Ron Wyden

They said the legislation would provide dedicated federal support to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires in Oregon and across the West, while also empowering communities to prepare for wildfires.

Six rural airports across Oregon are slated to share federal dollars to make a variety of infrastructure improvements.

On Wednesday, the Senate unanimously passed legislation to reauthorize the Forest Service’s Secure Rural Schools and Self-Determination Program through Fiscal Year 2026.  The votes was celebrated by Idaho’s Republican senators Jim Risch and Mike Crapo, as well as Oregon Democrats Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden; the four worked together to get the legislation across the finish line.   The Secure R... R

On Thursday, Idaho senator Mike Crapo and Oregon’s Jeff Merkley announced the introduction of the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration (CFLR) Program Reauthorization Act of 2025.  They say this bipartisan legislation would reauthorize and expand the CFLR program, which helps fund collaborative and community-based forest management.  The lawmakers said...

Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, Ranking Member of the Senate Ag Committee, led 25 colleagues in pressing the USDA for information about previously approved funding for food banks and other emergency providers.  USDA’s taking away funds from the Emergency Food Assistance Program, which the lawmakers said will hurt hungry Americans who already face high grocery prices and hurts American farmers get

Under a recently proposed bill, the federal government would prioritize use of mass timber in construction.  Senators from Oregon and Idaho are leading the bipartisan effort to pass the Mass Timber Federal Buildings Act.  The bill would make it a preference to use mass timber in federal construction projects.   Mass timbe...

Senators from Oregon and Idaho are pushing for Congress to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools Act before funding runs out.  States with timber on federal land depend on the program for funding schools and other projects that would have been paid for by timber harvests, which aren’t allowed on federal land.   “The S...

Oregon’s senators announced funding Monday for a trio of Central Oregon irrigation projects.  Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley announced $37.4 million from the Inflation Reduction Act for piping projects in Central Oregon that the two say will boost drought resiliency, conserve almost 5,000 acre-feet of water annually, and create stronger aquatic ecosystems in the Deschutes River Basin.   “Benef... Read

Late last month, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek sent a letter to President Biden asking that he designate the Owyhee Canyonlands as a national monument before he leaves office.   Eastern Oregon Congressman Cliff Bentz calls Kotek’s letter to Biden a “Classic example of crying wolf.”   "She s...

The state of Oregon was recently awarded $956,333 for a project to rehabilitate a McMinnville multifamily affordable housing complex that serves farmworkers and their families.  The announcement of the USDA funds was made Tuesday by Oregon’s Senators Jeff Merkley, Ron Wyden and Representative Andrea Salinas.  Community Hom...