Van Hollen Joins Blunt Rochester, Senate Democrats in Calling on Secretary Noem to Reverse Termination of TPS for Haiti

U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) joined Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) and over 40 members of the Senate Democratic Caucus in demanding that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem reverse her directive to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti. The policy took effect February 3, 2026, though it was temporarily blocked by a federal judge.

“The Republic of Haiti remains gripped by extraordinary political instability and the deterioration of civil society,” the Senators wrote. “Armed gangs control significant territory, violence and kidnappings have escalated, and basic governance functions have effectively collapsed. Access to healthcare, food, and public services is severely limited, and large portions of the population remain displaced. Consequently, these conditions continue to meet the statutory criteria that justified the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) original TPS designation and have only worsened over time.”

“When DHS last extended TPS for Haiti in June 2024, the department cited persistent insecurity, humanitarian need, and the inability of the Haitian government to safely receive returning nationals,” the Senators continued. “Those same conditions persist today. The department’s subsequent decision not to extend TPS represents a departure from its own recent findings. It would expose individuals to grave danger, family separation, and undermine the very humanitarian purpose Congress intended TPS to serve.”

“We urge DHS to act in accordance with the law, facts on the ground, and America’s longstanding commitment to humane immigration policy,” the Senators concluded. “DHS should immediately extend TPS for Haitian nationals and provide certainty to affected families and communities across the United States.”

In addition to Senators Van Hollen and Blunt Rochester, the letter was signed by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Cory Booker (D.N.J.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), and Angus King (I-Maine).

The full text of the letter can be found here and below.

Dear Secretary Noem:

We write to express our deep concern over your November 2025 decision to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti, effective February 3, 2026. Although a federal judge has temporarily stayed the termination of TPS, preserving protections while litigation continues, hundreds of thousands of Haitians lawfully living and working in the United States remain in legal uncertainty despite the catastrophic humanitarian and security crisis in Haiti that prevents a safe return.

The Republic of Haiti remains gripped by extraordinary political instability and the deterioration of civil society. Armed gangs control significant territory, violence and kidnappings have escalated, and basic governance functions have effectively collapsed. Access to healthcare, food, and public services is severely limited, and large portions of the population remain displaced. Consequently, these conditions continue to meet the statutory criteria that justified the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) original TPS designation and have only worsened over time.

Ending TPS would also impose immediate economic harm on communities across the United States because Haitian TPS holders are essential to the American workforce and economy. Haitian nationals contribute billions of dollars in economic activity each year and are highly represented in critical sectors such as healthcare, construction, food processing, and logistics. In states like Delaware, Florida, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, and Georgia, they have found opportunity in many communities by filling workforce needs that are vital to local economies. Across the country, Haitian immigrants have started businesses, own property, and have given back through faith-based and community organizations. In other words, allowing TPS protections to lapse would disrupt employers, families, and communities overnight and threaten to forcibly remove Haitians from their homes.

When DHS last extended TPS for Haiti in June 2024, the department cited persistent insecurity, humanitarian need, and the inability of the Haitian government to safely receive returning nationals. Those same conditions persist today. The department’s subsequent decision not to extend TPS represents a departure from its own recent findings. It would expose individuals to grave danger, family separation, and undermine the very humanitarian purpose Congress intended TPS to serve.

We urge DHS to act in accordance with the law, facts on the ground, and America’s longstanding commitment to humane immigration policy. DHS should immediately extend TPS for Haitian nationals and provide certainty to affected families and communities across the United States.


Warner, Kaine and Colleagues Praise House Passage of Legislation to Repeal Trump's Tariffs on Canada

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), as well as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee Ron Wyden (D-OR), praised the U.S. House of Representatives’ passage of legislation to repeal President Donald Trump’s International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) tariffs on Canada. The senators led bipartisan legislation in the Senate to challenge Trump’s tariffs on Canada, and it passed the Senate in February by a 50-46 vote. The House legislation was led by U.S. Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (D-NY-05). The House’s vote comes after Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA-04) used a procedural loophole to prevent privileged resolutions like this one from receiving a vote on the House floor last year.

“It is unacceptable that Virginians and businesses across the Commonwealth are paying the price for Trump’s misguided trade war with Canada,” said Sen. Warner. “It is Congress’s responsibility to intervene and put an end to the President’s reckless policies that are inflating costs for working families and destroying the U.S.’s bilateral relationship with one of our closest allies and trading partners. I am glad the House has broken Speaker Johnson’s blockade and joined the Senate in voting to remove these tariffs on Canada.”

“President Trump’s tariffs on Canada have weakened our economy and caused millions of Americans to pay more for everyday goods, businesses to lose revenue, and tourism to the United States to decline,” said Sen. Kaine. “I’m glad the House finally joined us in passing bipartisan legislation that would repeal President Trump’s tariffs on our longstanding ally Canada. Today’s vote makes clear that the American people aren’t interested in the higher prices and economic uncertainty created by President Trump’s chaotic trade policies. The Senate should pass it to once again rebuff these ridiculous tariffs.”

“Congress has sent President Trump a clear, bipartisan message: he cannot continue to abuse his power and unilaterally wage a trade war against one of our strongest allies. Canada is Minnesota’s top trading partner, but these chaotic tariffs are jeopardizing that relationship—and increasing costs for Minnesota families,” said Sen. Klobuchar. “We can’t afford to keep raising costs, hurting businesses, and eliminating jobs by attacking our neighbor and ally.”

“Congress has spoken with bipartisan clarity: it’s time to give Americans relief and end Trump’s tariff tax,” said Leader Schumer. “Both chambers have now rejected his phony ‘emergency’ and his fabricated trade war. The Supreme Court should take notice. This price-spiking tariff tax is raising costs on everything from groceries prices to energy bills — all because Trump chose chaos over common sense. It’s time to deliver relief.”

“The Senate has voted four times, on a bipartisan basis, to overturn Trump’s tariffs and give families some relief from high prices,” said Sen. Wyden. “With today’s vote in the House, it’s clear the tide has turned against the President’s price-hiking trade policies, and Congress should send legislation repealing the tariffs to Trump’s desk as soon as possible.”

Specifically, the legislation would terminate the February 1 emergency declaration that President Trump used to launch his trade war with Canada, and would eliminate the tariffs on Canadian imports implemented as a result. President Trump’s order cited the IEEPA, an unprecedented use of IEEPA’s emergency provisions in the law’s nearly half-century history. The IEEPA tariffs are among the largest tax increases on American families in recent history.

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Warner-Backed Bill to End Government Payments to Deceased Americans Becomes Law

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) applauded the signing of the Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act, bipartisan legislation to save hard-earned taxpayer money by curbing erroneous payments to individuals who have passed away. The Warner-sponsored measure is now law.

“I’m thrilled to see this bipartisan, commonsense bill become law. As working families struggle to afford the cost of living, those of us elected to represent them should be doing everything in our power to save taxpayer dollars and protect government resources from fraud and abuse. I will continue working to improve efficiency and ensure that our government is working for all Americans,” said Sen. Warner.

The Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act permanently amends the Social Security Act to allow the Social Security Administration to share the Death Master File – a record of deceased individuals – with the Treasury Department’s Do Not Pay system. The change will help agencies better identify and stop improper payments before they go out. The law also authorizes the Treasury to compare SSA death data with information held by other federal entities and share relevant matches with any paying or administering agency authorized to use the Do Not Pay system.

In addition to Sen. Warner, this bill was led by Sens. John Kennedy (R-LA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Ashley Moody (R-FL), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), and Joni Ernst (R-IA).

“Using dead Americans to rip off taxpayers is as low as it gets. Many Americans have seen these scams play out across the country and are tired of watching these fraudsters game the system—so am I. That’s why I wrote this common-sense bill to end this outrageous abuse permanently, and I’m grateful President Trump signed it into law so we can ensure taxpayer dollars go to living Americans who actually need our help,” said Sen. Kennedy.

“This vital bill will help save millions of taxpayer dollars by ensuring the Social Security Administration will be able to permanently share important data with the Treasury Department’s Do Not Pay system, preventing wrongful payments to deceased individuals. I’m proud to support this bipartisan legislation to help safeguard taxpayer dollars,” said Sen. Peters.

“Today is the final lap of getting this bill across the finish line so that the personal data and Social Security benefits of millions of Americans are protected. I am pleased to see the signing of our bipartisan bill into law, fixing our federal government’s payment systems to ensure that millions of taxpayer dollars are saved every year. As Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, I am committed to safeguarding the hard-earned benefits of Americans,” said Sen. Wyden.

“As stewards of our fellow taxpayers’ dollars, we owe it to them to be sure their hard-earned money is well spent and NOT WASTED. The Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act, which permanently codifies coordination between the Department of Treasury and Social Security Administration to eliminate payments to dead people, has now been signed into law by President Trump! This is a step in the right direction for ending waste, fraud, and abuse running rampant in Washington,” said Sen. Moody.

“Our government has a responsibility to be a good steward of taxpayer dollars and prevent waste, fraud, and abuse. I am glad that this bipartisan bill to update existing safeguards and better prevent unintentional payments to deceased people has been signed into law,” said Sen. Hassan.

