Current Position: US Senator since 2009 Affiliation: Democrat Former Position: State Delegate from 1999 – 2009 Other Positions: Chair, Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies – Committee on Appropriations
During his tenure, Merkley has been an advocate of progressivism and was the only U.S. senator to endorse Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries. Merkley was President of the World Affairs Council of Oregon for seven years and continues to serve on the board of trustees.
After completing his master’s degree, Merkley was selected as a Presidential Management Fellow, working at the Office of the Secretary of Defense on the security of American military technology. After his fellowship, he worked in the Congressional Budget Office, where he analyzed nuclear weapons policies and programs. In 1991 Merkley returned to Portland, where he served as executive director of Portland Habitat for Humanity until 1994.
Quotes: My message to young Americans: Take risks with your style, but not your health! I know that this roller blading aficionado would have gotten vaccinated—and you should too. Head to http://vaccines.gov to find a vaccine near you.
Sen. Jeff Merkley Leads Renewed Effort To Revise the 13th Amendment
Senator Jeff Merkley comes from a family of fighters. According to family lore, his grandmother lived for a time in a boxcar during the Great Depression. Jeff’s mother stretched a dollar as far as anyone possibly could, and his father overcame a serious illness and went on to work in a lumber mill and become a union machinist. Life wasn’t glamorous, but together, Jeff’s parents saved enough to buy a modest home, take their children on annual camping vacations, and retire comfortably after a lifetime of contributing to their community.
Jeff learned to take that same determination his father took with him to the lumber mill into the classroom—and with the help of his public school teachers, Jeff went on to be the first in his family to graduate from college. He returned to the same blue collar community in Oregon where he grew up, and led non-profits to help Oregonians put roofs over their heads. When he was elected to the Oregon House, he hit the ground running for working families, creating the state’s first-ever rainy day fund, expanding access to affordable prescription drugs, protecting LGBTQ Oregonians from discrimination, and throwing predatory payday lenders out of the state for good.
And now, as a U.S. Senator for Oregon, Jeff has continued to be a champion for everyday people—at a time when the people need a champion more than ever.
“The core place I come from is that ordinary people need a champion.”
—Sen. Jeff Merkley
For decades, three distinct crises have been mounting in intensity and urgency. A democracy crisis: massive sums of dark money in politics, more and more obstacles to Americans exercising their freedom to vote, gerrymandering of districts, and the corruption of our government to benefit the most powerful and privileged among us. A climate crisis that threatens the well-being of our families and our businesses while costing lives around the world. And an opportunity crisis: rising costs and stagnating wages that keep countless families from the good paying jobs, affordable housing, quality education, and reliable health care that are the foundations for families to thrive.
Every Oregonian, and every American—regardless of the color of their skin, their zip code, or their income—deserves the same opportunity to make a better life for themselves and their families. But for years, the powerful and the privileged have been calling the shots, playing on fears and resentments to divide us from each other, and stacking the deck in their own favor.
Jeff is fighting to take on the powerful and put power back in the hands of the people. He’s taking on the stagnant wages and the lack of affordable housing in America, leading the fight to get dark money out of politics, and fighting against efforts that rob millions of Americans of their freedom to vote.
In the face of the greatest existential crisis of our lifetimes, Jeff has stood up for bold climate action. He’s fought to protect Oregon’s coastal and agricultural economies from the effects of climate chaos, and has brought labor unions and environmental leaders together to craft bold new legislation to curb emissions and strengthen protections for America’s workers. His innovative proposals have earned the support of union leaders and climate advocates alike, helping to build a climate strategy that not only safeguards the planet but will build a stronger future for America’s working families.
And in the face of the privileged and powerful trying to stack the decks against working Americans, Jeff has taken on David vs. Goliath fights to ensure that today’s kids have the same opportunities he did as the son of a blue collar family. That means he has drafted innovative affordable housing reforms, stood up for student borrowers, cracked down on predatory colleges, and has fought to expand access to affordable, high-quality health care and bring down drug prices—because no hardworking Oregonian should be homeless or crushed by a burden of medical or student loan debt.
In some of the world’s darkest moments in recent history, Jeff has emerged as a leading voice for protecting human rights—from advocating for solutions to our broken immigration and asylum process, to condemning the internment and torture of over one million Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities by the Chinese government. In June 2018, Jeff sparked a national outcry when he went to the border to investigate the Trump administration’s child separation policy and was turned away from a child detention center. Jeff has remained a champion for human rights and has continued to bring scrutiny and public pressure to push back on the cruel treatment of children seeking asylum.
Jeff is a member of the Appropriations Committee, where he Chairs the Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies; the Environment and Public Works Committee, where he Chairs the Subcommittee on Chemical Safety, Waste Management, Environmental Justice, and Regulatory Oversight; the Budget Committee; the Rules Committee; and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He is also the Chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. He and his wife Mary Sorteberg, a nurse, have been married for more than twenty years and have two children, Brynne and Jonathan.
Jeff is committed to protecting the rights and liberties of all Americans. Since its creation, our nation has come a long way in the march toward equality and fairness, but there is still much work to be done. All Americans deserve the opportunity to live, work, and succeed without facing discrimination.
