Tag Archives: Jeff Merkley

CBS News reports: Sen. Jeff Merkley filed a lawsuit Wednesday to stop Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation process, citing what he believes to be unconstitutional presidential interference. Merkley said via Twitter that he plans to sue President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The lawsuit argues that the Trump administration’s unprecedented withholding of substantial parts of Kavanaugh’s record has …

Mediaite reports: Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) said he thinks it’s “likely” that “something close” to a video tape of President Donald Trump urinating on prostitutes is real. Merkley made the wild claim in an interview with Buzzfeed editor in chief Ben Smith, who asked the senator about Trump’s warm words for Russian President Vladimir Putin. “It’s standard strategy of Russia,” …

Mic.com reports: Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) slammed Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos Tuesday when she “refused to affirm” that her department would protect students from discrimination in her testimony before the Senate. “I think that’s very important for the public to know that today, the secretary of education, before this committee, refused to affirm that she would put forward a …

Via press release: Today, HRC joined with bipartisan lawmakers and an unprecedented number of businesses to announce the re-introduction of the Equality Act — federal legislation that would finally guarantee explicit, permanent protections for LGBTQ people under our nation’s existing civil rights laws. The bipartisan legislation would provide clear and equal protections under federal law for all Americans in vital …

The Hill reports: House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes’s (R-Calif.) actions have damaged the integrity of his panel’s investigation into Russian election interference, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) says. “I think there has been so much tactics and strategy by the House chairman to support the president that the credibility of the House really is in shreds,” Merkley said Thursday on …

Dominic Holden reports at Buzzfeed: Democrats in Congress plan to reintroduce legislation this month that would ban LGBT discrimination nationwide, despite facing a conservative majority that’s been generally hostile toward the issue. While the bill has little shot of passage, progressives hope inaction by Republicans can illustrate a chasm between the major political parties as they approach the 2018 mid-term …

Lambda Legal reacts: We applaud the introduction of this essential bill. Today, it spotlights the pervasive, unjust, and unacceptable discrimination facing LGBT Americans and their families; when passed, it will be a crucial next step forward in ending that discrimination. Its introduction comes nearly one month after the Supreme Court’s historic decision in Obergefell v. Hodges that made marriage equality …

Today the Equality Act, a comprehensive federal LGBT rights bill, will be introduced in Congress. The Human Rights Campaign has already brought three major corporations on board. Via press release: STATEMENT BY APPLE – “At Apple we believe in equal treatment for everyone, regardless of where they come from, what they look like, how they worship or who they love. …

Via Chris Johnson at the Washington Blade: A highly anticipated bill that would explicitly bar anti-LGBT discrimination in all areas of civil rights law is set for introduction in both chambers of Congress on Thursday, the Washington Blade has learned. Capitol Hill sources said lead sponsors Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) will introduce the legislation on Thursday …

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) today announced that in the next session he will introduce a sweeping federal LGBT rights bill that will cover employment, housing, credit, and public accommodations. Justin Snow reports at MetroWeekly: Merkley said that while the Senate’s passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in November of last year by a 64-32 vote after the bill failed by …

Politico reports: A Republican Senate candidate in Oregon will unveil a television commercial Tuesday that highlights her support for gay marriage — a reflection of the rapidly shifting politics of the issue. Monica Wehby, a pediatric neurosurgeon, has been attacked by Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley as just another cookie-cutter conservative. The first-time candidate supports abortion rights and gay marriage, and …

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) will introduce a resolution which calls on the International Olympic Committee to explicitly denounce Russia’s ban on “homosexual propaganda.” Via Chris Geidner at Buzzfeed: The resolution will ask the IOC both to oppose the law itself and to receive a guarantee that athletes and spectators will not be discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation …

Yesterday the first ever transgender-inclusive ENDA hearings began before the U.S. Senate. Restrooms and religion arose as the only objections today during the U.S. Senate’s first hearing on the inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). And the testimony from the Obama administration struck an unusually ironic note just two days after Maine voters rejected an equal marriage law there. The 2009 …

Sen. Jeff Merkely (D-OR) introduced a fully inclusive version of the Employment Nondiscrimination Act to the U.S. Senate today, backed by Susan Collins (R-ME), Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA.) The Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee, of which Merkley is a member, will hold hearings on the bill before bringing it to the full chamber. The House …