Ron Wyden
United States Senator from Oregon
Incumbent
Assumed office February 6, 1996 Serving with Jeff Merkley
Preceded by	Bob Packwood
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Oregon's 3rd district
In office January 3, 1981 – February 5, 1996
Preceded by	Robert B. Duncan
Succeeded by	Earl Blumenauer
Personal details
Born	Ronald Lee Wyden (1949-05-03) May 3, 1949 (age 63) Wichita, Kansas
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	(1) Laurie Oseran (divorced) (2) Nancy Wyden
Children	Adam David Wyden Lilly Anne Wyden Ava Rose Wyden William Peter Wyden
Residence	Portland, Oregon
Alma mater	Stanford University (B.A.) University of Oregon (J.D.)
Occupation	Legal services executive
Religion	Judaism
Website	www.wyden.senate.gov

Ronald Lee "Ron" Wyden (born May 3, 1949) is the senior United States Senator for Oregon, serving since 1996, and a member of the Democratic Party. He previously served in the United States House of Representatives from 1981 to 1996.

Early life, education, and pre-congressional career[link]

Wyden was born Ronald Lee Wyden in Wichita, Kansas, the son of Edith (née Rosenow) and Peter H. Wyden (originally Weidenreich, 1923–1998),^[1] both of whom were Jewish and had fled Nazi Germany a few years earlier.^[2] Wyden grew up in Palo Alto, California, where he was a basketball star for Palo Alto High School.^[3] He attended the University of California, Santa Barbara on a basketball scholarship,^[4] and later transferred to Stanford University, where he received his B.A. in 1971. He received a J.D. degree from the University of Oregon School of Law in 1974.^[5]

While teaching gerontology at several Oregon universities, Wyden founded the Oregon chapter of the Gray Panthers; he led that organization from 1974 to 1980. Wyden is also the former director of the Oregon Legal Services Center for Elderly, a nonprofit law service.

U.S. House of Representatives[link]

Wyden ran for the United States House of Representatives in 1980. During the Democratic primary, Wyden, who was just 31 years old at the time, upset incumbent Representative Bob Duncan in Oregon's 3rd congressional district, which includes most of Portland.^[6] Later that fall, Wyden easily defeated his Republican opponent, Darrell Conger, with 71 percent of the vote. The 3rd has long been the most Democratic district in Oregon, and Wyden was reelected seven times from this district, never dropping below 70 percent of the vote.

U.S. Senate[link]

Elections[link]

In January 1996, Wyden narrowly defeated State Senate President Gordon Smith in a special election to fill the Senate seat vacated by Bob Packwood; he served briefly as Oregon's junior U.S. Senator alongside Mark Hatfield; Smith was elected later that year when Hatfield retired. Wyden holds the Senate seat once held by the late Wayne Morse, a man for whom Wyden worked in the summer of 1968 when he served as Morse's driver,^[7] and whom Wyden calls his mentor.^[8]

Wyden was elected to a full term in 1998 with 61 percent of the vote, and in 2004, was re-elected to another full term, receiving 64% of the vote compared to 31% for his main opponent, Republican Al King. As of April 2010, Wyden has an approval rating of 51%, with 35% disapproving.^[9]

Tenure[link]

Wyden characterizes himself as an "independent voice for Oregonians and the nation" and emphasizes his positions on health care reform, national security, consumer protection, and political transparency.^[8] On the Issues characterizes him as a "Hard-Core Liberal."^[10]

Defense and foreign policy

Wyden was one of 23 Senators to vote against the authorization of the military force in Iraq in 2002. In 2003, Wyden voted to bar excessive overseas deployments of members of the National Guard and Reserves. In 2006, Wyden was one of 13 Senators to vote to require the redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq by July 2007, and was one of 39 Senators to vote to call on the President to beginning withdrawing forces from Iraq and establish a timeline for withdrawal. Wyden also voted many other times for withdrawal of combat forces from Iraq, against funding for the war without binding timelines, and against the establishment of permanent military bases in Iraq. Wyden also opposed President Obama's plan for a "troop surge" in Afghanistan in 2009.^[11][12]

