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Jeff Merkley a Democrat, has represented the state of Oregon in the Senate since 2009.

Contents 1 Positions, record and controversies 1.1 Abortion Issues 1.2 Education 1.3 Employment 1.4 Environment and Energy 1.5 Health 1.6 Immigration 1.7 International Policy 1.8 Iraq War 1.9 National Security 1.10 Social Issues 2 Bio 2.1 2008 elections 3 Money in politics 3.1 Campaign contributions 4 Committees and affiliations 4.1 Committees 4.1.1 Committees in the 110th Congress (2007-2008) 4.2 Affiliations 5 More background data 6 Contact 6.1 Campaign contact information 6.2 Twitter 7 Articles and resources 7.1 Related SourceWatch articles 7.2 Sources 7.3 External resources 7.4 External articles

Positions, record and controversies

Abortion Issues

Merkley believes abortions should always be legal. ^[1]

Education

Merkley supports federal government funding universal pre-k programs. He supports increased funding for the Pell Grant program as well as decreased interest rates on Stafford Loans. He supports federal tax incentives to help families save for college. ^[1]

Employment

Merkley supports increased funding for national job-training programs that retrain displaced workers or teach skills needed in today's job market. He supports an increased federal minimum wage and the right of workers to unionize. He supports including sexual orientation in federal anti-discrimination laws. ^[1]

Environment and Energy

Merkley supports strengthening both the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act. He would support strengthen emission controls on all gasoline and diesel-powered engines, including cars, trucks, and sport utility vehicles. Merkley would seek to Strengthen fuel efficiency standards on all gasoline and diesel-powered engines, including cars, trucks, and sport utility vehicles. He would encourage further development and use of alternative fuels and allow energy producers to trade pollution credits under "cap and trade" laws. ^[1]

Health

Merkley supports offering tax credits to individuals and small businesses to offset the cost of insurance coverage and expanding child healthcare programs. ^[1]

Immigration

Merkley supports harsher financial punishments for those who knowingly employ illegal immigrants. ^[1]

International Policy

Merkley supports U.S. leadership in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and would support the creation of a Palestinian state. He would support greater international sanctions on Iran if it continues to defy United Nations mandates. ^[1]

Iraq War

He believes United States should withdraw troops from Iraq but did not provide specifics on a withdrawal deadline or process. ^[1]

National Security

Merkley supports increasing federal funding to states and cities for homeland security. ^[1]

Social Issues

Merkley supports the rights of same-sex couples to marry. He supports federal funding for research on new and existing embryonic stem cell lines. ^[1]

To hear Jeff Merkley's full position on numerous issues, please visit http://www.jeffmerkley.com/2007/11/jeff_merkley_on_1.php.

Bio

As our U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley will bring people together to take on the special interests and fight for regular hardworking Oregonians.

Jeff Merkley will deliver the change we need in Washington. He will stand up to the big insurance and drug companies to make health care more affordable and accessible for all of us. He will fight to fix unfair trade deals that have cost Oregon 70,000 manufacturing jobs and will eliminate tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. And Jeff will work to end the war in Iraq, bring our sons and daughters home, and fulfill the commitment we have made to our veterans and men and women in uniform.

Born in the small town of Myrtle Creek, Jeff Merkley has spent his lifetime fighting for change for Oregon families. The son of a sawmill worker, he spent his early years in Roseburg, where the children of loggers and mill workers learned the value of honest work, good schools, and strong families. Jeff worked hard, earned scholarships and became the first in his family to go to college. He went on to serve as a national security analyst, first for the Pentagon and then for Congress. After returning to Oregon with his wife Mary, Jeff led Habitat for Humanity and worked with low-income families to rebuild neighborhoods and purchase their first home.

A fighter for change, Jeff became tired of gridlock in government and sought to end the bickering. Nearly two years ago, Jeff led a band of new leaders to take control of the Oregon House and end the gridlock in state government. As the first Democratic speaker in sixteen years, Merkley brought Democrats, Republicans and citizens together to make real progress addressing Oregon’s challenges.

The Oregonian called Jeff’s session as Speaker, “Oregon's most productive in a generation.”

As Speaker, Jeff helped lead the fight against special interests to make health care more affordable, clamp down on pay day loan scams, pass landmark environmental legislation, and create thousands of family-wage jobs in Oregon. Working together, Oregonians achieved results – restoring fiscal responsibility by creating the state’s first “rainy day fund,” cutting taxes for working people, and passing sweeping ethics reform to clean up government.

In the U.S. Senate Jeff Merkley will continue to bring Democrats, Republicans, and independents together to find solutions to the problems we face – not only for his own children, Jonathan and Brynne, but for every child and family in Oregon.

More than 300,000 nurses, firefighters, teachers, steelworkers, electricians, truck drivers, and thousands more working families across Oregon have joined Senator Barack Obama and Senator Ron Wyden to endorse Jeff Merkley's campaign. Environmentalists from the Sierra Club and League of Conservation Voters have endorsed Jeff’s leadership protecting our environment. And Planned Parenthood of Oregon and NARAL Pro-Choice America have endorsed Jeff and his 100% record protecting a woman’s right to choose.