Nothing is more important to growing and strengthening the middle class than creating good-paying jobs. We must make smart investments in infrastructure and support Made in Oregon manufacturing in order to create the good jobs Oregon needs.
When Jeff first took on the challenge of running for the Oregon State Legislature, one of the reasons was because he wanted to build a better education system for his young children. And as the first in his family to go to college, Jeff knows that affordable access to higher education is critical to the success of the middle class.
Education is a major factor in determining whether our children and our nation succeed in today’s increasingly competitive global economy. As a country, we need to do a better job of supporting teachers, giving them the resources they need to provide the best possible environment for teaching our children, and ensuring that no capable student has to give up his or her dreams of higher education because of a lack of affordability.
The Beaver State was built by Americans who relied on the land for their livelihood. Natural resource industries like farming, forestry, and salmon fishing remain integral to Oregon’s economy today. Our state has also long been a destination for Americans looking to experience the great outdoors. Oregon’s protected public lands provide valuable habitats, supply clean water, and generate jobs through sustainable harvests, recreation, and tourism. Preserving our natural resources and making smart decisions about economic development will help spur rural growth and ensure that future generations can enjoy Oregon’s wild places and public lands while putting people to work.
Jeff believes access to quality, affordable health care is not a privilege, but a human right. Jeff’s perspective on health care has been influenced by his wife, Mary, a registered nurse, who sees the world through the eyes of her patients: the people who should be at the heart of our health care system.
Throughout his career, Jeff has fought to expand access to quality, affordable health care coverage. As Speaker of the Oregon House, Jeff lowered prescription drug prices by expanding the state’s bulk purchasing program and fought to expand and improve children’s health care coverage. Jeff continues working to improve health care quality and coverage for all Oregonians in the U.S. Senate.
Jeff is committed to protecting America from those who would do us harm, and to making sure we do so in a way that is consistent with American values and our Constitutional rights. Indeed, Jeff firmly believes that the measure of our strength isn’t just the power of our military, but that the United States is safer and stronger when we honor our fundamental American values like respect for the rule of law and invest in the hard work of working with our allies. In a dangerous world, with global threats ranging from terrorism to global warming to nuclear weapons proliferation, Jeff understands that we need to be able to work with other nations to confront these challenges together.
Having worked as a national security analyst at the Pentagon and at the Congressional Budget Office, Jeff has a unique understanding of national security policy. In both positions, he was immersed in the national dialogue on responsible management of nuclear weapons. Jeff also remained actively engaged in foreign policy issues as President of the World Affairs Council of Oregon.
We have made promises to our seniors that they have honored through decades of hard work, and that we must keep to seniors today and tomorrow. Jeff believes that Social Security and Medicare are a covenant with our seniors, and has fought against efforts to privatize or weaken these essential programs.
Our veterans have served their country with honor and deserve the utmost respect from our nation for their sacrifice. Veterans and their families have put America’s security before their own, and we have a responsibility to ensure that our service members have the tools and training to complete their missions when they leave our shores for duty, as well as the resources they need to stay healthy and financially secure when they return home.
Jeff has been a leader in Oregon to expand educational opportunities and improve medical services for our veterans. He is dedicated to working in the U.S. Senate on behalf of brave men and women who have given so much to serve their country. They have stood up for us, and now we must stand up for them.
WOMEN’S RIGHTS AND HEALTH
Jeff is committed to protecting the health, rights, and liberties of all women. Throughout his career, Jeff has fought for equal pay, working to restore the balance of power between workers and employees by providing legal protections to women who face pay discrimination. He believes that millions of hardworking American women should have the ability to properly care for themselves and their families, without worrying about their economic security. Jeff also led the successful fight that created the first set of national rights for new mothers who want to continue to breastfeed after returning to work, and he continues to push to expand those rights.
Jeff has fought to protect a woman’s constitutional right to the full scope of comprehensive reproductive health care, including abortion, and will continue to stand up against efforts that would allow the government to make personal health care decisions for a woman and her family. He has worked to create a society that is safe for women—one that is free of violence and harassment—and continues to speak out against those who use their positions of power to victimize individuals and silence women.
PROTECTING CONSUMERS, TAXPAYERS, AND THE ECONOMY
Jeff is fighting to fix our broken financial system and make it work for middle-class families and small businesses again. Jeff is passionate about consumer protection and making sure that ordinary families are protected against scams and predatory schemes that threaten their pocketbooks. He led the fight in Oregon to take on the predatory payday lenders. In the U.S. Senate, he’s fought to create and strengthen the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the first-ever federal agency with the sole mission of looking out for consumers in their everyday financial transactions.
AGRICULTURE
Agriculture has long been a staple of Oregon’s economy, providing the nation and the world with a wide variety of products including onions, wheat, and cattle from Eastern Oregon; salmon and cranberries from the Oregon Coast; berries, hazelnuts, and nursery products from Willamette Valley; and pears and apples from the Columbia Gorge. Our state’s farms provide good jobs and drive the rural economy.