“Fraudsters gave eternal life to thousands of Americans who died long ago. With President Trump signing the Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act into law today, we’re finally stopping fraud dead in its tracks that RIPs off the taxpayers. I’m proud to support this commonsense bill to protect our hard-earned tax dollars, enact stronger safeguards, and restore accountability,” said Sen. Ernst.

Full bill text is available here.

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Warnock Urges Working People to Organize, Unify to Heal Nation’s Spiritual Crisis During UAW Keynote

Today, Senator Reverend Warnock delivered the keynote address at the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) Community Action Program (CAP) Conference

In his remarks to a crowd of nearly 1,000 current and former union members, Senator Warnock outlined how economic opportunity is key to healing our divided nation

The biannual CAP Conference brought together union members from across the country to strategize and build power for the working class

Senator Reverend Warnock: “You ought to keep on organizing and keep on fighting and keep on standing up! Do not give in to those who say put your trust in me, put our trust in each other, and together we win!”

Watch Senator Reverend Warnock’s keynote address to UAW HERE

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) delivered the keynote address on day three of the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) Community Action Program (CAP) Conference in Washington, D.C.

“Ordinary people have to have movements to declare for themselves the things that ought to be obvious, they have to fight for their personhood, they have to fight for their humanity, they have to fight for their dignity, they have to fight for livable wages, they have to fight for health care, that’s what union organizing is all about,” said Senator Warnock. “And so I submit to you that you ought to keep on organizing and keep on fighting and keep on standing up! Do not give in to those who say put your trust in me, put our trust in each other, and together we win!”

In his remarks, Senator Warnock addressed the moral burden and overwhelming sense of division weighing on the nation caused by decades of economic stress. The Senator urged the crowd of nearly 1,000, to not lose faith in their fellow American, and stressed the need to organize and stay in the fight during this moment of darkness and unrest.

“I still believe that in America, anything is possible, that even as that dream is slipping away, we cannot give in to those who are trying to weaponize despair, to convince us that the powers the elites have already won and so there’s no need to fight, if we believe that, we’ll stop fighting. But if we stand up, we stand together, we win. I still believe in that America,” Senator Warnock continued.

UAW’s CAP Conference is the union’s biannual gathering in Washington, D.C., aimed at organizing, strategizing, and building power for the working class. This year’s theme for the conference is “Building Working Class Power: Our Time to Lead.”

A video link of Senator Warnock’s speech can be found HERE.

See below Senator Warnock’s keynote speech at UAW’s National CAP Conference:

“Thank you so very much. I really am deeply honored by your invitation, for so many reasons. I want to thank Neil [Jameson] for that wonderful introduction. Give him a great big round of applause. I want to thank brother Shawn Fain for his incredible leadership.

Sisters and brothers, I come before you this morning, not only as an elected official, but as a pastor, I often say that I’m not a senator who used to be a pastor, I’m a pastor in the Senate. John Lewis was my parishioner. I had the honor of serving as his pastor, and they often said that he was the conscience of the Congress. He worked on the House side. They said he was the conscience of the Congress. I ran for the Senate because looking at our politics in DC, I said, if the Congress needs a conscience then the Senator is a soul.”

“Essentially, I come as one rooted in the Civil Rights tradition, a beneficiary of its work and deeply grateful for the shared history between the movements for worker rights and the movement for civil rights. Those two things, in my mind, are inextricably linked. Civil rights and worker rights, human dignity and the dignity of the work. I think of A. Philip Randolph, that towering figure in the labor movement leader of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, who, in 1925 before Martin Luther King Jr. was even born, was organizing workers for their basic dignity, for a livable wage, so that they might endure the prosperity that they are creating for others, and it’s no wonder that when they got ready to organize the March on Washington where Dr. King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, it A. Philip Randolph alongside Bayard Rustin who organized that March. When civil rights and worker rights are joined together, we are more powerful and more effective.

I join you today, really in solidarity during this moral moment in our nation. Historians, decades from now, will be writing about this. What did we do? How did we show up in this moment? At a time when masked agents jumping out of unmarked cars are militarizing our streets, boots on the streets, the tools and the stuff of the military, suggesting that we have war with one another. And at the same time, politicians stripping us of our health care and nutrition benefits from working people, and the President of the United States spending his time finding ways to exploit the country, doing a great job of enriching himself and his family. He said, the other day, when I asked about this economy, he said, “I’d rate it an A+.” And then he thought about it, corrected himself and said, No, actually, “I’d rate it an A+++.” The question you want to ask yourself is, if he really believes that, what is this measure, A+++ for whom? I suggest that it was for those billionaires who were sitting on the stage that day he was inaugurated. That’s his base, that’s who he has been fighting for.

We’re in a moral moment. I traveled to Minneapolis a few weeks ago because I had to go, as a Pastor, I believe in the ministry of presence, sometimes it’s good just to show up. And I stood there at the memorial of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. It was a deeply moving experience. As the pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Dr. King served, I can tell you that both of these young people stood in the best of the Civil Rights tradition in as much as they literally put their bodies on the line. They could have stayed in their relative comfort, but they put their bodies on the line for their neighbors. [What] the administration did not recognize is that the people in Minneapolis know the people that you’re trying to make into enemies. And amid this darkness, ordinary people stood up, showing up to speak out against tyranny and to speak up for their neighbors, because they understand that their neighbors’ well-being is tied to their own.

Somehow, all of us have to capture that deep moral lesson in this moment that my neighbor’s children and my own children are tied together. So in my work, I always try to center the children, because regardless of whatever fancy titles I may have, I’m very clear, my most important job and my most rewarding job is father to two precious little children. They are my North Star. I talked to them this morning on FaceTime, nine and seven, they’re always bossing me around. But I think about those two little children, and as I do my work, there was another child that I’m always thinking about, because long before the people of Georgia gave me the honor of being a voice for them in the United States Senate, long before I had the honorable serving as pastor of Ebenezer Baptist church, I was just a kid growing up in the housing projects in Savannah, Georgia.

You look at me, you’re not just looking at the United States Senator, but a kid who grew up in public housing. A Headstart kid. I know the difference that good federal public policy makes, but I was number 11 out of 12 children, my folks, who were Pentecostal preachers, clearly read the Bible, “Be fruitful and multiply.” There was not a lot of money in our house, but I really feel like I hit the jackpot, because I had two great parents. There was a lot of love in our house and a lot of laughter in our house, and deep faith. And my family and my community convinced me that a kid growing up in the housing projects in America. You can still go somewhere. We lived on Cape Street, and they convinced me that I could fly.

I often say that I went to college on a full faith scholarship, that’s when you don’t have enough money for the first semester. But at age 17, I was just determined that I was going to attend the college that Martin Luther King Jr. attended because his voice so inspired a kid who was born a year after his death. I just wanted to attend the college. God always has a dream bigger than the dream we’re dreaming for ourselves. I wanted to attend Dr. King’s college, I ended up becoming the pastor of Dr. King’s church. When I arrived on the campus of Morehouse College, I didn’t have enough money I tell you, for the first semester, my folks were both Pentecostal preachers often spoke in King James English, my mom had a way of saying, “Thou shalt wash their dishes, lest I slack you with my rod and my staff.” I looked at my dad, looking for some money. He said, “Silver and gold, have I none, but such as I have give I unto thee the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ go with.” He gave me a great big hug, and drove off into the horizon left me standing there. Four years later, I graduated because I had a sense of determination. I had a sense of perseverance. I believed in myself. But I also graduated because somebody gave me some Pell Grants, somebody gave me some low-interest student loans, somebody gave me a work-study job. In other words, I had a path towards progress, I had a path to prosperity and productivity. I had a path.

What keeps me up at night is that I know that it would be harder now for that kid to do what he did all of those years ago. So when you see me standing up, you see me fighting for ordinary people. I’m fighting for that kid who grew up on Cape Street and on Cape Streets all across our country, from Atlanta to Appalachia. In big cities and rural towns, because for too many of those kids, red, yellow, brown, black and white, urban, and rural, that dream is slipping away.

Over the last 50 years, real wages for working families have been stagnant. Today the price of everything from healthcare to housing, to energy bills, to childcare is becoming more expensive, and this administration is doing nothing to ease that burden. I’m not even convinced that they are focused on it, focused on building a ballroom, but I’m not sure that they’re focused on building some housing so that people can afford to live somewhere in America. They’re undermining the American workers’ right to engage in collective action and secure fair compensation. They’re killing auto jobs after promising to bring them back. They’re siding with billionaires instead of the American worker, and as a result, people are working harder and harder, but are seeing less and less from the work that they’re putting in. Young people are wondering if they’ll ever be able to afford a home. The average age now for a person buying their first home is age 40 in the United States of America. Older people are wondering if they will never be able to retire with dignity. And those of us who live in the middle are trying to take care of our children and take care of our parents as they deal with both the blessings and the burden of aging. Workers are seeing that they are creating wealth for others, but it’s not showing up in their paychecks. And there is a growing sense in our country that our best days are behind us, that even if we work our hardest, our children will fall behind.

