Oversight
Merkley Statement on GDP Report Showing Economy Slowing
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, released the below statement following the Commerce Department’s report showing the economy began to shrink in the first three months of the year. This is a major shift from uninterrupted economic growth since 2022, including the last three months of 2024 where the economy grew by 2.4% under President Biden’s administration. “Trump has been in office for only 100 days, and costs, chaos and corrup… Continue Reading
04.16.25
Merkley Calls on GAO to Conduct Audit of DOGE’s Destruction of U.S. Foreign Aid
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee and senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a comprehensive audit of the foreign policy and national security implications of the Trump administration’s recent actions to terminate foreign assistance programs, downsize the State Department, and attempt to dissolve the U.S. Agency for International Development (U… Continue Reading
04.10.25
In Open Letter to the American Public, Wyden, Merkley, Senate Democrats Warn Against Republican Cuts to Health Care to Pay for Tax Handouts for Billionaires
Text of the Letter (PDF) Washington, D.C. - Senate Democrats sent an open letter to the American public today, warning families across the nation about Republicans’ efforts in Congress to pass legislation that would deliver a tax handout that disproportionately benefits millionaires and billionaires while taking away health insurance and health care benefits from millions of American families. “The Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans are planning to give another round of tax han… Continue Reading
04.10.25
Merkley: House Republicans Are Betraying Middle-Class Families by Advancing Senate Republicans’ Budget Resolution
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, released the below statement following House Republicans’ vote to advance Senate Republicans’ budget resolution. “After all their concerns around the Senate Republicans’ budget resolution, House Republicans bent the knee to President Trump and advanced this resolution that will slash programs that help families thrive to fund massive tax breaks for billionaires. This is not only immensely … Continue Reading
04.10.25
New CBO Analysis Shows Republicans’ Tax Giveaways Add $52 Trillion to National Debt Over 30 Years
WASHINGTON, D.C. - At the request of U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, the independent, nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a new projection showing that the tax giveaways in the Senate Republicans’ budget proposal will add $52 trillion to the national debt over the next 30 years. The previous projection for the cost of extending the Trump tax law and the Republican leadership’s attempt to use a budget gimmick, known as “current p… Continue Reading
04.09.25
GAO Raises Concern Over OMB’s Actions to Remove Budget Data Website
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, and Congressman Brendan Boyle (PA-02), Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee, released the following statements in response to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) raising concerns with the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) actions last month to remove the website that listed the funding that Congress appropriated and have since been sent out the door by the Trump Ad… Continue Reading
04.07.25
Merkley Demands OMB Turn Over All Documents Relating to Agencies’ Plans to Fire More Federal Workers
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, demanded that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) turn over all documents from agencies and departments in response to large-scale reduction in force directives issued by OMB in February. “The February 26 memo’s directives enable further disastrous mass firings of federal employees. The Trump Administration has already fired tens of thousands of civil servants at several agencies, ma… Continue Reading
04.05.25
Merkley: Families Lose, Billionaires Win in Republican Budget Resolution
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, released the following statement after Senate Republicans passed another version of their budget resolution: “For a second time, Republicans passed their budget resolution in the dark of night to double down on their mission to slash programs that help families thrive to fund massive tax breaks for billionaires. “Democrats fought back with amendment after amendment to lower the cost of groceries… Continue Reading
04.04.25
Merkley: Democrats are Here to Expose this Fraud, Fight for Families
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, took to the Senate floor to highlight the purpose of the Republicans’ budget plan: to give tax breaks to billionaires at the expense of working families. Merkley’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, follow. M. President: Families lose, billionaires win. That is the Republican plan. This Republican budget slashes $2 trillion from programs that families depend on. Why? To fund even more massi… Continue Reading
04.03.25
Merkley Highlights How Republicans’ Budget Proposal Benefits Billionaires, Not Working Families
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, took to the Senate floor to start debate on the Republicans’ budget proposal which will benefit millionaires and billionaires, while gutting programs families rely on. Merkley’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, follow. M. President: Families lose, billionaires win. That’s the proposition at the heart of the Republican budget resolution. This Republican budget slashes programs for families… Continue Reading
