Ron Wyden

Country:	USA
Website:	[wyden.senate.gov wyden.senate.gov]
Facebook:	[Senator Ron Wyden Ron Wyden]
Twitter:	@RonWyden

Ron Wyden is one of the United States Senior Senator representing constituents from the State of Oregon. Wyden has been a Senator since 1996. He is a member of the Senate Committees on Finace, Intelligence, Aging, Budget and Energy & Natural Resources. He is the chairman of both Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests and the Subcommittee on International Trade, Customs and Global Competitiveness. Sen. Wyden is a strong advocate for Americans' privacy rights. As Senator, he has been pushing for health care reform, energy independence, national security, consumer welfare and accountability.

Personal Background

He was born Ronald Lee Wyden to Jewish parents Edith Rosenow and Peter H. Wyden on May 3, 1949 in Wichita, Kansas. His parents fled the German Nazis and moved to United States and settled in Ridgefield, Connecticut in 1923. His father was a journalist and their family moved a around the country. After his parents divorced in 1960, Ron Wyden's mother moved to Palo Alto, California along with his younger brother. He grew up in Palo Alto and graduated from Palo Alto High School as a basketball superstar.

Senator Wyden was married to Nancy Bass Wyden on September 2005. They were blessed with twins William
 Peter 
and 
Ava 
Rose. Senator Wyden's has two adult children, Adam David and Lilly Anne to his previous marriage to Nancy Oseran.

Education

Senator Wyden received a basketball scholarship after graduating high school from the University of California, Sta. Barbara. He transferred to the University of Stanford where he received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1974. He continued his studies at the University of Oregon School of Law and graduated with a Juris Doctor degree in 1974.

Early Professional Career

In 1974 after graduating from College, Senator Wyden co-founded the Oregon chapter of the advocacy group for the elderly known as the Gray Panthers and served as Co-director until 1980. He also served as Director of the Oregon Legal Services for the Elderly from 1977 to 1979. The Senator also taught Gerontology in different universities in Oregon before he started his political career.

Political Career

Wyden started his political career as member of the United States House of Representatives to the 97Th Congress on January 3, 1981 at the age of 31.He first defeated Darrel Conger. He was re-elected in seven succeeding Congressional elections representing the third district of Oregon until his resignation on February 5, 1996.

Following his resignation as Congressman in1996, Wyden entered the Senate race in Oregon during a special elections to fill the seat vacated by former Republican Sen. Bob Packwood who resigned before his term expired due to the unanimous decision of the Senate Ethics Committee to expel him from office because of ethical misconduct. Wyden defeated Republican nominee Gordon Smith by a narrow margin 48% to 47% via first nationwide mail-in election. He was sworn in as United States Senator on February 5, 1996. He was re-elected to a full term during the 1998 Senatorial race against John Lim with a large margin- 61% to 31%. In 2004, he won with 63% votes against his opponent Al King’s 31% votes. In 2010, he defeated Jim Huffman by 18% margin.

Reputation as a Lawmaker

For more than three decades in public service, Senator Ron Wyden established a reputation as a lawmaker with an independent voice not just for his constituents in the State of Oregon but for all Americans. He is known as one of the leaders in bipartisan legislation. In every opportunity he tries to offer creative, commons sense solutions on issues that will provide great impact on the lives of people. One of his priorities as a lawmaker is Health Care Reform and he was known as one of the leading voices in the Senate to address the issue. Since 1994, he has pushing for the passage of the Healthy Americans Act through a bipartisan legislation. Senator Wyden record in Washington proves that he is willing to reach out to his fellow lawmakers to accomplish things in the Congress if necessary. According to him, “Look at my record. My record is based on the proposition that if you want to get anything done, it’s got to be bipartisan. But sometimes you have to stand alone.”

Senator Wyden also worked with Republican legislators on different issues. In 1997, he collaborated with Iowa Sen. Charles Grassly for the passage of a provision in the Senate Reform Bill to scrap secret holds, which will require any senator to reveal his identity if he does not agree to a particular legislation or a nominee.The opposition should be submitted in the Congressional Record within three days. Wyden and Grassley's bi-partisan effort earned a majority vote (84-13) from their colleagues in the Senate in 2006. In 2010, both Senators are again working together to end secret holds as part of the Wall Street Reform Bill.

In 2009, Wyden worked with Sen. Olympia Snowe from Maine to incorporate the provision in the Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 requiring financial institutions that recipients of bail-out money from Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to repay the cash portion of any bonus paid in excess of $100,000 or face an excise tax of 35% if not repaid within 120 days after the enactment of the amendment.

Legislative Efforts on Internet Related Issues

Senator Wyden and Cong. Chris Cox sponsored the Internet Tax Freedom Act, which prohibits multiple, new, and technologically discriminatory taxes targeting the internet. The Internet Tax Freedom Act was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on November 2008.