There’s a sense that there is something amiss, and people feel it. We all do. People on the left, and the right, and the middle, we all feel it. We all feel this sense that there is something broken in the covenant that we have with one another as an American people. As I describe it, it is as if the whole country has a low-grade fever. Do you ever wake up in the morning and you just don’t feel good? You know, you can’t quite put your finger on it, you just don’t feel good. We have ways of describing it, there’s that deep ache, the fogginess and the fatigue that doesn’t allow you to show up in your full strength, to be your best self. And then you sort of stumble around a while in the darkness. And then you take your temperature to realize you have a low-grade fever, that something is simmering that you can’t quite put your finger on, we’ve been there for a long time as a country. The whole country has a low-grade fever, and we all feel it regardless of our politics. We may not agree on how to fix it, but we all feel it, and the stakes could not be higher. So the question before us is whether we can shake ourselves, whether we can find our way to wholeness again, whether we can build a future that is worthy of our children, all of our children, so that a child’s outcome is not based on their parents income. The idea of an American covenant that we share with one another is the recognition that Dr. King was right “We are tied in the single garment and destiny caught up in an inescapable network of mutuality, whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.”

This is why the labor movement is so important and why you will always have my support, and always have an ally in me. I believe in organized labor because working people are so often crushed by the machinery of power, unless they stand together. I believe in organized labor because collective bargaining and union organizing really is democracy in the workplace. It is democracy in the places of human production, without which we see a yawning chasm, a growing divide between the prosperity that workers produce for others and what they enjoy for themselves. It is the path through which you get health care, you get a livable wage, you get time off, and you get to retire with dignity and leave something for your children. I believe in labor.

But right now too many Americans don’t have a union who can fight for these things. Their lacking economic opportunities, so when that happens, when things are broken, and let’s be clear, there were those who have literally been waging war against unions for decades, and after they break that covenant, their emerges in the gap strong men who say, put your faith in me rather than each other. That is the spiritual crisis that we’re facing right now. This is how President Trump was able to take healthcare away from 15 million Americans and double the healthcare premiums for 22 million Americans while calling it waste, fraud, and abuse. The question we all ask ourselves is, what is he saying about those Americans when he calls it waste, fraud, and abuse? Are our neighbors waste, fraud, and abuse? It is why we’re calling the throne to the politics of rage and anger and division and fear. Donald Trump and JD Vance want for us to be angry at those who have the least. Mean-spirited operations where it seems that cruelty is the point. They elevate the most extreme voices, and they provoke outrage. They keep us engrossed in the culture wars. Meanwhile, we’ve got real problems to solve, don’t we?

We’ve got to deal with both the promise and the perils of AI, which threatens to be a major disruption for blue-collar jobs and white-collar jobs alike. We need thinkers. We need leaders. We need public servants who are thinking ahead of time about how we’re going to organize artificial intelligence, so that workers still have a livable wage, so that people still have health care. When we’re caught up in the culture wars, when we’re caught up in partisan politics, our politics becomes a place where we operate in the narrowest realm of possible.

Now, this might seem strange for someone in my position to say, but I think the vocabulary of our politics is too puny a language for the crisis that confronts us. What can get 60 votes? What can get passed corporate special interests and lobbyists? What won’t hurt us in the next election? Politicians in this town are so focused on the next election, and they’re not thinking about the next generation. We need people who are thinking far into the future.

I submit that we suffer not from a poverty of resources, but a poverty moral imagination and moral courage, if we center the people, our policies will finally start to address the stress that working families are feeling right now under the stress of structural inequalities. What if we use the levers of government, these immense powers that we’re seeing the Trump/Vance administration using every day to exploit working people and make their families richer? What if those resources were leveraged for working families instead, for the American worker? What if we got serious about housing in a country where we’re 5 million units short? What if we got serious about childcare? Began to think outside of the box, recognizing that we need childcare so workers can go to work. I knew as an activist and now I know even more as a member of the Senate, too often we have the best politicians that money can buy. So we got to raise the ethical question. We need to enlarge our vision. We suffer a lack of resources, but from a lack of moral imagination. You see it because every time they decide to, they find some more tax breaks for the richest of the rich, it is our priorities that are messed up and mixed up.

So my friends, let us renew the covenant that we have with one another as American an people, that kid who grew up on Cape Street still believes in the country that gave me a chance. I still believe that in America, anything is possible, that even as that dream is slipping away, we cannot give in to those who are trying to weaponize despair to convince us that the powers the elites have already won, and so there’s no need to fight if we believe that, we’ll stop fighting. But if we stand up, we stand together, we win. I still believe in that America.

So as I close, and nobody believes a Baptist preacher when he says, “As I close”. I often think about the fact that Dr. King literally died fighting for workers. He was busy planning the Poor People’s campaign, but he took a detour to Memphis, where two sanitation workers, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, were literally crushed to death in the machinery of their truck. They had been trying to lead this worker movement, and it had fits and starts, but then these two Black workers found themselves in a rainstorm, and they could not get in the cab or the truck. Why? Because, in 1968, four years after the Civil Rights Bill had been passed into law, the logic of Jim Crow still was at work, and so they had to get in the back of the truck. We don’t know exactly what happened, but somehow their bodies were literally crushed to death by the machinery. The thing about 1968 is Dr. King showed up. He showed up because, although he was weary and tired, they summoned him by the power of their witness. But in 1968, never forget this, the minimum wage in 1968 had more purchasing power than the minimum wage in 2026. There has been a war against workers, a growing chasm between the haves and the have-nots. And Dr. King showed up to fight for them as they held those iconic signs, “I am a man.” Ordinary people have to have movements to declare for themselves the things that ought to be obvious, they have to fight for their personhood, they have to fight for their humanity, they have to fight for their dignity, they have to fight for livable wages, they have to fight for health care, that’s what union organizing is all about.

And so I submit to you that you ought to keep on organizing and keep on fighting and keep on standing up! Do not give in to those who say put your trust in me, put our trust in each other and together we win!”

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At Hearing, Warren Calls for Accountability for Poor Barracks Conditions, Adds That We Need Higher Wages for Military Child Care Workers

“We owe (service members) everything…if we don’t address these issues, we put our military readiness, retention, and recruitment at risk.”

Washington, D.C. — At a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) delivered opening remarks calling for improving the quality of military barracks, better pay for child care workers so military families can have the child care support they need, and tracking the impact of Republicans’ health care cuts for service members and their families.

Senator Warren called attention to the disastrous conditions of military barracks, including mold, broken sewage pipes, and broken air conditioning. She warned that efforts to privatize barracks risk limiting the military’s ability to hold private housing providers accountable for poor living conditions and called for DoD and Congress to prohibit housing companies from forcing service members into non-disclosure agreements as a condition of getting compensated for poor living conditions. She also highlighted that Congress has actually allocated money to improve barracks, but DoD has repeatedly chosen to divert those funds to immigration enforcement instead without justifying to Congress why upgrading barracks was no longer a priority.

“I don’t think anyone here would want to spend an extra year or even an extra month breathing in black mold just because this administration didn’t think their health was important enough,” said Senator Warren.

Senator Warren also called for improving the quality of and access to child care for military families, pointing out that thousands of military families are on the waiting list for DoD child care facilities. One of the main reasons for the shortage of child care workers is the low pay that comes with the job. Senator Warren called out the Air Force, Army, and Navy for blowing past Congress’ deadline for them to update their pay scales and called on them to do it as soon as possible.

“Military families need [child care] to do their jobs…[w]e need to do better by our military families and our civilian child care workers,” said Senator Warren.

Finally, Senator Warren called for a stronger health care system for service members and their families, calling out Republicans’ health care cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill. The law’s nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts threaten to limit military families’ access to health care, as nearby hospitals come under significant financial strain and may be forced to close down or reduce services.

“It shouldn’t be too much to provide [service members with] housing that doesn’t have black mold, child care that doesn’t have a 7,000-kid waitlist, and doctors appointments that aren’t months away. And these aren’t just nice to have: if we don’t address these issues, we put our military readiness, retention, and recruitment at risk,” concluded Senator Warren.

Transcript: Opening Statement at Hearing to Receive Testimony from the Senior Enlisted Leaders on Servicemember and Family Quality of LifeSenate Armed Services Subcommittee on PersonnelFebruary 11, 2026

As Prepared for Delivery

Senator Elizabeth Warren: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m glad that we are taking this time to dig into important quality-of-life issues for our enlisted troops.

Enlisted service members make up over 80 percent of our active-duty forces. They fill critical jobs across the services – from intelligence and cyber specialists to engineers to infantrymen – all crucial to upholding our national security. But far too often these patriotic men and women have to deal with quality-of-life issues that make it harder for them to effectively do their jobs.

One big area of concern: the quality of our barracks. We require service members who enlist to live in barracks during basic training and initial job training. The very minimum we owe them is housing that is safe. Instead, we’ve seen health and safety problems for decades. A 2023 report by the Government Accountability Office was a real wakeup call. The GAO found mold-covered walls, sewage pipes that were cracking and overflowing, and rooms heating up to over 90 degrees because their air conditioning units were broken. Several years later, we continue to hear horror stories about living conditions. Navy Secretary John Phelan was so “appalled” by barracks he visited in Guam that he initially thought the buildings he was visiting were condemned. Troops in other services also continue to report that it can take months to address maintenance requests at their barracks.

