Issues
To learn more about Senator Wyden's views on some of the many important issues facing Oregon and the United States today, please select from the list below.
Senator Wyden works with local official and community leaders across Oregon, Senator Smith, and the Senate Appropriations Committee, to obtain federal funds for Oregon priorities in every region of the state.
Senator Wyden is leading the effort to defeat the Administration's proposal that would unfairly increase rates paid by BPA consumers.
As a senior member of the Senate Budget Committee, Senator Wyden has been an ardent supporter of returning fiscal sanity to government and paying off the National debt.
Senator Wyden led the effort to eliminate the practice of secret “holds," which some Senators had used to anonymously block legislation and nominations from reaching the Senate floor.
Senator Wyden coauthored the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act which created the county payments program in 2000. Today he is leading the effort to extend this important safety net for rural America.
Senator Wyden is working hard in Congress to ensure that Oregonians can continue to receive broadcast television stations via satellite.
Senator Wyden believes that every student deserves a good education that provides the knowledge, skills, and training necessary to succeed.
Senator Wyden has introduced legislation that would create a three-year, $110 million grant program to help states adopt vote by mail election systems like the one successfully used in the state of Oregon.
Senator Wyden understands the importance of creating a long-term comprehensive national energy policy that reduces our nation's dependence on foreign oil, invests in cleaner, renewable energy and increases energy efficiency.
Protecting the natural environment is one of Sen. Wyden’s highest priorities. He supports protection of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Utah's Red Rock Canyons and other national treasures.
Under current law, most military retirees with disabilities incurred during service have their retirement pay reduced by the amount of their disability compensation. Senator Wyden has long fought to change the law so that veterans receive both the retired and disability payments that they have earned in service to their country.
Many forests are overstocked, badly in need of management and in increasingly severe danger of catastrophic fire. As Chairman of the Public Lands and Forest Subcommittee, Senator Wyden is putting forward an agenda focused on responsible forest management.
In recent years, while consumers have seen record prices, oil company profits have hit record levels. Senator Wyden is alarmed by the high gas prices consumers are now paying and the profits being reaped by the oil industry.
Since his days as co-director of the Oregon Gray Panthers, Senator Wyden has been one of the nation’s leading voices on health care. Most recently Senator Wyden introduced the Healthy Americans Act which would provide universal, affordable, guaranteed coverage that can never be taken away.
As technological advances leave Americans increasingly vulnerable to identity theft, Senator Wyden believes that there are comprehensive steps that Congress must take immediately to safeguard consumers.
Because the Iranian government has been unwilling to provide the international community with critical information about its nuclear program, Senator Wyden has serious concerns that Iran is seeking to build nuclear weapons.
Senator Wyden was one of the original 23 Senators to vote against the Iraq war in 2002. While strongly supporting the troops, the Senator did not believe the Administration had made a strong enough case for going to war. Since then he has voted repeatedly to shift the U.S.’s role in Iraq and start bringing the troops home.
Senator Wyden and Senator Olympia Snowe introduced the bipartisan Medicare Enhancement for Needed Drugs (MEND) Act to give the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) the authority to negotiate lower prices for drug purchases through Medicare.
Addressing the nation’s meth epidemic, Senator Wyden’s has sponsored legislation to fund methamphetamine enforcement, treatment, research, awareness and education.
Guided by the belief that the Constitutional system of checks and balances works, Senator Wyden and his colleagues have pushed security-related proposals designed to make America safer while protecting American’s rights and freedoms.
Senator Wyden believes the President Bush’s proposal to privatize Social Security would threaten long-term solvency while resulting in benefit cuts and adding irresponsibly to the national debt.
Senator Wyden has introduced the Fair Flat Tax of 2007, which would make the U.S. income tax code simpler, flatter and fairer. American taxpayers deserve an understandable, equitable system that provides real tax relief to the middle-class, treats work and wealth equally, and begins to reduce the deficit
America owes its veterans a great debt for the service they have provided to keep the nation great. Part of this debt is honoring the federal government’s commitment to veterans to provide the necessary funding for veterans’ programs, especially health care services.
Senator Wyden is appalled by the recent revelations of filthy living conditions and the bureaucratic red tape service members face when receiving outpatient care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Throughout his tenure in Congress, Senator Wyden has worked with Oregonians from across the state to preserve the beauty and natural heritage of Oregon’s extraordinary lands.