Merkley was born in Myrtle Creek, Oregon, the son of Betty Lou (née Collins) and Darrell Philip Merkley.[3] His paternal grandmother was born in Calliope, Queensland, Australia.[4] He attended first grade in Roseburg, Oregon, before moving to Portland with his family.[5]
In 1991 Merkley returned to Portland, where he served as executive director of Portland Habitat for Humanity until 1994.[10]
Merkley started the Walk for Humanity, initiated the Journey for Mankind, launched development of the Habitat Home Building Center, and initiated a pilot project for “YouthBuild” in which gang-affected youth built homes in their own neighborhoods.[11] He also served as Director of Housing Development at Human Solutions, where he worked to make available affordable housing complexes[12] and launched Oregon’s first Individual Development Account (IDA) program, which helps low-income families save money to buy homes, attend college, or start businesses.[13]
Merkley was President of the World Affairs Council of Oregon[14] for seven years and continues to serve on the board of trustees.[15]
Oregon legislature
In 1998 Merkley was elected as a Democrat to the Oregon House of Representatives from the 16th district in east Portland (renumbered as the 47th district after the 2002 redistricting). He succeeded Frank Shields, who moved from the House to the Oregon State Senate due to term limits.[16] In its endorsement, The Oregonian predicted that Merkley was the most likely of several Democrats to “accomplish something positive in the Legislature.”[14] Following the 2003 session, he was elected Democratic leader, and after the House Democrats gained a majority in the 2006 Oregon statewide elections, they unanimously elected him Speaker of the House in the 74th Oregon Legislative Assembly.[7]
During Merkley’s tenure as Speaker, the Oregon House passed numerous major pieces of legislation: It created a state “rainy day fund” (a savings account to protect public schools against the effects of any future fluctuating economy); increased Oregon public school funding by 14 percent ($1 billion) and state university funding by 18 percent ($1.4 billion); banned junk food in schools; expanded the Oregon commercial indoor smoking ban; revised the Oregon Bottle Bill; outlawed discrimination by sexual orientation and gender identity in housing and in the workplace; and gave same-sex couples rights, immunities, and benefits.[17]
On August 1, 2007, Merkley announced he would run for the U.S. Senate in the 2008 election.[18] On August 13, he was endorsed by Governor Ted Kulongoski and former governor Barbara Roberts.[19] In December 2007 he was endorsed by the Oregon AFL–CIO, the state’s largest labor federation. The union federation’s leaders cited Merkley’s 97% record of voting in the interests of working families and his electability in a general election against the incumbent, Gordon Smith.[20] Merkley was the first federal candidate to be cross-nominated by the Independent Party of Oregon.[citation needed]
Merkley won the Democratic nomination to challenge Smith in 2008, narrowly defeating activist Steve Novick and four others in the Democratic primary.[21] He was initially thought to have only a moderate chance of unseating Smith, but a July 2008 Rasmussen poll showed him in the lead, albeit within the margin of error.[22] By August, after strongly negative campaigning on both sides, Rasmussen reported that Merkley’s support had deteriorated, with Smith taking a strong lead in the polls. Merkley’s favorable rating was at 42%, while his unfavorable rating had risen to 45%.[23]
Polls taken shortly before the election indicated that Merkley’s standing had once again improved, with Merkley’s 12-point deficit turning into a slight lead.[24]
On election night the race was too close to call, but media outlets including The Oregonian called it for Merkley on the morning of November 6, and Smith conceded later that morning.[25] Ultimately, Merkley defeated Smith by three percentage points, 49% to 46%. While he carried only eight counties, one of them was his home county of Multnomah County, which he won by 142,000 votes—a deficit that proved too much for Smith to overcome. Merkley thus became the first person to unseat an incumbent Oregon senator since Bob Packwood defeated Wayne Morse in 1968.[citation needed]
Merkley formally resigned his seat in the Oregon House in a letter to Secretary of State Bill Bradbury on January 2, 2009.[26] He was sworn in as a senator on January 3, 2009. Upon his swearing in, Oregon was represented in the Senate by two Democrats (Merkley and Ron Wyden) for the first time since Maurine Brown Neuberger served alongside Morse from 1960 to 1967.[citation needed]
Tenure
Merkley’s first official Congressional photo (111th Congress)
Merkley has a progressive record as a senator. He became the first Democratic member of the Senate to announce that he would vote against the confirmation of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, citing Bernanke’s failure to “recognize or remedy the factors that paved the road to this dark and difficult recession”. As a member of the Senate Banking Committee, Merkley became a leading force in the effort to pass the Wall Street reform bill. Along with Michigan Senator Carl Levin, he successfully added an amendment, usually called the Volcker Rule, to the Dodd–Frank Wall Street reform bill, which banned high-risk trading inside commercial banking and lending institutions. Merkley also championed an amendment that banned liar loans, a predatory mortgage practice that played a role in the housing bubble and subsequent financial collapse.[27]
He was a founding signatory of a mid-February 2010 petition to use reconciliation to pass legislation providing for a government-run health insurance program.[28] Merkley also championed legislation to give new mothers private space and flexible break times to pump breast milk once they return to work. His breastfeeding amendment was included in the health care reform law and signed into law by President Obama in 2010.[29]
In late February 2010, Merkley again made headlines when he unsuccessfully tried to persuade Republican colleague Jim Bunning of Kentucky to drop his objection to passing a 30-day extension of unemployment benefits for jobless Americans. Bunning replied, “Tough shit.” A spokesman for Merkley said that Merkley did not hear Bunning’s remark at the time.[30]
In late 2010, Merkley began circulating a proposal about the need to filibuster in order to block legislation.[31] In 2011, he introduced a bill to reform the filibuster. He was joined by Senators Tom Udall of New Mexico and Tom Harkin of Iowa.