We need real solutions here, and we need them now. One of the proposed solutions is turning responsibility for these barracks over to private companies instead. I am concerned that we haven’t learned our lessons from years of this committee’s investigations into privatized military family housing, which exposed significant failures. Military family housing is still plagued by reports of unsafe living conditions like mold, lead paint, pest infestations, and more. I sent a letter to Secretary Hegseth last year raising concerns about this. DoD’s response indicated that it’s poised to make the same mistakes in privatizing barracks, like granting fifty-year leases to companies with questionable accountability and oversight.

We’ve also seen private companies try to take advantage of military families by forcing them to sign non-disclosure agreements in order to receive compensation for things like damaged property from mold or reimbursement for other financial burdens they faced due to terrible living conditions. DoD and Congress need to act, so that any companies responsible for privatized barracks don’t try to muzzle troops living there too.

And bottom line: we need to invest more in barracks. Congress actually provided funding to DoD to modernize and repair barracks, but under the Trump administration, DoD has repeatedly diverted this money to support border operations instead. In their notifications to Congress, they haven’t bothered to explain why they thought it was appropriate to take money away from rehabilitating barracks, leaving troops in horrible living conditions. I don’t think anyone here would want to spend an extra year or even an extra month breathing in black mold just because this administration didn’t think their health was important enough.

Another quality-of-life challenge? Child care. Military families need it to do their jobs, but I am deeply concerned that military families continue to face big challenges in getting care for their babies. Getting child care is already hard enough for parents around this country, and it can be even more difficult for military parents dealing with nontraditional, changing hours and abrupt deployments and relocations. At the end of last year, there were over 7,800 children from military families waiting for slots to open up at DoD child care facilities.

DoD is known for its high-quality child care, but there are clearly not enough slots. One of the key problems is that DoD can't attract and retain child care providers with its decades-old pay scale. So in the FY 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, Congress mandated that DoD update its child development program compensation model by April 2025. But the Air Force, Army, and Navy all blew the deadline, and 10 months later, still aren’t done. That’s making it harder for moms and dads in the military to do their jobs.

Even as DoD has been hemorrhaging child care staff, the Trump Administration has made it even harder to replace and retain those workers. It’s slashed DoD’s total civilian workforce by 8 percent. Last year, this subcommittee received testimony about the severe impacts of the civilian hiring freeze reducing child care staffing and increasing waitlists. Although DoD has since provided some exceptions to the hiring freeze for child care workers, I’ve continued to hear about challenges with hiring. We need to do better by our military families and our civilian child care workers.

And here’s a third problem: health care. Service members can’t show up and protect us if they’re not healthy. But one of the biggest challenges that service members and their families face is making sure that they can access the health care they need. A 2023 Blue Star Families survey found that four in ten active-duty family respondents had family members who needed specialty care and had to wait over two months for an appointment. President Trump’s and Republicans’ cuts to Medicaid in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act threaten to make it even harder for military families to access these types of care.

Military families with special needs or lower incomes rely on Medicaid for supplemental benefits they can’t get through TRICARE. And as hospitals across the country are forced to reduce services or close their doors because of the Medicaid cuts, it could make it harder for military families to access the care they rely on in the communities surrounding their bases.

Every day, patriotic men and women enlist so they can protect our country. We owe them everything. It shouldn’t be too much to provide housing that doesn’t have black mold, child care that doesn’t have a 7,000-kid waitlist, and doctors appointments that aren’t months away. And these aren’t just nice to have: if we don’t address these issues, we put our military readiness, retention, and recruitment at risk.

I look forward to hearing the testimony of the witnesses here today and thank them for their time.

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In Response to Warren, Pentagon Reveals New Barracks Privatization Efforts Lack Accountability Tools, Threaten Poor Living Conditions for Service Members

Pentagon locked itself into another 50+-year lease, preventing it from holding private housing providers accountable for poor living conditions

Response from the Department of Defense (PDF)

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, published new responses from the Department of Defense (DoD) revealing the Department has entered into another 50-year-lease with its privatization of military barracks at Fort Irwin, California, removing accountability measures and threatening to cause housing quality problems for service members.

“The Department of Defense has a responsibility to make sure our service members have a safe place to live that’s free from mold, pests, and broken sewage pipes. Instead, it’s giving up its tools to hold exploitative companies accountable and risking service members being forced to live in dangerous barracks,” said Senator Warren. “The Department needs to learn from its past mistakes and stop handcuffing itself with 50-year leases.”

The new information came as a response to Senator Warren’s September letter pressing DoD on the privatization of military barracks, including in Fort Irwin, California. Senator Warren has warned that decades-long leases—which DoD has used in the past for privatization of military family housing—have resulted in poor housing conditions and limited the DoD’s ability to hold failed private housing providers accountable.

The Pentagon’s responses revealed:

The Department has locked itself into an over 50+-year lease - running through the year 2079 - at Fort Irwin, which will make it harder to hold the private housing provider accountable for inadequate living conditions;

The Department did not provide clarity on its willingness to use all tools available to hold private military housing providers accountable for poor living conditions. DoD provided no specific accountability measures beyond withholding award incentive fees when providers fail to meet partnership agreement requirements; and

The Department is limiting its ability to fight back against private military providers, by allowing its partnership agreement with the Michaels Organization to restrict its ability to change terms and hold companies accountable, even if they commit wrongdoing. Specifically, the agreement does “not include or require explicit change clauses for the benefit of the government.”

Senator Warren’s investigations of private military housing have repeatedly found service members are forced to live in troubling conditions, including black mold, rodents, insect infestations, lead paint, damaged plumbing, and ineffective HVAC units.

These poor living conditions are locked in because DoD signs 50-year leases, weakening its ability to hold private housing providers accountable.

On Wednesday, Senator Warren will lead a bipartisan hearing on service member quality of life in the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel.

Senator Warren has consistently fought to improve living standards for service members and their families:

On September 29, 2025, Senator Warren pressed Department Secretary Pete Hegseth for answers about the potential privatization of military barracks, given the long history of substandard conditions and exploitative practices by providers of privatized military family housing.

On April 8, 2025, Senator Warren pressured Trump’s nominee for Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment, Dale Marks, to commit to holding private military landlords accountable for housing violations.

On February 4, 2025, Senators Warren and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) urged the Department of Defense to investigate whether landlords were utilizing RealPage’s software to artificially raise rents for military families.

On December 12, 2024, Senator Warren and Representative Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) reintroduced the Military Housing Oversight and Service Member Protection Act that would overhaul our privatized military housing system.

On September 27, 2024, Senators Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) introduced the Restore Military Families’ Voice Act, which would prevent private military housing companies from forcing non-disclosure agreements on military families.

On April 19, 2024, Senator Warren questioned Army Secretary Christine Wormuth over military housing availability and the impact of non-disclosure agreements between private military housing companies and military families.

In December 2022, Senator Elizabeth Warren and other members of the Senate Armed Services Committee sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin expressing concern over reports that military families are being forced to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with privatized military housing companies in order to receive compensation for poor housing conditions.

On May 1, 2019, Senator Warren released the findings of a 3-month investigation into the housing conditions of privatized military residences.

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Senator Warren, Rep. Goodlander, Lawmakers Renew Push to Root Out Private Equity Abuse in Health Care Amid Genesis Nursing Home Bankruptcies

Text of Bill (PDF) | One Pager (PDF)

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), along with House co-lead Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.), introduced the Corporate Crimes Against Health Care Act of 2026 to root out corporate greed and private equity abuse in the health care system. Following the bankruptcies of Steward Health Care and Genesis Health, two tragedies that put the lives of patients and seniors at risk, the Corporate Crimes Against Health Care Act has gained momentum.

Over the last decade, private equity fund assets have more than doubled, totaling $8.2 trillion in 2023. While private equity companies have purchased businesses in nearly every sector of the economy, their aggressive deal-making in the health care sector poses grave risks to patient health outcomes and raises fundamental concerns regarding the role of corporate interests in our healthcare system. Private equity companies routinely saddle companies they acquire with massive debt, sell off valuable assets, and extract exorbitant dividends and fees.

As a result, lax corporate accountability and transparency laws have provided cover for private equity’s parasitic practices, allowing executives to plunder hospitals, nursing homes, provider practices, and other health care entities with impunity.

“What happened with Genesis is the latest example of why we need to get private equity out of health care. We’ve seen enough to know that looting hospitals and nursing homes is basically a feature of private equity’s playbook,” said Senator Warren. “It's about time that corporate executives face real legal consequences when they put patients and communities at risk."

“I’ve spent my career standing up to powerful corporate interests that put their own profits ahead of people. For far too long, loopholes and lax laws have empowered private equity firms to plunder hospitals, nursing homes, and provider practices at unacceptable costs to the lives and livelihood of hardworking Americans,” said Congresswoman Goodlander. “Our commonsense Corporate Crimes Against Health Care Act will prevent these abuses and ensure long-overdue accountability for corporate crimes.”

The Corporate Crimes Against Health Care Act will:

Create a new criminal penalty of up to 6 years in prison for executives who loot health care entities like nursing homes and hospitals if that looting results in a patient’s death.

Provide state attorneys general and the DOJ with the power to claw back all compensation, including salaries, issued to private equity and portfolio company executives within a 10-year period before or after an acquired health care firm experiences serious, avoidable financial difficulties due to that looting.

Authorize an associated civil penalty of up to 5 times the clawback amount.

