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Ron Wyden

Ron Wyden

United States Senator (Democrat, Oregon); Senate Finance Committee ranking member

Appears in 5 stories

Notable Quotes

Bank of America's decision to settle with this group of Epstein survivors is a step towards justice and a vindication of my staff's investigation into how major Wall Street banks enabled Epstein's crimes. — March 2026

All along the way, attorneys representing the survivors used the findings of my investigation to prove that Bank of America willfully looked the other way as billionaire Leon Black paid Epstein more than $170 million. — March 2026

Wyden has called SRS renewal “urgent business” for communities that “have long depended on millions of dollars from these federal funds.”

Stories

Banks that served Epstein have now paid over half a billion dollars to trafficking survivors

Money Moves

Leading ongoing congressional investigation into Epstein banking ties

Bank of America agreed last week to pay $72.5 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging it ignored red flags in Jeffrey Epstein's banking, including over $170 million in payments from Leon Black without suspicious activity reports until after Epstein's 2019 death. On April 3, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff granted preliminary approval, following the $290 million JPMorgan Chase and $75 million Deutsche Bank settlements in 2023.

Updated Apr 4

Congress moves to revive secure rural schools after 2023 funding cliff

Rule Changes

Longtime SRS champion for Oregon timber counties

President Donald Trump signed the Secure Rural Schools reauthorization into law on December 18, 2025, ending a two-year funding cliff that had devastated more than 700 forested counties. The bill directs the USDA Forest Service to deliver retroactive payments for FY2024 and FY2025 within 45 days of enactment—by early February 2026—and extends the program through FY2026. Counties that had cut sheriffs' patrols, closed schools, and delayed road repairs are now budgeting for an influx of roughly $280 million per year.

Updated Jan 8

Treasury goes after Mexico’s “gasoline cartel”

Rule Changes

Opened an inquiry into tanker-shipping exposure to cartel-linked fuel smuggling (2025-12-19)

After Treasury sanctioned the Cartel de Santa Rosa de Lima (CSRL) and its jailed leader José Antonio Yépez Ortiz (“El Marro”) on December 17, 2025, Washington’s campaign against huachicol money moved quickly toward the infrastructure that can make stolen hydrocarbons tradable: shipping, routing, and due diligence.

Updated Dec 20, 2025

Trump orders a fast-track marijuana reschedule to Schedule III—reviving a stalled Biden-era process

Rule Changes

Longtime advocate for federal cannabis reform; highlighted 280E implications

Trump’s executive order instructing DOJ to fast-track marijuana’s move to Schedule III immediately triggered a familiar split-screen: public health and industry groups cheered the potential research and tax impacts, while House Republicans organized opposition, urging Trump to keep marijuana in Schedule I.

Updated Dec 18, 2025

Scott Bessent’s farmland divestiture: ethics clash inside Trump’s Treasury

Money Moves

Leading Democratic critic of Bessent’s delayed divestiture and Trump’s ethics record

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent entered office in January 2025 with an ethics agreement committing him to sell extensive personal holdings, including up to $25 million in North Dakota soybean and corn farmland that earned as much as $1 million a year in rent. After months of delays and an August 2025 warning from the Office of Government Ethics that he had failed to timely comply, Bessent announced on December 7, 2025, that he had finally divested the soybean farm "this week," completing the most glaring conflict-of-interest obligation.

Updated Dec 11, 2025