Merkley was the only member of the Senate to endorse Bernie Sanders in his 2016 bid for the Democratic nomination for president.[32]
On April 4, 2017, Merkley held the Senate floor for 15 hours and 28 minutes in protest of the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
In June 2018, Merkley received national attention when he attempted to visit a facility holding the children of jailed adults who had attempted to cross the border to seek asylum. Children were separated from their parents and placed in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Merkley filmed his attempt to visit a facility in a former Walmart in Brownsville, Texas. He was denied entrance and the police were called and arrived as he continued to try to speak with the facility administrator. He commented in the film: “I think it’s unacceptable that a member of Congress is not being admitted to see what is happening to children whose families are applying for asylum. I decided to come out here, go up to the door and ask to be let in.” By midday the video had garnered more than one million viewers.[33]
Merkley has been noted for his opposition to the Trump administration‘s immigration policies. In June 2018, he attempted to enter the Casa Padre processing facility in Brownsville, Texas, where children separated from their parents were being detained as a result of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy. Merkley was not permitted to enter, and eventually the police were called and he was asked to leave the premises. Video of the event went viral on social media, drawing greater attention to the policy in traditional media and among the public.[35][36] Speaking about the policy in an interview with Time, Merkley said, “Part of this is the dehumanization of people seeking asylum in the U.S.”[37] By the end of June, Trump signed an executive order modifying the policy to replace family separation with family detention. Merkley continued to oppose the administration’s policy, dubbing it “handcuffs for all”.[38] As of July 2018, many children who were separated under the policy still had not been reunited with their parents.
In August 2018, Merkley was one of 17 senators to sign a letter spearheaded by Kamala Harris to United States Secretary of Homeland SecurityKirstjen Nielsen demanding that the Trump administration take immediate action to reunite 539 migrant children with their families, citing each passing day of inaction as intensifying “trauma that this administration has needlessly caused for children and their families seeking humanitarian protection”.[39]
In November 2018, Merkley was one of 11 senators to sign a letter to United States Secretary of DefenseJames Mattis about “the overt politicization of the military” with the Trump administration’s deployment of 5,800 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border and requesting a briefing and written justification from the U.S. Northern Command for troop deployment, urging Mattis to “curb the unprecedented escalation of DOD involvement in immigration enforcement”.[40]
In January 2019, Merkley was one of 20 senators to sponsor the Dreamer Confidentiality Act, a bill imposing a ban on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from passing information collected on DACA recipients to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Department of Justice, or any other law enforcement agency except in cases of fraudulent claims, national security issues, or non-immigration-related felonies.[41]
Electronic cigarettes
In April 2019, Merkley was one of 11 senators to sign a letter to Juul CEO Kevin Burns asserting that the company had “lost what little remaining credibility the company had when it claimed to care about the public health” and that they would not rest until Juul’s “dangerous products are out of the hands of our nation’s children”. The senators requested Juul list each of its advertising buys and detail the steps it has taken to ensure its advertisements are not seen by people under 21 and asked whether Juul had purchased any social media influencers for product promotion.[42]
Defense and foreign policy
In August 2013, Merkley was one of 23 Democratic senators to sign a letter to the Defense Department warning that some payday lenders were “offering predatory loan products to service members at exorbitant triple digit effective interest rates and loan products that do not include the additional protections envisioned by the law” and asserting that service members, along with their families, “deserve the strongest possible protections and swift action to ensure that all forms of credit offered to members of our armed forces are safe and sound”.[43]
On June 28, 2018, Merkley was the only member of the Senate Appropriations Committee to vote against the $675 billion Pentagon spending bill for fiscal 2019 providing $607.1 billion for its base budget and $67.9 billion for the Overseas Contingency Operation (OCO) war fund. The bill was a $20.4 billion increase over the fiscal 2018 level.[44]
Afghanistan
In November 2011, Merkley led an effort to urge President Obama to expedite transition of responsibility for military and security operations to the government of Afghanistan.[45] The Senate passed an amendment to the defense authorization bill by voice vote that required Obama to deliver to Congress a timeline for an accelerated transition of all military and security operations to the Afghan government within 90 days of the law’s enactment.[46][47] Co-sponsors included Republicans Mike Lee of Utah and Rand Paul of Kentucky.[46]
Central America
In April 2019, Merkley was one of 34 senators to sign a letter to President Trump encouraging him “to listen to members of your own Administration and reverse a decision that will damage our national security and aggravate conditions inside Central America”, asserting that Trump had “consistently expressed a flawed understanding of U.S. foreign assistance” since becoming president and that he was “personally undermining efforts to promote U.S. national security and economic prosperity” by preventing the use of Fiscal Year 2018 national security funding. The senators argued that foreign assistance to Central American countries created less migration to the U.S. by helping to improve conditions there.[48]
Iraq war
Merkley supports the Reid–Feingold Amendment, a plan for removing troops from Iraq,[49] and has his own five-point plan for stability in Iraq:[49]
Removing all combat troops starting right away and completing the redeployment in six to 12 months
Eliminating permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq
Engaging Iraq’s neighbors in a diplomatic effort to secure the peace, particularly Turkey, Iran and Syria
Removing all American contractors from the country and replacing them with Iraqi contractors
Directing our attention toward stronger engagement with the Iraqi Parliament and Courts
In December 2010, Merkley voted for the ratification of New Start,[51] a nuclear arms reduction treaty between the U.S. and the Russian Federation obliging both countries to have no more than 1,550 strategic warheads and 700 launchers deployed during the next seven years and to continue on-site inspections that halted when START I expired the previous year. It was the first arms treaty with Russia in eight years.[52]
In February 2017, Merkley was one of 11 senators to sign a letter to United States Attorney GeneralJeff Sessions expressing their concern “about credible allegations that the Trump campaign, transition team, and Administration has colluded with the Russian government, including most recently the events leading to the resignation of Lieutenant General Michael Flynn as National Security Adviser”. The senators requested the creation of “an independent Special Counsel to investigate collusion with the Russian government by General Flynn and other Trump campaign, transition and Administrative officials” in order to maintain “the confidence, credibility and impartiality of the Department of Justice”.[53]
In December 2018, after United States Secretary of StateMike Pompeo announced the Trump administration was suspending its obligations in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 60 days in the event that Russia continued to violate the treaty, Merkley was one of 26 senators to sign a letter expressing concern that the administration was “now abandoning generations of bipartisan U.S. leadership around the paired goals of reducing the global role and number of nuclear weapons and ensuring strategic stability with America’s nuclear-armed adversaries” and calling on Trump to continue arms negotiations.[54]
Israel-Palestine
In April 2019, after the Trump administration refused to distribute money to West Bank and Gaza “because of perceived intransigence on peace talks by the Palestinians and payments to the families of those who have attacked Israelis”, Merkley was one of six Democratic senators to introduce a resolution restoring U.S. humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.[55]
In June 2017, Merkley voted for a resolution by Rand Paul and Chris Murphy that would block Trump’s $510 million sale of precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia that made up a portion of the $110 billion arms sale Trump announced during his visit to Saudi Arabia the previous year.[58][59]
In March 2018, Merkley voted against tabling a resolution spearheaded by Bernie Sanders, Chris Murphy, and Mike Lee that would have required Trump to withdraw American troops either in or influencing Yemen within the next 30 days unless they were combating Al-Qaeda.[60]
In October 2018, Merkley was one of seven senators to sign a letter to United States Secretary of StateMike Pompeo saying that they found it “difficult to reconcile known facts with at least two” of the Trump administration’s certifications that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were attempting to protect Yemeni civilians and were in compliance with US laws on arms sales, citing their lack of understanding of “a certification that the Saudi and Emirati governments are complying with applicable agreements and laws regulating defense articles when the [memo] explicitly states that, in certain instances, they have not done so”.[61]
Venezuela
On February 28, 2019, Merkley introduced a resolution prohibiting American military intervention in Venezuela without Congress’s approval, adding that it was “critical that the Venezuelan people are the ones to determine their own future, and that the U.S. does not repeat a failed strategy of military intervention in Latin America”. He called Venezuelan PresidentNicolás Maduro “a brutal dictator and incompetent leader” and called for him to resign while new elections are held under an interim government.[62]
Hong Kong
On October 27, 2022, Merkley and Representative Jim McGovern urged U.S. financial executives to cancel their attendance at the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit, saying, “Their presence only serves to legitimize the swift dismantling of Hong Kong’s autonomy, free press, and the rule of law by Hong Kong authorities acting along with the Chinese Communist Party.”[63]
Banking regulation
Merkley has focused on Wall Street reform in his position on the Senate Banking Committee. He and Carl Levin led an effort to crack down on proprietary trading at depository banks and other critical financial firms.[64] The Dodd–Frank Act included the Merkley–Levin amendment to implement the Volcker Rule. The rule is premised on the notion that banks should not make risky, speculative bets while enjoying government deposit insurance.[65][66] It is intended to prevent high-risk trading that jeopardizes the banking system.[67] A $2 billion trading loss at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in May 2012 prompted Merkley and Levin to push regulators to stiffen their draft language on the Volcker Rule provisions.[66][68]
Infrastructure
In January 2018, Merkley was one of ten senators to sign a letter to Trump encouraging him “to not only protect existing ‘Buy America’ laws, but to work with Congress to expand these protections and address coverage gaps” while the administration’s infrastructure proposal was being drafted, and asserting that “no infrastructure proposal should allow circumvention of current requirements in federal law that ensure our public infrastructure is built with American-made iron, steel, and manufactured materials by workers who are paid a fair wage.”[69]
In June 2019, Merkley was one of eight senators to sponsor the Made in America Act, legislation that would designate federal programs that had funded infrastructure projects not currently subject to Buy America standards and mandate that materials used in these programs be domestically produced. Bill cosponsor Tammy Baldwin said the bill would strengthen Buy America requirements and that she was hopeful both Democrats and Republicans would support “this effort to make sure our government is buying American products and supporting American workers”.[70]
Health care
