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The horrific mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio have reignited the gun debate in America. The topic was front and center Sunday at Democratic Senator Ron Wyden's planned town hall in Beaverton.

"When it comes to gun violence, which, of course, has hit Oregon too often, Oregonians are tired of meaningless words. What they want is meaningful action," Wyden said. "And it all has to start on the floor of the United States Senate. And that's what I'm going to be pushing for."

Lawmakers here in Oregon have been responding to this weekend's shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio.

Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley posted on Twitter about El Paso's shooting, saying, "Another day, another mass shooting in America. This time, El Paso is reeling from the terror of a heinous crime. This is tragic and it will happen again and again until we come to our senses and do something real about gun violence in our country."

Rep. Suzanne Bonamici also issued a statement calling gun violence "a preventable and deeply disturbing American tragedy."

It just got easier to vote in Oregon, with new laws being signed Friday making it free to mail in ballots, requiring campaign ads to say who paid for them and making political organizations identify their largest donors.

Oregon already has mail-in ballots that make waiting for hours to vote at polling stations a thing of the past. Senate Bill 861 requires the state to pay for the stamps on those ballots. And the state's U.S. senators want to make that a national trend.

Oregon still doesn't have campaign finance regulations, but the 2020 elections will include some important differences from past races, under bills signed into law by Gov. Kate Brown on Friday.

Flanked by members of Oregon's congressional delegation and a bevy of state lawmakers at a signing ceremony in Portland, Brown ensured that Oregonians will be able to mail their ballots for free in elections beginning next year, and that voters could have more information about who's funding political ads.

Human rights defenders on Wednesday wished imprisoned Saudi activist Loujain al-Hathloul a "happy" 30th birthday - the second Hathloul has spent behind bars since being jailed last year.

The Saudi women's rights activist is one of 11 women detained in May last year amid a wide sweeping crackdown on dissent.

US Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici also noted Hathloul's birthday, calling the activist's treatment in prison a "clear sign of the human rights violations occurring in Saudi Arabia".

Sen. Jeff Merkley and Rep. Peter DeFazio, along with Sen. Ron Wyden and Reps. Suzanne Bonamici, Earl Blumenauer and Kurt Schrader, pushed the U.S. Department of Agriculture in a letter Wednesday to immediately withdraw a harmful proposed rule that would take food assistance away from 3 million Americans, including 66,000 Oregonians.

Merkley is the top Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee that oversees the USDA, which runs the SNAP program nationwide.