Jeff Merkley

Late last week, Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley teamed up with Patrick Leahy of Vermont, to press Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue to increase the USDA’s efforts to speed funding for food aid appropriated by Congress for those in need. Merkley, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees funding for the USDA pointed out that Congress appropriated $36 billion to the Department

On Tuesday, Oregon senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley called on the USDA to immediately work to ensure those that receive SNAP benefits, can receive home food delivery as well as curbside pickup during the coronavirus pandemic. The letter was signed by 26 senators, primarily democrats ...

A bipartisan group of senators wants the Trump Administration to remove the caps on the amount of direct coronavirus relief farmers can get under USDA’s new aid package. The $19 billion plan for relief, put together by President Trump and Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue, includes $16 billion in direct payments, which are capped at $125,000 per commodity and $250,000 per person. Tha ...

Lawmakers are urging Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to make temporary flexibilities on Farm Service Agency loans permanent for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic. The bipartisan letter signed by 43 senators urge Perdue to “take action to ensure the continuity of our country’s food supply and support rural areas during the coronavirus." T ...

On Wednesday, Senators and Representatives from across the Northwest and across the country, called for immediate assistance to cattle producers. Lawmakers sent a letter to Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue, asking that resources allocated under last week’s CARES Act be used to help cattle producers facing market volatility in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and economic fallout. Tha ...

Lawmakers from Washington and Oregon are urging  the Council on Environmental Quality to extend the initial 45-day comment period for the Snake River Dam draft EIS. Saying the COVID-19 pandemic impacting the Northwest demands the full attention of local and state governments, the lawmakers have asked for an extension so in person, public comments can be accepted. In ...

Oregon’s senators are not happy with what they see as a move to hurt efforts to expand broadband service to rural areas. On Tuesday, Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden voiced their criticism after the FCC announced that rural areas that have received state-run broadband funding, or help via the USDA’s ReConnect program, were no longer eligible for new federal broadband funds. “Li ...

A program intended to allow SNAP recipients to purchase food on-line is coming to Oregon. On Monday, Senator Jeff Merkley announced the expansion of a pilot program allowing recipients in Oregon to use their benefits to purchase food online from Amazon and Walmart ...

On Thursday, Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley joined a host of other lawmakers from the U.S. Senate and House introducing the Monarch Action, Recovery, and Conservation of Habitat (MONARCH) Act.  Supporters of the legislation say this bipartisan, bicameral proposal would provide urgent protections for the struggling western monarch butterfly, a pollinator that is integral to supporting American agricu

On Monday, Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley announced that he had joined several other fellow Democrats in introducing the Farmers Bill of Rights resolution.  Merkley, as well as New Jersey’s Cory Booker, and Representatives Deb Haaland and Chellie Pingree say this affirms the rights of family farmers, ranchers, and traditional agricultural communities.  The reso...