Merkley voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.[71] He was a founding signatory of a mid-February 2010 petition to use reconciliation to pass legislation providing for a government-run health insurance program.[28] Merkley also championed legislation that gives nursing mothers flexible break times and private space to pump breast milk at work. His breastfeeding amendment was included in the health care reform law and signed into law by Obama in 2010.[72]
In December 2016, Merkley was one of five senators to vote against the Obama administration-supported 21st Century Cures Act, legislation increasing funding for disease research while addressing flaws in the American mental health systems and altering drugs and medical devices’ regulatory system.”[73]
In December 2018, Merkley was one of 42 senators to sign a letter to Trump administration officials Alex Azar, Seema Verma, and Steve Mnuchin arguing that the administration was improperly using Section 1332 of the Affordable Care Act to authorize states to “increase health care costs for millions of consumers while weakening protections for individuals with preexisting conditions.” The senators requested the administration withdraw the policy and “re-engage with stakeholders, states, and Congress.”[74]
In February 2019, Merkley was one of 23 Democratic senators to introduce the State Public Option Act, a bill that would authorize states to form a Medicaid buy-in program for all residents and thereby let all residents of the state buy into a state-driven Medicaid health insurance plan if they wished. Brian Schatz, a bill cosponsor, said the legislation would “unlock each state’s Medicaid program to anyone who wants it, giving people a high-quality, low-cost public health insurance option” and that its goal was “to make sure that every single American has comprehensive health care coverage.”[75]
In June 2019 Merkley and 14 other senators introduced the Affordable Medications Act, legislation intended to promote transparency by mandating that pharmaceutical companies disclose the amount of money going toward research and development in addition to both marketing and executives’ salaries. The bill also abolished the restriction preventing the federal Medicare program from using its buying power to negotiate lower drug prices for beneficiaries and hinder drug company monopoly practices used to keep prices high and disable less expensive generics entering the market.[76]
In August 2019, Merkley was one of 19 senators to sign a letter to United States Secretary of the TreasurySteve Mnuchin and United States Secretary of Health and Human ServicesAlex Azar requesting data from the Trump administration in order to help states and Congress understand the potential consequences of the Texas v. United States Affordable Care Act lawsuit, writing that an overhaul of the present health care system would form “an enormous hole in the pocketbooks of the people we serve as well as wreck state budgets”.[77]
To speed the recovery of the housing market, Merkley supports aggressive efforts to create refinancing alternatives to costly and time-consuming foreclosures, including allowing federal bankruptcy judges to modify existing mortgages so they can keep their home under new terms.[81] In July 2012, Merkley proposed a broad new refinancing plan for homeowners who owe more than their houses are worth and therefore cannot refinance. Under his plan, any homeowner who is current on their mortgage could refinance into a 4% mortgage for 15 years or a 5% mortgage for 30 years.[82][83]
In April 2019, Merkley was one of 41 senators to sign a bipartisan letter to the housing subcommittee praising the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Section 4 Capacity Building program as authorizing “HUD to partner with national nonprofit community development organizations to provide education, training, and financial support to local community development corporations (CDCs) across the country” and expressing disappointment that Trump’s budget “has slated this program for elimination after decades of successful economic and community development.” The senators wrote that they hoped the subcommittee would support continued funding for Section 4 in Fiscal Year 2020.[84]
In December 2023, Merkley introduced the End Hedge Fund Control of American Homes Act of 2023 to the Senate. This legislation would require hedge funds to sell at least 10% of the single-family homes they own each year over a 10-year period. After this period, hedge funds will be banned from owning any single-family homes.[85][86]
Environment
Climate change
In October 2017, Merkley was one of 19 senators to sign a letter to Administrator of the Environmental Protection AgencyScott Pruitt questioning Pruitt’s decision to repeal the Clean Power Plan, asserting that the repeal’s proposal used “mathematical sleights of hand to over-state the costs of industry compliance with the 2015 Rule and understate the benefits that will be lost if the 2017 repeal is finalized” and would fail to “satisfy the requirements of the law, nor will it slow the increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, the inexorable rise in sea levels, or the other dire effects of global warming that our planet is already experiencing.”[87]
In September 2018, Merkley was one of eight senators to sponsor the Climate Risk Disclosure Act, a bill described by cosponsor Elizabeth Warren as using “market forces to speed up the transition from fossil fuels to cleaner energy—reducing the odds of an environmental and financial disaster without spending a dime of taxpayer money.”[88]
In November 2018, Merkley was one of 25 Democratic senators to cosponsor a resolution specifying key findings of the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change report and National Climate Assessment. The resolution affirmed the senators’ acceptance of the findings and support for bold action to address climate change.[89]
In March 2019, Merkley was one of 11 senators to sponsor the Climate Security Act of 2019, legislation forming a new group within the State Department that would develop strategies to integrate climate science and data into national security operations and restore the post of special envoy for the Arctic, which Trump eliminated in 2017. The envoy would advise the president and the administration on the potential effects of climate on national security and be responsible for facilitating all interagency communication between federal science and security agencies.[90]
Merkley was a member of the Senate Democrats’ Special Committee on the Climate Crisis, which published a report of its findings in August 2020.[91]
Energy