In 2007 Wyden sponsored (with Representative Gabrielle Giffords in the House), the Stop Arming Iran Act, which would have barred the Defense Department from selling surplus F-14 parts and prohibit buyers who have already acquired surplus Tomcat parts from exporting them in order to prevent Iran (the only nation other than the U.S. to fly the F-14) from acquiring the parts.^[13]

In 2011, Wyden expressed support for the no-fly zone and other intervention in Libya in order to protect civilians, stating that "The violence of Colonel Gaddafi against his own people is a humanitarian crisis. I support the international effort to protect the civilians of Libya." However, Wyden also stressed that his support was not unlimited and that he expected that the military action would be completed quickly.^[14] Wyden, along with fellow Senator Merkley and President Obama, also agreed that U.S. forces should not be on the ground in Libya.^[15]

Health care

Senator Ron Wyden

Wyden personally opposes physician-assisted suicide and has stated he voted against the Oregon Death with Dignity Act, first enacted in Oregon in 1997, each time in appeared on the ballot by voter referendum. However, Wyden has successfully blocked congressional attempts to pass federal legislation to override Oregon's law.^[16] In 2000, Wyden blocked attempts in Congress to overturn the Oregon assisted-suicide law by threatening a filibuster.^[17][18] In 2001, Wyden wrote to President George W. Bush urging him to not alter the law through federal executive action.^[19][20] In 2005, he and four other Democratic members of Oregon's congressional delegation filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court case of Gonzales v. Oregon in support of the State of Oregon, and praised the eventual decision to uphold the law.^[21] In 2006, Wyden informed Senate leadership that he would block legislation overturning the Death with Dignity Act.^[22] Wyden said in 2009 that he will continue to "fight tooth and nail" to block new federal attempts to block the law.^[18]

In 2009 Wyden sponsored the Healthy Americans Act, an act that would institute a national system of market-based private insurance. Despite a voting record in favor of public health care,^{[citation needed]} Wyden was attacked by union interests for advocating replacement of the employer tax exclusion with a tax deduction that would apply to all Americans (not just those who enjoy the good employer benefits provided to many union members).^[23][24] Wyden has shown support for increasing Medicare funding, enrolling more of the uninsured in federal programs (although his Healthy Americans Act would eliminate many of these programs including Medicaid and SCHIP and replace them with private insurance), importing lower priced prescriptions from Canada, and negotiating bulk drug purchases for Medicare in order to lower costs.^[25]

In 2003 Wyden joined with Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Trent Lott (R-MS) to help pass the Bush Administration's Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act.^[26] The Bush Administration is alleged to have forced officials to hide its true cost, which later was triple its original claim.^[27] The bill has been criticized as favoring pharmaceutical companies, as it prohibits the federal government from negotiating prescription drug rates.^[28]

Not long after Tom Daschle's withdrawal as President Barack Obama's nominee as United States Secretary of Health and Human Services due to a scandal over his failure to pay taxes, The Oregonian reported that Senator Wyden was being touted by many healthcare experts as a likely candidate to succeed Daschle as secretary-designate.^[29] Although Wyden was ultimately passed over in favor of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, he took advantage of the interim to reintroduce his Healthy Americans Act, with additional co-sponsorship from Republican senators led by Tennessee's Lamar Alexander and Utah's Bob Bennett as well as from fellow Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley.^[30][31]

In late 2011 and early 2012, Wyden attracted attention for working with GOP House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan to develop a Medicare reform plan that would result in the semi-privatization of the system, provoking a negative response from Wyden's Democratic allies, including President Obama.^[32] The proposal would keep traditional Medicare as an option, though it would also introduce private health insurance companies into an exchange in which they would offer competing plans to be paid for with government vouchers.^[33] This approach was a modification from Ryan's previous proposal in which traditional Medicare would be entirely eliminated.

In the early 1990s Ron Wyden, then a member of The House of Representatives, was a prominent critic of the tobacco industry, co-authoring an early proposal to put cigarettes under FDA jurisdiction. In 1995, he was part of the Rose-Wyden "compromise" and announced he was "strongly opposed" to FDA jurisdiction over tobacco.

