Press Releases
Portland, OR – Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley, Congressman Earl Blumenauer and Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici visited Hopworks Brewery today to call attention to Wall Street speculation in commodity markets that is driving up the prices of aluminum, copper, gas, and electricity. This speculation is in turn raising the prices of everyday products that middle-class families use, including beer cans, home improvement products that contain copper and even gas for cars.
Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) today introduced the Protecting Access to Primary Care Act (H.R. 2986) to improve access to primary care for individuals enrolled in Medicaid. The bill will improve reimbursement rates for nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other primary health care providers. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) presently provides improved reimbursement rates for physicians, but does not similarly increase reimbursement rates for other primary care providers like nurse practitioners and physician assistants.
Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) today voted for the Senate’s bipartisan student loan compromise that will lower undergraduate student loan interest rates for subsidized Stafford loans from 6.8 to 3.86 percent for 2013. Future rates will be calculated annually based on the government’s cost of borrowing, but are capped at 8.25 percent for undergraduate loans and are fixed for the life of the loan.
Washington D.C. – The House of Representatives today voted to pass a provision authored by Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) that would halt the Army’s retirement of 34 C-23 Sherpa aircraft needed by the Army National Guard in Oregon and throughout the country. The amendment was successfully added to the Fiscal Year 2014 Defense Appropriations bill by a vote of 264 to 154.
Washington D.C. – Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) today released the following statement after voting against H.R. 5, a bill to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (also known as No Child Left Behind).
“It’s clear that we need long-term thinking and real changes to improve the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and give our students schools worthy of their potential.
Washington D.C. – Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) today voted against H.R. 2668 – a bill designed to undermine the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by delaying for one year the individual health insurance responsibility requirement. The lynchpin ACA provision, set to take effect on January 1, 2014, requires Americans, with a few exceptions, to have health insurance.
St. Helens, Ore. – Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) today visited the St. Helens Senior Center to talk with seniors about cuts to federally funded home-delivered nutrition programs, like Meals on Wheels. Automatic across-the-board spending cuts will result in 7,000 fewer meals served by the Community Action Team program in Columbia, Clatsop, and Tillamook counties. Bonamici has sponsored legislation to repeal the cuts and will soon lead efforts to pass a continuation of the Older Americans Act, which authorizes the program.
Beaverton, Ore. – Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) today unveiled the Opportunities for Success Act (H.R. 2659), legislation she introduced to help make unpaid internships more accessible to low-income students. The legislation is part of Bonamici’s new College to Jobs Agenda, which aims to reduce unemployment and underemployment among recent college graduates.
Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) today voted against a revised version of the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013 (H.R. 2642). The legislation, which is opposed by the Oregon Farm Bureau, contains no provisions for nutrition programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The agriculture reform and nutrition provisions have been considered together in the same bill for decades.