Prohibit payments from federal health programs to entities that sell assets or use assets for a loan collateral made to a REIT, with an exemption for current arrangements; repeal a rule in the Tax Code that allows taxable REIT subsidiaries to exert influence on the operations of health care entities; and remove the 20 percent pass-through deduction, passed in the 2017 Trump tax cuts, for all REIT investors.

Require health care providers receiving federal funding to publicly report mergers, acquisitions, changes in ownership and control, and financial data, including debt and debt-to-earnings ratios.

Mandate an HHS OIG report to Congress on the harms of corporatization in health care.

“Sick patients should never be used to turn healthy profits. But that’s exactly what is happening in Oregon and across the nation as greedy corporate executives turn hospitals, nursing homes, and doctors’ offices into profit centers,” said Senator Merkley. “We must crack down on private equity, whose greed is destroying our health care system for executives’ personal profit while patients are stuck footing the bill.”

“The Steward crisis exposed the dangers of private equity taking over our health care system. Instead of improving the health care provided by hospitals in Massachusetts and across the country, Dr. Ralph de la Torre and his corporate cronies raked in record profits and left workers and patients to fend for themselves. We must pass the Corporate Crimes Against Health Care Act to end corporate greed in health care and prevent another Steward crisis from happening again,” said Senator Edward J. Markey.

This bill is endorsed by Americans for Financial Reform, the American Academy of Emergency Medicine, the American Economic Liberties Project, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the American Federation of Teachers, the Association for Independent Medicine, the Consumer Federation of America, the Coalition for Patient-Centered Care, Community Catalyst, Groundwork Collaborative, the Massachusetts Nurses Association, the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, Public Citizen, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and the Alliance for Retired Americans.

“We have a health care crisis in this country. Our profit-driven health care system is expensive, inefficient, and inaccessible to those who need it most. And private equity’s growing foothold in health care is only making this crisis ten times worse. It’s contributing to medical debt, worsening health outcomes, and creating unsustainable employment conditions for many health workers. It is far past time to put the needs of people over profits and hold private equity accountable. The Corporate Crimes Against Health Care Act is an important and significant step in that direction,” said Michelle Sternthal, Interim Senior Director of Policy and Strategy at Community Catalyst.

“MNA nurses and healthcare professionals know all too well what happens when private equity firms and other for-profit operators take over our healthcare facilities. The drive to extract profits from healthcare has repeatedly jeopardized patient safety and destabilized the communities these organizations are supposed to serve. That is why we strongly support Senator Warren’s legislation to hold corporations accountable, recover the resources siphoned away from patient care, and ensure that those funds are directed toward healing our patients and not exploiting them,” said Katie Murphy, RN, President of the Massachusetts Nurses Association.

“Given the recent and difficult financial challenges facing providers across the country, it is now more important than ever to hold private equity and hedge fund owners accountable for the financial wellbeing of healthcare companies in their portfolios. These pressures are only worsened by the extractive business practices associated with private funds and the documented consequences that follow. That is why the Corporate Crimes Against Health Care Act is a necessary and urgent intervention that would help protect the integrity of the nation’s healthcare systems,” said Chris Noble, Policy Director, Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP).

“SEIU members have seen, again and again, that when corporations treat healthcare like a cash grab, patients and frontline workers suffer the consequences. This bill sends a clear message to private equity firms that seek to line their pockets at the expense of people’s lives that if they cause real harm, they will face real consequences. We applaud Senator Warren for introducing legislation that will hold private equity companies accountable when their greed harms our families and communities,” said SEIU Executive Vice President Leslie Frane.

"Private equity takeovers have become a life-and-death struggle for our communities and our loved ones," said Aditi Sen, managing director for campaigns and research at Americans for Financial Reform. "When Wall Street firms siphon out all the value, cut staff, reduce care, and bankrupt healthcare providers like Steward, Prospect Medical, and Genesis, workers, families and communities pay the price. The Stop Corporate Crimes in Healthcare Act would help stop Wall Street owners from looting our healthcare system."

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Welch, Kaine Lead Ten Colleagues in Pushing Trump Admin to Immediately End Deportation Flights to Iran

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, led ten Senate Democrats in urging Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco Rubio to immediately end the Trump Administration’s deportation flights to Iran.

Last month, it was reported that the Administration deported dozens of Iranians, many of whom could be persecuted, tortured, or even executed if forced to return to Iran. That reporting came amid massive demonstrations in Iran, the Iranian government’s violent crackdown on protesters, and threats from President Donald Trump to use U.S. military force against the Iranian regime.

“Given Iran’s horrific human rights record, we are deeply concerned that the Trump Administration is returning people to a country where they may be persecuted or tortured, in violation of U.S. and international law,” wrote the Senators. “As you know, the United States has long been a safe haven for Iranians fleeing oppression and persecution by the Iranian regime because of their political ideology, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation. In the eyes of the regime, some of these ‘crimes’ are punishable by death, and deportees have stated they’ll likely face such sentences if sent back to Iran.”

The Senators continued, “Yet despite your acknowledgement of the Iranian government’s wanton disregard for basic human rights, the Trump Administration has chosen to return Iranian citizens to the very place that they fled for their lives.”

“Throughout your career in the Senate, you were an advocate for Cubans escaping oppression and persecution by the Castro regime and for the protection of political dissidents and religious minorities around the world. We were glad to work with you on these issues,” the Senators concluded. “Now we ask you and the Trump Administration to ensure that the United States does not violate U.S. and international law by returning people who have a well-founded fear of persecution and torture by the brutal Iranian regime.”

In addition to Senators Welch and Kaine, the letter was cosigned by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Alex Padilla (D-Calif.).

Full text is available here and below:

Dear Secretary Rubio,

In late September, the media and Iranian American human rights advocates began reporting that the Trump Administration had reached a deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran to deport Iranian citizens back to Iran. According to these reports, the Administration sent 45 people to Tehran via Qatar in late September or early October. Some of these individuals stated that they “begged not to be sent to Iran because they feared for their lives.” Once they landed in Tehran, they said that they were “made to fill out forms explaining why they had left Iran and sought asylum in America,” and were “called in for interrogation by the intelligence wing of the Revolutionary Guards Corps.” On December 7, 2025, the administration deported another approximately 50 Iranian citizens to Iran, this time through Kuwait. On January 25, yet another flight deported approximately 14 Iranians; the number would have been much higher if not for a major measles outbreak at the detention site and widespread bipartisan pushback.

Given Iran’s horrific human rights record, we are deeply concerned that the Trump Administration is returning people to a country where they may be persecuted or tortured, in violation of U.S. and international law. As you know, the United States has long been a safe haven for Iranians fleeing oppression and persecution by the Iranian regime because of their political ideology, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation. In the eyes of the regime, some of these ‘crimes’ are punishable by death, and deportees have stated they’ll likely face such sentences if sent back to Iran.

Iran’s violations of human rights are extensive, well-documented, and horrifying. Basic rights, like those of the freedom of expression, religion, and assembly are not only infringed upon – they are violently suppressed through torture, imprisonment, forced disappearances, and executions. You and others in the Trump Administration spoke extensively about the horrors of the Iranian regime when attempting to justify the June 22, 2025, U.S. military strikes on Iran’s nuclear program. More recently, you personally have spoken against the regime’s violent suppression of protesters that experts believe have left more than 6,800 people dead – a figure that continues to climb. Yet despite your acknowledgement of the Iranian government’s wanton disregard for basic human rights, the Trump Administration has chosen to return Iranian citizens to the very place that they fled for their lives.

Throughout your career in the Senate, you were an advocate for Cubans escaping oppression and persecution by the Castro regime and for the protection of political dissidents and religious minorities around the world. We were glad to work with you on these issues. Now we ask you and the Trump Administration to ensure that the United States does not violate U.S. and international law by returning people who have a well-founded fear of persecution and torture by the brutal Iranian regime.

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Welch, Sanders, Stefanik Lead Bipartisan, Bicameral Bill to Support the Health of the Lake Champlain Basin

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Rural Development, Energy, and Credit, alongside U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY-21) introduced the Lake Champlain Basin Program Enhancements Act, bipartisan, bicameral legislation that would reauthorize the Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP) for five years at $35 million to support interstate conservation and the health of the Lake Champlain Basin. The lawmakers’ bill would also improve LCBP’s administrative efficiency by requiring the periodic evaluation of the program’s fiscal agent, with significant input from local stakeholders and the Lake Champlain Steering Committee.

“Lake Champlain is an important part of Vermont’s culture. The Lake Champlain Watershed is a designated resource of national significance, provides drinking water to an estimated 250,000 people, and is home to shipwrecks, Revolutionary War-era forts, and abundant aquatic ecosystems. That’s why investing in the Patrick Leahy Lake Champlain Basin Program, which has supported conservation, healthy ecosystems, and thriving rural communities, is vital,” said Senator Welch. “I’m proud to partner with Rep. Stefanik on this effort to support the important work of the LCBP and ensure it continues for years to come.”

“Lake Champlain is one of Vermont’s most treasured natural resources, and we must do everything we can to protect it,” said Senator Sanders. “For the past 30 years, the Lake Champlain Basin Program has worked to reduce pollution, restore habitats, mitigate harmful invasive species and educate residents and visitors. I look forward to seeing the good work the program will continue to do over the next five years to protect Lake Champlain for current and future generations.”