Today, Speaker Merkley lives in East Multnomah County with Mary, a professional nurse, and their two children, Jonathan age twelve and Brynne age ten.

2008 elections

Merkley won the Democratic nomination to challenge Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) in the 2008 congressional elections.^[2] He went on to defeat Smith in the November 2008 general election.^[3]

Money in politics This section contains links to – and feeds from – money in politics databases. For specific controversies, see this article's record and controversies section. Campaign contributions The following is drawn from government records of campaign contributions to Jeffery Merkley. Campaign contributions are one of the most direct conduits for influencing members of Congress. How to use this information. Top Contributors to during the 2008 Election Cycle Donor Amount (US Dollars) JStreetPAC $ 78,180 Council for a Livable World $ 55,889 State of Oregon $ 41,300 Oregon Health & Science University $ 35,414 Intel Corp $ 33,470 Moveon.org $ 26,731 Stoel, Rives et al $ 26,323 League of Conservation Voters $ 23,000 Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers $ 22,200 American Nurses Assn $ 21,150 Source: The Center for Responsive Politics' www.OpenSecrets.org site. Note: Contributions are not from the organizations themselves, but are rather from the organization's PAC, employees or owners. Totals include subsidiaries and affiliates.

Committees and affiliations

Committees

• Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
  • Subcommittee on Economic Policy
  • Subcommittee on Financial Institutions
  • Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development
• Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
  • Subcommittee on Children's Health
  • Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety
  • Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife
• Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
• Senate Committee on the Budget

Committees in the 110th Congress (2007-2008)

Merkley will be assigned committees if and when he is elected to Congress.

Affiliations

More background data

Contact

DC office
313 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Ph: 202-224-3753 Fax: 202-228-3997 Webform email
District offices
Portland Senate Office, One World Trade Center, 121 SW Salmon Street, Suite 1250, Portland, OR 97204 Ph: 503-326-3386 Fax: (none entered)
On the Web
Official website YouTube channel
Campaign office
No campaign website entered. No campaign webform email entered. Jeff Merkley for Oregon, PO Box 29136, Portland, OR 97296 Ph: (none entered) Fax: (none entered)

Campaign contact information

To contact the Merkley campaign, visit http://www.jeffmerkley.com/2007/09/contact_us.php.

Twitter

Articles and resources

Related SourceWatch articles

• 2008 U.S. congressional elections
  • 2008 U.S. congressional election dates
• Portal:Oregon and the U.S. Congress

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9} Project Vote Smart Political Courage Test
2. ↑ Aaron Blake. "Oregon House Speaker Merkley set to challenge Sen. Smith in 2008," The Hill. July 26, 2007.
3. ↑ "Oregon 2008 General Election", TheGreenPapers.com, November 4, 2008

External resources

• 2008 Race Tracker page on Oregon's Senate Race
• [1]
• See how you compare to Jeff Merkley

External articles

• Aaron Blake. "Oregon House Speaker Merkley set to challenge Sen. Smith in 2008," The Hill. July 26, 2007.

Semantic data (Edit data)

From the Sunlight Foundation API
Current Office: U.S. Senate
Title: Sen	First name: Jeff	Middle name: A.	Last name: Merkley
Suffix:		Nickname: Jeff
Party: D	State: OR	District: Junior Seat District short: Junior Seat	Currently in office? True
Gender: M
Phone: 202-224-3753	Fax: 202-228-3997	Website: http://www.merkley.senate.gov	Webform email: http://www.merkley.senate.gov/contact/ Email address:
DC office: 313 Hart Senate Office Building
Bioguide ID: M001176	Votesmart ID: 23644	FEC ID: S8OR00207	Govtrack ID: 412325
CRP ID: N00029303	Eventful ID:	Old Sunlight ID:	Twitter ID: SenJeffMerkley
OpenCongress Wiki URL: http://www.opencongress.org/wiki/Jeffery_Merkley		YouTubeID: http://youtube.com/SenatorJeffMerkley	Senate class: II

Entered manually within the Template:Politician
U.S. Senate
111th Congress
Leadership Position:	Committees Chaired:	Committees, Ranking Member On:	Caucuses:
110th Congress
Leadership Position: n/a	Committees Chaired:	Committees, Ranking Member On:	Caucuses:
Committees:
Congressional Career
First Elected to Current Office: November 4, 2008	First Took Current Office: January 3, 2009	Next Election: November 4, 2014	Term Ends:
Freshman Member? Yes	Previous Political Work? Presidential Management Fellow at the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Congressional Budget Office, Oregon House of Representatives	Other Party Membership:
District Offices:
Portland Senate Office, One World Trade Center, 121 SW Salmon Street, Suite 1250, Portland, OR 97204 Phone: 503-326-3386 / Fax:
Campaign Contact:
Website: [[Campaign website::Jeff Merkley for US Senate, Oregon]] Webform Email: [[Campaign webform email::campaign@jeffmerkley.com]] / Email: campaign@jeffmerkley.com Campaign Offices: Jeff Merkley for Oregon, PO Box 29136, Portland, OR 97296 Phone: / Fax:
Misc:
Date of Birth: October 24, 1956 November 4, 2008