Today, @EPWCmte marked up and unanimously voted the Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act out of committee. Let me be clear: this bill is NOT the American Jobs Plan and cannot be an excuse to give up on badly needed, bold investments in our country and climate. That said, the bill that passed out of committee this morning has some key wins for Oregonians (and all Americans!)

Here’s just some of what the bill contains ⬇️

THREAD: AG Barr has abused his office & corrupted the DOJ. This latest abuse of DOJ to cast doubt on the results of our election fits into a disturbing pattern I call #BarrGate. He serves Trump, not the law, not the people. Here’s a partial list of his horrific abuses of power: June 2018: Barr auditions to be Trump’s AG by sending him a memo criticizing the Mueller probe. This is better understood as a signal to the President that he will be working for Trump and not the American people. #BarrGate
law.com/nationallawjou…

President Trump failed our nation in many ways. He failed to lead a national response to COVID-19. He failed to build a better health care system, promising but failing to end the gouging of Americans on drug prices while working to destroy insurance for 20 million Americans. Trump failed us by promoting hate and racism, dividing rather than uniting Americans. Trump failed our country on the most basic test of human decency, by deliberately harming refugee children seeking a better life, ripping them out of their parents’ arms.

BREAKING NEWS: I have just announced legislation to create a national database of police misconduct. This is the first of many steps I’m working on in the fight to end police brutality and systemic racism. I'd like to discuss those steps with you now: merkley.senate.gov/news/press-rel… Like many, I’ve been inspired and moved by the hundreds of thousands of people across America speaking out and standing up for Black lives. There is no magic wand for righting historic wrongs, but there’s also no excuse for inaction.

This administration has failed to communicate with the American people, so let me be clear: This is going to get worse before it gets better. The actions we all take today, tomorrow, this week, will define the scope of the crisis we are up against. (1/)
washingtonpost.com/health/2020/03… This is a very contagious disease that will likely infect a large number of Americans. But we can greatly slow the spread through social distancing, & in so doing, keep the number of sick from overwhelming our health care system and reducing deaths.
washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/…

VP Pence came to our caucus meeting today to discuss the latest on the #coronavirus response. I’ve been talking intensively with public health experts and people on the front lines in Oregon and nationally, and shared advice I've learned. Here's what I told him. We need clear messages from the administration. Best way to limit the spread is for everyone to be hearing key messages starting w/ most important: 1. If you have symptoms, STAY HOME.

President Trump has spent the last three years telling the American people that he’s fighting for them. But his actions—like releasing a budget proposal that slashes $5.6 billion in education funding—speak louder than words. (1/5) For starters, those cuts will eliminate 29 federal elementary and secondary education programs, including grants that nearly 18,000 rural school districts rely on. That’s unacceptable. (2/5)

“Nothing new!” claimed some of my colleagues, yet they voted repeatedly to block the witnesses and documents the House wants people to get. Can’t have it both ways.

Moreover, the House analysis of the information they do have raises key points we should all consider carefully: That withholding aid to Ukraine while Ukraine is at war with Russia undermined the strategic position of our ally, and strengthened our adversary;

I have a lot of thoughts on the rapidly deteriorating security situation in the Middle East, so there are a lot of tweets coming. Bear with me. (1/) President Trump and Secretary Pompeo are either dangerously inept or colossally ignorant, and have done enormous damage to U.S. security.

In short order they have... (2/)

THREAD: Our founders created the process of impeachment b/c they were deeply concerned about two significant dangers: first, foreign influence that might corrupt American democracy; and second, abuse of power by a president tempted to use his powers to become more like a king. For these two reasons, the founders placed in the hands of Congress the means to act as a check on a corrupt president: Impeachment in the House, followed by a trial in the Senate. Today, the House fulfilled its constitutional responsibility. nbcnews.com/politics/trump…

“A bundle of contradictions” was the end of my previous letter and is the beginning of this one. Can you please tell me exactly what “a bundle of contradictions” is? What does “contradiction” mean? Like so many words, it can be interpreted in two ways: a contradiction imposed from without and one imposed from within.

A little over one year ago, I made my first visit to the border, and America discovered Trump’s child separation and cages. 13 months and many trips later, leaving the Capitol at dawn to go back to the border again — this time being joined by a dozen of my colleagues. Stay tuned. From the Donna Holding Facility, one of the sites you may remember from the Vice President’s now infamous border trip. This one holds children and families & was recently expanded to handle surge of detainees caused by Trump’s reckless and cruel separation/detention policies.

THREAD: These photos were taken by DHS’s own Office of the Inspector General and released to the public with the title, “Management Alert –
DHS Needs to Address Dangerous Overcrowding and Prolonged Detention of Children and Adults in the Rio Grande Valley.” You can read the report — released by Donald Trump’s administration ABOUT Donald Trump’s administration — on the DHS OIG website: oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/…

If child welfare went into a foster home and found children in dirty clothes, with unchanged diapers, no soap and toothpaste, those children would be whisked away and the adults would face prosecution. This is no different. I am demanding a formal investigation from DHS IG.

NEWS: @NBCNews @jacobsoboroff confirms what many have long suspected – that the Administration had no real plan to reunite parents and children when they started ripping families apart at the border. (1/) nbcnews.com/politics/immig… They had no intention of ensuring that children would be returned to their parents because they didn’t care. (2/)

McConnell just forced a historic vote. He wants to pack the courts to turn our Constitution on its head & lock in government by and for the powerful & privileged, destroying government by and for the people. Very dark day for our Constitution and for the people of America. McConnell has consistently broken the Senate to pack the courts. In 2013 he put up a blockade, refusing to confirm any judge the President nominated to the DC Circuit. Then of course, the stolen SCOTUS seat. Then nuclear option for Gorsuch confirmation. Now nuclear option again.

Today I was in Homestead, Florida for an oversight visit of the child prison that @realdonaldtrump is working to expand to an unfathomable 2,350 CHILDREN. It was absolutely chilling to see so many children locked up in prison camps. They should be in homes, playgrounds, and schools!

Tonight, when @realDonaldTrump addresses the nation, let’s all remember that the only crisis on the border is the one he created by separating families, snatching kids from their parents, blocking refugees from legally seeking asylum and putting lives at risk. Yesterday, I went to New Mexico with @RepTorresSmall, @JoaquinCastrotx , @RepEscobar, @RepJerryNadler, @davidcicilline, and members of the @HispanicCaucus to investigate the death of Felipe Alonzo-Gomez.

Everyone: this is a call to action to #ReleaseCristy – a young girl being held in detention. Please demand that @ICEgov release “Cristy” and her mother from detention. “Cristy” is celebrating her Quinceanera - 15th birthday – today. #ReleaseCristy

I just left the tent city at Tornillo. It is a child prison camp. They refused our request to speak with the children who are held there. The vast majority of these children have parents or other family members who are ready to sponsor them in the US, but the Trump Administration has deliberately created a bottleneck so that it’s difficult for the children to be released.

We just left the Family Residential Center in Dilley, TX where I met Patricia, a mother who fled Honduras after she and her daughter were harassed and by a gang. The gang molested her daughter and threatened to rape and kill her.