Trade and business

Wyden mostly supports free trade. While still in the House, he voted for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and has subsequently supported many trade deals in the Senate being one of the very few Democrats to vote in favor of the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). He has however voted against free trade agreements with Chile, Singapore, and Oman. In 1996, he voted against the majority of his party to phase out many farm subsidy programs and also to implement welfare reform policies.

In 1998, Senator Wyden supported a proposal that would uphold the status quo of American-Cuban relations.^[25] The Senator has recently voted against restrictions on travel and trade with Cuba and

Wyden is a supporter of lifting the travel ban to Cuba as a more viable way to reach the Cuban people. With Senator Byron Dorgan, Wyden offered an unsuccessful amendment to end funding for TV Martí, an anti-Castro broadcasting project of the U.S. government aimed at Cuba. Dorgan and Wyden argued that the U.S. should "pull the plug on U.S. government television broadcasts to Cuba, broadcasts even the American government acknowledges Fidel Castro routinely jams and the Cuban people can't see." calling it a "complete and total waste of taxpayers' dollars" and noting that the transmissions would cost $21.1 million in the next year, but would "reach virtually no one in Cuba." The amendment was not adopted.^[34][35]

Abortion

Wyden is a supporter of legal abortion. In almost every year, Wyden has maintained a 100 percent rating or close to it with NARAL Pro-Choice America, Planned Parenthood, and National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, and a 0 percent rating or close to it from the National Right to Life Committee.^[36] Wyden voted against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.

Science issues

Wyden voted for the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005, which would change federal law to allow federal money to fund embryonic stem-cell research, ending a federal ban. Wyden urged President George W. Bush to sign it, stating that "I see no reason why embryonic stem-cell research should be treated any differently than other research" in terms of federal grant funding. Bush vetoed the act twice.^[37] In 2007, Wyden, with fellow Oregon Senator Gordon Smith, again supported the bill.^[38]

Guns

Wyden has been an advocate of gun control. He voted against limiting lawsuits against gun manufacturers and has voted in favor of increasing background checks. Wyden voted to renew the Federal Assault Weapons Ban.

Wyden has consistently opposed a constitutional amendment to ban flag desecration. He has also publicly announced support for same-sex marriage and was one of 14 Senators to vote against the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996.^[39]

Civil rights legislation

Wyden voted against the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment, which would have proposed an amendment to the Constitution to bar recognition of same-sex marriages.

Wyden has cast votes in favor of federal legislation prohibiting job discrimination and hate crimes against homosexuals.

Despite undergoing tests in advance of prostate surgery scheduled two days later, Wyden appeared up in the Senate chamber in December 2010 to vote for the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010.

In June 2007, Wyden was among the minority of Democrats to vote in favor of declaring English the official language of the United States.^[40]

Civil liberties

Ron Wyden

On November 10, 2005, Wyden was one of five Senate Democrats who joined 44 Republicans in voting "yes" on Amendment no. 2516, brought to the floor by Republican senator Lindsey Graham, which ruled that enemy combatants did not have the right to Habeas Corpus.

Wyden spoke in favor of John Roberts during his confirmation hearing as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and voted with the Republican majority to confirm him.

In 2006, Wyden was one of 10 senators to vote against re-authorization of the Patriot Act.^[41] In 2011, with the expiration of the Patriot Act approaching and with efforts to reauthorize the Act once more intensifying, Wyden and fellow Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley sharply criticized the rush to pass the bill. Wyden stated on the Senate floor that "The Patriot Act was passed a decade ago during a period of understandable fear. Now is the time to revisit this, revisit it and ensure that a better job is done of striking that balance between fighting terror and protecting individual liberty." Wyden and Merkley expressed particular concern with a provision of current law allowing law enforcement authorities to collect "to collect a vast array of business records, emails, phone numbers, [and] even DNA from anyone deemed "relevant" to an investigation."^[42] Wyden offered an amendment to reform the "business-records provision" of the Patriot Act, which he views as being used abusive and secret way.^[43] In a May 2011 speech in the Senate, Wyden sharply criticized the use of Patriot Act, stating: "The fact is that anyone can read the plain text of the Patriot Act, and yet many members of Congress have no idea how the law is being secretly interpreted by the executive branch, because that interpretation is classified. It's almost as if there were two Patriot Acts, and many members of Congress have not read the one that matters. Our constituents, of course, are totally in the dark. Members of the public have no access to the secret legal interpretations, so they have no idea what their government believes the law actually means."^[44]

Wyden voted against the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, a Republican effort to restrict the number of class actions suits against businesses and the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, a bipartisan change in bankruptcy law designed to make it more difficult to file for bankruptcy and to make those in bankruptcy pay more of their debts. However, he voted for the previous Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2001 (S-420, substituted by amendment into H.R. 433)^[45] which contained many of the same provisions.

