Jeff Merkley

It’s unbelievable that our Republican colleagues are going back to these racist tactics of the past in their search for power.

Well, the details have to be worked out. But there are four main sections in the For the People Act. One is on dark money. One is on ethics. One is stopping gerrymandering. And one is protecting the ballot box.

The deal-breaker for me is a failure to defend the ballot box.

But there are four main sections in the For the People Act. One is on dark money. One is on ethics. One is stopping gerrymandering. And one is protecting the ballot box.

Chairman Merkley and Co-chairman McGovern, thank you again for the invitation to testify this morning.

We believe athletes are humans, first and foremost, and should have the ability to express their voice in a peaceful manner that aligns with the Olympic Charter and principles.

If a nation promised improvements on human rights to meet certain human rights standards and they failed to meet those, would you encourage the IOC to have a practice of moving the Games?

We would continue to express our views and values around human rights and encourage them to be in the selection and engage with host governments on this important topic.

This is not even a question about a particular system of government. This is about genocide.

Holding the '22 Winter Olympics in China and allowing its authoritarian government to reap the rewards in prestige and propaganda of hosting this globally beloved event does not uphold the Olympic spirit.

The Olympic Games exist to uplift the human spirit. Yet, unless something dramatically changes, in a few months' time the Games will be held in a country that continues to mercilessly crush the human spirit.

Opening Statement of Hon. Jeff Merkley, a U.S. Senator from Oregon; Chair, Congressional-Executive Commission on China.

John Lewis said the right to vote is precious. It is almost sacred. It is the most powerful non-violent tool we have in a democratic society.

We are not going to be satisfied until we fully defend and protect the right to vote for every American, take on the issue of billionaires buying elections with dark money, and end gerrymandering.

It is certainly important that there not be a process that invalidates the right of citizens to vote.

Elections should not be controlled by partisan local boards or have the state legislature be able to stack the state election board.

I am just extraordinarily appalled by this.

Promising to do it in a future election is pretty irrelevant because they could change the precinct locations anyway in all sorts of other fashions.

I am very struck that there was a significant factor of using long lines and fewer voting locations targeted at communities of color, and it is just wrong on every moral, ethical, and perhaps legal level.

In fact, they made it worse because they said if you vote out of precinct on Election Day, too bad, your vote is burned up, wasted, tossed aside.

Every person removed incorrectly is a person who has been denied the right to vote.

We have a bill, the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which says that denial of the ability to vote or the abridgement to vote is unlawful when it is targeted at communities of color.

As the Chairwoman pointed out, in Oregon we have had vote by mail. It was initiated by Republicans in our state who wanted to increase turnout in the Republican Party.

What we see across the Nation is it is so easy to discourage or obstruct voting on Election Day.

Plastics are a climate problem, as well as a direct problem for human health, and great problem for ecosystems.