“Throughout my time in Congress, I have a long, bipartisan record of delivering results for the Lake Champlain region. Upstate New Yorkers rely on the Lake Champlain Basin for clean drinking water, and millions of Americans each year witness the beauty of its wildlife habitats and participate in efforts to restore its watershed. I’m grateful to work alongside Senator Welch on this legislation to invest in the longevity of Lake Champlain, ensuring future generations can continue to cherish and depend on this natural resource,” said Rep. Stefanik.

Joining Senators Welch, Sanders, and Rep. Stefanik on the bill are Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and Rep. Becca Balint (VT-At-Large).

“Lake Champlain is a crown jewel of Upstate NY. The Lake Champlain Basin Program is how we protect the natural beauty of Lake Champlain’s waters and wildlife, which are essential to the region’s tourism economy. That is why I’m proud to introduce legislation to keep this program running,” said Senator Schumer.“This critical legislation will strengthen the preservation of Lake Champlain’s health and beauty, ensuring residents and people coming from across the country can enjoy this gorgeous and historic lake. I’ll keep fighting to ensure Lake Champlain remains an economic anchor for the Adirondack region’s outdoor-recreation economy and continues to inspire generations to come.”

“The Lake Champlain Basin is a vast, historic, and invaluable resource that is deeply important to communities in the North Country and must be protected,” said Senator Gillibrand. “For families, farmers, and small businesses across Upstate New York, Lake Champlain is central to daily life and local economies. This legislation will help ensure the Basin continues to provide clean drinking water, safeguard critical wildlife habitats, and support tourism and local jobs for years to come.”

“Lake Champlain is at the heart of so many Vermont communities, and protecting its health requires strategic and sustained interstate commitment,” said Rep. Balint. “The Lake Champlain Basin Program plays a crucial role in that work, strengthening our ecosystems and helping our region adapt to the impacts of climate change. I’m proud to support this reauthorization so the LCBP can continue driving vital conservation work for Vermonters and our neighbors on the other side of the basin.”

The lawmakers’ bill would strengthen local oversight of LCBP operations while reauthorizing the program through 2032. Specifically, the legislation would:

Establish a process through which the EPA and the Lake Champlain Steering Committee may periodically evaluate the efficacy of LCBP’s fiscal agent—the organization that helps manage LCBP finances and executes grant awards—and, if needed, select a new fiscal agent for the program.

Reauthorize LCBP funding at $35 million annually through 2032.

Formally authorize the partnership between LCBP and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, allowing for greater support for the Lake and collaboration between Federal, State and local, and non-governmental partners.

Senator Welch has championed efforts to support the Lake Champlain Basin in the Senate. Last year, Senators Welch, Sanders and Gillibrand urged the bipartisan leadership of the Senate Appropriations Committee to provide robust federal funding for programs supporting the basin, including the LCBP. In their letter, the lawmakers emphasized the importance of federal programs to Lake Champlain that support critical work in the basin, from fostering a resilient watershed to promoting outdoor recreation and wildlife conservation.

Learn more about the Lake Champlain Basin Program Reauthorization Act.

Read and download the full text of the bill.

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Hoyle, Merkley and Wyden Seek Coast Guard Study of Gold Beach and Bandon's Needs

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Val Hoyle (OR-04) and Senator Jeff Merkley led a letter with Senator Ron Wyden to the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) requesting they conduct an updated assessment of Gold Beach and Bandon’s Search and Rescue Detachment Team (SARDET) existing stations rescue and safety needs along the coast.

In their letter to Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Kevin E. Lunday, the lawmakers shared that, “we have heard from our constituents, fishermen and local officials that the current level of coverage is simply not enough to keep people safe.”

In Gold Beach, the mouth of the Rogue River is often dangerous to cross, even to highly skilled boaters. Due to shifting conditions in the channel, the river bar has sudden and highly dangerous wave breaks. Sixty miles north in Bandon, over 23,000 boaters have to pass through a dangerous bar with unpredictable conditions. Emergencies are common along these points of the coast and local ports and captains are taking on the USCG’s responsibilities to warn the community of changing conditions and carry out rescues themselves.

“The ocean off the Oregon’s south coast is both beautiful and powerful. It is essential for the communities of Bandon and Gold Beach to have a Coast Guard presence again,” said Rep. Hoyle. “Whether it’s our commercial fisherman or tourists taking whale watching trips, a timely response by the U.S. Coast Guard when a boat gets in trouble could mean the difference between a rescue or a body recovery. I will continue to fight for a robust USCG presence along all parts of the Oregon’s coast. It is the surest way to protect lives.”

“A reliable Coast Guard presence is critical to keeping folks on the south coast safe where boaters—recreational and commercial—face extreme cold-water conditions, dynamic weather conditions, and shifting sand bars,” said Sen. Merkley. “I urge the Coast Guard to take a closer look at the seasonal staffing needs of the communities in Gold Beach and Bandon, prioritizing our local economies and public safety in the process.”

“Every minute matters whenever people are fighting for their lives in the Pacific Ocean along the Oregon Coast,” Sen. Wyden said. “I’ll keep battling side by side with Senator Merkley and Congresswoman Hoyle to provide the robust Coast Guard coverage needed by Oregonians living and working on the South Coast, as well as by visitors attracted to the region’s beautiful beaches.”

The lawmakers believe the conditions have significantly worsened since the Coast Guard pulled their seasonal presence in Gold Beach and Bandon. There has been an increase of on-water traffic and an increase in emergencies. At the same time, the Coast Guard recruiting numbers have improved, allowing for the possibility of increased bandwidth along the coast.

The full text of the letter can be found here.

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Merkley, Wyden Announce More Than $92 million in Additional Funding for Critical Community Projects Across Oregon

Projects Dedicated to Improving Housing, Health Care, and Transportation & Infrastructure Improvements

Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden today announced they secured more than $92 million in federal investments for essential community-initiated projects in nearly every Oregon county in the final funding package that recently cleared Congress.

Both Merkley and Wyden hold a town hall in each Oregon county every year and work hard to ensure that local feedback informs every aspect of their work in Washington, D.C. This local feedback is directly reflected in the projects that were chosen for federal funding in this year’s final spending bill to help meet critical needs in Oregon communities.

“Community-initiated projects are rooted in the fact that no one knows the unique needs of communities across Oregon like the folks living and working in them. The communities identified top projects, and we fought for them,” Merkley said. “Together with Senator Wyden and members of Oregon’s House delegation, we secured funding for another 68 important homegrown projects that will benefit Oregonians in every corner of the state for years to come.”

“These key federal investments throughout our state are the result of Oregonians sharing local priorities directly with me and Senator Merkley,” Wyden said. “I’m glad this teamwork has generated each of these wins that will make Oregonians’ communities large and small even better places to live and work.”

Merkley is the only Oregon member of Congress from either chamber since Senator Mark Hatfield to serve on the Appropriations Committee, which wrote the funding bills and is one of the most powerful committees on Capitol Hill. He joined the committee in 2013 so that Oregon would have a strong voice in decisions about the investments our nation should be making. Merkley’s position on the committee—including his key role as the top Democrat on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee—is vital to lock in the state’s priorities in the drafting of the bills, and Merkley and Wyden are highly-effective at working together to deliver projects for Oregon.

Earlier this year, Merkley and Wyden announced over $100 million for 54 community-initiated projects.

Merkley and Wyden secured 68 Oregon community-initiated projects, combined totaling $92,303,000, in the FY26 funding bills for Financial Services and General Government; Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies; and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies appropriations bills. The projects broken down by region, are as follows:

MID-WILLAMETTE VALLEY & NORTH COAST (Marion, Polk, Yamhill, Tillamook, Clatsop, and Columbia Counties)

$2 million for the Marion Polk Food Share for their Food Bank Warehouse Relocation and Expansion project. The funding will help purchase property as part of a multi-phase project to construct a new, highly efficient building, to be the hub of Food Share’s food banking and Meals on Wheels program.

$1.023 million to the Amani Center to construct a permanent facility for child abuse intervention and assessments in Columbia County. This will enable the Amani Center to better serve victims of child abuse and their families by doubling the center's forensic medical service capacity, ensuring quality evidence collection for legal proceedings, and increasing privacy and safety at the Center.

$1 million for the Yamhill County Affordable Housing Corporation for their McMinnville Housing Rehabilitation Project to support necessary and urgently needed safety and accessibility repairs to low- and moderate-income homes, ensuring that occupants can remain in their homes and not be displaced by uninhabitable housing conditions.

$850,000 for the Oregon Department of Transportation to make critically needed safety enhancements along the McDougall Rd/OR-99W corridor in Yamhill County. This project is a critical component to securing the safety of commuters of Oregon’s HWY-99 and will provide a safe connection at a highly congested and uncontrolled intersection.

$610,000 to North Coast Food Web to purchase equipment to improve their food hub facility in Clatsop County. Their facility will continue to support small and start-up food business incubation and year-round market opportunities for locally-sourced farm, fishery and value-added products on the North Coast.

Click HERE for quotes from Mid-Willamette and North Coast community-initiated project recipients.

METRO (Multnomah and Washington Counties)

$3.2 million to the Port of Portland for the Mass Timber and Housing Innovation Campus at Terminal 2. The funding will support electrical and utility improvements needed to accommodate the existing and future tenants at this regional center for mass timber manufacturing.

