Ron Wyden News

By Kirk Flatter A July 3, 2009 A MEDFORD, Ore. - One Southern Oregon woman's persistence is helping pave the way for legislation aimed at helping troopsA with their transition back into civilian life.

Midway through the Oregon Army National Guard soldiers training for Iraq, the state's two senators complained to the secretary of the Army that the soldiers had too much paperwork and too little equipment.

Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden clearly relishes his place in the center of the nation's stormy debate over health care reform.

Medicaid's role in health care is emerging as a flashpoint, exposing policy and political rifts not only between the two parties but also among Democrats themselves.

I use the term Senate conservatives because there are enough turncoat Democrats on the take from health insurance companies that real health care reform is in danger.

If Congress fails to enact health care reform this year - or if it enacts a sham reform designed to bail out corporate medicine while excluding the "public option" - then the public will rightly blame Democrats, who have no excuse for failure except their own cowardice and corruption.

With Democrats deeply divided over health legislation, President Obama is trying to enlist the nation's governors and his own army of grass-roots supporters in a bid to ratchet up pressure on lawmakers without getting himself mired in the messy battle playing out on Capitol Hill.

Gwen Trice unearthed the little-known story of the Maxville loggers, a group of African Americans from the South who worked in northeast Oregon in the 1920s, for her documentary "The Logger's Daughter," shown recently on Oregon Public Broadcasting's "Oregon Experience." WALLOWA -- Everybody knows loggers shout "Timber!" But African American ...

The debate over health-care reform in Congress and across the country is increasingly focused on the "public option" - whether the government should offer health coverage in direct competition with the insurance industry.

Jackson County commissioners split along party lines in opposition today to U.S. Sen.

By Emily Wood A June 25, 2009 A MEDFORD, Ore. - Two Jackson County commissioners are opposed to a proposed bill designed to restore and protect Oregon forests.

If Congress fails to enact health care reform this year - or if it enacts a sham reform designed to bail out corporate medicine while excluding the "public option" - then the public will rightly blame Democrats, who have no excuse for failure except their own cowardice and corruption.

Earl Blumenauer A is back with a bill proposing to rename the U.S. Postal Service office at 630 NE Killingsworth Ave.

Oregon Democratic Senator Ron Wyden has been stepping up his health reform battle with President Barack Obama over the last week [" Why Not, Wyden ?" news, June 11]. Wyden's chief of staff, Josh Kardon, defended Wyden's independence on Democratic blog Blue Oregon last Saturday, June 13 , when he wrote that Senators Ted Kennedy, Chris Dodd and ...

President Obama wooed the American Medical Association yesterday with talk of curbing malpractice lawsuits and canceling a proposed 21 percent cut in Medicare payments as he ramped up an effort to win support for a major overhaul of the nation's health-care system.

A federal trade commission wants to put the brakes on Chinese tires flooding the U.S. market.

Sens. Olympia Snowe , Bob Bennett and Orrin Hatch are considered critical pieces of any bipartisan health-care bill.

Sen. John McCain angrily accused the Obama administration Wednesday of trying to kill a huge copper mine project that could bring hundreds of jobs and billions of dollars to Arizona.

Oregon congressional members have proposed new protections for three areas in southwest Oregon.

The House Natural Resources Committee and the Senate Energy Committee are expected to hold a hearing on these bills in the near future.