Merkley has consistently supported policies that promote American energy independence and investment in alternative energy sources.[92] In 2010 he and Senators Tom Carper, Tom Udall, and Michael Bennet introduced the Oil Independence for a Stronger America Act, which set a goal to achieve complete independence from overseas oil by 2030.[93][94] The same senators put forward a similar piece of legislation again in 2011.[95] Merkley supports increasing national fuel economy standards, and advocates for a 6 to 7 percent annual improvement for vehicles over current mileage standards.[96] He has also been a strong supporter of electric vehicles. In 2011 Merkley and Senator Lamar Alexander introduced the Promoting Electric Vehicles Act,[97] a bill designed to provide short-term incentives for the rapid development and production of electric vehicles.[98]
In March 2019, Merkley was an original cosponsor of a bipartisan bill intended to mandate that the Environmental Protection Agency declare per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances hazardous substances that can be addressed with cleanup funds via the EPA Superfund law and require that polluters undertake or pay for remediation within a year of the bill’s enaction.[99]
Campaign finance
Merkley supports increased transparency in campaign financing and limits on independent political spending by corporations.[100][101] He has been critical of both the 2010 Supreme Court case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and of the court’s decision in 2012 not to revisit this case.[102][103] Merkley called the 2012 decision “disturbing and damaging.”[103] In response to the decision, in July 2012 Merkley and six other senators sponsored the Disclose Act.[104] Among other provisions, the legislation would require public disclosure of political donors that give $10,000 or more.[104][105]
Senate reform
Merkley has been a leader in trying to reform the rules of the Senate, including those about the filibuster. On January 5, 2011, he and Senators Tom Udall and Tom Harkin introduced a resolution intended to increase debate and accountability in the Senate.[106][107] The resolution proposed to eliminate the filibuster on motions to proceed, eliminate secret holds, guarantee consideration of amendments for both majority and minority, require a “talking filibuster” in which senators opposed to holding a straight up-or-down vote must continuously debate on the Senate floor, and expedite the nominations process.[108] Upon introducing the resolution, Merkley said: “The Senate is broken. We are failing to fulfill our legislative responsibilities.”[108] On January 27, his “talking filibuster” proposal received 46 Senate votes.[106][108]
Supreme Court
To protest the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court, in April 2017 Merkley staged an all-night protest on the Senate floor. He ended his filibuster speech after 15 hours.[109] “This is a stolen seat,” he said in a statement,[110] referring to Senate Republicans’ successful attempt to block Obama’s appointment of Merrick Garland. “This is the first time in American history that one party has blockaded a nominee for almost a year in order to deliver a seat to a president of their own party.”
Postal reform
During the Postal Reform Act debate in the Senate in April 2012, Merkley led the effort to pass an amendment that would impose a one-year moratorium on the closure of most rural post offices. After that, the bill would prohibit the closure of post offices more than 10 miles from another post office and impose conditions limiting the closure of others. Twenty rural post offices in Oregon face closure because of the postal service’s financial problems.[111][112]
In May 2014, days before the FCC was scheduled to rewrite its net neutrality rules, Merkley was one of 11 senators to sign a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler charging that Wheeler’s proposal would destroy net neutrality and urging the FCC to “consider reclassifying Internet providers to make them more like traditional phone companies, over which the agency has clear authority to regulate more broadly.”[118]
In October 2018, Merkley was one of 20 senators to sign a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging him to reverse the rolling back of a policy that granted visas to same-sex partners of LGBTQIA+ diplomats who had unions that were not recognized by their home countries, writing that too many places around the world have seen LGBTQIA+ people “subjected to discrimination and unspeakable violence, and receive little or no protection from the law or local authorities” and that refusing to let LGBTQIA+ diplomats bring their partners to the U.S. would be equivalent to upholding “the discriminatory policies of many countries around the world.”[119]
In December 2018, Merkley voted for the First Step Act, legislation aimed at reducing recidivism rates among federal prisoners by expanding job training and other programs in addition to forming an expansion of early-release programs and modifications on sentencing laws such as mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders, “to more equitably punish drug offenders.”[120]
In June 2019, Merkley was one of 18 senators to sign a letter to Pompeo requesting an explanation of a State Department decision not to issue a statement that year commemorating Pride Month or issue the annual cable outlining activities for embassies commemorating Pride Month. They also asked why the LGBTQIA+ special envoy position had remained vacant and asserted that “preventing the official flying of rainbow flags and limiting public messages celebrating Pride Month signals to the international community that the United States is abandoning the advancement of LGBTQIA+ rights as a foreign policy priority.”[121]
Agriculture
In March 2019, Merkley was one of 38 senators to sign a letter to United States Secretary of AgricultureSonny Perdue warning that dairy farmers “have continued to face market instability and are struggling to survive the fourth year of sustained low prices” and urging his department to “strongly encourage these farmers to consider the Dairy Margin Coverage program.”[122]
In June 2019, Merkley and 18 other Democratic senators sent a letter to USDA Inspector General Phyllis K. Fong requesting that she investigate USDA instances of retaliation and political decision-making and asserting that not to conduct an investigation would mean these “actions could be perceived as a part of this administration’s broader pattern of not only discounting the value of federal employees, but suppressing, undermining, discounting, and wholesale ignoring scientific data produced by their own qualified scientists.”[123]
