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U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and Representatives Peter DeFazio and Suzanne Bonamici have called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to take all statutory eligibilities into account when distributing $10 billion in aid to agricultural producers hit hard by extreme heat, drought and wildfires this summer.

As 2021 marks the first year that Indigenous Peoples' Day is recognized in the state of Oregon, Governor Kate Brown noted the milestone in a statement calling it "overdue" and thanked state Reps. Sanchez and Alonso Leon along with other state lawmakers for making the bill recognizing the holiday a reality. Oregon's U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici also joined in the call for federal recognition, tweeting "Indigenous People's Day provides an opportunity to come together in celebration of the vibrant traditions & immeasurable contributions of tribal nations in Oregon & across our country.

One day after a federal appeals court allowed Texas to resume banning most abortions, Democratic U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and Representatives Suzanne Bonamici and Earl Blumenauer gave speeches along with Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette staffers, including CEO Anne Udall.

The nation's most restrictive abortion ban has resumed in Texas, now that a federal appeals court has overruled a decision from a lower court to pause the ban. "I was in high school before Roe versus Wade," Rep Bonamici said. "This was the day of back alley abortions and self-help."

Bonamici recounted the days before abortion was legal and the unsafe, dangerous methods women would use to end a pregnancy. "What they resorted to in their desperation was often life-threatening," Bonamici said. "We must, we absolutely must, protect the right to safe, legal abortion."