04.03.25
Merkley, Wyden, Neal, Boyle Release Staggering New Cost Estimate of Republican Tax Plan, Blast Giveaways to Corporations and the Wealthy
Washington, D.C. - Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard E. Neal, D-Mass., and House Budget Committee Ranking Member Brendan F. Boyle, D-Pa., released the statement below on a new estimate from the Joint Committee on Taxation that the Republican plan to extend the 2017 Trump tax law will cost $5.5 trillion including interest over the next decade, and $4.6 trilli… Continue Reading
04.02.25
Merkley Statement on Republicans’ Latest Budget Proposal
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, released the below statement after Senate and House Republicans released their budget proposal. Republicans want to use the budget gimmick known as “current policy baseline” to pretend that adding over $4.6 trillion to the debt over 10 years and $37 trillion to the debt over 30 years by extending the Trump Tax Giveaways will magically add $0 to the national debt. But it’s not enough to use… Continue Reading
03.31.25
Leader Schumer And Top Budget And Finance Senate Dems Slam Senate Republicans For Using Unprecedented Actions To Cover Up The Cost Of Their Billionaire Tax Cuts And Lie To American Families
Washington, D.C - Today, Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Ranking Member of the Finance Committee Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Ranking Member of the Budget Committee Jeff Merkley (D-OR) sent the following letter to Republican Leader John Thune (R-SD) slamming the Senate Republican’s plan to use the “current policy baseline” in the reconciliation process. If the Republicans were to continue on this path and commit budget fraud, they would upend decades of precedent, erode fiscal guardrails, and c… Continue Reading
03.31.25
Merkley and Boyle Call for GAO Investigation into Trump Administration’s Funding Freezes
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, and Congressman Brendan Boyle (D-PA), Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee, announced they have formally requested that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigate several funding suspensions ordered by President Trump to determine their legality under the Impoundment Control Act. This request is especially urgent given the White House’s unlawful removal of public records of a… Continue Reading
03.27.25
Merkley Statement on CBO’s 30-Year Budget Projection
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released new projections showing what the economy and federal budget would look like over the next 30 years, with the debt growing to 156 percent of GDP if no action is taken to address the national debt. U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, released the following statement. “Today’s projections show our nation’s debt will continue to rise if Congress does not act. But what are Congressional Rep… Continue Reading
03.27.25
Merkley to Republican Colleagues: This is Fraud
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, took to the Senate Floor to call out the hypocrisy in the Republicans’ budget reconciliation process. Republican leadership is hell bent on using “magic math” - in the form of a budget gimmick known as “current policy baseline” - to falsely appear to add $0 to the debt - all to ensure millionaires and billionaires pay less in taxes. A second round of Trump Tax Giveaways will add an astronom… Continue Reading
03.26.25
Merkley Condemns Confirmation of Dan Bishop to OMB
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, on a party line vote, Senate Republicans confirmed Dan Bishop to be the Deputy Director at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, released the below statement following the confirmation. Merkley, along with every Democrat on the Committee, voted against Bishop’s nomination in committee. “The law is not a suggestion, and the president is not a king. Government officials swear an oath to… Continue Reading
03.26.25
Merkley Statement on Republican Push to Use a Budget Gimmick that Adds $37 Trillion to the National Debt
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, released the below statement following new data published by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), a centrist budget policy think tank, that shows making permanent the Trump Tax Giveaways will add an astronomical $37 trillion to the debt over the next 30 years, which would increase the debt to more than double the size of the economy in 2054. This new estimate by CRFB uses … Continue Reading
03.24.25
Merkley Calls on Vought to Immediately Restore Website Listing Funds Spent by the Trump Administration
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, called on Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought to immediately restore the website listing funds that Congress appropriated and have since been sent out the door by the Trump Administration. The deleted portal provided a public accounting of when and where the Trump Administration has made appropriations passed by Congress available for expenditure, a process known as "… Continue Reading
03.21.25
New CBO Data Reveals Republicans’ Budget Plans Explode the Debt and Deficit for Decades
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, and U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, released the following statements after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) published 10- and 30-year projections of the debt and deficit if Republicans permanently enact a second round of Trump tax giveaways for the rich. CBO projects that under the Republicans’ budget plan, the national debt will exp… Continue Reading