On November 19, 2010, Wyden announced he would take the steps necessary to put a hold on The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act so it is not enacted into law this year. The law was passed through committee in a 19-0 vote. If it were enacted, it would allow the attorney general the authority to order internet providers in the US to block access to websites that were deemed to contain copyright infringement. This effectively requires the law to be resubmitted next year rather than be rushed through the system at the end of the congress. He stated:

"It seems to me that online copyright infringement is a legitimate problem, but it seems to me that COICA as written is the wrong medicine. Deploying this statute to combat online copyright infringement seems almost like using a bunker-busting cluster bomb when what you really need is a precision-guided missile. The collateral damage of this statute could be American innovation, American jobs, and a secure Internet."^[46]

In June 2011, Wyden announced his "Geolocation Privacy and Surveillance (GPS) Act" in partnership with Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah). The bill, which is still under House consideration, would establish a legal frame-work for the sharing and access of private tracking data by corporations, individuals, and federal agencies.^[47]

Tax policy

Wyden is critical of the estate tax, which he feels is inefficient, and has voted repeatedly to abolish it. He co-authored the Internet Tax Nondiscrimination Act, which bans internet taxes in the United States. He has also voted with Republicans to lower the capital gains tax, to encourage the study of the flat tax, and to require a 3/5 majority to raise taxes. However, Wyden voted against the Bush tax cuts passed in 2001 and 2003. He has also voted against the balanced-budget amendment.

Wyden supports lower corporate taxes and was generally supportive of the draft proposal for deficit reduction that was released by the chairmen of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform in November 2010.^[48]

Wyden has been praised by Len Burman of the Tax Policy Center as a legislator who "has worked tirelessly to try to advance the cause of tax reform, [despite having] few allies in this quest."^[49]

Bailouts

During the global Financial crisis of 2007-2010, Wyden voted against the financial bailouts backed by the Bush administration.^[50] He did not vote on the automobile industry bailout,^[51] though he said he would have voted for cloture if he had been present. Wyden added, "While I continue to have concerns about ensuring that taxpayers are protected if this loan is to occur, I believe that if the President can unwisely provide $750 billion of taxpayer money for the investment banks who took horribly unacceptable risks and helped trigger an economic collapse, we certainly have a duty to attempt to preserve a cornerstone domestic industry and the jobs of hundreds of thousands of working people whose personal actions are in no way responsible for the current economic crisis."^[52]

Wyden was among several moderate Democratic senators who in early January 2009 criticized President-elect Barack Obama's stimulus plan, calling for a greater emphasis on "tangible infrastructure investments" and warning that an effort had to be made to differentiate it from the Bush bailouts Wyden had opposed.^[53] However, Wyden ultimately voted for the bill and voted mostly with his party on various amendments to the bill.^[54]

Environment

Wyden is a supporter of environmental protection measures, and was among the minority of senators to vote against confirming the appointment of Gale Norton as Secretary of the Interior. In May 2007, Wyden also opposed the appointment of Lyle Laverty as assistant interior secretary for fish, wildlife and parks (this time on ethical grounds).^[55]

Technology

Wyden was the first politician in Congress to stand against the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) (in the House) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) (in the Senate)^[56] on the grounds that it would "step towards an Internet in which those with money and lawyers and access to power have a greater voice than those who don’t."^[57] Wyden delayed the PIPA in the Senate by placing a hold on the legislation in 2010, which prevented the bill from being considered by the full Senate even after it was unanimously voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Wyden's hold was credited with "[g]iving time for the Internet to rally against" SOPA and PIPA.^[58] With Representative Darrell Issa in the House, Wyden also introduced the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act as a alternative to SOPA and PIPA.^[59]

