68 Facts About Jeff Merkley

1.

Jeffrey Alan Merkley was born on October 24,1956 and is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from Oregon since 2009.

2.

Jeff Merkley defeated two-term Republican incumbent Gordon Smith in 2008 and was reelected in 2014 and 2020, defeating Republican nominees Monica Wehby and Jo Rae Perkins.

3.

Jeff Merkley has been an advocate of progressivism in the Senate, and was the only US senator to endorse Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries.

4.

Jeff Merkley was considered a potential candidate for president in 2020, but he chose to run for reelection to the Senate instead.

5.

Jeff Merkley was born in Myrtle Creek, Oregon, the son of Betty Lou and Darrell Philip Jeff Merkley.

6.

Jeff Merkley's paternal grandmother was born in Calliope, Queensland, Australia.

7.

Jeff Merkley attended first grade in Roseburg, Oregon, before moving to Portland with his family.

8.

Jeff Merkley graduated from David Douglas High School, received a bachelor of arts degree in international relations from Stanford University in 1979, and earned a Master of Public Affairs degree from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University in 1982.

9.

In 1991 Jeff Merkley returned to Portland, where he served as executive director of Portland Habitat for Humanity until 1994.

10.

Jeff Merkley started the Walk for Humanity, initiated the Journey for Mankind, launched development of the Habitat Home Building Center, and initiated a pilot project for "YouthBuild" in which gang-affected youth built homes in their own neighborhoods.

11.

Jeff Merkley served as Director of Housing Development at Human Solutions, where he worked to make available affordable housing complexes and launched Oregon's first Individual Development Account program, which helps low-income families save money to buy homes, attend college, or start businesses.

12.

Jeff Merkley was President of the World Affairs Council of Oregon for seven years and continues to serve on the board of trustees.

13.

In 1998 Jeff Merkley was elected as a Democrat to the Oregon House of Representatives from the 16th district in east Portland.

14.

Jeff Merkley succeeded Frank Shields, who moved from the House to the Oregon State Senate due to term limits.

15.

Jeff Merkley was the first federal candidate to be cross-nominated by the Independent Party of Oregon.

16.

Jeff Merkley won the Democratic nomination to challenge Smith in 2008, narrowly defeating activist Steve Novick and four others in the Democratic primary.

17.

Jeff Merkley was initially thought to have only a moderate chance of unseating Smith, but a July 2008 Rasmussen poll showed him in the lead, albeit within the margin of error.

18.

Polls taken shortly before the election indicated that Jeff Merkley's standing had improved, with Jeff Merkley's 12-point deficit turning into a slight lead.

19.

Jeff Merkley thus became the first person to unseat an incumbent Oregon senator since Bob Packwood defeated Wayne Morse in 1968.

20.

Jeff Merkley formally resigned his seat in the Oregon House in a letter to Secretary of State Bill Bradbury on January 2,2009.

21.

Jeff Merkley was sworn in as a senator on January 6,2009.

22.

Jeff Merkley became the first Democratic member of the Senate to announce that he would vote against the confirmation of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, citing Bernanke's failure to "recognize or remedy the factors that paved the road to this dark and difficult recession".

23.

Jeff Merkley championed an amendment that banned liar loans, a predatory mortgage practice that played a role in the housing bubble and subsequent financial collapse.

24.

Jeff Merkley was a founding signatory of a mid-February 2010 petition to use reconciliation to pass legislation providing for a government-run health insurance program.

25.

Jeff Merkley championed legislation to give new mothers private space and flexible break times to pump breast milk once they return to work.

26.

In late February 2010, Jeff Merkley again made headlines when he unsuccessfully tried to persuade Republican colleague Jim Bunning of Kentucky to drop his objection to passing a 30-day extension of unemployment benefits for jobless Americans.

27.

In late 2010, Jeff Merkley began circulating a proposal about the need to filibuster in order to block legislation.

28.

Jeff Merkley was joined by Senators Tom Udall of New Mexico and Tom Harkin of Iowa.

29.

Jeff Merkley was the only member of the Senate to endorse Bernie Sanders in his 2016 bid for the Democratic nomination for president.

30.

In June 2018, Jeff Merkley received national attention when he attempted to visit a facility holding the children of jailed adults who had attempted to cross the border to seek asylum.

31.

Jeff Merkley filmed his attempt to visit a facility in a former Walmart in Brownsville, Texas.

32.

Jeff Merkley was denied entrance and the police were called and arrived as he continued to try to speak with the facility administrator.

33.

Jeff Merkley has been noted for his opposition to the Trump administration's immigration policies.

34.

Jeff Merkley was not permitted to enter, and eventually the police were called and he was asked to leave the premises.

35.

Jeff Merkley continued to oppose the administration's policy, dubbing it "handcuffs for all".

36.

In November 2018, Jeff Merkley was one of 11 senators to sign a letter to United States Secretary of Defense James Mattis about "the overt politicization of the military" with the Trump administration's deployment of 5,800 troops to the US-Mexico border and requesting a briefing and written justification from the US Northern Command for troop deployment, urging Mattis to "curb the unprecedented escalation of DOD involvement in immigration enforcement".

37.

In January 2019, Jeff Merkley was one of 20 senators to sponsor the Dreamer Confidentiality Act, a bill imposing a ban on the Department of Homeland Security from passing information collected on DACA recipients to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, the Department of Justice, or any other law enforcement agency except in cases of fraudulent claims, national security issues, or non-immigration-related felonies.

38.