In July 2019, Merkley was one of eight senators to introduce the Agricultural Trucking Relief Act, a bill that would alter the definition of an agricultural commodity to include both horticultural and aquacultural products and promote a larger consistency in regulation in both federal and state agencies as part of an attempt to ease regulatory burdens on trucking and the agri-community. He said the bill “is a necessary step forward in clarifying trucking rules, to make sure businesses in every sector of Oregon’s agriculture industry have the same ability to deliver their products while they’re still fresh.”[124]
Child care
In 2019, Merkley and 34 other senators introduced the Child Care for Working Families Act, a bill that created 770,000 new child care jobs and ensured that families making less than 75% of the state median income did not pay for child care, with higher-earning families having to pay “their fair share for care on a sliding scale, regardless of the number of children they have.” The legislation also supported universal access to high-quality preschool programs for all 3- and 4-year-olds and changed child care workforce compensation and training to aid both teachers and caregivers.[125]
Drug policy
In July 2015, Merkley was one of eight senators to sign a letter to U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donahue requesting the chamber stop lobbying against anti-smoking regulations on the grounds that “its international clout to fight so ardently against regulations of dangerous tobacco products is contrary to United States foreign policy and global health goals.”[126]
In December 2016, Merkley was one of 17 senators to sign a letter to Trump asking him to fulfill a campaign pledge to bring down the cost of prescription drugs, stating their willingness “to advance measures to achieve this goal”, and calling on Trump “to partner with Republicans and Democrats alike to take meaningful steps to address the high cost of prescription drugs through bold administrative and legislative actions.”[127]
In December 2018, Merkley was one of 21 senators to sign a letter to Commissioner of Food and DrugsScott Gottlieb stating their approval of the actions of the Food and Drugs Administration to hinder youth access to e-cigarettes and urging the FDA “to take additional, stronger steps to prevent and reduce e-cigarette use among youth.”[128]
Gun control
In January 2019, Merkley and 39 other senators introduced the Background Check Expansion Act, a bill that would require background checks for the sale or transfer of all firearms including all unlicensed sellers. Exceptions to the bill’s background check requirement included transfers between members of law enforcement, loaning firearms for either hunting or sporting events on a temporary basis, giving firearms to members of one’s immediate family, transferring them as part of an inheritance, or giving a firearm to another person temporarily for immediate self-defense.[129]
In February 2019, Merkley was one of 38 senators to sign a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham calling on him to hold a hearing on universal background checks and noting Graham’s statement to the press that he “intended to have the Committee work on ‘red flag’ legislation and potentially also background checks, both actions” the senators supported.[130]
Immigration
In July 2019, Merkley and 15 other Senate Democrats introduced the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act, which mandated that ICE agents get approval from a supervisor before engaging in enforcement actions at sensitive locations except in special circumstances and that agents receive annual training in addition to being required to annually report enforcement actions in those locations.[131]
Lifeline
In March 2018, Merkley spearheaded a letter signed by nine other senators lambasting a proposal from FCC Chairman Ajit Pai that would curb the scope of benefits from the Lifeline program during a period when roughly 6.5 million people in poor communities relied on Lifeline for access to high-speed internet, arguing that it was Pai’s “obligation to the American public, as the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, to improve the Lifeline program and ensure that more Americans can afford access, and have means of access, to broadband and phone service.” The senators also advocated insuring “Lifeline reaches more Americans in need of access to communication services.”[132]
Personal life
Merkley has competed in and finished Ironman Triathlons. He has said his workouts help him manage the stress of his job.[133]
^ abJeff Merkley for Oregon (November 13, 2007). “Ending the Iraq War”. JeffMerkley.com. Archived from the original on November 23, 2007. Retrieved January 23, 2008.
^Merkley, Jeff (February 2, 2012). “We Need a Strong Volcker Rule”. The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on September 14, 2017. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
^“Election Results 2008”. The New York Times. December 9, 2008. Archived from the original on September 29, 2016. Retrieved September 9, 2012. As speaker of Oregon’s state house […] Merkley was able to […] approve some of the nation’s most aggressive policies to encourage development of renewable sources of energy.’
^Fandos, Nicholas (December 18, 2018). “Senate Passes Bipartisan Criminal Justice Bill”. New York Times. Archived from the original on February 12, 2021. Retrieved March 26, 2019. In one of this Congress’s final acts, every Democrat and all but 12 Republicans voted in favor of the legislation — an outcome that looked highly unlikely this month amid skepticism from Republican leaders.
Senator Jeff Merkley comes from a family of fighters. According to family lore, his grandmother lived for a time in a boxcar during the Great Depression. Jeff’s mother stretched a dollar as far as anyone possibly could, and his father overcame a serious illness and went on to work in a lumber mill and become a union machinist. Life wasn’t glamorous, but together, Jeff’s parents saved enough to buy a modest home, take their children on annual camping vacations, and retire comfortably after a lifetime of contributing to their community.
SENIORS
We have made promises to our seniors that they have honored through decades of hard work, and that we must keep to seniors today and tomorrow. Jeff believes that Social Security and Medicare are a covenant with our seniors, and has fought against efforts to privatize or weaken these essential programs.