WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, at the request of U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report detailing that every $1 the federal government invests in flood adaptations can save taxpayers nearly $2 in disaster spending, as well as reduce National Flood Insurance […]
WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Representatives Gregory W. Meeks (D-NY-5), Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Sara Jacobs (D-CA-51), Ranking Member of the Africa Subcommittee, issued a statement following […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – After the Trump Administration issued another illegal pocket rescission late Friday night, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, took to the Senate floor to pass his bill, which would eliminate any future pocket rescissions and would nullify the newest illegal cancelation of Congressionally appropriated funds that […]
REPORT: Broken Promises, Real Costs: 11 Trump Lies That Are Hurting Americans WASHINGTON, D.C. – As costs continue to skyrocket and President Trump shows no interest in addressing the needs of the American people, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, today released a report documenting 11 failed promises Trump […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, released the below statement after the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reaffirmed that the Impoundment Control Act does now allow for the President to issue a pocket rescission on expiring funding. On Friday, President Trump issued more illegal pocket […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the below statement after President Donald Trump and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Russ Vought issued more illegal pocket rescissions, this time clawing back nearly $1 billion in congressionally appropriated funding. “Once again, […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee, led 25 of their Senate colleagues in slamming the Department of Education’s (ED) latest move to further undermine the Department and […]
CBO Issues Scary As Hell New Debt Projections That Will Profoundly Impact American’s Economic Future If Interest Rates Increase by 1 Percent, the National Debt Will be 222 Percent of GDP Merkley Recently Penned an Op-Ed Detailing How the Federal Government Could Get Control of Our Growing Debt and Deficit WASHINGTON, D.C. – As interest […]
Text of Report (PDF) Washington, D.C. – Today, in response to an inquiry led by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, along with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released new data on the cost of President Trump’s war in Iran. The […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In Case You Missed It, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, published an MS Now opinion essay detailing how the U.S. Government has reached unprecedented levels in our national debt while allowing federal deficits to continue to grow, even during a period of relative peace and […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Ranking Member of the […]
Initial Ship Estimated at $23.4 Billion, Each Additional Ship Could Cost $18 Billion If Tonnage of Ships Increases Beyond 35,000 Ton Estimate, Costs Will Increase Significantly WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, at the request of U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released independent analysis […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, delivered the following opening statement at a hearing on Medicaid. Sen. Merkley’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, follow: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you to our witnesses for being here today. Last year, my Republican colleagues passed their […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, released the below statement after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report showing that the number of uninsured Americans climbs to 37.4 million in 2036, or 10.4% of the population “largely because of provisions of the 2025 […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – As of the end of June, data from the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) SF-133 reports shows that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have $152 billion in unobligated funding from the two partisan funding bills that Republicans passed over the last year—the One, Big Beautiful […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, released the following statement after the House Budget Committee advanced a fiscal year 2027 budget resolution that kicks off a third reconciliation process to spend nearly $100 billion on wasteful programs, ignores the needs of working families, and funds […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley, Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, and Ron Wyden, Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee and a senior member of the Senate Budget Committee, demanded answers from Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, released the below statement following the news of the passing of Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. “I am shocked to hear of the sudden passing of Senator Graham. We shared a strong interest in defending […]
WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Senators Gary Peters (D-MI), Ranking Member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee; Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Democratic Leader; Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee; and Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, led the entire Senate Democratic caucus in demanding Office of […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, calls on the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to examine how the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act, the Republican signature undertaking that stripped health care and food assistance from families to give tax cuts to the wealthy, would affect […]
Washington, D.C. – Today, President Trump formally requested that Congress spend an additional $88 billion in the form of a supplemental request. The majority of these funds would be spent to cover the costs and replenish wasted ammunitions from Trump’s war of choice with Iran while also covering the cost of his illegal tariffs that […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – After President Trump signed into law the Secure America Act, a Republican funding bill that gave Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) nearly $70 billion in new funding, data from the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) SF-133 reports shows that, as of the end of May, […]
Letter Text (PDF) Washington (June 17, 2026) – As Congress considers President Trump’s $1.5 trillion request for Pentagon spending and SpaceX wins billions in Golden Dome contracts, Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Representatives John Garamendi (CA-08) and Don Beyer (VA-08), co-chairs of the bicameral Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control Working […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, requested that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) conduct a study of how federal spending for flood adaptations now is likely to affect the federal budget. Merkley specifically asked CBO to estimate the amount of potential future savings that […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Jeff Merkley (D-OR) delivered the following opening statement at the nomination hearing for Hal Duncan to be Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Sen. Merkley’s remarks, as prepared for delivery follow: Thank you, Chairman Graham. And thank you, Mr. Duncan, for joining […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement after the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees released their annual reports showing that Social Security’s Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund’s insolvency date moved up one quarter to late 2032, and Medicare’s Hospital […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, released the below statement after the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management released a report stating that oil and gas lease sales in the Arctic National Wildlife […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, released the below statement after Senate Republicans voted to pass their funding bill that will give Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) nearly $70 billion. This bill provides zero relief to working families who are […]
“The American people deserve to know the true costs of this conflict, and they deserve transparency and honesty when their government commits the nation to war.” Text of Letter (PDF) Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, along with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer […]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley, Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, and Ron Wyden, Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, ask Dr. Mehmet Oz, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, to answer for how the highly sensitive personal information, including Social Security numbers, of health care providers […]