climate chaos. To address the worsening crisis, we need strong international partnerships, and the United States has both a moral and a strategic responsibility to lead the world in climate action.”
The We Are Still In resolution signals ongoing support for U.S. climate ambition by leaders in Congress continuing to work with and highlighting local, state, regional, Tribal, and nongovernmental climate partners. The resolution underscores significant climate and clean energy actions by local and state governments, critical investments made through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, and widespread support for the Paris climate agreement. With Trump’s withdrawal, the United States joins Iran, Yemen, and Libya as the only countries in the world not party to the Paris climate agreement.
Full text of the We Are Still In resolution is here.
It’s a Republican Senate, but really: On Tuesday, Wyden and Merkley announced they they’d joined 47 of their Senate colleagues to introduce a resolution condemning the pardons of individuals found guilty of assaulting Capitol Police Officers on Jan. 6, 2021.
“America continues to suffer the scars of Jan. 6 as nothing less than a violent assault on democracy, our Capitol and those who protect and serve our country,” Wyden said. “Donald Trump encouraged that assault four years ago and last week acted shamelessly to rewrite this bloody history by throwing open the prison gates and letting these violent criminals walk free out on the street. Congress cannot let this unprecedented attack go unchecked.”
“President Trump’s day one priority in office was to pardon the insurrectionists who stormed the U.S. Capitol and assaulted police officers in a failed attempt to upend the peaceful transfer of power and our democratic process,” Merkley said. “These shameful pardons disrespect the rule of law, our democracy itself, and the brave men and women serving in law enforcement across America.”
The resolution follows the move by Donald Trump, on the first day of his second term, to grant full and unconditional pardons to more than 1,500 people charged with committing crimes in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and to commute the sentences of 14 others, including leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, along with other extremely far-right militias.
Among those pardoned by Trump were 169 people who pled guilty to assaulting police officers on January 6. During the siege of the Capitol that day, more than 80 U.S. Capitol Police Officers were assaulted, along with 60 officers from the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department.
A PDF of the resolution is here.
More resolution amid chaos: Merkley and Wyden today issued the following statements in response to a federal judge blocking the Trump Administration’s executive order immediately stopping all federal loans and grants:
“The attack on these programs that allow families to get on their feet and thrive is the great betrayal coming from President Trump, who campaigned on helping working families, said Merkley, Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee and a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “In addition, Trump’s order cutting federal funds will have a huge impact on critical infrastructure projects in Oregon—like the Hood River-White Salmon and I-5 bridge replacement projects and the Port of Coos Bay’s transformative container port project—as well as funding to mitigate and fight wildfires, fulfill our commitments to Tribal communities, ensure clean air and water, and protect our public lands and wildlife. During the chaos caused by Trump’s constitutional crisis, Oregonians called my office after being shut out of their federal reimbursement systems and cut off from funding for their work to provide affordable housing, Head Start programs, and health care at federally qualified health centers. I’ll keep fighting to block these illegal cuts.”
“Chaos is not leadership. Ransacking resources from Oregonians counting on federal support for local law enforcement, schools, small businesses, firefighters, veterans, and more hurts each and every community I am honored to represent,” said Wyden, Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee. “Donald Trump ran on lowering prices for families, and instead he’s intentionally driving the economy into the ground, forcing all Americans who aren’t Elon Musk to accept a lower standard of living to help he and his buddies get richer and richer. Legal or not, he doesn’t care. This illegal unconstitutional act is now in a court of law, but it’s already playing out in the court of opinion with Oregonians voicing their outrage. The American people must keep the pressure on until every community counting on this funding is assured they will receive it just as Congress intended.”
According to the Oregon State Legislature, about 30% of Oregon’s budget is supported by federal aid, which is critical for supporting local communities. If allowed to go into effect, the directives in President Trump’s executive order could block funding in Oregon for:
- PUBLIC SAFETY: Grants for law enforcement departments would cease to go out the door, undermining public safety in Oregon.
- FIREFIGHTING: Grants to support firefighters would be halted—this includes grants that help states and localities purchase essential firefighting equipment.
- HEALTH SERVICES: Over $106 million in federal funding for community health centers that provide health care for people across Oregon would be at risk, creating chaos for patients trying to get their prescriptions, a regular checkup, and more.
- TRIBES: Funding to Tribes for basic government services like health care, public safety, programs, Tribal schools, and food assistance would be halted.
- HEAD START: Funding for Head Start programs that provide comprehensive early childhood education for almost 10,000 children in Oregon would be at risk. Teachers and staff would not get paid, and programs may not be able to stay open.
- COMBATTING FENTANYL CRISIS: Funding for communities to address the substance use disorder crisis and combat the fentanyl crisis would be cut off.
- CHILD CARE: Child care programs in Oregon and across the country would be at risk to accessing the funding they rely on to keep their doors open.
- K-12 SCHOOLS: Federal funding for our K-12 schools would be halted, preventing school districts in Oregon from accessing key formula grant funding including Title I and nearly $160 million in IDEA Grants (which help children with disabilities). This would pose tremendous financial burdens on schools in the middle of the school year.
- INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS: Federally-funded transportation projects in Oregon and across the country—roads, bridges, public transit, and more—would be halted, including projects already under construction.
- EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS: Critical preparedness and response capability funding used to prepare for disasters, public health emergencies, and chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear events would be frozen.
- DISASTER RELIEF: Public assistance and hazard mitigation grants from the Disaster Relief Fund to state, Tribal, territorial, and local governments and non-profits to help communities quickly respond to, recover from, and prepare for major disasters would be halted—right as so many communities are struggling after severe natural disasters.
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