Jeff TV - The Issues: Fighter

Born in the small town of Myrtle Creek, Jeff Merkley has spent his lifetime fighting for change for Oregon families. The son of a sawmill worker, he spent his early years in Roseburg, where the children of loggers and mill workers learned the value of honest work, good schools, and strong families. Jeff worked hard, earned scholarships and became the first in his family to go to college. He went on to serve as a national security analyst, first for the Pentagon and then for Congress. After returning to Oregon with his wife Mary, Jeff led Habitat for Humanity and worked with low-income families to rebuild neighborhoods and purchase their first home.

The Oregonian called Jeff’s session as Speaker, “Oregon's most productive in a generation.”
As Speaker, Jeff helped lead the fight against special interests to make health care more affordable, clamp down on pay day loan scams, pass landmark environmental legislation, and create thousands of family-wage jobs in Oregon. Working together, Oregonians achieved results – restoring fiscal responsibility by creating the state’s first “rainy day fund,” cutting taxes for working people, and passing sweeping ethics reform to clean up government.

In the U.S. Senate Jeff Merkley will continue to bring Democrats, Republicans, and independents together to find solutions to the problems we face – not only for his own children, Jonathan and Brynne, but for every child and family in Oregon.

View Jeff addressing the issues including Health Care, the Iraq War, the Economy, and more.

Posted October 2, 2008
Issue Videos, Video