Jeff Merkley

“Donald Trump's Operation Epic Fury has become ``Operation Epic Failure.'' He started a war of choice. It turned out, Iran had a lot more leverage than he ever anticipated. The President thought that superior weapons, a huge number of bombs would give, well, the opportunity for America to conduct a war in which Iran would unconditionally surrender. The President expected that in short order. But not all unfolds accordingly because Iran had an ace up its sleeve: It had the ability to stop traffic on the Strait of Hormuz.”

“The funding year ends at the end of September, so we are talking about something closer to 26 weeks. While there might be a cheer for 2 weeks, there would also be a lot of dread, and people across the Nation would be going: So the proposal is to fund for 2 weeks while the majority sends us out for a 2-week break.”

“Americans are pressed to the wall. I have been holding townhalls throughout Oregon. I have held 36 this year--1 in every single county. Most of my Oregon counties are what you would call very red counties. But regardless of whether I am in a blue county or a red county, folks are pretty upset. They are not happy that gas is over 5 bucks a gallon and diesel is over 6 bucks a gallon. They are not pleased that grocery prices are going way up. They are disturbed that rent and housing costs are higher and higher.”