Honorable Jeff Merkley
United States Senator, Oregon, Democrat
Senator Merkley was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2008. He served in the Oregon House of Representatives from 1999 to 2009, and as Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives from 2007 to 2009. He sits on the following committees: Appropriations; Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, where he chairs the Subcommittee on Economic Policy; Budget; and Environment and Public Works, where he chairs the Subcommittee on Green Jobs and the New Economy. The following is from the November 5, 2013, Senate floor debate on S. 815, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. The Declaration of Independence, in its second paragraph, says, in words that are famous and well-known to all Americans: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” Certainly that vision of…