$3 million to Meals on Wheels People to build and remodel its new Southeast Portland facility, which will improve access to services and nutrition for a growing population of seniors and marginalized communities.

$3 million to Oregon Metro for a depackaging machine to remove plastic packaging from commercial food waste. Metro will utilize a food waste depackaging machine, enabling diversion to sustainable end-uses such as animal feed, composting, or anaerobic digestion. This machine will reduce landfill dependency, mitigate climate impacts, and support a circular, low-carbon economy.

$2.98 million for the University of Oregon’s Ballmer Institute to create a bachelor’s level program intended to address critical shortages in the pediatric behavioral health workforce. Students in this innovative training program at the UO Portland Campus will be integrated into pediatric primary care settings to deliver services known to prevent youth mental health problems.

$2.2 million for Community Warehouse to acquire a new facility and expand the distribution of essential resources to families in need. Community Warehouse provides essential furnishings to individuals and families transitioning out of homelessness and other crises. Service demand has increased by 245% since 2020, and funding will support expanding facilities so as to meet the growing community needs.

$2 million to the City of Portland to improve an existing affordable housing campus in order to increase capacity and improve overall accessibility. The City will redevelop the site to create 400-450 new units of affordable housing.

$1.5 million to the City of Portland to expand Portland Fire & Rescue’s successful Mobile Medication for Opioid Use Disorder overdose rapid response pilot program. This program enables Portland Fire & Rescue to immediately respond to and treat opioid overdose in the community setting, and provide follow-up recovery services, saving hundreds of lives.

$1.5 million to Albina Vision Trust for the acquisition of a 10.5-acre site for the future redevelopment of affordable housing. This site is part of Albina Vision Trust’s larger comprehensive strategy to redevelop and revitalize this historic community and will add over 1,000 units of affordable housing for low- to moderate-income families in the historically Black Albina neighborhood.

$1 million to Habitat for Humanity Portland Region to build townhomes for affordable homeownership opportunities. The Carey Boulevard site will consist of a clustered arrangement of 50 townhomes, most of which will have 3 or 4 bedrooms. There will be priority for households with generational ties to the community – people who were displaced or are at risk of displacement due to urban renewal and gentrification.

$1 million to the City of Portland to redevelop the Clara Vista – an important affordable housing complex in Portland’s highly diverse, low-income Cully Neighborhood. Funds will go toward replacing 108 aging housing units with affordable, energy-efficient rental units that include outdoor amenities and community spaces.

$850,000 to Multnomah County to construct improvements that ensure efficient and safe transportation for residents and businesses on NE Sandy Blvd. This project expects to significantly improve safety conditions for all users, including trucks commuting from recently built industrial parks.

$850,000 to the City of Gresham to revitalize Gresham's flagship community park. This project expects to attract visitors from around the region while providing more equitable access to parks for an increasingly diverse, young, and economically challenged population.

$750,000 to Mental Health and Addiction Association of Oregon to complete the renovation of their Recovery Campus – the first peer-run, no-barrier behavioral health center in East Portland. The Campus will provide mental health and addiction recovery services throughout the Portland Metro region.

$551,000 to the Native American Youth Alliance (NAYA) to support entrepreneurship and small business development in Indigenous communities. This project expects to support more Indigenous small business owners to participate in NAYA’s Native Business Accelerator program.

$250,000 to the City of Tualatin to improve traffic safety at a busy intersection near a hospital and alleviating congestion. This project expects to improve traffic flow in the area while enhancing safety and walkability.

Click HERE for quotes from the metro area community-initiated project recipients.

MID-COLUMBIA (Clackamas, Hood River, Wasco, Sherman, and Gilliam Counties)

$2.5 million to Clackamas County for the construction of the Center for Treatment and Recovery, a substance abuse recovery center. The center will provide timely person-centered support, treatment, and resources to individuals struggling with substance use disorder.

$2 million to Wasco County for the Columbia Gorge Resolution Center, a comprehensive behavioral health campus in Wasco County. This project will help address mental health service gaps in rural communities.

$2 million for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde for the second phase of their tumwata village Project, a long-term effort to bring cultural, ecological, and economic restoration to Willamette Falls.

$2 million to Big River Community Land Trust for the first phase of construction of a permanently affordable homeownership neighborhood in the City of Hood River. This project will use the community land trust model to address the housing affordability gap in Hood River, while fostering long-term community investment.

$1.5 million for the Columbia Gorge Education Service District to renovate a former middle school into The Dalles Early Learning Center and a teaching facility for child care professionals studying at Columbia Gorge Community College.

$1 million for the Northwest Community Housing Foundation to help construct workforce housing in Zig Zag, Oregon. This project will increase available housing for Mt. Hood National Forest employees and seasonal workers and ensure the continued viability of businesses in the region.

$850,000 for the City of Milwaukie to replace transportation infrastructure over Kellogg Creek. This replacement will address flood risk, seismic vulnerability, long-term maintenance and liability concerns, soil contamination, and public safety.

$500,000 for Clackamas County for transit hub and rest stop relocation projects on Mt. Hood to reduce traffic and provide accessible transportation options for recreation, employment, and reaching public lands.

Click HERE for quotes from Mid-Columbia community-initiated project recipients.

EASTERN OREGON (Morrow, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, Grant, Baker, Harney, and Malheur Counties)

$2 million to the City of Pendleton for the Oregon Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Accelerator. The World War II era B-17 Hangar at the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport which houses this project needs considerable renovation to create a world class tech accelerator. Federal funds will be used to renovate and install equipment in the hangar, which will help small startups commercialize autonomous systems and robotics.

$1,500,000 for Valley Family Health Care, Inc. to construct a modern facility in Nyssa that will integrate medical, behavioral, and dental care. This will replace the current facilities in Nyssa which are aging and spread out. As a Federally Qualified Health Center, this new facility will serve medically underserved people living in rural Eastern Oregon.

$1,450,000 to John Day School District #3 for the Grant Early Learning Center. Funds will be used to renovate an existing building that will be used for classrooms, professional training, and parent engagement, helping children with a smooth transition to kindergarten in this rural community.

$1,356,000 to Grande Ronde Hospital to purchase a new nuclear medicine machine. The nuclear medicine machine is used every day at the hospital to diagnose and treat disease, and the current machine is operating past its intended lifespan. A new machine would give Grande Ronde Hospital the capability to reduce treatment time by half and serve more patients.

$1,250,000 for Harney District Hospital for Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) equipment. This project will ensure that the frontier Critical Access Hospital has a reliable heating and cooling system for local residents and people traveling through this extremely rural area.

$652,000 to Morrow County Health District to purchase a new Computed Tomography (CT) machine for Pioneer Memorial Hospital, a critical access hospital in rural Heppner. The hospital’s current CT equipment is nearing the end of its life and can no longer be upgraded. The new machine will significantly reduce waiting time for results on critically ill and trauma patients.

$500,000 to Wallowa Resources to renovate an apartment building in the rural community of Enterprise to ensure that these rental units remain affordable. Wallowa County has a shortage of affordable workforce housing, and this project will help employers attract permanent and seasonal workers to the County.

$400,000 for Eastern Oregon University to support its Early College Initiatives program. This program works with students in grades 6–11 in rural areas to transition to higher education and into the workforce through hands-on learning, personalized guidance, and partnerships.

$173,000 to the City of Sumpter to renovate its Community Center. Surrounded by forests on all sides, upgrades to this central building are needed to keep the community safe and healthy in light of increased wildfire and smoke threats.

$163,000 for the Northeast Oregon Area Health Education Center (NEOAHEC) to purchase an Advanced Maternal and Neonatal Simulation System. Much of this project will allow NEOAHEC to provide obstetric and maternal health training for healthcare professionals in rural Eastern Oregon.

Click HERE for quotes from Eastern Oregon community-initiated project recipients.

SOUTH-WILLAMETTE VALLEY & CENTRAL COAST (Lane, Linn, Lincoln, and Benton Counties)

$2,465,000 for Everyone Village to fill a critical gap in affordable housing in the City of Eugene. Funds will be used to develop 100 units of affordable single room occupancy transitional housing. This creative housing solution combines a scalable, cost-effective model with community support.

$2 million for Corvallis Daytime Dropoff Center to construct a Homeless Services Navigation Center in Benton County. This new Navigation Center will provide critical emergency shelter services to low-income residents who are experiencing homelessness, and will connect residents with health services, permanent housing, and public benefits.

$1.7 million for the McKenzie Community Land Trust to build 6 affordable, fire-safe, multi-family Community Land Trust homes. These homes will help to rebuild and revitalize the community of Blue River which was devastated during the 2020 Holiday Farm Fire.

$1.6 million for Lane Community College to purchase equipment for its new Industry and Trades Education Center. This project addresses a critical workforce gap in skilled labor by establishing a center that focuses on apprenticeship training, construction technology, manufacturing technology, and other skilled labor sectors.

$1.03 million for the renovation and expansion of an existing building owned by the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians (CTCLUSI) to provide behavioral health services for the local Florence community and CTCLUSI Tribal members. This project aims to increase access to behavioral health services in the community for local residents and Tribal members and to reduce waitlists for patient care in Lane County.

