Wyden Continues Fight Against Opioid Addiction, Calls for Greater Transparency of Pain Panel Ties to Pharmaceutical Industry
WASHINGTON – Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell today continued an ongoing inquiry into financial conflicts of interest on the Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee (IPRCC), a federal panel that advises government agencies on pain policy, including prescription opioids. The letter […]
Wyden Statement on the Social Security and Medicare Trustees’ Reports
WASHINGTON – Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today issued a statement following the release of the 2016 Social Security and Medicare Trustees’ Reports: “Social Security and Medicare are together a fundamental guarantee to older Americans that they will have financial and health care security in their later years,” Wyden said. “Today’s reports […]
Finance Senators Introduce Family First Prevention Services Act
WASHINGTON – Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Committee members Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Michael Bennett (D-Colo.) today introduced the Family First Prevention Services Act, a bill to combat the opioid addiction crisis, keep more children safely in their homes and reduce overreliance on group foster care homes. The […]
Wyden Asks DEA for Information on Surge of Illegally-Produced Fentanyl
Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today sent a letter to Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg requesting information similar to the National Heroin Threat Assessment on the reported surge in fentanyl-related overdoses and deaths in certain parts of the country: “Oregonians and Americans across the country have a right to […]
Wyden Statement at Finance Committee Hearing on Trade in the Digital Economy
In my view there are two issues at hand today, and in many ways they’re two sides of the same coin. The first is about how more small businesses are tapping foreign markets thanks to the digital economy and e-commerce platforms. The bottom line is that the internet is the shipping lane of the 21st […]
Wyden Statement at Brookings Institution on Chronic Care and Updating the Medicare Guarantee
What drove me to come speak before you all today is a sense that the national debate on health care is starkly out of whack. It’s out of whack for a variety of reasons, and I want to focus today on the one I find particularly offensive, which is the lack of attention paid to […]
Wyden, Brown Call Meeting With Administration to Press for Strong Enforcement of Anti-Slave Labor Provision
WASHINGTON, D.C. –Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) called a meeting today with members of the Administration and advocacy groups to press for strong enforcement of their amendment to end the importation of products produced with forced labor into the United States. For nearly a century, a […]
Wyden Hearing Statement on Energy Tax Policy
In my view, there are two parts to the energy debate today. First is where our energy policy needs to go in the long term – a tech-neutral approach that throws the current mishmash of incentives in the trash can, cuts their cost in half, and promotes a clean-energy economy. More green for less green. […]
Wyden Calls for Greater Transparency of Presidential Nominee’s Tax Returns
I rise today to urge my colleagues to support the Presidential Tax Transparency Act, an amendment to the NDAA I’ve offered along with Senators Warren, Bennet, and Kaine. Here’s what it’s about. Ever since Watergate, it has become routine for Democratic and Republican presidential nominees to release their tax returns — standard operating procedure for […]
Wyden Statement at Finance Committee Markup on Nominations for Public Trustees of Medicare and Social Security Trust Funds
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You and I disagree about this matter, so I would like to take a few minutes to explain my view. Now, I realize that the Public Trustees of the Medicare and Social Security Trust Funds might not come up in many conversations around American dinner tables, but these jobs are important. […]