Sen. Merkley Joins Pro-Iran Deal Camp

Oregon's Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley on Sunday announced his support for the Iran nuclear deal.
This puts the number of supporters of the deal at 31, just three short of the 34 needed to make sure that if Congress passes a resolution of disapproval against the deal and President Barack Obama vetoes it, the veto cannot be overridden by Congress.
Merkley acknowledged that the deal has "significant shortcomings.”


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Jeff Merkley introduces sweeping LGBT rights bill that makes big changes to Civil Rights Act

Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, who led the fight in the last Senate for a ban on job discrimination against gays, has said for months that he's shifting to a more expansive approach.


On Thursday, Merkley and his allies introduced their new bill, and it is indeed far more sweeping than anything the Oregon Democrat has proposed on gay rights in the past.


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US Senators Want a Stop to Arctic Drilling

Eighteen U. S. senators have urged the Obama’s administration to halt Shell’s Arctic drilling plans saying that it is an unacceptable and irresponsible decision, says a report in Reuters.
Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley, joined by seventeen other Senators, has urged the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) to halt all offshore oil and gas drilling permits in the Arctic region.


Read more at MarineLink.com

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Cover Oregon health exchange enrolled U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley into low-income Medicaid

As a U.S. senator, Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., makes $174,000 a year. So imagine his surprise a few months ago, when he learned the Cover Oregon health insurance exchange had enrolled him in the Oregon Health Plan, which covers only the poorest of the poor.  Chalk up another embarrassing glitch for Cover Oregon, which remains a troubled work-in-progress after months of triage and more than $300 million in taxpayer money.

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Oregon to abandon 'Cover Oregon' exchange

According to health watch writer Elise Viebeck at The Hill, Oregon is set to become the first state to drop its ObamaCare exchange and transition into the system managed by the federal government. ✧ The decision follows months of severe technical issues that have made Oregon's marketplace one of the worst in the country. ✧ "Cover Oregon" is the only ObamaCare enrollment system that won't let registrants buy coverage and qualify for tax credits in one sitting. It remains mired in glitches almost seven months after a rocky launch.

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Senate Votes For Nuclear Option, Merkley Lead Proponent

WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) pulled the trigger Thursday, deploying a parliamentary procedure dubbed the "nuclear option" to change Senate rules to pass most executive and judicial nominees by a simple majority vote. ✧ The Senate voted 52 to 48 for the move, with just three Democrats declining to go along with the rarely used maneuver. Excerpts:

• The move marks a significant win for the newer crop of Democrats -- like Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, the lead proponent of going nuclear.
• Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who chaired the Judiciary Committee back when it was Democrats trying to stall Bush's nominees, echoed McConnell, suggesting newer Democrats such as Merkley, who have never been in the minority, were not taking the long view. ✧ "They're -- I want to say this the right way -- they're rustling their inexperienced feathers," Hatch said, calling the historic move a "charade just to try and get off Obamacare."
• But Merkley disagreed, arguing the reform is "about clearing the decks of the Senate so we can actually spend time on legislation, we can actually address the cost of college, actually have job-creation bills on the floor, that we can address issues related to retirement security." ✧ "I feel great," Merkley said. "Since I came here in 2009, I've been absolutely appalled by the dysfunction of this body."

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Sources Say: Care Act makes Merkley a bit ill

Oregon U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley is emerging in the national news media as a prime example of a Democrat up for re-election next year and panicked by the problems with the Affordable Care Act. ✧ Just a few weeks ago, Merkley was such a strong defender of Obamacare that he attacked Republican challenger Monica Wehby, a Portland pediatric surgeon, for opposing it. ✧ But since then Merkley repeatedly has criticized the program’s website problems and required cancellation of substandard programs. Last week he co-sponsored a bill to allow people who had their insurance policies canceled to keep them for another year. Read more at Portland Tribune… Read More......

Merkley: We Didn’t Understand What Our Bill Would Do

In a telephone interview, [Oregon senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat] said that he and other supporters of the 2010 law failed to understand that it didn’t have strong enough “grandfather” provisions ensuring that people could keep policies that existed at the time. Linking to pertinent data, Jim Geraghty at NRO adds, If only he had listened to 1) the Congressional Budget Office: 2) Representative Eric Cantor (R., Va.); or 3) Senator Mike Enzi (R., Wyo.). Read full article at National Review Online… Read More......

Don't let government take over all U.S. water!

Senate Bill 787 will change federal jurisdiction over "navigable" water, to give the federal government control over all water everwhere, in municiple reservoirs, and on private lands, and in private wells. This bill ignores state water law authority and the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Learn more at http://sovereignty.net.

Write or call your senators today!

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D) - DC (202) 224-3753, Salem (503) 362-8102
Sen. Ron Wyden (D) - DC (202) 224-5244, Salem (503) 589-4555

(Hat tip: Jerry Jackson - "S-787 - Clean Water Restoration Act - will give the federal government jurisdiction over all water, everywhere, as well as jurisdiction over all activity that affects water wherever it may be. This would give to the federal government effective control over every square inch of land in the United States. It too, must be stopped.") Read More......

Sen. Jim DeMint takes on Sen. Jeff Merkley over HC bill provision

CNSNews.com, 1/5/2010 - Senate Health-Care Bill Provision Would Make it Impossible for Future Congresses to Repeal Parts of Bill: A provision deep within the Senate’s 2,000-page health-care overhaul bill would make it impossible, once approved, for the legislation to be repealed or changed by future Congresses -- a provision that a Senate Republican and a conservative analyst say is unconstitutional.

On page 1,020, the bill states: “It shall not be in order in the Senate or the House of Representatives to consider any bill, resolution, amendment or conference report that would repeal or otherwise change this subsection.”

The provision appears in Section 3403 of the Senate bill, which creates an Independent Medicare Advisory Board (IMAB). The objective of the board would be to “reduce the per capita rate of growth in Medicare spending,” which has ballooned in recent decades. The IMAB would recommend changes to the Medicare program to limit its spending growth -- recommendations that would automatically go into effect unless Congress votes to block them. Read more for the DeMint (R-SC)-Merkley (D-OR) exchange...

Notes: 1) IMAB is what Sarah Palin referred to as "Death Panels." Kudos to Sen. DeMint. 2) Sen. Merkley will hold a town hall meeting on Jan. 15. Please see Events Calendar --bc Read More......