$752,000 for DevNW to build 14 Community Land Trust homes in rural Linn County. This project would address the critical shortage of affordable housing in Linn County by constructing fourteen 2- and 3-bedroom homes for low to moderate income families that will remain permanently affordable under the Community Land Trust model.

$750,000 for Bridge Meadows to continue predevelopment on a new affordable, intergenerational housing community in Eugene. The project will build affordable housing, particularly for vulnerable populations such as children in foster care, families, and low-income seniors.

$536,000 for Farmworker Housing Development Corporation to conduct the first phase of their multi-family affordable housing project in Albany. This funding will go toward the first phase of construction for 150 units of multifamily farmworker housing.

$105,000 to Linn-Benton Community College for critical upgrades to the Periwinkle Child Development Center. Improvements to this child development center will include a new roof and upgrades to security. This project benefits the local community, which is in urgent need of Early Childcare Teachers to staff the many childcare facilities in the area.

Click HERE for quotes from South-Willamette Valley and Central Coast community-initiated project recipients.

CENTRAL OREGON (Klamath, Lake, Deschutes, Crook, Jefferson, and Wheeler Counties)

$2.82 million to the Klamath Tribes for their Tribal Housing project, which will build six affordable homes for tribal elders and members experiencing homelessness.

$2 million to the City of Redmond for their Cinder Hollow Affordable Housing Project which will support the development of five acres of land on which the City will build 30 affordable housing units. Funds will be used for pre-development infrastructure, including sewer collection, water service, fire hydrants, and sidewalks.

$1.787 million to Jefferson County for their Feather Drive Bridge Replacement project. The Feather Drive Bridge serves as a critical access point for residents and emergency services. The current bridge is weight-limited with structural deficiencies. Funding will go toward demolition of the existing bridge and the construction of a new structurally sound bridge.

$1.7 million to the Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT) for its Mobile Dental Clinic project. Funds will allow OIT to purchase two mobile dental clinics to provide dental care to underserved and at-risk residents in rural Southern Oregon.

$1.304 million to Deschutes County to equip a 15 bed sub-acute child psychiatric facility in Central Oregon. This investment will provide critical funding for furniture, fixtures, and equipment for this much needed facility, the first of its kind east of the I-5 corridor.

$1.3 million to the Lomakatsi Restoration Project for their Inter-Tribal Ecological Forestry Training Program. Funds will be used to employ young, inter-tribal adults in a year-long training program, where they will gain training in forest health and fuels reduction while performing critical wildfire prevention work in high wildfire risk areas.

$1 million for Bend-Redmond Habitat for Humanity to develop sixty units of affordable housing in the City of Redmond. This project will include a diverse mix of cottages and duplex townhomes for families of all sizes, creating affordable home ownership opportunities for Central Oregon families.

$800,000 to Central Oregon Community College (COCC) for its Fire Science program to expand and improve workforce training programs for structural and wildland firefighters. The funding requested will be used on equipment required to continue expanding and enhancing the Fire Science program, including a new fire engine and a carport to store the engine when not in use.

$250,000 to the City of Redmond for its Redmond Signal and Pedestrian Safety Improvements project. Funds will be used to construct a new signal, pedestrian and bicycle crossings and ADA features at the intersection of OR 126 and 35th Street in Redmond, a busy intersection in Redmond, Oregon.

Click HERE for quotes from Central Oregon community-initiated project recipients.

SOUTHERN OREGON (Curry, Coos, Jackson, Josephine, and Douglas Counties)

$3,150,000 for Umpqua Community College’s (UCC) efforts to boost affordable housing for students. The funding will go toward redeveloping a UCC-owned building into affordable housing in downtown Roseburg for 60 students pursuing workforce training at the rural community college.

$2 million for Rogue Valley Transit District to replace six gasoline-powered paratransit vehicles that are past their useful-lives with electric paratransit vehicles, and update charging infrastructure.

$1.914 million for the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians (CTCLUSI) to construct 15 affordable apartment units for Tribal and low-income members of the Tribe and greater Coos Bay community. The 2-bedroom apartments will help address a significant need for low-income housing on Oregon’s South Coast.

$1.4 million for the Addictions Recovery Center to complete the final phase of construction for a 24-bed treatment facility for addiction recovery in Jackson County. This project will allow for an increase of at least 100 individuals to its treatment program annually and allow for greater access and significantly reduced wait times for patients in Southern Oregon.

$1.2 million for the Oregon Center for Creative Learning to construct an Early Childhood and Interactive Learning Center in the heart of downtown Grants Pass. This project seeks to address critical gaps in early educational access, childcare, family support, and community engagement, which is essential to boost workforce development and support economic revitalization of the region.

$500,000 for the Santos Center Discovery Preschool Expansion to convert existing classrooms to full-time childcare use and make necessary safety and security improvements. This project would expand the existing program’s capacity to meet the community’s growing demand for childcare, especially for children under age three.

Click HERE for quotes from Southern Oregon community-initiated project recipients.

STATEWIDE

$1.611 million to Lines for Life to hire additional staff and conduct youth workforce and volunteer training to expand the reach of YouthLine, their statewide youth suicide prevention program. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death of youth in Oregon, and 2022 data shows that Oregon had the 12th highest youth suicide rate in the country.

$1.5 million to Network for Oregon Affordable Housing to provide low-cost mortgages to first-time homeowners across the State using innovative ownership models such as community land trusts. The goal of the fund is to create affordable homeownership and wealth creation opportunities for lower-income and traditionally underserved households throughout Oregon.

$652,000 to REAP Inc.’s Young Entrepreneurs Program. Funds will be used to expand mentorship and internship opportunities that empower and equip underserved Portland-area youth with entrepreneurial skills and experiences including leadership and employment skills, networking, and mentorship.

$200,000 to Built Oregon to expand their Farmers’ Market Booth program into multiple Oregon counties and create access to farmers’ markets for small, underserved producers and manufacturers – a critical launching point for many Oregon small-businesses.

$1.369 million to Vision to Learn to purchase and equip a mobile vision clinic van to expand their free, exam-to-glasses services to students in rural Western and Central Oregon public schools.

Click HERE for quotes from statewide community-initiated project recipients.

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Wyden Celebrates End of Government Payouts to Deceased Americans

Legislation Also Targets Illegal Weaponization of Data

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Ron Wyden today celebrated the enactment of his legislation that would save Americans’ hard-earned taxpayer dollars by curbing erroneous payments to individuals who have died.

“Today is the final lap of getting this bill across the finish line so that the personal data and Social Security benefits of millions of Americans are protected,” Wyden said. ““I am pleased to see the signing of our bipartisan bill into law, fixing our federal government’s payment systems to ensure that millions of taxpayer dollars are saved every year. As Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, I am committed to safeguarding the hard-earned benefits of Americans.”

Joining Wyden, the Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act was also led by U.S. Senators John Kennedy, R-La., and Gary Peters, D-Mich. U.S. Representative Clay Higgins, R-La., led the companion version of the bill in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In 2023, the Social Security Administration (SSA) began sharing its list of deceased individuals with the Treasury Department to reduce improper payments to these individuals. This data exchange, established by Congress on a three-year pilot program, allowed the federal government to generate substantial savings. In its first five months, the Treasury Department announced it recovered $31 million in fraud and improper payments. The Department also projected it would reduce more than $215 million in improper payments by 2027.

Wyden’s Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act made this data-sharing agreement permanent to prevent agencies from making improper payments to deceased people.

Wyden also authored a provision in the bill to prohibit the SSA from listing any individual in its records as ‘deceased’ unless it has clear and convincing evidence that the individual is in fact deceased. This provision was developed in response to news reports that the SSA was falsely declaring certain immigrants as ‘deceased’ to pressure legal U.S. residents to leave the country. Following these concerning reports, Wyden demanded the SSA stop this illegal, unconstitutional action and launch a full investigation. In June, the SSA informed Wyden that it stopped this practice. Wyden’s provision in this bill would ensure the SSA can no longer weaponize its data to take away Americans’ earned benefits or inflict irreparable harm on people who are alive.


Wyden, Colleagues Introduce Legislation to Give Federal Workers Pay Raise

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Ron Wyden said today he has joined Senate colleagues to introduce legislation that would provide federal employees with a 4.1 percent pay increase in calendar year 2027.

“The work that federal employees do day-in and day-out keeps Americans safer and healthier,” Wyden said. ”These workers have dedicated their lives to public service, but are shortchanged far too often. The FAIR Act would do just what its title says – ensure hard-working public employees in Oregon and across the nation are paid fairly. ”

For more than a decade, federal employees have endured government shutdowns, pay freezes, hiring freezes, and lost pay as a result of sequestration-related furloughs. The Federal Adjustment of Income Rates Act (FAIR) would adjust wages to restore years of lost pay increases by ensuring that federal employees earn an average pay increase of 4.1 percent.

Despite recent pay increases for federal employees under the Biden administration, wages continue to lag behind the rising cost of living. In 2023, federal employees earned roughly 27 percent less on average than employees in the private sector, according to the Federal Salary Council.

The legislation was led by U.S. Senator Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and U.S. Representative James Walkinsha, D-Va. In addition to Wyden, the legislation is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., Alex Padilla, D-Calif., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Mazie K. Hirono, D-Hawai‘i, Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Mark Warner, D-Va.