Ezra Klein wrote: "Perhaps no single member of Congress deserves as much credit for slowing the advance" of the bills than Wyden, who for much of 2010 "fought a one-man battle to keep the Senate version of the legislation from moving through on a unanimous vote."^[60] Wyden was described as the "primary driver of opposition to the bill within the Senate."^[61]

When Senate leadership announced it was indefinitely postponing the bill following "massive protests" in January 2012, Wyden called it a "grassroots victory for the history books."^[61]

Committee assignments[link]

In the Senate, Wyden serves on the following Committees: Finance; Intelligence; Energy and Natural Resources; Budget and the Special Committee on Aging. He also chairs the Energy Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests.

• Committee on the Budget
• Committee on Finance
  • Subcommittee on Health Care
  • Subcommittee on Taxation, IRS Oversight, and Long-Term Growth
  • Subcommittee on International Trade, Customs, and Global Competitiveness (Chairman)
• Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
  • Subcommittee on Energy
  • Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests (Chairman)
• Select Committee on Intelligence
• Special Committee on Aging

Source: 2009 Congressional Record, Vol. 155, Pg. S729{{{3}}} S730, and S7168

Caucus memberships[link]

• Congressional Coalition on Adoption
• Congressional Fire Services Caucus
• Congressional Internet Caucus
• International Conservation Caucus
• Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus
• Senate Diabetes Caucus
• Senate Oceans Caucus

Electoral history[link]

This section requires expansion with: election results from 1980-1990.

Personal life[link]

Ron Wyden and wife Nancy in New York City.

Wyden's home is in Portland, and he has an apartment in Washington, D.C.. He has two grown children, Adam and Lilly, by his first wife, Laurie. Adam Wyden is an entrepreneur and owner of a start-up hedge fund, ADW Capital Partners LP.^[64]

Wyden married his current wife, Nancy Wyden (née Bass), co-owner of New York's Strand Bookstore, on September 24, 2005, in a ceremony performed by Rabbi Ariel Stone of Portland. On October 26, 2007, Nancy gave birth to twins, Ava Rose Wyden and William Peter Wyden.^[65]

On December 16, 2010, Wyden announced that the previous month he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in its very early stage from a routine screening. He underwent surgery on December 20 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. The surgery was successful and Wyden quickly recovered and returned to Congress in January 2011.^[66][67][68]

References[link]

Specific references:

General references:

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Ron Wyden

• United States Senator Ron Wyden official U.S. Senate site
• Stand Tall For America: Ron Wyden for U.S. Senate official campaign site
• Biography at WhoRunsGov.com at The Washington Post
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Congressional profile at GovTrack
• Congressional profile at OpenCongress
• Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
• Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
• Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Appearances on C-SPAN programs
• Appearances on Charlie Rose
• Appearances at the Internet Movie Database
• Collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Works by or about Ron Wyden in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

v t e United States Senators from Oregon Class 2 D. Smith Baker Stark Harding Williams Kelly Grover Dolph McBride Mitchell Gearin Mulkey Bourne H. Lane McNary Mulkey McNary Cordon R. Neuberger Lusk M. Neuberger Hatfield G. Smith Merkley Class 3 J. Lane Nesmith Corbett Mitchell Slater Mitchell Simon Fulton Chamberlain Stanfield Steiwer Reames Barry Holman Morse Packwood Wyden

v t e Current statewide political officials of Oregon U.S. Senators Ron Wyden Jeff Merkley State government John Kitzhaber, Governor Kate Brown, Secretary of State John Kroger, Attorney General Brad Avakian, Commissioner of Labor Susan Castillo, Superintendent of Public Instruction Ted Wheeler, State Treasurer Senate Peter Courtney, President Ginny Burdick, President Pro Tempore Diane Rosenbaum, Majority Leader Ted Ferrioli, Minority Leader House Bruce Hanna, Co-Speaker Arnie Roblan, Co-Speaker Supreme Court (elected) Paul De Muniz Chief Justice Robert D. Durham Thomas A. Balmer Rives Kistler Martha Lee Walters Virginia Linder Jack L. Landau AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY