Ron Wyden
The Public Record
Ron Wyden is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Oregon, a position he has held since 1996. A member of the Democratic Party, Wyden has been a prominent advocate for civil liberties, healthcare reform, and technology policy. Throughout his tenure, he has focused on issues such as privacy rights, government surveillance, and access to healthcare, often emphasizing the importance of transparency and accountability in government actions.
You have been a leader in trying to find ways to work across the aisle, to find a way to break the impasse.
Build America Bonds in a year and a half generated $180 billion worth of investment.
you cannot know it without access to the data. So I am totally in favor of using data to add transparency.
I think the kind of thing we saw on the front page of the New York Times is a little bit different than a deduction to loaves and fishes in Portland, Oregon, where we are trying to help seniors who are walking on an economic tightrope.
the day you publish the Medicare database in this country, you would have, in effect, a new baseline for health care in America.
I think there is a legitimate question that does have to be faced, which is given the increased pressures that will come on the Federal budget.
I think Alan Krueger deserves a lot of credit for this because, as you know, there was a lot of pushback early on, and he really prosecuted the case.
I believe that the best tax reform would be either revenue neutral or, ideally, would provide for some revenue increases.
Well said. I would ask you more questions if I had more time, but thank you again.
I am especially appreciative of the fact that you cited those numbers at the beginning of your opening comments because they are certainly encouraging and I think you cannot fudge those numbers.
Let us just make sure we do not put at risk the vulnerable and the low-income.
the lead story in this morning's New York Times highlights what to me is a growing abuse in the Tax Code, and that is the matter of tax-exempt bond finance.
No, your point is very well taken, and obviously, in this kind of fiscal climate, you cannot just promise and promise some more and not have a revenue source.
I very much share your view that part of propelling consumer demand here is going to be making sure that anything we do is fair and equitable in the sense of having its benefits concentrated on the middle class where the propensity to…
I am not sure that we can afford as a country large-scale tax cutting, whether it is oriented to the middle class or whether it is oriented to some other group.
This is clearly an area where I think Democrats and Republicans can work together.
My own view is that we are at a point where there needs to be some spending restraint.
we have maybe a year and a half. We might generate $4 or $5 billion worth of investment.
the flip side of austerity is growth, and you have had a lot of important papers and comments over the years with respect to consumer demand.
we call it 'TRIP bonds' to, in effect, have Federal tax credit bonding to leverage private dollars for investment in infrastructure.