On June 28,2018, Jeff Merkley was the only member of the Senate Appropriations Committee to vote against the $675 billion Pentagon spending bill for fiscal 2019 providing $607.1 billion for its base budget and $67.9 billion for the Overseas Contingency Operation war fund.

39.

In November 2011, Jeff Merkley led an effort to urge President Obama to expedite transition of responsibility for military and security operations to the government of Afghanistan.

40.

In March 2008, Jeff Merkley endorsed the Responsible Plan to End the War In Iraq.

41.

In December 2010, Jeff Merkley voted for the ratification of New Start, a nuclear arms reduction treaty between the US and the Russian Federation obliging both countries to have no more than 1,550 strategic warheads and 700 launchers deployed during the next seven years and to continue on-site inspections that halted when START I expired the previous year.

42.

In February 2017, Merkley was one of 11 senators to sign a letter to United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions expressing their concern "about credible allegations that the Trump campaign, transition team, and Administration has colluded with the Russian government, including most recently the events leading to the resignation of Lieutenant General Michael Flynn as National Security Adviser".

43.

In June 2017, Jeff Merkley voted for a resolution by Rand Paul and Chris Murphy that would block Trump's $510 million sale of precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia that made up a portion of the $110 billion arms sale Trump announced during his visit to Saudi Arabia the previous year.

44.

In March 2018, Jeff Merkley voted against tabling a resolution spearheaded by Bernie Sanders, Chris Murphy, and Mike Lee that would have required Trump to withdraw American troops either in or influencing Yemen within the next 30 days unless they were combating Al-Qaeda.

45.

On February 28,2019, Jeff Merkley introduced a resolution prohibiting American military intervention in Venezuela without Congress's approval, adding that it was "critical that the Venezuelan people are the ones to determine their own future, and that the US does not repeat a failed strategy of military intervention in Latin America".

46.

Jeff Merkley called Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro "a brutal dictator and incompetent leader" and called for him to resign while new elections are held under an interim government.

47.

Jeff Merkley has focused on Wall Street reform in his position on the Senate Banking Committee.

48.

In June 2019, Jeff Merkley was one of eight senators to sponsor the Made in America Act, legislation that would designate federal programs that had funded infrastructure projects not currently subject to Buy America standards and mandate that materials used in these programs be domestically produced.

49.

Jeff Merkley voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

50.

Jeff Merkley was a founding signatory of a mid-February 2010 petition to use reconciliation to pass legislation providing for a government-run health insurance program.

51.

Jeff Merkley championed legislation that gives nursing mothers flexible break times and private space to pump breast milk at work.

52.

In December 2016, Jeff Merkley was one of five senators to vote against the Obama administration-supported 21st Century Cures Act, legislation increasing funding for disease research while addressing flaws in the American mental health systems and altering drugs and medical devices' regulatory system.

53.

In February 2019, Jeff Merkley was one of 23 Democratic senators to introduce the State Public Option Act, a bill that would authorize states to form a Medicaid buy-in program for all residents and thereby let all residents of the state buy into a state-driven Medicaid health insurance plan if they wished.

54.

In July 2012, Jeff Merkley proposed a broad new refinancing plan for homeowners who owe more than their houses are worth and therefore cannot refinance.

55.

In November 2018, Jeff Merkley was one of 25 Democratic senators to cosponsor a resolution specifying key findings of the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change report and National Climate Assessment.

56.

In March 2019, Jeff Merkley was one of 11 senators to sponsor the Climate Security Act of 2019, legislation forming a new group within the State Department that would develop strategies to integrate climate science and data into national security operations and restore the post of special envoy for the Arctic, which Trump eliminated in 2017.

57.

Jeff Merkley has consistently supported policies that promote American energy independence and investment in alternative energy sources.

58.

Jeff Merkley supports increasing national fuel economy standards, and advocates for a 6 to 7 percent annual improvement for vehicles over current mileage standards.

59.

Jeff Merkley has been a strong supporter of electric vehicles.

60.

In March 2019, Jeff Merkley was an original cosponsor of a bipartisan bill intended to mandate that the Environmental Protection Agency declare per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances hazardous substances that can be addressed with cleanup funds via the EPA Superfund law and require that polluters undertake or pay for remediation within a year of the bill's enaction.

61.

Jeff Merkley supports increased transparency in campaign financing and limits on independent political spending by corporations.

62.

Jeff Merkley has been critical of both the 2010 Supreme Court case Citizens United v Federal Election Commission and of the court's decision in 2012 not to revisit this case.

63.

Jeff Merkley has been a leader in trying to reform the rules of the Senate, including those about the filibuster.

64.

In 2010, Jeff Merkley cosponsored legislation to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell and allow gay Americans to serve openly in the military.

65.

In June 2019, Jeff Merkley was one of 18 senators to sign a letter to Pompeo requesting an explanation of a State Department decision not to issue a statement that year commemorating Pride Month or issue the annual cable outlining activities for embassies commemorating Pride Month.

66.

In July 2019, Jeff Merkley was one of eight senators to introduce the Agricultural Trucking Relief Act, a bill that would alter the definition of an agricultural commodity to include both horticultural and aquacultural products and promote a larger consistency in regulation in both federal and state agencies as part of an attempt to ease regulatory burdens on trucking and the agri-community.

67.

In February 2019, Jeff Merkley was one of 38 senators to sign a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham calling on him to hold a hearing on universal background checks and noting Graham's statement to the press that he "intended to have the Committee work on 'red flag' legislation and potentially background checks, both actions" the senators supported.

68.

Jeff Merkley has said his workouts help him manage the stress of his job.